Chapter 35 Lincoln
LINCOLN
@pancakesareelite:
I thought I had enough power to take him on my own but he finished me within a second. I should have waited for you
@theanswerisno:
Don’t worry about it. We live and learn.
@pancakesareelite:
You’re too nice to me
@theanswerisno:
Everyone else is too mean
By Tuesday afternoon, I was a little concerned that Elizabeth hadn’t replied.
Even though I wasn’t ready to speak to her about…
everything, it was worrying that she hadn’t asked for my help on any of the tasks I knew Anders must have given her in my absence.
I would imagine, by now, the other senior engineers would be taking advantage of her by giving her all the chores no one else wanted.
Not my problem. Not my problem. Not my problem.
But that wasn’t true. Professionally, she was my problem. She was my intern, and I should have put my personal feelings aside and ensured that this… whatever this was… wouldn’t negatively impact her chances of getting employed.
I walked across the site as everyone continued working frantically. The days were spent pushing hard, as fog was expected to roll in in the late afternoons.
The thoughts and emotions I hadn’t dealt with twisted into live energies within me, flowing through my veins, fighting for my attention. I did all I could to ignore them.
One of the men digging a trench inhaled a hefty breath and leaned on the handle of his shovel while staring out to the distance. Exhaustion was marked across his face when he wiped his brow and caught me watching him. “Sorry, Mr. Carden, just needed a second.”
“Give me that.” I hopped into the hole and grabbed the shovel. “Take five.”
“Are you sure?” the worker said, frown lines creeping onto his face. “Could I get you a coffee or something?”
“Sounds good.” I turned my attention to the trench he’d been digging. It had been years since I’d done physical labor myself. It was never required, but I did it on occasion for the same reason I ran every morning.
The exertion of my muscles, the tightening of my lungs, and the ache in my back squeezed thoughts out of my mind and drew all my focus away from the turmoil in my heart. Lifting and shifting soil, that I could do.
I kept digging and digging until Rowan, one of the construction workers, called my name. “Anders wants to talk to you.”
Stretching, I took the phone and held it to my ear. “Anders,” I huffed out, taking what felt like my first breath in a while.
“You’re not answering my texts,” he said.
“Yeah, my phone’s off. What is it?” I replied.
“You can’t turn your phone off when you’re on-site, Carden,” Anders sighed. “Never mind. Gordon-Bettencourt is going to be joining you shortly.”
The shovel slipped out of my left hand and landed with a thump on my foot. I winced and coughed out, “What? Why? I told her to stay behind.”
“She mentioned that, yes. But this is a greenfield project. It’s the perfect opportunity for a young engineer, and she’s worked on the project with you. You know it makes sense. She’ll be coming up after she’s printed a new batch of construction drawings.”
“No,” I groaned, fighting off the panic. “Absolutely not.”
“Carden.”
“I don’t need her here.” I moved my foot. It was fine. Luckily. My steel-toed shoes were wearing out, and the new pairs I’d ordered hadn’t been delivered yet.
I suppose I could return the other pair I’d bought for Elizabeth. I couldn’t give it to her now. Could I?
“She needs the site experience, and she may as well be there with you. I don’t think it would be a good idea to send her off to a site without supervision. What do you think?”
The idea of Elizabeth on a construction site alone sent a brand-new concern blitzing through me.
“I prefer working by myself, Anders.”
“I’m well aware. Everyone is. But you’ve managed to make some magic happen with Gordon-Bettencourt. There are only four days left of this program, and that includes today. Need I remind you of what that means for you?”
I stayed silent while I mentally sorted through my thoughts, separating Elizabeth from Lily and shoving them into different corners of my brain. Professional. Personal. Promotion. Internship.
Anders sucked on his teeth. “It’s a two-bedroom cabin, Carden. There’ll be more space than sharing an office with her. Unless you’re uncomfortable for a different reason? She seemed fine with it.”
“Anders.”
“She’s leaving after work,” he said. “Anyway, I don’t want to keep you. See you on Friday.” And before I could argue, he hung up, and I was left in a ditch I’d literally dug myself into, wishing the earth would do its part and swallow me whole.
I hurried back to the cabin and plugged in my phone. I took a deep swig of the coffee that had been handed to me at some point. The hot liquid burned down my throat.
As soon as my phone lit up with enough battery power, I turned it on and called Claire, but the line dropped. I went outside to the back deck, where the reception was stronger.
“Lincoln, what’s up?”
“I’m in trouble,” I rattled off. “Elizabeth is on her way here.”
“What?” Claire said. “You asked for space, and she needs to respect that.” I could picture the little frown on her forehead. Claire was as soft as they came, but if her friends were hurt, she transformed into a protective bear.
“Not her fault. Work,” I said.
Claire sighed. “What can I do?”
“I don’t know. I just needed to tell someone. I’m freaking out a little. Honestly. We’ll be alone. I don’t… know how to deal with this. It’s too much.” I pressed my hand against my forehead.
“Do you want us to come there and be a buffer?”
“Are you really going to drive for hours to get here? And then what? Stay for the next few nights?” I asked, and smiled at her determination to help.
She whined on the other end. “Maybe not today.”
“She’s leaving later today. I’m sure she’ll go straight to sleep when she arrives. I know I will. It’ll be late, and I’m already exhausted. I may make it an early night and miss her arrival entirely.” The fog wrapped around the trees ahead of me.
“You sound really, really tired,” she whispered.
“I don’t want to do this,” I said. My battery beeped in my ear.
“It’s going to be okay. You’re so much braver than you give yourself credit for. And if you don’t want to talk to her, don’t. No one can make you, least of all her.”
In the background, Hannah shouted, “Mama.” Cute couldn’t begin to describe it.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. I gotta go. Give that kid a squeeze for me.”
“You sure you’re okay?”
“Go, go, go. I’m fine. I’ll see you soon,” I said, and only finished my sentence after she hung up: If I survive this.