Chapter 20
Well, crap.
Jett was aggravated. Not because she’d had to fly to Maine.
Nope. That hadn’t been a hardship. Any time spent in the air was good.
Her problem was that she’d chewed the inside of her cheek raw, psyching herself up for a confrontation with Trask, and now she’d been totally deflated, like a balloon that had lost altitude.
Still, she had to make the best of things.
“I, um, don’t suppose Spencer, Tabitha, or Buck will be around any time soon?” Jett broached to Sheila.
Even though the quirky office manager had told her over the phone that she most certainly had a job here, and had let her know she still did, Jett wanted to confirm it with the company’s principals.
If she couldn’t clear the air with Trask, she might as well try to secure her position. Trask would have a fit about it when he got back, but while he blew up, she’d at least know if there was an actual job to fight for, or if that ship had sailed and she should simply head home.
“They’ll be here soon. Very soon,” Sheila told her, still glued to her video game. “Their class got out early because of snow. There’s going to be snow. Lots of snow,” she said with what Jett was figuring out was a great deal of excitement from Sheila.
“I’m going to make a snowman. Spence promised me a snowman. I’ve never made one before. Spence will be here soon,” she deadpanned.
The imminent arrival of the three partners was good news, and it seemed that Sheila felt the same way about that, and the snow. At least in her own, understated way, with which Jett was beginning to become accustomed.
The next time, however, that the office manager looked up, her eyes held a modicum of excitement. “I’m going home with Spencer and Tabitha when it snows. They have a whole house generator. Rugby is coming, too. Rugby is friends with Duck.”
“Rugby? Duck?” Jett asked. “Who are they?”
“My cat,” Sheila answered. “Rugby is my cat. Duck is Spence and Tabitha’s dog. We’re going to pick them up and build a snowman.”
“That’s nice,” Jett told her. “I love cats. I also love dogs. I left my two at home.”
“You have dogs. I have a cat. What are your dogs’ names?”
“Langly and Tinker,” Jett responded.
Sheila nodded and went back to her computer, clearly filing that information away.
Jett was pretty glad that she hadn’t brought the dogs with her, considering that she’d probably get socked-in with a storm and need to get a hotel room soon.
But she missed them. She always did when she had to be away for any length of time.
During her separation period before she’d left the Air Force, when she’d been in the process of moving home and they’d had to stay with her father, it had nearly broken her heart.
She hoped the storm passed quickly so she could get back to them.
Speaking of storms, Sheila’s clear exhilaration over the upcoming snow seemed a bit odd for someone her age.
Jett had to ask.
“You, uh, have to have seen a number of blizzards in your life. Am I right? Since snow is a pretty normal thing in winter around here.” Why hadn’t she ever built a snowman?
Although Jett had to admit, it had been an inordinately warm and dry couple of months. This would be the first storm to hit New England this year. Everything they’d gotten up to this point had been nothing more than flurries.
“I’m from Florida,” Sheila answered, glancing out the window, probably hoping to see flakes. “Florida doesn’t have snow. No snow.”
Jett chuckled. Her first storm, huh? “Well, you’re in for a treat,” she acknowledged. “Just make sure you buy plenty of cocoa and snacks before you hunker in.”
Sheila nodded sagely. “Pick up Rugby, then snacks. Rugby and snacks. Sleepovers are fun.”
“Yes. Yes, they are.” Jett didn’t want to think about her last almost-sleepover, where she’d taken a chance by invading Trask’s room.
That hadn’t exactly worked out.
Well… It had, until it hadn’t.
“You, uh, don’t mind if I wait here for your bosses, do you?” Jett asked, making conversation more than anything else to keep her nerves at bay.
“I don’t mind. I don’t mind at all.” Sheila went right back to her computer screen, as if Jett wasn’t even there.
That was okay. For sure. Jett would take the opportunity to have a good look around the space. Especially what Trask had done with her father’s diving paraphernalia in the two, big front windows.
Twenty minutes later, the door opened with a blast of cold air that held the smell of snow, even though the storm hadn’t yet begun.
Looking up from a pile of old buoys Jett was rearranging for the display, she wanted to laugh. The woman entering had to be Tabitha, but there was no mistaking the Sothard men who trailed her. Their resemblance to Trask was so uncanny, Jett almost had to catch her breath.
The brothers were a danger to the female sex; lethal. If all eight brothers had the same devastatingly handsome mugs and outstanding physiques, they should come with dire, warning labels.
“Spencer?” Jett sent to the group, and one of the men looked her way.
Yup. Gorgeous.
“That’s me,” the man said, turning his feet to head her way.
“I’m Jett,” she said, meeting him halfway with her hand out.
“Jett?” He looked taken aback for a split second before a shit-eating grin stretched across his face and took her proffered shake. “Well, how about that? You, uh, know where Trask is, right?” he asked.
Jett rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I know. Pretty silly, huh? I came here looking for Trask, and he went to Portsmouth looking for me.”
There’d be some kind of hell to pay for that from Trask, Jett was sure.
“Yup. And isn’t this an interesting turn of events?” It was clear to see the man was tickled pink, as was brother number two who approached with his hand extended and a huge smile on his face.
“I’m Buck. The good-looking brother,” he introduced himself as they shook. “And I can’t wait to see how this all plays out. I take it you haven’t been in touch with big bro since you discovered you were at cross-purposes?”
Jett snorted. “I, uh, umm… No. We kind of left things between us a little up in the air after the last time we were together, so I thought it was prudent to see how things stand with me and Diver Downeast before I contact him.”
Spencer looked at his watch. “Well, I talked to him earlier, just before he got to Portsmouth, and if I’m figuring things correctly, he probably pulled into your father’s place about five minutes ago. Man, would I love to see his face right about now,” he added with a snort.
“Not me,” Jett admitted. “I’ve had enough of his scowls.”
Oops. Maybe it wasn’t advantageous to her agenda to talk smack about Trask.
“Uh, what I meant to say was…”
“What you meant to say was that the man can be a huge grump and a pain in the ass,” Buck chortled.
“Swear jar,” Sheila announced loudly without looking up.
Buck responded with a grin, reached into his pocket, and extracted his wallet. “We might as well make it a fiver, Sheila,” he chuckled. “I have a feeling I’ll be tossing a lot of blue words around before we’re finished here.”
He flipped a bill onto the counter, then turned back to Jett. “No worries about calling Trask out for being downright awful most of the time. Spence filled me in on what happened at Mom and Pop’s house, so your words are justified.”
Jett took a step back. “He…he told you about that?” She knew her voice squeaked, but… What the hell?
Buck shrugged. “He told Spence and Tabbi, who told me—"
“Not in detail,” Tabitha stepped up to clarify when she clearly saw the panic on Jett’s face.
Tabbi elbowed Buck, then her husband in turn as she moved closer to Jett. “Way to make the newbie feel freaked.”
“I, uh…” What did Jett say, knowing that at least some of what had occurred had been aired with the group?
Wait…what?
“Newbie?” she repeated dumbly, looking at Tabitha.
“Well, yeah,” the woman nodded. “You don’t think that just because Trask is a jerk…” She turned to Sheila and called over, “Did you hear that, sis? No money in the jar for me.” Tabbi’s attention swiveled back to Jett. “You don’t think we’re going to let him derail your employment, do you?”
Some of Jett’s worries vanished instantly. “Well, I wasn’t sure if you’d still want to take me on, knowing that Trask and I might be at odds.”
“Are you kidding?” Spence spoke up again. “Trask is always at odds with somebody. And anything that throws him off his game is okay with us, as well as freaking hilarious. Especially if we get a front row seat to witness sparks flying.”
Jett had to mull that one over for a few seconds, before giving the group a little honesty. “I’m not sure if it will be just sparks. It might be more like a raging firestorm—”
“Not a firestorm,” Sheila interjected, pausing her game briefly to put in her two cents.
“A snowstorm. Not a firestorm. A blizzard. Trask is cold. Trask freezes people when he’s unhappy.
Not a firestorm.” The young woman livened up her screen again and went back to playing as if she hadn’t just put out a very astute observation.
Jett smothered a snicker.
Trask was more like Snow Miser than Heat Miser, except for the brief time he’d had his head between her legs. Then, the combination of both his personas had come together to be explosive like a…snowmageddon.
“Heat, cold, who cares.” Buck stopped her thoughts from spiraling into memories she shouldn’t be having.
“Are you still willing to work with us even after Trask was a dick?” he asked.
They all looked at Sheila, who didn’t deviate from her screentime, but raised a hand and made an air-checkmark to chalk up one more cuss.
The group chuckled.
“I…” Jett instantly made up her mind. “If you’re willing to take a chance on me, then yes. I’ll take the job.”
“Well, it’s settled, then,” Spencer replied with a huge smile.
“Regardless of what Trask thinks, we have a new employee. Welcome to our humble start-up, Jett. I talked to Trask a little bit about what you’d discussed.
Are you still willing to work on a per-job basis until we get some cash-flow going?
” he asked. “Before Trask went off the deep end, I know that’s what you’d proposed. ”
“Yes,” Jett responded without hesitation. “I’ve actually got a great pension and a few other sources of funds, so I’m not worried about being paid right away.”
She wasn’t a complete dolt in the business realm, however, and she put forth how she thought they might proceed in the future. “But on those jobs, you’d have to pay for avgas once I’ve tallied the bill.”
“That’s only fair,” Spence approved.
“And eventually,” she continued, “when I’ve proven my worth and brought some money into your coffers, I’d like Diver Downeast to pick up the insurance on my Cessna, and I wouldn’t mind if you also took care of the premiums for my TRICARE.”
Even though she had veterans’ benefits, she still had to pay a healthy amount out-of-pocket for her health insurance.
“Done,” Spencer easily agreed. “And we’ll talk about salary then, too. But in the meantime, how does a check for thirty-five percent of all jobs you complete, sound?”
Jett quickly figured that amount out in her head, and thought it was very generous. “That’s more than fair,” she told him. “I know you have to keep the office running with continuing costs for marketing and such, so if it ends up seeming like that’s too much, we can talk about scaling back.”
“You’re too good to be true,” Buck put in. “Trask must have his head up his ass…”
Again, with a wave from Sheila.
“…not to have played nice.”
Oh, he’d played nice. Very nice. Until he hadn’t.
“About that,” Jett pondered, knowing that a worry line had formed between her brows. “What if Trask is dead set against me working here?”
Spencer snorted. “Seriously? You think he would have driven all the way to Portsmouth to find you just to…?” He looked contemplative for a moment as he shrugged, so Jett spoke up again.
“Yeah. About that. What, exactly, did he go to Portsmouth for?”
Trask’s behavior, which she already knew went against his grain, was perplexing. She speculated out loud. “Was he going to bust my chops? Was he putting aside his pride to ask me to come back? Or was he actually going to, heaven forbid, apologize?” Jett questioned.
She couldn’t quite kill the note of skepticism in her voice.
“Beats me,” Spencer answered, grinning again.
“When I talked to him, he was confused as hell, which isn’t something I normally associate with him.
So…I’m not sure if even he was aware of how things were going to play out.
But I think this is a good look for him.
He’s always large and in charge, and if you’re somebody who can keep him off kilter, it’ll be the best thing that’s ever happened to him and to us. Nobody likes a grumpy boss.”
Jett agreed with that, but she still wasn’t sure she had the chops to take on one very controlling Sothard for the long-term.
Time, however, would tell.
“Okay.” Jett sucked in a breath. “Barring murder, or at least a bloody conflict, I suppose you’ve got yourself a new employee.”
Sheila actually stood up and did a funny little happy dance.
It was adorable as hell.