2. Levi
2
LEVI
I swing for the fences, the vibrations moving through my arms as the drywall smashes into pieces. God, that feels good. I take another swing at the wall in front of me, working to open the space of the house we’re renovating.
Some of my guys hate demolition day, and I can understand why. It’s a shit ton of work to tear out countertops and take down walls. For me, it’s the best therapy I could ever get. Plus, I’ve gotten ripped from wielding a sledgehammer, which makes every ounce of effort worth it.
It also helps to ease the constant energy buzzing through my system. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been on the move. Which means I wreaked a lot of havoc growing up. My mom still gives me shit about being a terror. Sitting still has always been a struggle for me, so having a job where I can expend a lot of energy has been a saving grace.
Max Miller and I started JM Construction almost five years ago. His wife, Lucy, and I have been friends since we were little. When they moved back to Sonoma after college, Max and I grew close, realizing we had many of the same interests. He has an architectural degree, and I’ve been doing construction since I was legally able to be on a site. Between my contacts and Max’s talent at design, our business has taken off.
A whistle grabs my attention from tearing out the wall in front of me, and I glance over my shoulder as Harley nods her head toward the front yard. The new guy, Michael, is parking his truck, getting ready to come back inside from lunch.
I grin at Harley as I set down my sledgehammer. Moving quickly, I squeeze into a small alcove in the main living room. Michael comes striding back into the room, completely oblivious to me being there. I jump out of the alcove, scaring the shit out of him.
“Fuck, man!”
Harley’s laugh echoes through the room, along with mine, as Michael rubs his chest.
“I’d say sorry, but I wouldn’t mean it.” I grin at him.
“I hate you all,” Michael says, shaking his head.
“Yo, Levi, can you come look at this?” Jared calls down from the second floor.
I slap Michael on the shoulder, then head to the stairs, my boots thumping on each step. Even though I’m the general contractor, I have a hard time being super professional on-site. Around the homeowners, you’d never know I enjoy pranking my guys, but when they’re not around, I gotta do something to make the long workdays fun. Especially when something major goes wrong. Based on Jared’s tone, I have a feeling I’m not going to like what he found.
I walk into the room and immediately know my hunch was right. Random electrical cords are coming out of the wall we were planning on tearing down.
“Well, fuck me sideways.”
“I’d rather not,” Jared says unhelpfully.
“Until we know what those go to, we can’t keep going with the demo up here.” I sigh. “Can you finish tearing out the wall downstairs while I call the homeowners? ”
“On it.”
I turn to walk out of the room. Calling the homeowners when something goes wrong is one of the worst parts of my job. It’s always a gamble as to how they’ll react. Every so often, they’ll be cool about it, but most of the time, they get pissed about unexpected issues.
Walking out the back door, I step onto the grass to make my call. The phone rings in my ear as dread swirls in my stomach.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Mrs. Silvey. This is Levi Jackson with JM construction. How are you doing?”
“Hi, Levi. I’m fine. What’s going on?”
“Well, we’ve hit a bit of a snag. We found some random electrical wires in the wall that aren’t supposed to be there. We’re going to need to get an electrician out here to get it sorted.”
I hear a sigh on the other end of the phone and brace for the barrage of anger.
“Any idea on what this will do to our budget or timeline?” she asks. I hesitate, surprised at the normal tone in her voice.
“Um, not anything official yet. We’ve still got plenty of stuff to do while we wait, so the demo schedule should be fine.”
“Okay. Keep me updated.”
“Will do. Thanks for being understanding, Mrs. Silvey.” After hanging up, I stand in the backyard for a bit. The mild April air dries the sweat off my forehead while I try to calm down from the pointless nerves moving through me. I did not expect her to take the news so well. In most cases, these calls entail a lot of frustration, usually taken out on me. Despite having built up my walls to keep from getting my feelings hurt, it can still be hard to take the brunt of a person’s anger.
Taking another breath, I quickly call my electrician, Neal. He’s able to squeeze me in tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully, he’ll be able to get things straightened out before we get too behind schedule. I’m willing to work overtime to keep us on track, but there’s only so much I can do if we’re set back too far.
Shaking my head, I turn to go back inside the house. Jared is finishing the demo in the kitchen when I walk in. We’re tearing out most of the inside of the house since it hadn’t been updated since the seventies. If I never see another lime green kitchen again, it’ll be a miracle.
Using the exertion of demolition, I expend the last bit of nerves in my body from the phone call. We clear out the outdated cabinets, as well as the countertops, chucking them into the dumpster outside.
It’s dark out by the time we finish most of the kitchen. I tell Jared he can head home, but I stay behind to prepare for the next day. Some people say I work too much, which is probably true. I do work a lot of hours. I enjoy the work, though, so it doesn’t feel like too much to me.
When I’m finally done at the site, I pack up my stuff and jump in my truck to head home. Living in a small town, there are only a few apartment buildings, so finding a suitable place isn’t always easy. I got lucky with my apartment. They asked me to help them renovate, and in return, I get to live in one of the units at a discounted rate.
I could afford the regular rate, but with the cheaper rent, I’ve been able to save a hefty sum. One I hope to use on buying a fixer-upper house. After all of the places I’ve renovated over the years, you’d think I would want to build a brand-new house, but there’s something special about taking an old, dilapidated building and making it beautiful again. Plus, it’ll give me something to do in the evenings when I’m done working.
With nothing to do tonight, I call my brother, Cooper, to see what he and his wife, Quinn, are up to .
“Are you hurt?” Cooper asks when he answers, throwing me off.
“Uh, no. I’m fine. Why would you think that?”
“I just figured you’d still be at work right now, so if you’re calling me, it’s because you must have hurt yourself. Again.”
I roll my eyes, even though Cooper can’t see it. “I fell through the stairs one time. But no, I’m fine. We ran into a snag today, so I had to call it quits earlier than usual.”
“Quinn’s making… uh, some fancy dish I can’t remember the name of if you want to come over. You know how she gets.”
Quinn is constantly experimenting with food, creating new meals or overestimating how much my brother can eat. When that happens, she usually brings me a container of leftovers. And if I’m honest, she’s a better cook than my mom. A thought I will never say out loud if I want to keep my life.
“That would be awesome. I’m going to shower first, then I’ll be over. Does Quinn need anything?”
The muffled sound of Cooper’s voice tells me he’s asking. “Quinn says she needs frozen peas.”
“Got it. I’ll pick them up on my way.”
“Thanks. We’ll see ya in a bit.” Cooper hangs up as I walk into my apartment.
Now that Coop is married, I am one of the last single people in our friend group, which has been a lot harder to deal with than I expected. I’m social by nature, so being by myself for extended periods of time isn’t something I enjoy. With most of our friends having found their partners, I’ve been by myself more often than not. Luckily, I still have Sara to hang out with. She’s the only other single person in our group.
For a long time, our friends tried to get us to date each other, but neither one of us feel that way about the other. She’s more like a sister to me than anything else. The idea of dating her is just too weird .
I’m not even sure settling down is in the cards for me. I’ve tried many times over the years, with varying types of women, hoping one of them will be the right one. I’ll take her out a few times, have some fun, then something usually happens, and we stop seeing each other. Sometimes, it’s me losing interest, other times, she’s the one to end things. But, no matter what I do, it always ends. At this point, I’m prepared to be alone forever. Stuck in an endless loop of going out with women who want nothing more than a good night.
Jesus, that's a depressing thought.
I head back to my bathroom to shower, grateful my brother is more like a best friend. Without his invitation to hang out, I would’ve been climbing the walls with boredom.
I could’ve called one of the girls I occasionally date to see if they wanted to go to dinner. The problem is they only want to go out with me to come back to my apartment for a quick fuck and a see you later . Which hasn’t been appealing recently.
I also recognize how douchey that makes me look. The idea that I have women available anytime I text them makes me feel sleazy. The crazy part is I wasn’t the one who set it up like that. It’s like all I’m needed for is a good time and a happy ending. They don’t want to date me, just fuck me. Which has been great up until a couple of months ago when I started to wonder if this was all I was capable of having—meaningless relationships with no substance. That’s not how I thought my life would end up nor how I want it to continue.
When I’m done cleaning up, I grab my favorite navy blue baseball hat and keys to head to the store. Once I’m in my truck, I feel my shoulders relax, the tension of the day draining from my body. It’s going to be a good night.