Chapter 17 BBQ
BBQ
Tinker checked his phone for the umpteenth time.
Abby was supposed to call him when they arrived so he could meet them in the lobby.
He’d been too impatient to wait once they’d finished setting up the platform for the barbecue.
Harrison and Graham were on grill duty. The sides and drinks were all in the coolers and the plates and stuff had been carried up. All that was left was to wait.
“What are you all fidgety for?” Graham Senior asked.
Tink glanced at him. “I’m not fidgety.”
“Hmm. You’re dancing around like you got ants in your pants.”
Tink assessed Graham Senior, who’d become a semi-permanent fixture at the reception desk.
He’d only meant to fill in temporarily when the last receptionist had quit after having a short-lived fling with Turner.
Paige had been so mad about it, she’d threatened to fire Turner.
If he wasn’t the only one that could pilot their helicopter, she might have.
Graham talked her down and convinced his dad to answer the phones since he was always hanging around the building anyway.
The arrangement had worked for the last five or six months, and no one seemed in a hurry to hire an actual receptionist. So everyone who came to Leonidas was greeted by Graham Senior.
“How old are you, Senior?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Graham’s in his early forties, so that would make you early-to-mid-60s? I don’t think you’re old enough to say things like ‘ants in your pants.’”
“Wisdom has nothing to do with age,” Senior said.
Tink’s phone pinged. Abby and the kids had arrived. He shoved off the reception counter and through both sets of double glass doors to the parking lot. Abby’s mom, who he hadn’t officially met, and Lindsey were with them.
“Hey, you made it.” Jesus, he sounded like an idiot. Of course they made it, they were standing right there.
Abby smiled. “We did. Tinker, this is my mom, Susan.”
He shook her mom’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am. Officially, that is.”
“Well, at least he found his manners,” Susan said.
“Mother!”
Susan cocked an eyebrow and shrugged a shoulder. He twitched his mouth, trying not to smile. “Yes, ma’am. I’d forgotten them at work that day. Picked them up as soon as I got in on Monday.”
He took a large bowl from Olivia. “Here, let me take that. I’ll give you guys a tour of the office, then we’ll go out back where we’re set up for the barbecue.”
He held the doors for them and was the last one into the foyer. “This is Graham Senior. He kind of works here.”
“I’m holding down the fort for a while.” Senior stood from his desk and held his hand out to Susan. “You can call me Aiden.”
“You’re actually Aiden Graham, Senior?” He hadn’t realized Senior was actually a senior.
“Why do you think everyone calls me Senior?”
Tink shrugged. “‘Cause you’re old. I didn’t think you had a first name. I thought you were like Madonna or Cher.”
“Well, it’s Aiden,” he said gruffly.
“I’ll start calling you Aiden then.” Tink didn’t think Senior would like that, and he was right.
“Not you,” Senior said. “Just Ms. Susan.”
Susan blushed and tucked a stray strand of salt-and-pepper hair behind her ear. “You can call me Sue.”
Tink looked between the older man and woman flirting with each other and still shaking hands, although at that point there was more clasping than shaking. Damn, if Senior didn’t still have some game in his wise, old bones.
“Senior, you gonna let go of Ms. Susan so we can go out back?” Tink asked.
Senior glared, but slowly released Susan’s hand, then gazed back at her. “I’ll lock up the front and join y’all out back in a few minutes.”
“No rush, Aiden,” Tink said. “We’ll be at the tower.”
He laughed when Senior flipped him off behind the women’s backs. Abby gave him a questioning look, and he shook his head. “Just giving Senior crap.”
They walked into the main office area. “This is where we do all our office work. Paige and Graham Junior are the owners, and they have offices here. Angie has a setup in the corner where she does all her computer voodoo, and the rest of us are spread out at the desks.”
“This is a lot of space. How many work here?” Abby asked.
“About a dozen or so. There’s a few that are on jobs overseas. I know Graham bought the building with intentions of expanding. There’s an entire lower level with a garage, storage, and a gym.”
“Wow,” Lindsey said. “What is it you do?”
“Security, mostly.” Tink turned left down the hall that took them to the back lot.
“What kind of security?” Lindsey asked.
“Personal protection, event security, corporate espionage, military contract, rescue—if it falls under the definition of security, we probably do it.”
He pushed through the door at the end of the hall and stood aside for them to exit.
“Look, Mama, a helicopter!” Will jumped up and down next to Abby.
“I see that,” Abby said.
Tink scanned the Back 40, what they sarcastically called the training lot behind their building, trying to imagine how it would look to a civilian. Or a four-year-old boy in this case.
The observation tower, where they were going to barbecue, stood in the near right corner. A large, paved area, about forty yards by sixty yards, acted as the landing pad for the company’s UH-60 helicopter and separated the office building from the training village.
He looked at Will’s wide eyes and back at the TLC operations zone. Yeah, he’d have been excited when he was a little boy too if he’d been taken to a place like this.
“Can we go for a helicopter ride?” Olivia asked.
She stood beside Susan, one leg crossed over the other, the sleeves of her zip-up hoodie pulled over her hands, and her long hair partially obscuring her face.
He hated to disappoint her, especially since it was the first thing she’d said since she’d gotten out of the car. “Not today, but I’ll talk to Graham about arranging something. His daughter, Sierra, has probably already asked.”
Olivia nodded but didn’t say anything else. He looked at Abby, who gave him a quick smile.
“Who’s ready to climb some stairs?” He led the way to the observation tower and up the external stairs.
“You made it!” Angie threw up her hands and cheered when they reached the top.
Tink looked around the platform and looked at Will. “Is he going to be okay up here? I didn’t even think about that.”
The space was big enough for the barbecue, several tables and chairs, plus folding camp chairs.
It was bordered on all sides by a four-foot-high slatted railing except for the stairs.
The space between the slats were too small for Will to climb through.
But what did he know? Who knew what a four-year-old could fit in?
Abby glanced around, then knelt in front of Will. “No climbing on the railings and no going near the stairs, okay?”
“Okay, Mama.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise,” he said.
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Susan said.
“We’ll all keep an eye on him,” Angie said as she joined them. She squatted down in front of him. “Hey. You must be Will. I’m Angie.”
Will leaned toward Abby.
“I heard you like dinosaurs,” Angie said. “Is that true?”
Will nodded.
“Well, I happen to have my favorite dinosaur next to my seat. Do you want to see it?”
Will glanced up at Abby.
“You can see,” Abby said.
Will looked at Angie and nodded.
“Cool.” Angie stood and held out her hand. Will took it and she led him toward one of the camp chairs under the large canvas sail.
Paige broke off from the small group she’d been talking to and approached. “Tink, are you going to introduce everyone?”
“Uh, yeah. Paige, this is Abby, her mom Susan, her friend Lindsey, and her stepdaughter Olivia. And the little boy Angie is playing dinosaurs with is her son, Will. Everyone, this is Paige, Mi—”
“Don’t.” Paige pointed a threatening finger at him.
He smirked. “My boss.”
Paige gave him a side-eye and held out her hand to Abby. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Abby glanced at him as she shook Paige’s hand. “Finally?”
Paige grinned. “We may have all given Tink dating advice when we found out he was taking you to dinner.”
He cleared his throat. “Just which restaurant I should take you to.”
“Oh,” Abby said.
An awkward silence descended for several moments until Graham’s daughter joined them.
“Hey, I’m Sierra. You’re Olivia, right?”
Olivia nodded.
“That’s a cool name. Very classic. I’m named after a mountain range. Ugh. Can you even? Do you want a soda?”
Olivia glanced at Abby.
“Go for it.” Abby waved at Sierra.
“Sure,” Olivia said as she followed Sierra over to the cooler.
“She’s a good kid,” Paige said. “Current dissatisfaction with her name, notwithstanding.”
“Let me introduce you to the rest of the team,” Tink said. He guided Abby over to the table and set down the bowl.
He tapped Graham on the shoulder. “This is my other boss, Graham—Sierra’s dad. Devon and his wife, Addison. Ash, Paige’s significant other. Samara, our finance officer. Harrison, Turner, and Jeremy. And I believe you’ve met my sister Dani and, of course, Angie.”
Abby shook hands with those closest and waved to everyone else. “This is my mom, Susan, and my friend, Lindsey. Thank you so much for inviting us.”
“The more, the merrier.” Graham glanced over to where Sierra and Olivia had their heads together looking at a phone.
“I know Sierra appreciates having someone her own age to talk to, so I’m pretty sure I need to thank you for coming.
All I got this morning were eye rolls and preteen huffiness because she was being forced to hang out with a bunch of old people. ”
Abby laughed. “Glad I could help out.”
“Food’s ready!” Harrison called. “Come get it while it’s hot.”
Tink rested his hand on Abby’s lower back. “What do you want to drink? Beer, wine, soda, water? Something stronger?”
“Diet soda, if there is any,” she said.
“Sure. Susan? Lindsey?” He took their drink orders and went over to the cooler while they gathered around the food table. He returned with their drinks, then fixed his plate. Lindsey sat next to Turner, who had his charm turned all the way on, and Abby’s mom stood at the food table next to Senior.
“Should I tell you to warn Lindsey about Turner?” he asked as he slid in next to Abby.
She glanced at the other end of the table. “What about him?”
“He’s kind of a playboy.”
Abby grinned at him. “Like you?”
Tink snorted. “I look like a monk compared to Turner.”
“I think she knows. They’ve met before.”
“They have?”
She nodded. “Mmm hmm. The night we met. At Katherine’s.”
“Oh yeah. I forgot he was there.”
“Abby, what do you do?” Addison asked.
“I teach art and fashion design at Charleston STEAM Academy,” she said. “What about you?”
They fell into easy conversation. Tink ate and watched Abby fit seamlessly with his friends and family.
They had these barbecues every other month or so, and Tink usually had a couple of beers, ate, and left.
An hour later, they were still talking and laughing.
Abby and Lindsey shared funny stories about the kids they taught while Harrison and Jeremy tried to outdo themselves with the most embarrassing Tink story they could remember.
He shook his head each time and took their ribbing good-naturedly. “Just remember I’ve got as many stories about you as you do about me. Payback’s a bi—” He glanced at Will on the other side of Abby. “Biscuit.”
“Well, now I want to hear stories about them,” Samara said. “I feel like I don’t have enough dirt on anyone.”
“Ohh!” Angie raised her hand. “I’ve got some.”
“No!” Harrison and Jeremy shouted, sending everyone into peals of laughter.
Tinker leaned close to Abby and whispered, “Angie has dirt on everyone.”
“Even you?” she whispered back.
“She’s known me for almost fifteen years, so especially me.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “I’ll have to get her to share some of those stories with me.”
He zeroed in on her mouth and her full bottom lip. He hadn’t tasted her in days, but the memory lingered like the last notes of coffee after the final sip.
“Mommy, I’m bored,” a little voice said beside him.
Reality crashed into him, and he remembered their audience. Judging by Abby’s shuddering breath, so did she.
“Dad, can we play hide-and-seek in the village?” Sierra asked.
“Yeah, if it’s okay with Abby,” Graham said.
“What’s the village?” Abby asked.
“It’s the training village across the tarmac,” Paige explained. “We use it for our tactical training.”
“Is it really houses?” Susan asked.
Paige shook her head. “No, just plywood facades. Some of them have rooms, but there isn’t any electrical or anything like that.”
Abby shrugged. “Sure.”
“Yes!” Sierra pumped her arm. “Can we do camouflage?”
“Ange, do you mind taking them down?” Graham asked.
“On it, boss. Come on, girls, let’s get gussied up. Will, you want to come too?”
Will nodded and Angie took his hand. “Let’s go.”