Chapter 7
GOD, HE had been such a fool to even think of letting Forrest go.
There was a light inside him that drew Conrad, and he wanted to bask in that light for as long as possible.
As they ate their dinner, Conrad watched him, his gaze drawn to his lips and his throat.
His strength and sharp mind were as attractive as his muscles and the intensity in his eyes.
Conrad set down his burger and just stared at the man, wondering how in the hell he could have come so close to just walking away… out of fear.
“Conrad,” Forrest said softly.
“Daddy… are you sick?” Lizzie asked, putting her hand to his forehead the way he did to her.
“I’m fine.” He pulled his mind out of his musings. “I was just thinking.” He pulled Lizzie to him and tickled her lightly, making her laugh.
“About what?” Forrest asked with a quirk of his lips.
“Oh, about you and maybe what you meant.”
Forrest shrugged. “It’s pretty simple. Everyone has secrets and things they don’t want others to find out. Maybe we can figure out one of Lester’s. I’m not saying to blackmail him or anything. But let him know that he has things he doesn’t want made public, so he should respect others.”
Conrad rolled his eyes. “That sounds like blackmail to me. And I don’t want to go around digging into the lives of the people I work with. That would be creepy.”
“Maybe, but people who live in glass houses…,” Forrest mused. “So we look into Lester and find out what kind of house he lives in. I’m willing to bet he throws his stones to make sure that others don’t get their hands on any. I’m not saying we get him to pay anything, just stop his stone throwing.”
Conrad liked that idea. He was really getting tired of Lester being a pain in the ass. He always seemed to be there when anything was happening, stirring the pot and filling the otherwise quiet office with useless drama. “Okay. Maybe we can see if there is anything, but I’m not sure about this.”
Forrest took his hand. “I’m not either. But we can see what we can do to get this guy off your back.
Sometimes nosy people needed to get their noses tweaked a little.
That’s all I’m saying, and I’m only suggesting that we find something embarrassing about him.
I’m not saying that we’re looking to dig up anything criminal.
If that were to happen, we’d take whatever we had to the police right away. ”
“Okay. We can see what there might be.” He liked the idea of getting the upper hand with him.
At least then Lester wouldn’t go through the office looking like a smug ass all the time and spending parts of his days spreading rumors and telling stories.
Give him a taste of his own medicine. “But how do you do that sort of thing?”
“Do what?” Lizzie asked.
“Nothing,” Conrad told her. “Finish your dinner, okay?”
“Yes, Daddy. I am.” She ate slowly at the best of times, but tonight she seemed to be moving in slow motion.
Still, she finished most of the nuggets and fries.
She also ate all her apples, so Conrad counted it as a win.
“Help me?” She pressed the packet with the toy into his hand, and Conrad put it together for her.
He finished eating and gathered up the paper before throwing it all away.
This was not his favorite meal, but Lizzie liked it, and watching Forrest eat his Big Mac and lick the sauce off his fingers was more than worth the trip.
Damn, the man was oblivious and sexy at the same time.
Forrest finished eating, and after cleaning up, they all got back in the car.
“Can we get ice cream?” Lizzie asked from the back seat almost as soon as he pulled out of the drive.
“No. You just ate and you can’t still be hungry.
Besides, you got what you wanted for dinner.
” And there was enough fat in that for anyone.
Besides, if he stopped to get one for her, then he’d want one, and Conrad was trying to watch his weight.
He spent a lot of time behind a desk and wasn’t getting as much activity as he should, so stuff like ice cream just needed to stay off his diet.
“What if I want ice cream?” Forrest asked.
Conrad sighed. “You’re both terrible, and I have some at home if you really want it. Either you have hollow legs, or you didn’t eat enough at dinner.” He chuckled as both Forrest and Lizzie groaned. “Now, let’s go. It’s someone’s bath night, and then she needs to get ready for bed.”
Lizzie groaned but said little more. Once they got to the house, they went inside.
“You can wait here if you want. I need to get her ready for bed. Then we can talk if you want to stick around.” He’d understand if Forrest needed to go.
He probably had work he needed to do, and Lizzie was going to need her bath and then a story.
Hopefully she would go down after that, but sometimes it was a struggle to get her to sleep.
THANKFULLY, SHE went down easily, and Conrad closed the door before going to the living room where Forrest sat on the sofa, reading on his phone.
“Is she asleep?”
“I hope so. Sometimes she just refuses to go down. I think I need to see to it that she gets more exercise or something. I’m not sure.
But after her story and some quiet time, I got her in bed.
Now all I can do is hope she stays asleep.
She’s usually really good about sleeping through the night, but you never know.
” He thought about settling on the sofa but extended his hand. “Wanna see something?”
Forrest nodded and put his phone in his pocket. Then Conrad led him to the basement door and unlocked it. “What’s all this?”
“You’ll see.” He turned on the lights, and they descended the stairs. Forrest gasped as soon as his head cleared the bulkhead. “Lizzie has never been down here.”
“Oh my God,” Forrest whispered as he wandered over to the Star Wars shelf. “You have all of them.”
“Not all, but most.”
“And there are three Death Stars?” Forrest asked in a bit of awe.
“Yeah. There are multiple versions. This one is the very first one they came out with. I begged my mom for it for Christmas. It was really expensive at the time, and I have no idea where she got a set. It took me days to put together.” He smiled as Forrest looked over all the sets.
There were hundreds of them. Everything from cars, to the Titanic and Coliseum, to all the Disney castles and all the space models.
“You must have started collecting….”
“When I was eight years old. I got Lego bricks before then, but this was my first set. The wall of my bedroom was all shelves growing up, and then once I moved out, I added more and more.” He sat at the table in the middle of the room.
“These designs over here are my own creations. I love making characters.” He directed Forrest to a shelf filled with various animals and even people.
Then he stood and opened the door to the next room.
“And this is my brick pit. I have the bricks all arranged by shape and color. One of the contests I won came with a cash prize as well as half a million bricks.” He motioned to the tubs in back.
“Half of them are still in the tubs because I haven’t needed them yet. ”
“I suppose with Lizzie….”
“I really don’t have all that much time. I’m hoping that when she gets older, she’ll come to love them too and this will be something we can do together. But at the moment, it’s probably too big a temptation for a five-year-old to come through here and do a Hulk Smash… so I keep it closed off.”
“I see. And do you have friends you build with?” Forrest asked.
“Not really. Though if you’d like to try your hand, we could build something together. I’ve watched the Lego Masters on TV, and they have sone really interesting challenges.”
“Which is your favorite?” Forrest asked.
“The single brick challenge.” He lifted his gaze to where he had hung a single Lego from a wire. “I set this up some time ago, but never got the chance to work on it.” He pulled open a drawer and pulled out his drawing. “I was planning a pterodactyl in flight.”
“Jesus…,” Forrest whispered. “That’s really next level.
” Then he smiled. “I don’t know if we’ll have the time for this tonight, but I’m up for it.
I mean, I’m pretty good with mechanisms and things.
So maybe we could make the wings flap. That would be cool.
But it would have to be light enough that it will hold together. ”
“Exactly. I was thinking that the body would need to be hollow, and we could make the wings out of some of the architectural pieces and sails from ships. That would be really cool, and the wings would be strong, but light.” He showed Forrest his ideas.
“I also thought we could make some sort of prey dinosaur on the ground so it would give our character some context.”
“Jesus, you really know how to do this. I suppose a big thing about the competitions is the story you tell.”
“It is. The judges need to be able to see the story just by looking at it. If they have to ask a ton of questions, then you’re done.
Sometimes I told the story anyway because it’s a chance to bring in all the elements they may not see, but everything I say refers to the model.
It was always so much fun for me to come up with the full story, especially one with many things going on.
” He set the design aside. “What sort of things do you like to build?”
“I used to make big, fanciful castles. Turrets and drawbridges, that sort of thing. I liked making dragons too, though mine weren’t as good as the ones you made.” He swallowed hard. “Do you still compete sometimes?”
“Not since I got Lizzie. I only get so much vacation time, and I really want to spend what time I have with her. Maybe in a few years I can start doing them again. But right now she needs me, and that’s more important than Lego.
” He looked around the room. “I’ve actually thought about selling all this stuff and putting this part of my life behind me. I mean….”