Bates #2
I grab my gear in a daze, and when I get out front, they’re waiting for me. I throw my bags, toolkits, and the refurbished conveyor gearbox into the back of the truck with Lana’s luggage, then I look inside the cab and open the passenger door to stare at Hawk over the empty front seat.
“How come I get shotgun?” I ask, glancing at Lana, who’s staring out the window from the back seat like some fucking second-class citizen instead of the boss’s daughter.
“Your legs are longer, and you’re a better conversationalist. Lana’s only going to talk to me if she needs something or wants to argue a point,” Hawk says with a strained smile. “She’s efficient like that.”
I drag my hands down my face, pull myself together, and climb in while wishing I had a fucking road map to navigate this awkward family situation. There are very few benefits to having exactly zero family, and I’d forgotten all about them until just now.
We’re still a two-hour drive from the claim.
Two hours is a long time to be trapped in this nightmare.
Time flies so much faster when you’re fucking your good friend’s daughter as many times as you can in one night…
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and try not to groan.
I try not to make any noise at all.
I don’t want to make anything worse for anybody. If I try to comfort Lana, then I’ll reveal more than I want to. If I try to comfort Hawk, then Lana’s going to hate me for siding with him when he’s actually kind of a dick to her.
The silence gets incredibly thick and uncomfortable as Hawk and his daughter both scowl through the truck’s glass.
“So…” I let the word hang there a while I figure out a way to relieve the suffocating tension. “Efficiency and productivity. Those sound like helpful skills to bring to a gold mine.”
I glance between the incongruous pair to see who’ll respond.
Lana only studies her hands, which she’s keeping clasped tightly in her lap, and Hawk gives me a “bless you for trying” kind of look.
“I’m glad you think so,” he says, glancing at Lana in his rearview mirror.
“Lana will be riding your ass as much as anyone else’s to make sure everything’s dialed-in to perfection, and while she tries hard, she’s not great in social situations,” he says with no apparent notion that his words sound harsh and condescending.
I glance at Lana to see how she took the hit.
“As my lead supervisor, you’ll have to do a lot toward smoothing things over with the guys and getting them on board with her suggestions. Negotiating and such,” Hawk continues. “Once Goose has made her notes and wants to change things, I mean.”
“Uh-huh. Is Lana deaf, Hawk?” I ask, glancing back at her again. “Because you’re talking like she’s not sitting right behind you, wishing she had the power to kill you with her mind for calling her socially inept.”
Hawk gives me an eye roll before throwing an uncomfortable glance at Lana via his rearview mirror again. “You’re not without your charm. You’re just an acquired taste, is all. Right, Goose?”
Lana ignores him and stares out her window again.
Hawk sighs. “Lana…?”
When he gets no answer, he turns to me and shrugs. “She’s got another dad who she likes better than me, but she’s a good kid. She shoots straight, and once she sets her mind to something, she always gets the job done. Those are good things that are easy to love.”
“Agreed,” I reply without thinking — a little too quickly, judging by the looks on both their faces. “You must be very proud,” I amend.
Hawk chuckles softly, and a nostalgic glint appears in his eyes as he smiles.
“She once organized a week-long vacation to Disneyland for me and her sisters, coordinating travel plans and booking all the flights so I could collect each of them as I flew cross-country, and I swear, all I had to do was supply my credit card. She was nine. It was a great trip, filled with activities she’d booked.
The girls got to know each other, and the whole thing was fucking seamless, Kelly — I kid you not.
” Hawk grins like the proud dad he should be, and I glance back at Lana to see if she’s hearing it.
She wipes at her cheek, but she’s still looking out her window. I think she might be crying.
My chest hurts, and I don’t know what to do when I can’t demand Hawk pull over so I can hug her.
I sit bolt upright in my seat, trying not to feel anything at all, let alone severely inappropriate feelings for an off-limits woman I’ve just met when I should be steering clear of women altogether.
Hawk’s still smiling, and when he speaks again, he’s gazing out at the road before us as if he can see the past and the future converging up ahead.
“Now she’s finished her education, and she’s even got a little mining experience under her belt. Hey, Goose? Tell Kelly what you did for Scully over in Alaska last season.”
I grip the armrest on the door and turn in disbelief to my friend.
“Scully? Are you fucking nuts? You let her go to Scully’s? Alone?”
My eyes rush to Lana, but her lips do that thing where they fold in on themselves, sealing the vault shut, and she looks out the window again.
Hawk shrugs. “Didn’t really get a say in the matter. I refused to let her ruffle feathers with trials on our claim for her thesis, so she bartered her way onto Scully’s claim and tested her theories there instead.”
He turns to find me glaring at him.
“What?” he asks, acting all innocent and shit. “I needed a banger season, and she couldn’t guarantee those kinds of results. Everything worked out. She did okay for herself.”
“No thanks to you,” Lana mutters from the back.
“Well, I wasn’t about to help you out when you purposely went behind my back to help the old bastard kick my ass at the end-of-season weigh in,” he argues via the mirror before turning back to meet my death glare. “I lost fifty grand and a D10 dozer on that wager.”
I want to scream — “Serves you right for not having any fucking faith in your clearly capable daughter!” — but I don’t think it’ll do me any favors. I just keep staring instead, so that Hawk and Lana both know I’m not thrilled about any of it.
Hawk splits his attention between my unimpressed face and the road.
“She did fine,” he repeats, but I don’t miss the quick check he does in the mirror, or the tightening of Lana’s arms that are now wrapped around her middle.
“She had a bit of a rough season,” he admits in a more honest tone.
“But once she actually got those boys washing rocks her way, they all appreciated the boost in their end-of-season gold bonuses. This season, she’ll be on our side, so there’ll be more gold in the box for us, and we’ll be the ones taking home the pot from the gamble.
Me and the girls. Even split. Right, Goose? ”
“That’s what is says in the signed contract I had notarized,” Lana agrees.
Hawk grips the steering wheel and leans forward to get closer to the mirror, as if he can hear better through it. “You notarized it?”
“Had to make it official before I sent Martha and Harper their copies,” Lana states matter-of-factly. “I have your copy and the original with me. It’s laminated. I’m here, and we’re doing this. There’s no going back on the deal.”