Chapter 19
Fox bent over the new floorboard he was nailing in place. The Victorian home needed more work in the attic than he had originally thought. Every time he turned around, there was another problem.
He also had the problem of Edmund sitting around watching him as he worked. He had been Edmund’s entire focus from the moment he started.
The second story had a team working on the remodel, but the owner’s son insisted he handle the attic personally. The space wasn’t part of the original remodel when air conditioning was installed. It was the attic after all. He’d set up fans but still poured sweat. Nothing seemed to help.
It was late in the afternoon, and for once, it was just him in the attic. Sweat ran down his body in rivulets. He debated taking his T-shirt off.
Then Edmund showed up with his iced drink and nasty smirk. Something about him gave Fox the creeps. Everything about him gave Fox the creeps. The work was progressing slowly as well because of one specific problem—the man kept asking him questions.
Edmund took a seat in the lawn chair he had dragged up. Fox felt his gaze run over him as he undoubtedly was thinking of the best way to torture him. Finally, he sat his drink on an old box next to him and cleared his throat. Fox braced himself for the onslaught.
“Why do you have to replace those boards? They look fine to me,” Edmund asked.
“There’s old termite damage. They’re too weak for continual foot traffic,” he answered.
He began another countdown in his head. It felt like the hundredth since the project began, but he knew it was better than losing it on a client.
Did the man never go to a job? He let his mind focus on ripping out the current board and counting backward from ten.
“Hmm.” Edmund always answered with a derisive sounding grunt if the reason Fox did something didn’t agree with his observation. Fox would love to leave the floors as is so Edmund would fall through them eventually. Not enough, though, to lose his job over.
“We should go out for a drink sometime.” The comment surprised Fox so much, he almost hit his foot with the nail gun. He took a moment to secure the new board in place.
“We have a company policy against socializing with clients. Sorry.” He didn’t know if that was true, but there was no way he was going out with this man. Even for a friendly beer which he doubted Edmund drank. “Have you picked out what color you want this room?”
“No, that girl—what’s her name—is supposed to put together some samples for me to look at.” Fox found it interesting that he couldn’t remember the name of the woman he’d hit on earlier and who turned him down. What a farce.
“Heidi?”
“Whatever,” he answered with a shrug. “Where do you buy your shirts?”
“Oh.” Fox looked down at his T-shirt. “Target usually. Sometimes Tractor Supply, if I’m near one.”
“Goodness,” Edmund laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a Target.
Or to, what did you call it? Tractor something?
I will admit, I prefer a more polished look.
If I’m going to wear a T-shirt,” he added with disdain in his voice.
“It’s going to be, at the very least, Ralph Lauren.
” He picked an imaginary speck of dirt from his dress shirt.
Fox couldn’t think of an appropriate answer, so he didn’t say anything.
“Did you go to school to learn how to do that?” Edmund waved dismissively at the floor.
“No, just on the job training. I started at the bottom and worked my way up.” Fox was proud of how far he had come at this job.
From gopher to supervisor was nothing to sneeze at in the construction industry.
He’d begun at eighteen when he moved to Boston with his sister.
She went to college while he went to work. He was proud of both of them.
“Yes, I suppose. Not everyone can have a real education after all. We need the rest of you to make the world spin.”
Was the guy trying to get under his skin? He hit a new board harder than necessary with the nail gun. If he stopped responding, maybe Edmund would grow bored and drift off.
He walked to the farthest corner from where Edmund sat in his chair to examine the boards. There weren’t as many that needed replaced, but it would at least give him a reprieve from the questions. He made a mental note to bring his ear protection tomorrow.
“What do you do for fun, Fox? What gets your motor going when you’re not here?” Edmund said a little louder.
“I spend time with my family,” he answered.
“Ahh, the little woman and the demon seeds.” Fox gave him a hard stare, but Edmund seemed unfazed. “No nights out with the boys?”
“Just work and family.”
“No little by-blows running around out there from too much cheap beer at the bar?”
What. The. Actual. Hell?
“I need to go speak to Joey about something. Excuse me,” Fox said, laying the nail gun down. If he didn’t leave now, he might drive a nail through Edmund’s head.
Without waiting for an answer, he headed for the stairs. Unfortunately, Edmund followed him. Fox picked up his pace when he reached the second floor almost running into the foreman when he turned a corner.
“Hey, Fox. How’s it coming along up there?” Joey asked.
“Slowly,” Edmund answered behind him. Fox barely managed not to roll his eyes. “He’s spending a lot of time inspecting the floor.”
“Ahh, well he’s just one man up there, and it’s important that the floors hold up. When we’re finished down here, I can send more up to help him,” he said, addressing Edmund before turning back to Fox.
“I don’t think he needs more help,” Edmund continued. “I just think he needs to focus a little more and move on to more important things.”
“I was coming to find you anyway,” Joey said after a few minutes looking between the two men.
His eyebrows crimped in the middle as he studied Edmund.
Fox wasn’t sure if his foreman could read minds or not, but he must know that Fox couldn’t take much more without breaking.
Edmund was an asshole. “Boss said there’s some problem at the Woburn build. He wants you to go check on that.”
“Great, good. Can you send up someone to finish replacing the floorboards upstairs? That would help me a lot.”
“Sure. You’d better head out though.”
With a grateful nod, Fox headed to the back stairs. He left Edmund scowling after him. What that man’s problem was with him he couldn’t begin to fathom. The sooner this job was over, the better.
He tossed his tool belt into the seat of his truck and jumped in the driver’s side. It wasn’t even worth returning his gear to the site.
He doubted there was anything wrong with any of his job sites. The foremen were too good to let something get out of hand. Any excuse to get out of there, he welcomed, though.
He’d have to take Joey out for a beer when they were finished to thank him. That he wouldn’t mind. At least, this way, he could pick up Ethan before it got too much later.
Deciding it wouldn’t hurt to check on the Woburn job site anyway, he pulled into the site parking area after weaving through the north side of the city. He grabbed his hard hat off the back seat and shoved it on his head as he left his truck. The foreman met him in front of the building.
“Heard you were spending your time man-caving an attic for some eccentric,” he said as he shook Fox’s hand.
“Yeah, but I left early to see how things are going here.”
“We’re right on schedule. It’s been a pretty quiet couple of days. Come on, and I’ll show you where we are.”
Fox spent the next half hour walking the site with the foreman.
The man had been right. Everything was progressing smoothly.
After visiting for a few minutes, he returned to his truck.
He didn’t start the engine though. Instead, he sat contemplating his next move.
He needed to pick Ethan up from Bailey’s house, but he really didn’t need to go there again.
Walking away last time nearly killed him.
His mind drifted to the night before. She had felt so good with her body pressed against his. There was nothing more he wanted than to feel her move under him, to feel her body heat and catch her moans in a long, languid kiss. With Ethan already asleep, the temptation had been almost undeniable.
But he had managed to drag himself out the door before they crossed that line. It would be better from now on to meet in a more public place. He would still want her with every fabric of his being, but he would be less tempted to act on those feelings.
He pulled his phone out of his front pocket and pushed in her number.
Brooke had pitched a massive fit when she discovered her sister’s contact information in his phone.
He tried to explain to her that it was necessary for Ethan’s sake.
She refused to let the matter drop, though, and eventually, he calmed her using a different means.
“Hello.” The very sound of her voice made him smile.
“Hey, I need to pick up Ethan. Is there any way you can meet me at the burger place near Woburn?”
“The one with the playground?”
“That’s the one. I’m almost finished at the job site. I’ll buy, if you don’t mind a burger for dinner.”
“No, sounds good. I’ll get Ethan from outside, and we’ll head that way.” They disconnected, and he sighed in relief. Avoiding Bailey’s house wasn’t going to solve the problem, but at least he had more time to come up with a solution.
He started the engine and pulled back onto the street. It was only a ten-minute drive away, but he was anxious to see them both again.
He was sitting in a booth near the playscape when they arrived. Bailey climbed out of her car. Her legs swung out first, giving him a chance to take them in.
She looked only slightly similar to her sister. They both had blonde hair and blue eyes, but that was where it stopped. Where Brooke was waif thin, Bailey had soft round features. He liked soft more and more all the time.
“Fox!” Ethan called from across the restaurant the minute the little boy spotted him. Fox swept him into a hug when they met at the booth. “Can I go play?”
“Sure. I’ll go order.” He barely got the words out before Ethan disappeared behind the glassed play area. “Okay, then. What would you like?” he asked, turning to Bailey.
“A burger is fine. Whatever the meal is.”
Fox walked to the counter to place their orders. A few minutes later, he scooped up a tray with their food. He added a couple different items from the service area before walking back to the table.
It took a couple of minutes to sort the items. He rapped on the glass to catch Ethan’s attention, and the boy held up a finger in a plea to have one more minute. Fox nodded. Ethan would rather eat his burger cold on the way home, than give up any time on the playscape.
“How was work?” Bailey asked. He assumed there would be no discussion about last night.
“Long. I’m doing a remodel, and the owner is insisting I stay on the job the entire time,” he said, popping a french fry in his mouth. “The owner’s son actually. It’s odd. He’s odd.”
“That’s what you said before. Is it getting worse?”
“This time, he asked me if I’ve had any kids with the barflies where I hang out with the boys. That was the gist anyway. He also suggested we go out for a drink sometime. I had to get out of there before I thumped him a good one.”
“That’s so weird. Why would anyone suggest you have multiple extra kids?”
“Yeah, no idea.” They sat in silence while they worked on their meals. Finally, Fox felt like he had to say something more. “About last night.”
“I get it,” she said, cutting him off. “I really do. I think I’m going to head out.” She sat her trash on the tray and stood. Fox stood also.
“Bailey.”
“Tell Ethan bye for me. Call me anytime you need me to keep him, but I don’t want to be in the middle of whatever problems you and my sister are having. Thanks for dinner.” She turned before he could answer and walked quickly for the door.
He debated chasing after her, but knew he’d only make everything worse. She was right. He needed to get his shit together. Either he dug in and worked it out with Brooke, or he left.
He slumped back down in the booth. It had been tempting to change Bailey’s mind in to staying, but that wasn’t fair. He couldn’t always fix the mess he was embroiled in by forcing a different outcome.
If there was one person he didn’t want to alter their mood, it was Bailey. She was never anything but sweet and loving. In other words, she was already pretty perfect.
Standing back up, he collected the trash and dumped it in the trash can. He wrapped up the bag with Ethan’s meal. Pushing into the playscape, he searched the tubes until he saw Ethan playing with a couple of other kids.
“Time to go, buddy.”
“Awww,” Ethan complained, but he slid down one of the slides to meet Fox. “I made some new friends.”
“That’s great.” Fox held out his hand for Ethan to take. Together they walked out to the work truck.
“Where’s Aunt Bailey?”
“She had to run. She said to tell you she had fun.”
“I don’t think she did,” he answered. Fox stopped wrestling the seat belt that went over his seat.
“Why do you think that?”
“Because she was sad.”
“Did she say why she was sad?”
“She said she wasn’t when I asked, but I think that was a fib.
She just acted sad.” Fox finished buckling Ethan in and climbed into the front.
He knew there was a good chance he was the reason she was sad.
Why hadn’t he picked up on it when she walked in?
He heard Ethan open his food in the back seat.
He debated briefly about which direction he should go. Should he go to Bailey’s? But he couldn’t think of how the situation could be made any better. A simple conversation wasn’t going to do it. Finally, he turned toward home. It was his only option.