Chapter 3
Jordan came out of his office as Mel gathered her things for the evening. She’d been working with him for two weeks and though the first time payday had rolled around it’d been a madhouse she was happy as could be working there. “Mel, can you hold on a second?”
“Yeah, did I forget something?” she asked looking around the office. It was a little after six and she thought she’d finished everything she needed to for tonight.
“No, I wondered if you wanted to get something to eat and I can let you know about Tracks’ project.”
“Sure…anywhere in particular?”
“I think I know the perfect place. My friends and I used to hang out there when we were younger, and after an entire week of work I think we all deserve to feel younger, don’t you?”
She grinned at him wondering what he’d think if he knew the truth. “Well you are the boss.”
“That’s not what it feels like in this place anymore, not that I’m complaining. You’ve gotten me organized, cataloged, marketed, and who knows what else in two weeks.”
“What can I say I’m very resourceful.”
They took her Jeep, but he drove and she relaxed back into the seat not caring that she shouldn’t be spending more time with him than she was.
The place they pulled up to ended up being a burger joint that smelled divine.
She liked eating healthily and keeping herself in shape, but her weaknesses were pizza and burgers, as long as they weren’t too greasy at least since it didn’t sit well in her stomach.
“Why aren’t you in college?” he asked once the waitress had taken their drink orders surprising her a bit with the question if he’d wanted to talk about Henry and the project.
“My grandma got sick. She’s all I have and I didn’t want someone else taking care of her.
I figure one of these days I’ll get around to it but for now, I’d rather work and spend the time with her,” she said crossing her fingers under the booth to ward off any evil spirits her lies might create from heading her way.
It might be a little childish but hey, it was better than risking it with the way her life had gone already.
She didn’t need any more bad luck or any more bad things happening to her.
“In other words when she’s no longer here?”
“Yeah,” she said lowering her eyes to the menu hoping he’d drop it. Unfortunately, after the waitress left them again, he started back in on the topic.
“Is that a possibility of happening anytime soon?”
“I don’t know. The doctors say for now she’s holding her own, but they give her maybe another year—two at the max.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Jordan asked, concern on his face that made her feel awful for lying to him about it, and yet amazing since she barely knew him still.
“Her heart…it’s slowly giving out.”
“And your parents?”
“My father left when I was…well probably before I was really conceived, and my mom ran out on me when I was fifteen.”
“Ran out?” Jordan’s brow lifted in shock, a tinge of anger filling his eyes when she told him the truth this time.
“When I went to bed the night before my fifteenth birthday, she was there but the next morning, she was gone and so was her stuff.”
“I am so sorry that happened to you, Mel. I can’t imagine what that was like.”
“It sucked from a financial aspect but emotionally…well, she was never really around before then either. For the last…since I was seven Tate and I have celebrated my birthday together.” Mel caught herself in time before she spilt the truth of how many years it really was now.
“We go to this pizza parlor and order something unheard of…some combination that should never go together and we eat it.”
“You just eat it?” Jordan asked, his brow lifting a hint her way making her smile. “No questioning, no worries that it’ll take like crap?”
“That’s the fun in it. Not knowing if you’ll take one bite and fall in love with the flavors or if you do and feel like…”
“Okay, I think I get the picture,” he said when she used her hand to motion the act of throwing up rather than say it. “It sounds like the two of you are close, maybe even closer than with your grandmother.”
“My grandmother hasn’t been well for a long time, she had issues getting around long before she really got sick,” she lied, crossing her finger again, the lies were getting harder to get out when he looked at her the way he was—with concern and just a little something else in his eyes.
“Tate is like a brother to me. He knows all of my secrets and refuses to tell anyone else. I know I could rely on him to come pick me up at three in the morning if I needed him without a question.”
“You love him.”
“I do but it’s strictly platonic. The idea of kissing him again…”
“Again?” he asked as the waitress set their order down in front of them.
“He kissed me once; it was my thirteenth birthday. He was still twelve and sick as a dog, but he refused to postpone my birthday celebration and then he kissed me and it was gross. He probably turned me off boys for years, plus I ended up sick as an added bonus,” she stated rearranging the topping on her burger, setting the pickles and tomato aside before putting a bit more ketchup on it.
“What?” she asked as he watched her with a hint of a smile on his lips.
“No tomato but extra ketchup?”
“I don’t like the taste of them or pickles, at least not this kind of pickle. I’ll eat the little sweet midgets but that’s it.”
“You’re a very odd girl Melinda Taube.”
“I know, but it’s part of my charm. But now it’s your turn, what have you discovered about Henry and his project?”
“You were right. The way the plans are set up even the strongest set of support beams won’t help it. There should be at least twice as many throughout the complex as well as in the foundation than what they’re calling for in the plans.”
“In other words if they were able to bribe someone into giving them a pass on the inspection sooner or later it’s going to come down.”
“It might hold for a bit but the more people you put in it, the more equipment, the longer it stands, the more storms that buffer it…” Jordan said and she shuddered a bit knowing what a collapse of a building the size of the one that Henry wanted built could do, not only to anyone inside it, but also to those next to it, even down the block from it, because he wanted it in the middle of town.
“How do you stop it from happening?”
“We go over Tracks’ head and the head of the safety division. I slipped a copy of the plans to a few friends over at the code board and they looked over it too, coming to the same conclusion.”
“Meaning?” she asked when he stopped.
“Meaning it’s done, there is no way Tracks is going to be able to build that structure without adjusting the plans and without a full inspection by two outside inspectors that the board will randomly choose.”
“You’re kidding?” she said as her eyes lit up with happiness.
“Nope, and I could also mention that the bank wants to see the plans before they approve the loan and that I happen to be related to a member of the board who has a copy of the original plans to compare to the revised ones.”
“Jordan!” She laughed getting up and moving to his side to hug him before she could stop herself. “Thank you.”
“You’re the one who noticed it in the first place Mel. Which I might add is pretty impressive, your calculations were spot on.”
She returned to her side of the booth praying that she wasn’t blushing from her dumb move.
“Thank goodness for that,” she said trying to play it off as nothing.
“Mel, I know guys from my classes who couldn’t manage to figure out load capacities and they did study engineering. Are you going to tell me how you managed to?”
“Tate forced me to take a shop class with him; he wanted some more time to hang together, and he wanted to take the class. I had a free period and discovered I was good at it. That made the rest of the guys a little mad, especially when Tate and I managed to build the winning birdhouse. It had to withstand winds up to sixty miles an hour, we managed eighty.”
“Maybe I should hire you on as a junior engineer then,” he teased before nodding towards the empty pool table. “You play?”
“I might just a little,” she answered hiding the truth behind her closed eyes.
“Let’s see then,” he said grabbing her hand and pulling her towards it. They played the first game, and she held back trying to gauge his skill level then on the second she decided to just enjoy the night.
“You’re setting that up wrong,” he warned coming up behind her. “You want to hit the middle of the cue, or it’ll just glance the ball you want and send it in the wrong direction.”
“Then show me how to do it,” she stated enjoying the feel of his arms around her body guiding her shot.
“Melinda?” some said as they went to hit the ball. It distracted them both and the cue went flying as they barely managed to hold onto the stick. “Damn…you don’t have to maim me with a cue ball.”
“Brent, hi,” she said glancing around the diner to see if anyone else from their school was there.
“Hi, I didn’t mean to interrupt I just thought it was you, now I guess I know why you continue to say no,” he said looking at Jordan. “Brent Rackers,” he said holding out his hand to Jordan.
“Jordan Holmes,” he replied curiously.
“I’ll see you around Melinda. Oh and I never told you but the way you put Stephanie in her place…classic,” he said as he turned to go.
“Who was he?” Jordan inquired putting the cue back onto the table.
“Someone from school; he’s a year ahead of me. We didn’t hang out much.”
“But he’s been asking you out constantly?”
“Yeah but he’s not my type. He’s one of the semi-rich who pretends they’re richer to impress people.”
“Opposed to the fabulously rich who pretend they’re poor?” he joked and she laughed in agreement.
“Something like that. Come on let’s finish this game and then loser of the third has to clean up the kitchen at work for…a month.”
“You really want to bet that? We take turns right now.”