Chapter 4
GABE
Okay, that was weird, but not too strange, I guess. The guy definitely has some trust issues or something. I’m not sure what’s up with him, but I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s a job.
A big job at that.
One that’ll keep me busy and hopefully keep my mind off everything going on in my life.
Or things that aren’t going on is more like it. I was never really one to chase after girls, growing up. Shelly had to ask me out, then I fell for her pretty fast, and that was it for me. I didn’t ever think about having to date again.
Not that I want to now. But I can’t help feeling like I’m being left behind.
I go back to the office and find it totally empty—which isn’t odd, considering everyone is either on a job or didn’t come in due to lack of work. I mean, it’s hard to plant flowers even when the weather is nice but knowing it could easily snow several times over the next two months.
I take my time writing up a full plan for the greenhouse and go wash the company truck, sort some tools out, and before I know it, Travis is walking back into the office, looking tired and dirty from whatever job he was on today.
I have to say it’s easier to respect your bosses when they’re more than willing to go out and get their hands dirty.
“Big job?”
Travis nods, wiping his muddy boots on the rug by the door. “Tree removal with Oakley.”
I smile. “He does love to use the chainsaw.”
He laughs and shakes his head fondly. “He jumped at the chance.” Travis sits down at the table, yawning, and I take a seat across from him, greenhouse plan in hand. “Glad you’re alive.”
“Yeah,” I say with a smirk. “Turns out, Dakota isn’t a grumpy old man.” Just a grumpy young man. I wonder what his deal is.
Travis’s eyebrow shoots up. “Really?”
I nod. “He’s younger than me, if I had to guess.”
His brow furrows. “Hmm, what’s his deal?”
I shrug. “Don’t really know. He didn’t say, but he was adamant about no one else being there.”
“You sure you didn’t get serial-killer vibes?”
I shake my head and slide the proposed plan to him. “Nah, just doesn’t seem to trust people. But he did say he would help me frame it up, so I guess it’s doable.”
“Does he have experience?”
I shrug again. “No idea. But he can hold a pole.”
“That’s what he said!” Oakley bursts into the office like the Kool-Aid man, and Travis just sighs heavily.
“Here we go again.” I can’t hide my laugh because they’re fun. Travis just ignores his goofball husband and looks over the plan in front of him. “You sure about this?”
I nod. “Looks fun to me. Something to do.”
“All right. I’ll call him this evening to go over the budget. I’m tacking on an extra fee for requiring only one person for the job.”
“My husband is a badass,” Oakley says, stepping behind him and massaging his shoulders. Travis swats him away, but I see the amusement there.
I stand up and push the chair back under the table. “Sounds good. I plan to pour the foundation tomorrow. I’ll make sure it’s warm enough outside.”
Travis nods. “Sounds good. It’s supposed to be nice this week. I’ll make sure Oakley prepares the cement truck.”
“Hell yes!” Oakley says, pushing open the door to Travis’s and his office. “I’ll never turn down the chance to play with the big trucks.”
Travis laughs, gripping the bridge of his nose and looking at me. “See you tomorrow.”
“Thanks, boss,” I say, heading out of the office and to my own personal truck, just as Jackson pulls up with Luke in a work truck. I wonder what job they were on today and why he wasn’t paired with Asher like he normally is.
Maybe they got into it too much and Travis gave them a timeout.
“Hey! You weren’t murdered!” Jackson says with a big grin as he hops out of his truck.
“Nope,” I say with a chuckle.
Luke pats my back as he walks past me and goes into the shop, and I give him a nod in response. Jackson unloads his truck, and I walk over to help him. “So, how was it? Does he really expect you to build a greenhouse on your own?”
I think back to my brief interaction with Dakota and remember how stubborn he was and adamant that no one else was to come onto his property. “Yeah, he does. He said he’s going to help me set the frame up.”
His eyebrows shoot up, similar to the way Travis reacted as he shakes his head at that. “Everyone thinks our job is easy until they do it for a day.” He grins. “Is he going to break a hip?”
I chuckle. “Turns out, he’s likely younger than us. And you know a lot of older people are plenty active.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He waves me off. “He’s young?” I nod. “No shit?”
“No shit.”
He still looks confused, and I get it. I’m still thrown off by it, and I was the one to see the guy in person. “You have Amber tonight?”
I shake my head. “Nah, it’s Shell’s week.”
He closes the tailgate on the truck. “Let’s go get that drink then.”
I’m surprised he actually wants to after how he blew me off today when I asked about Rebecca, but I accept. We hop into our trucks and head a few blocks over to the local tavern.
After we both order a beer and one of their famous barbecue brisket sandwiches because we’re both starving, we head over to a booth and sit across from each other.
“So he’s a young guy, huh?”
I nod and then thank the waitress who brings over our beers before answering him verbally. “Yeah. Super young. Honestly, it’s probably best he won’t let you help me out. You’d be all over him,” I say with a grin before taking a sip of my beer.
“Oh yeah?” He perks up because of course he does.
Jackson is a very out-and-proud bisexual and a bit of a horndog.
He has no problem flirting with all our clients—never crossing the line or making anyone uncomfortable—but most of them absolutely love him.
Of course, I’ve noticed he’s a hell of a lot more careful flirting with the men than the women.
Always feeling them out first. And while it’s a small town, most people know Oakley and Travis will not tolerate any sort of homophobia.
Our client list is full of good people. “Go on . . .” he says in a dramatic over-the-top way that makes me chuckle.
“He’s a good-looking dude.” He snorts into his beer. “What? I can know when a guy is hot.”
He just shakes his head, laughing. “I think you’ve spent too much time with us.”
I laugh and decide it’s time to change the subject to one he might not like as much. “So, what happened with Rebecca?”
He groans, and the waitress smiles but looks a little worried as she places our plates in front of us. “Everything look good?”
“Oh yeah, it looks great. My friend here is just grilling me about my love life,” Jackson says, batting his eye lashes at her in the most ridiculous way. “You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?”
“Caleb is going to kick your ass if you keep hitting on his little sister,” I say, and Jackson looks surprised.
“Caleb Olsen?” He looks at the waitress again. “No way you’re related to that ugly fucker.”
“Hey, that’s my brother you’re talking about,” she laughs, but I don’t miss the little flip of her hair as she strides away from the table. Also, Caleb Olsen is far from ugly, and Jackson knows it. Always flirting with him too. The guy is shameless.
I roll my eyes at Jackson. Caleb works for Thatcher Langley’s construction crew, and they’ve attended some of Oakley’s parties over the years.
I remember Caleb bringing her once or twice, and hell, it’s a small town.
We all know each other. How he didn’t know that, I don’t know, other than Jackson is often in his own world most of the time. “You’re a dumbass.”
He chuckles and then sighs as he pours some barbecue sauce on his sandwich. “The same shit happened with Rebecca. I thought it was great. And then she dumped me.”
“She dumped you?” I ask, surprised because the girl seemed to really like him. Though, after being exposed to all of us at that Christmas party, maybe she decided that was just too much.
“Yeah.” He shrugs. “She said I didn’t seem that into her or whatever.”
He wasn’t. But I don’t point that out. No need. “Sorry, man.”
He shrugs and takes a huge bite, getting sauce all over his face and not caring at all. “It is what it is.”
I take a bite of my own sandwich, chewing far better than my friend here. But then my stomach sours when I realize I should probably tell someone about Shelly instead of keeping it all bottled up and shit. “Shelly’s pregnant.”
His eyes bug out of his head, and he looks like a cartoon character for a moment before he finally fixes his face. “Shelly’s pregnant?”
“Yup,” I say, bitterness seeping through the one word, and his gaze softens with pity.
“Damn.”
“Yeah.”
“Amber know?”
“Not yet. I’m sure they’ll tell her soon.”
“You okay?”
I shrug, wanting to play it off. “I’m fine. It has nothing to do with me.”
“Bullshit,” he says, and just like I gave him tough love when it came to Rebecca, I can tell he’s giving it right back. “That has to feel weird. Your ex having a baby? It’s like she’s really moving on.”
I laugh, kind of startled because when he says it, it sounds ridiculous. “Yeah. Which is crazy. She already moved on. She’s married again, for Christ’s sake.”
“Still weird. I mean good for them, but I’d definitely feel some type of way about that.”
I grin at that and take a drink of my beer. “Yeah. I don’t really know how I feel. I think I should be happy for her, but I’m not there yet.”
“You’ll get there.” He sighs, picking his sandwich up. “Before you know it, you’ll be building the new baby a crib.”
I chuckle at that, but yeah . . .
He’s probably right.