13. Lucas
LUCAS
I was waiting in the Alessi Construction parking lot, leaned against my truck, a mango banana spinach smoothie in my hand when Olivia pulled in.
She wore white sneakers and a red floral sundress today, because apparently I’d done something very evil in a past life I was being punished for.
She walked toward me with a bright smile as she finished up what seemed like a call with our esteemed client.
“I actually just arrived, Helen. Lucas and I are heading out in a few minutes. If everything looks good, they should be able to deliver them to the site later this week. We can get them installed before the end of the month.” She said it with certainty to Helen, but to me her face scrunched up, her shoulders shrugged and her hands went palms up in front of her in question.
I smiled and nodded. She relaxed, finished up with Helen, and packed her phone away in her bag.
“Hi! Sorry. I sincerely hate being on the phone when greeting someone in person, but Helen does not wait for social niceties. She’s really excited about these beams. I am too, actually.”
“No problem. We should get going. Max said he’d wait for us, but he has to head out by eight. Here.” I handed over the smoothie I picked up on my way back to the office. I’d needed to run home and clean up and since Anthony’s was on my way, I’d stopped in quickly.
Olivia slowly wrapped her hand around the cup I was offering. She stood stock still, staring at the cup as if I’d handed her a puzzle, or maybe a bomb, and made no move to get in my truck.
Her lack of action stopped mine. Cautiously, I slowed my movements and returned to her.
“What’s this?” she asked, dragging each word out.
“That is a smoothie.”
“I know it is. Why do you have it?”
“Because you mentioned you had to come straight from another meeting. I figured you wouldn’t have time to grab food, and I stopped for a sandwich.”
“And got me a smoothie.”
“Yes. There’s also a few slices of pizza in the truck.”
This lengthy conversation because of a simple smoothie was confusing to me. I wanted to eat before our meeting, so I wasn’t a cranky mess for this drive. I noticed she’s not a coffee drinker, so this seemed like the next best alternative.
“It’s from Anthony’s.”
“Yes, Angel. What’s the problem?”
“I just… thank you.” She looked away for a moment and then back to me with a slightly wobbly smile before he ading toward the passenger seat of my truck. Once we settled and got on the road, I glanced over at her.
“Care to tell me what that was about?” She looked at me for a moment before turning her face back to the road in front of us.
“Um. I just. People don’t really do things like that for me often.”
“Things like what?”
“I don’t know. Anticipate a need? Think of me during their day. It was nice.”
It hadn’t even occurred to me I might be crossing a line. Which was part of the problem. I thought about Olivia and her needs much more than I was comfortable with. It was becoming natural to consider what I could do for her at any given moment.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“No, no. You didn’t. Or at least, it shouldn’t. I think grabbing someone a drink and pizza is more normal than being surprised by receiving it.” She laughed, but it was hollow.
This conversation was breaking my heart a bit. Olivia's life being devoid of the daily niceties I experienced with my brothers, dad, and general circle made me ache.
My brothers and I were assholes to each other, but I couldn’t imagine stopping to get myself a coffee and not grabbing one for each of them. It always seemed like a small thing to me.
Normal.
I gave Olivia what I hoped was a sympathetic, but not pitying, smile. She shrugged her shoulders slightly and laid her head on the headrest .
“So tell me more about Max. I need info in case I need to charm him into letting us wipe him out of his entire stock.”
I laughed and told Olivia everything I knew about my old friend.
How we’d grown up together because our mothers met in a birthing class and had clicked.
His family’s farm that he helped out on.
His software development company that was his actual day job.
I kept telling her about my oldest friend until we pulled into his property and parked in front of his giant red barn.
Hopping out of my truck, I led Olivia toward the giant sliding doors.
“This place is incredible.”
“Yeah, we’re actually lucky it worked out to meet him here. He’s not always in town.”
Entering the building overwhelmed me with memories of running through the space as a kid. This place had been one of my absolute favorites as a child. What kid wouldn’t love hundreds of trees to run through? It was like having a professional hide and seek course.
Max sat to the left on a folding chair, drinking a beer and watching the smallest, oldest television in existence. When I called his name, he looked up with a broad smile that got even larger as he clocked Olivia.
“Luc! Who do we have here?”
“Nice to see you too, asshole. This is Olivia Dawson, the designer on the project. Our client hired her independently and asked us to work together.”
Olivia glanced at me briefly with a strange expression that I could almost describe as hurt, but it was gone just as quickly as it appeared. She turned to Max and accepted his now outstretched hand.
“Nice to meet you, Olivia. Do you go by Liv?”
“You too! Sometimes. Usually with my closest friends, though Adrian’s been calling me Liv since he met me.”
He chuckled, “Well Liv, I’ve never been a fan of letting Adrian one-up me. So I guess we’re going to have to be close friends.”
Olivia beamed and humored my friend. “Looks like I’m rapidly extending my group of super attractive male friends.”
“Oh Liv. I love you already. Do you know anything about computer programming? Ditch this guy and come work with me.”
“Sorry, Max. That could not be more out of my wheelhouse.”
Alright, I’d had enough of this.
“Stop being creepy and show us the wood.”
Max wiggled his eyebrows at me, pointing out my accidental innuendo. “I know you’ve asked a lot over the years, Luc, but I just don’t swing that way.”
While I pushed Max’s shoulder, Olivia just smiled and shook her head.
“I do need to get going though, so let me show you the beams.” He led us to the back of the barn while explaining what we were here to see.
“We pulled these out of our neighbor’s barn before they tore it down.
When their old man passed, they decided not to keep it going and sold off the land.
We asked if we could take parts of it since it was such a cool space.
We just wanted to save a piece of the history of the farms around here, but none of us have anywhere to use them. ”
When we reached the beams, I heard Olivia gasp. She immediately dropped into a crouch to run her hand over the old wooden beams.
“They’re gorgeous,” she sighed.
Her reverence toward old building materials never failed to make me smile. She was truly in love with flooring from across the world and beams from a random barn.
“I know. They’re pretty cool. We’ve been saving them for something special, we just weren’t sure what.”
That made Olivia pause, her eyebrows drawing together. “Lucas. Are you sure Helen’s house is the right spot for these beams? They seem like they hold a lot of meaning for you guys.”
To be honest, I’d had the same thought. But when Max had called me asking if I had anywhere to use them at the same time we were sourcing beams for Helen, it had seemed like kismet. I started to answer, but Max jumped in.
“Nonsense. We have to get rid of them, you guys need some, it’s perfect.”
“Why do you need to get rid of them?” she asked.
“We’re clearing out space so we can use this barn for more customer-based activities in the fall. Obviously that’s our busy season so we need these out of here ASAP.”
Max’s family’s farm was technically an apple orchard. In autumn they let people roam part of the orchard to pick their own apples. They also had food, games, and activities for families to make a day of it.
“Okay. If you’re sure. I think they’re absolutely perfect. I’m so thrilled! They’re going to look amazing in that big great room.”
“This is just one lady, right?” Max asked. “Why’s she building a house like this?”
It wasn’t like Max to ask for a detail like that. He may have been trying to keep Olivia talking, but something seemed off. Olivia seemed oblivious though, immediately shifting emotions from his question.
One of the amazing things about Olivia was that she had zero poker face. Every single feeling was written plain as day on her face. Right now, it was sadness.
“She lost her husband a few years ago, and she’s building this place so she can start fresh.”
“Ah, and she recruited the dream team.”
Olivia and I shared a look. If I wasn’t already falling under this woman’s spell, the smile she gave me would have done it.
“Oh, Helen and I are mostly friends. She wanted me to have the work, but the Alessis are the real dream team making it happen.”
Did she really believe that? That Helen just gave her the job out of pity or some sense of friendly obligation? I’d heard about Olivia for months before I met her. Helen had sung her praises endlessly. I couldn’t let her talk about herself like that.
“Untrue. Helen loves Liv’s work and basically hired us to be the muscle to bring it to life. ”
Max eyed me suspiciously as a slow, almost devious smile spread across his face. Shit. I should have known better. Max knew me better than anyone. I could practically smell smoke from the wheels turning in his mind and I knew I just blew my cover. Liv and I needed to get out of here immediately.
“Well, it looks like we’re going to take them. I’ll get payment sent over and some guys here to pick them up.”
I tried to ignore the look of smug satisfaction Max was shooting me. Like he was a hunter who’d cornered his prey.
“Sure Luc. Whenever.” He turned to Olivia, “Liv, it was great to meet you. Hope to see you again soon.” He offered her a warm smile dripping with meaning she wasn’t picking up on, but I knew better.
Max walked us out, hanging back to mutter under his breath, “Looks like you and I need to catch up. Give me a call later.”
I needed new friends. New brothers. Replacements across the board.