Chapter 10 #4
He smiled, wondering how he got so lucky with Kate, when she was such a dynamo and such a contrast in so many different ways. And yet every way was just so perfect for him. With a headshake, he hopped onto the little ferry and made his way to the closest jobsite.
There he checked in with his foreman, Kevin, who smiled and pointed out, “Everything’s okay on this site. I hear you got a staffing problem at another site. Joe warned me in case the guy came over here for a job.”
“It won’t last very long.”
“Even if it did,” Kevin noted, “I don’t take kindly to anybody trying to cause trouble.”
“Right, and causing trouble is definitely something we can’t have more of.” Simon shook his head and added, “We’ve got enough problems.”
“No problems here. We don’t have problems because I won’t allow there to be problems. Troublemakers don’t work on my sites,” Kevin declared coldly. “I’ve made that abundantly clear to any number of potential dissidents.”
Simon laughed. “Glad to hear it.”
He checked out a few things while he was here. Got a couple measurements that he needed. Picked up some photos needed for the upcoming marketing campaign. Then he took his leave and headed over to another jobsite.
As he walked inside the building, Joe called out, “He’s gone already.”
“Damn good thing,” Simon replied, his tone mild, but he knew his gaze was anything but friendly.
Joe nodded. “I warned him what would happen if he was on-site when you got here.”
“And I hope the other construction groups around here understand what he’s up to.”
“They should. I forewarned the lot of them.” Joe confirmed. “Even had one of them show up over here to talk to me about it a month earlier. This poser is apparently building himself a bit of a reputation for being a troublemaker.”
“Great,” Simon muttered. “Why is it we are short on skilled people, but we always have too many of the lying shits?”
Joe laughed. “Not all of them are shitty. Some of them are really good.”
“Sure, but those skilled workers we’ve already hired,” Simon pointed out. “I keep them employed even if I don’t have work for them.”
“In this industry, it’s hard to keep the good workers around unless you keep paying them. Still, you have enough projects for the most part, so it works out.”
“That’s the reason I do it that way, so we can keep as much quality staff as we do,” Simon shared. “What I don’t need is some jerk thinking he’ll mess up years and years of work because he’s entitled to it.”
“He took off pretty fast this morning,” Joe stated. “So, I don’t think he’ll be around here, looking for you.”
“If he is, let him find me,” Simon ordered, with that same hard smile that had gotten him through so much before. “Text me his name and his other details though, will you?”
“Will do,” Joe confirmed. “It’s Allen something. I already let accounting know too, right after I fired him, which is my standard practice, just in case he somehow pops up on any of our jobsites. Plus, I told the rest of your foremen that he’s not to be hired. They are flagged in the office.”
“Good,” Simon stated, his tone light.
“Not a problem.”
“You still taking that holiday soon?” Simon asked Joe.
“Yep, sure am. The wife, you know how she feels about it.”
“I do know how she feels about it,” he replied, with a laugh. “Let’s hope that nothing goes wrong that could stop it from happening.”
Joe eyed him in alarm. “You know that’s not the thing to say, right?”
“I know,” he quipped, with an evil grin. “It’s one of the reasons why I said it.”
“Oh, don’t be doing that to me now. Come on, man. If she had even the slightest inkling that this trip could get cancelled, you have no idea how difficult my life would get.”
Simon burst out laughing. “If need be, I could always be here on a day-to-day basis until you get back.”
Joe stared at him in consternation, then shook his head. “We both know better. You don’t have time for that.”
“Won’t matter though, will it?” Simon asked. Then he added, “Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure it out.”
Joe shook his head. “I don’t want to be worrying while I’m gone. And that don’t worry line don’t cut it anymore.”
Simon smiled. “It’ll be fine. I promise. Hey, I can handle it.”
“Yeah, I know you can handle it,” Joe acknowledged, “but that doesn’t mean the guys will be happy. They always get nervous when you’re around.”
“Not all of them,” Simon noted.
“The new guys do. They hear so much from the other ones that just catching sight of you makes them nervous.”
“They should get used to that,” Simon suggested. “If the older guys are making them mess up, have a talk with them.”
“Yeah, that won’t work. You and I both know that.”
“I do know that,” he agreed, with a smile. “It’ll be fine, and I promise you can go on that holiday. I wouldn’t want to face your wife over that.”
“You will have to tell her if anything happens,” Joe declared, as he took the hat off his head and wiped his brow. “I ain’t taking that on.”
Simon was still laughing as he crossed the road and picked up his coffee from one of the vendors.
As he sat down on the bench on the far side, he looked around but all he got was just a nice peaceful nudge from the morning, as if everything was going well in the city.
Yet he knew, somewhere in the city, somebody wasn’t having a good day.
For the most part, his morning was calm, peaceful, and sent off the right vibes for having a nice calm cup of coffee.
As he enjoyed his morning cup of java, he thought about Kate and everything going on in her world—as well as the unknown woman from the bank, plus the always praying Sarah in his visions. Which reminded him of his push to visit that church—and he found himself turning to look in that direction.
He’d not entered the church that day. He’d stopped right outside, his phone buzzing.
However, that church hadn’t left him alone, and, even now, he got up, his feet walking him to the same damn spot.
As he reached the church doors, he opened them and stepped inside, wondering what on earth was driving him here.
The place was empty, but he knew he could probably find someone in the back. He sat here on one of the pews for a long moment, but, when he got up and started to walk out, a man appeared at the podium and greeted him kindly. Simon smiled, lifted a hand, and turned away.
The priest asked, “Can I help you with anything, son?”
Simon turned and smiled. “I don’t think so, Father.” His tone was mild. “It was an impulse. I just came to see what the church was like.”
“I hope the experience was good for you. Absolutely no pressure to leave if you want to stay longer.”
“Ah, that could be true,” Simon noted, “but I’m a working man.” And, with that, he smiled and left the church.
He stood on the front step for quite a while, staring at the street, at the sidewalks, as he watched the world pass by, yet he was not rushing.
He sensed that same calm from earlier. It was a unique feeling in a way but still an interesting venture.
Yet nothing here triggered the vision of Sarah, the always praying woman.
He didn’t have a picture of her. He had never seen her face in his visions.
He had her first name, Sarah, but was that enough to even ask the good Catholic Father about?
Simon was here today, but she wasn’t. No woman was inside the church.
And Sarah only appeared in his visions. Still, he had been pulled to this church for a reason.
He should have gone inside the other day.
He knew he should have. That’s just one of those things that he couldn’t do anything about now because the time had come and gone. At least that’s how he thought about it.
And yet here he was, considering all the other messes and the police cases that had come around to him throughout the years, still wondering if he had missed an opportunity to help this woman. The door opened behind him, and the priest stepped out, smiling at him. “You’re welcome to come back in.”
Simon smiled. “No, I meant it, Father. I do need to get to work.”
“Another time then. You are always welcome here.”
“Yeah, perhaps,” he replied comfortably. As he glanced around, he asked, “It’s such a beautiful morning. Are you expecting people all day?”
“We have classes. We have prayer. We have a special Bible study group that comes in about an hour,” he shared. “It’s a pretty full-on program here.”
Simon nodded. “And how are you supported?”
He smiled at him. “To a certain extent by the generosity of the people we serve. … The rest comes from our diocese, covering some of the expenses that we can’t cover ourselves. For the most part, it’s a pretty even balance, cash in, cash out, which has been good.”
“And so it should be,” Simon stated. “I’m sure a lot of people have benefited from this church being here over the years.”
“I would very much like to think so,” he replied, “benefitting people such as yourself perhaps.”
Simon shrugged. “It’s been a long time since I actively participated in a church,” he noted, taking in the architecture before him.
“It is an absolutely beautiful building, and it has a certain … energy about it.” Daring to take a chance, he added, without mentioning any visions, “I saw a woman, and she seemed to be, I don’t want to say unhappy but maybe a little too fervent in her prayers. ”
“Lots of women come here, … for many different reasons,” he replied. “Sometimes because they are hoping for children. Sometimes hoping for husbands. Sometimes hoping for the health of a loved one. They come here to pray, to ask for help, and sometimes to ask for … forgiveness.”
Simon winced at that. “Yeah, I can see that one.”
The priest smiled. “We are all sinners. There is no blame. We are only here to come closer to God and to be relieved of our sins,” he explained. “If that is something I can help you with, son, … don’t think on it so much before addressing it. You can come anytime you want.”
Simon studied him, a faint smile on his lips. “No, Father, I fear that will not be an answer for me, at least not today.” And, with that, he nodded and headed down the front steps.
“It’s never too late,” the priest called back. “Anytime you want to come, you are welcome.”
Simon lifted a hand in acknowledgement and headed out.
He didn’t have the heart to tell the priest that the things that went on in his woo-woo world were not exactly conducive to staying in church, especially when talking about the afterlife and all the tortured souls he had met, while dealing with the crises that came from death.
Not that any of them were bad or that he was their judge and jury.
Just some topics would not be accepted well in church, and he really didn’t need other people to tell him that.
With a whistle, he headed to deal with another job, one that was not fully set up and organized yet, but he was meeting with the architect.
It wasn’t nearly time yet, but he couldn’t wait to get started on her.
This was the next building they would rehab.
The architect was already working on it, and they were about to start signing contracts for structural engineers and building contractors, but Simon’s foreman on each project handled all that.
Simon had found over the years that handling certain aspects in-house just went better.
So he no longer trusted other companies to do it the way he wanted things done.
He was constantly being asked by those other companies if he wanted a hand, but his answer was always no.
He kept a very close eye on all aspects of his various building projects, and his foremen—including Steven, Joe, and Kevin—were much more general contractors than anything.
They had experience regarding the big buildings, and that experience was worth so much.
As Simon walked to his newest jobsite, he couldn’t help but feel a weird sensation of somebody, something, following him.
He slipped down an alleyway at the end of one of the blocks, stepped into an alcove, then stopped to see if anybody would close in and follow him.
Sure enough, somebody came around the corner, looking almost a little too intently to see if Simon had gone this way.
He didn’t recognize the man, but Simon waited to see what the guy would do.
Simon was no slouch in the self-defense or fitness department, but he had to admit that, after the beating he’d taken not too long ago, he could still feel some of his ribs complaining at the idea of a full-on fight.
As he watched the other man come deeper into the shadows, Simon called out, “Go ahead. Say whatever you want to say to me. I’m just waiting for you. ”
The other man froze.
Simon called out again, “Yeah, you better rethink things. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I let some punk stop me from doing this.”
“Stop you from what?” he asked, his tone fearful.
“Stop me while I’m out here doing my job,” he replied. Simon heard a very soft swear word, then suddenly the man picked up and took off. Simon gave him one final message. “Another time maybe.”
Simon slowly stepped out of the shadows, not sure who had decided that somebody needed to give him a dark visit like this.
Considering the banking mess, he wouldn’t be at all surprised if somebody out there didn’t want Simon to continue having the same successes going forward that he had experienced in the past. The trouble was, Simon really didn’t have a clue who could hate him that much.
For the most part, he stayed away from people, kept his nose clean, bought buildings, sold buildings, made money, and kept the process going. But right now, for whatever reason, some asshole seemed to think that Simon should not be allowed to continue this path.
One thing that Simon knew he was no good at was letting other people dictate the actions of his life.