Chapter 10 Sam
Sam
“That’s it Livi, stroke it nice and soft. Be gentle. Good girl.”
The male voice was pitched low, the words encouraging. I cocked my head as I walked around the corner heading into the parlor. What was going on?
Barney was standing facing the wall, his arms around someone much smaller than him. Livi. It looked… intimate.
“What’s going on here?” I demanded, my voice harsher than I’d intended.
They both jumped, then a trowel full of plaster went flying through the air, landing on the floor with a splat. Fortunately we’d pulled up all the ancient hardwood and the plaster connected only with the subfloor.
“I’m teaching Livi how to plaster,” Barney said, giving me a curious look as he moved away from her.
As much as I hated myself for it, I looked down to see if being pressed against Livi’s back had excited him. Fortunately it hadn’t. I’d hate to have to kill my team lead, plus I really liked his wife. Yes, my jealousy was uncalled for, but it didn’t stop me from feeling it.
We’d known each other long enough for him to pick up on the tension in my body.
I looked over at Livi. She had globs of dried plaster all down the front of her, and somehow a bit in her hair, but she looked pretty pleased with herself.
“Barney says I’m a natural.” She pointed at a section of newly plastered wall. “He’s such a great teacher.”
My eyes went back to my buddy, whose face turned a little pink. He shrugged. “She’s not half bad.”
Just then Jose walked by. “Lunch time, peeps.”
As if he’d blown a whistle, the rest of the crew all started straggling in from whichever parts of the house they’d been working in.
“Joining us for lunch, Sam?”
I could hear the dare beneath the question.
The truth was, I always ate lunch with my crew.
Except for last week, when I’d made excuses to eat in my office.
Barney knew as well as I did that the only thing that was different was our court-mandated intern.
Shit, I needed to join them, or it would only look weirder than it already did.
“Yeah sure, I’ll be out in a few.”
When I got to the yard with my lunch, all the seats at the picnic table were filled except for one on the end – right next to Olivia.
I scooted in next to her, ignoring the sweet scent of her perfume or shampoo or whatever it was that made her smell like some exotic flower even after an entire morning sweating over the plaster walls.
“Cupcake?”
Livi slid over a large rectangular container and when I opened it, I found a variety of perfectly decorated cupcakes inside.
“Where did you get these?” I asked curiously as I took one with chocolate frosting. I loved cupcakes.
“Marta made them for the crew.”
“Who’s Marta?” I asked.
“My family’s cook.”
I bit my lip to keep from making a sarcastic comment. “Tell Marta I said thanks.”
Lunch passed like it usually did – with the guys consuming enormous amounts of food with very little manners, a discussion about baseball, and a fair amount of trash talking.
This particular crew had been working together for a while, even though others came and went depending on the size of the project.
What surprised me was how seamlessly Livi fit in now. While I’d been hiding out avoiding her and my inconvenient crush on her, Livi had become buddies with these guys. She kept up with the baseball talk, took their good natured teasing in stride, and gave them a little bit of sass right back.
It made me like her more.
I didn’t understand how this woman who’d been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, who’d only worked in a formal office in her family business, who’d gotten in trouble for throwing a temper tantrum and vandalizing her ex-boyfriend’s car was the same woman laughing with my crew and eating a peanut butter sandwich. That she’d clearly brought from home.
“Did Marta make your sandwich?” I couldn’t resist asking.
Livi nodded. “Yeah, she’s always been my secret food dealer.”
“Food dealer? What do you mean?”
The guys were engrossed in another conversation, not paying attention to us, and she turned a little in her seat to face me.
“My mother’s never met a carb that she likes,” Livi said lightly.
“And she’d certainly never eat anything so mundane as a sandwich.
But Marta likes to take care of me. When I was a kid she’d sneak me sweets and I didn’t even have to ask her to make these cupcakes.
I talked to her about the crew and she just made them for us. ”
I picked one up and took a bite. Soft yellow cake was covered with rich chocolate frosting and a design made out of little swirls of white chocolate. It was very artistic. The cupcake itself was moist and delicious, definitely not the kind that came from a box.
“Damn, this is good.”
“Right?”
Livi turned back to her lunch, opening a small container that held carrots and hummus. She wrinkled her nose and closed it again, rooting around until she found a second sandwich.
A woman after my own heart. Then again, this work was hard. We needed to get enough calories to do it.
“What did you do this weekend?” she asked me.
“Me? Nothing. Grocery shopping. Chores. Oh, and I went to visit my dad.”
“Does he live close by?” she asked.
“Yeah, he lives down in Tacoma. He hates driving on the freeway, so I usually try to go see him instead.”
“Was your dad in the trades as well?”
I laughed, thinking of my dad trying to do… well, anything involving tools. The poor guy was a nerd through and through.
“No, he was an accountant. My mom was a carpenter though. She got me interested in the trades.”
‘That’s unusual, isn’t it?” she asked. “A female carpenter I mean?”
I nodded. “Yeah, she and a few other women started a ‘women in trades’ group here in Seattle to help encourage female-identified individuals to consider jobs in the trades. The organization offers job training, apprenticeships, and more. It’s a great program.”
“I love that,” Livi said, her eyes shining with sincerity. “I’ll have to get the name from you so I can send them a donation.”
I started to tell her not to bother, then I thought why not? The organization did great work, and support from the Laurent family would be appreciated.
“I’ve literally never met another woman who works as a contractor,” Livi continued. “Or construction.”
“I don’t imagine that’s a popular choice in your social group,” I said drily.
“True. Does your mom still work there at the nonprofit?”
I felt the same stab of pain I always felt when my mom came up in conversation.
“No, she died a few years ago. Uterine cancer. It took her quick.”
Livi’s face fell, then she reached over and gave my shoulder a light squeeze. The heat of her palm was electric against my bare shoulder.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Sam. Truly.”
I cleared the lump in my throat, reminding myself to be grateful for the time I’d had with my mom. “Thank you.”
I turned back to my cupcake and gave her a little smile. “You know the thing I like most about being an adult?”
“What?”
I took a big bite of my cupcake. “Eating dessert first if you want.”