5. Find That For Yourself
FIND THAT FOR YOURSELF
A be showed up on the McGill property at eleven. His crew was finishing up the first of the paths and working fast to lay the rest of the pavers. He wanted to get it all tamped down before the rain hit tonight. No work here for them for two days. Probably no work for his guys at all.
He’d be doing office work, which he hated with a passion but knew it had to be done too.
At least the things his mother or office manager didn’t deal with.
“It looks great,” Reese said when Abe was walking around inspecting everything. They had about twelve more rows to go, then could fill the gaps in with sand after the guys had fun with the plate compactor and got it all set in place.
“Thanks,” he said. “I love the stone you chose.”
Expensive for sure. And they were getting lots of it.
There were no run-of-the-mill materials on this property.
“Poppy picked it. Unless it’s wood, I don’t have a ton of say. She’s got much better taste than me. We always go with her choices in the end, so I let her pick and I’ll narrow down from that.”
“Hey,” he said. “Whatever works. I’m going to let the guys do this and I’ll take a mental break and mow your lawn.”
“I feel so special,” Reese said, grinning. “That the owner is mowing my lawn.”
He liked the dude and his personality.
“I’ve been mowing lawns since I was eight,” he said. “Now I only get to do it when we are short staffed. Between throwing stones or driving around to clear my head, I think I know what I’d rather do today.”
“That’s what being the boss allows you to do,” Reese said, slapping him on the back.
“I’ll never work for anyone else. Not sure how people do it,” he said.
He just wasn’t cut out for it and never gave the impression he was.
“Lucky for us, we don’t have to find out,” Reese said.
He checked in with Mac one more time and then went to the trailer with the Husqvarna zero-turn mower and drove it off the back.
With the speed this baby had, he’d be done in no time and could call it a day while he helped the guys clean up and put the equipment away until Monday.
He was just getting ready to get started when his phone rang in his pocket, so he shut the mower off and pulled it out to answer even though he had his earbuds in to talk hands fee. He’d been planning on blaring the music that was interrupted by an announcement it was his mother.
Though he could call her back later and she’d understand, he opted to take it.
It’s not like he was in a rush.
“Hi, Mom,” he said.
“Abe,” his mother said. “I wasn’t sure if you’d answer.”
“Getting ready to mow a lawn.”
His mother laughed. “You love doing that. That’s when we knew you’d be taking over your father’s business.”
“I do enjoy it,” he said. “I’d rather be riding a tractor than a desk any day.”
“Your father always said that too,” his mother said.
It still caused a knife in his chest to hear his mother say those things.
Kurt Cooke shouldn’t have died so suddenly at a young age, but he wouldn’t have wanted to suffer either.
“He did,” Abe said. “How are you doing? You don’t normally call me during the day. Everything okay?”
“I wanted to let you know I finished with my last physical therapy appointment. I’m free.”
He laughed. “Good for you,” he said.
His mother had gotten into an accident and broken her pelvis. It was a long recovery and he went to stay and help her for two months in early spring.
She wanted to kick him out sooner, but he refused.
Thankfully it was the slower time of the year for him and he was lucky enough to have Easton volunteer to keep everything going.
“I keep you updated so you don’t think I can’t take care of myself.”
Carrie Cooke could never be accused of being someone who couldn’t take care of herself.
“I know you’re fine. I’m surprised you even continued with your PT. I expected you to self-diagnose that you were ready to go.”
His mother laughed. “I had a few moments where I was going to but then feared you’d fly back here and give me shit in person.”
“I would have,” he said. “With Easton right next to me.”
His mother sighed. “My boys. You always stuck together.”
He smiled. “Now he’s got someone else he can give shit to. Or more like she’s giving it to him.”
“I’m so happy for him. He deserves that in life. I can’t wait to meet Laurel in person.”
He knew his mother had talked to Laurel and met her over video.
“You’ll love her. And she feeds me.”
“You should do something nice for her in return,” his mother said.
“I’ve offered to take them out to dinner,” he said. “Easton doesn’t want me cooking for him.”
“He’s probably afraid you’re going to make a salad.”
His mother was laughing and he let out a little gag. He was never going to live down the fact that he’d once put together a salad of wilted lettuce and other rotten veggies and ate it before he knew it was bad.
He could barely look at lettuce the same now. At least not that spring mix kind with all the colors in it.
“He knows better. Laurel eats salads all the time and she laughs when I look away from them.”
“You need to find that for yourself,” his mother said.
Here she went again. “It’s not easy,” he said. “Not everyone is as wonderful or as accepting as my mother.”
“You’re damn straight,” his mother said. “But when you find that woman, don’t you dare let her go.”
Like he’d had any choice with Ella.
He’d tried.
He looked like a fool in the end.
He still felt like one that he got all messed up in the head when he saw her in the store with her new man looking happy without a care in the world.
The smile that lit up her eyes when she used to look at him was now directed at someone the complete opposite of who he could be.
He wasn’t sure if that was a slap in the face or should make him feel better.
“Good advice to have,” he said. “If I find someone.”
“When you do,” his mother said. “Stop saying if.”
“Got it,” he said. “And I need to get to work.”
“Bye, Abe. I’ll talk to you soon.”
He hung up, found the music he wanted to listen to, then slid his phone back in his pocket to start the tractor back up and drove off.
The wind hit his face like a heavy dewy damp cloth. The humidity was a bitch and it was part of the reason he wanted to do this. Any breeze was better than the stale air sitting in the sky waiting for the much-needed rain to fall.
But anyone who worked outside would tell you they’d prefer the rain at night or on the weekends.
He finished the top of the property, then got closer to the house and around back where he saw the nanny outside with Reese’s daughter again.
They were in a big sandbox building what looked to be some castles while a stroller was in the shade.
Holly, that was Reese’s daughter’s name. Named after Poppy’s mother who the three girls lost when they were young.
The toddler got up and ran out of the sandbox and toward the fence to wave at him as he came closer by.
He smiled and gave her a little wave back.
The nanny was smiling and his jaw dropped. She didn’t appear to recognize him and he imagined the hat pulled down on his head with his sunglasses on were shielding most of his face.
Motherfucker.
It was Daphne.
The woman who slipped out of his bed.
How do you track someone down with only their first name?
It was almost impossible without a lot of money and it’d made no sense for him to try to find her.
But it seemed like he did and she had no clue.
She turned quickly to go to the stroller and he spun around in the tractor laughing and formulating his next plan of action.