“Big project, huh?”
“Maybe someday I’ll leave it all to you.”
I looked around the office. “If you plan on dying soon, old man, you’d better tell me what all this shit is.”
Uncle Tom laughed. “Don’t worry about me. Your aunt will keep me alive for another fifty years, easily.”
“Or maybe she’s fattening you up to get rid of you. For a younger man.”
Uncle Tom frowned. “I’d break their fucking necks with my bare hands if they went near my Millie.”
That was true love, huh?
“I’m messing with you.”
“I know. But I don’t like thinking that shit.”
“Hey. You and Aunt Millie are going together. Don’t worry about it. You two are stuck together. It’s almost sad to watch.”
“I can fire you, you know.”
“You need me. Remember that.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just because your relationships last less than the next sunrise doesn’t mean you get to pick on my marriage. You could have something like this.”
I shook my head. “Don’t go down that road, old man. Stick to being my boss.”
“Deal. I want you to come with me to talk to Bill. He works out of Bricker’s.”
That caught my attention. “Bricker’s, huh?”
“Yeah. You know the place?”
“Yes, I do,” I said.
My mind instantly thought of Jordyn.
“What are we waiting for?” Uncle Tom asked.
“I’m waiting on you, old man,” I said. “Like always.”
“You know, the first time you called me old man I should have backhanded you.”
“Too late now. I’m bigger than you.”
“I’ll send your aunt after you then.”
“Now that’s terrifying… Uncle Tom…”
He started to laugh, closed the folder with the plans and pointed to the door.
He was going to make a deal.
I was going to see Jordyn.
Bill was well dressed, smelled like a bottle of cologne had been poured on his shoulders, and he talked fast, smooth, and knew how to work over Uncle Tom with ease. But Uncle Tom was shrewd and knew how to battle back. There were offers coming in on the piece of land in question and I had no cares about it. My job was to build whatever Uncle Tom needed done.
For me, in the comfortable, pumpkin spice smelling office, my eyes kept looking around, going from door to door, wondering if I would find what I was looking for.
Then from one of the hallways, Jordyn appeared.
She didn’t see me at first, allowing my eyes to do the typical guy thing, which was to completely check her out. And I made no attempt at hiding it either. She had white shoes on with jeans. They hugged her legs and rounded off curves that made my teeth grit hard. She was in a button-down shirt with a purple and red checker pattern. My first wonder was what was under that shirt. Something like a tank top? Or an actual t-shirt?
I stared so long and obviously that the person she was talking to looked at me and gave her a nudge.
When Jordyn turned her head, her eyes went wide and her cheeks turned a deep shade of red.
She stepped toward me. “Ramsey?”
“I’m looking to buy a house,” I said. “Maybe a mansion. Can you help?”
“Are you serious?”
I smiled. “No, darling. I don’t think there’s a mansion in this town.”
“What are you doing here?”
I pointed to my shirt. “I work for a construction company.”
“Oh. Right. But…”
“I’m waiting out a meeting,” I said. “A land and building thing. Not my kind of thing to mess with.”
“Yet, you’re here.”
“When I found out you worked here and had the chance to come and see you, I had to.”
“Wait a second,” Jordyn said. Her honey-like eyes lit up with a little hesitant excitement. “How did you know I worked here?”
Now, I had to be fair as I studied her. I noticed her left ear had two earrings in it while the right ear only had one. Her hair was pulled back, almost done as though she were running late, because random strands of dark brown curly hair did what they wanted. Her skin was naturally toned without the hint of any makeup, other than whatever the hell it was that women used around their eyes and on their eyelashes. Not even a touch of lipstick on her lips. Which made those damn lips so kissable.
“I know a lot of things,” I said. “Don’t worry about it.”
Jordyn touched my arm. “Seriously though.”
“What are you doing tonight?”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s Friday. Once I’m done with this meeting I’m part of, I’m heading back to the job site to make sure it’s still standing. Then I’m done for the weekend. Want to grab a drink or something? I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Jordyn eased back. “It’s not that simple, Rams. You know that.”
“I know what?”
“You asked me questions about it already.”
“About you having a kid?” I asked. “What’s the big secret, Jordyn? Why is that a big deal for you?”
“It just is,” she said. “And I can’t meet up with you tonight. Not sure if I would want to anyway. This weekend isn’t my… alone weekend.”
“So, I should bother you next weekend then?”
“Or how about you never worry about it,” she said. “Don’t try to be some tough guy hero for me. I don’t need it.”
Jordyn turned and walked to the front desk. She sat down and reached for a bunch of papers, trying to make her face look mean. But she wasn’t mean. Or mad at me. It was something else inside her.
Hell. It was sadness.
Between that and her telling me not to worry about bothering her, that should have been my hint. Kind of like that guy at the bar trying to touch her, only nobody was there to punch me in the jaw to knock some sense into me.
So, I stood there and watched her as she moved shit around her desk, trying to pretend to be busy. I didn’t understand why the whole having a kid thing was such a big deal for her. Then again, if she only knew the truth hidden behind my eyes too. And to think that I was the one quick enough to say something about my brother the other night. Something inside me wanted to trust her. Hell, if she was only able to get out and enjoy herself on alternate weekends, that meant she worked her ass off the rest of the time to keep things normal for herself and her kid. That struck me. As messed up as it felt in my head, it was damn near a turn on.
Behind me, I heard Uncle Tom’s deep voice hitting the walls. He didn’t exactly look as thrilled as when we had got there. Bill stood in the doorway to an office, one foot crossed over the other, one hand in his pocket, the other slightly outreached for Uncle Tom.
“How’d that go?” I asked.
Uncle Tom curled his lip and walked toward the door.
I looked back at Bill and nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
“Sorry things didn’t go as planned,” he said. “Please tell your uncle there’s still opportunity there. This happens all the time.”
I stepped toward Bill and he pushed from the doorway and stiffened. He swallowed hard as I stood over him.
“My uncle built his company from nothing. He supported himself, his wife, and in so many ways, my ass with that business too. He might not be young anymore, but that’s why he brings me to these kinds of meetings. Don’t confuse dirty hands for stupidity.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning if you fuck with my family, you won’t like the outcome.” I paused for effect. “As I said, it was nice to meet you, Bill.”
He quickly turned and slammed the office door shut behind him.
I felt a little better.
I walked toward the desk where Jordyn made a fast push away from it to a printer and stood up to stare down at it.
“Not sure what I did exactly to piss you off, Jordyn,” I said.
She starte
d to shake her head.
“In case nobody told you today, you look beautiful.”
“Excuse me?” she asked, turning.
“You look beautiful,” I said. “And whatever you’ve got going there with being afraid and trying to be tough and hiding, I respect it. But everything I said still stands. You’re busy this weekend. But not next weekend.” I plucked a business card off the desk and flipped it around. I wrote my number on it. “If you have nothing to do, give me a call. Sitting around at Shammy’s waiting for a fight isn’t as much fun as you’d think.”
“That’s good to know,” she said.
She came toward me, the desk still separating us. She took a business card and leaned forward to write something on the back of it.
“Here you go,” she said, handing me the card.
“So, if I wanted to sell my house, I should come talk to you?”
“You call, and I transfer you to someone who can help.”
“Why not become one of them?” I asked.
“Because I sit here and do this stuff. I like it. Any other questions or attacks on what I do for a living?”
“I’m not attacking, darling,” I said. “I’m talking. There’s a difference.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I have things to do,” she said.
I took the business card with a smile and left. Uncle Tom was already gone. I was sure everyone would hear about the meeting with Bill. But knowing him, he would go home to talk to Aunt Millie first. They fiercely loved, trusted, and leaned on each other.
For me, I sat in my truck alone, looking at the business card. Ironically, it was a business card for Bill.
I flipped it over, wanting to get Jordyn’s number so I could call her.
The urge inside me to talk to her and make her smile was more than I cared to understand at that moment.
Only there wasn’t a phone number on the back of the card.
Just a little note from Jordyn.
Enjoy your weekend. Forget about me.
I rubbed the card between my thumb and index finger. I flicked it across the truck to the passenger floor. As I stared at the corner building, whose old bricks had been painted bright red, I saw Jordyn through the large glass window. Even with text on the glass and autumn colored fake leaves hanging in the corners.
I hated to admit it, but she was right.
I needed to just forget about her.
Not for my sake…but for hers.
7
Carrots and Corn
Jordyn
Monday came too quickly.
Friday night started with a pizza and a movie with Sam. Next thing I knew, I was tucking him in on Sunday night. He was always jittery on Sunday night, his wonderful young mind trying to think too far into the following week. That meant me taking extra time to sit with him and talk about everything on his mind. Which honestly was a good thing for me. Because I got the same way.
After putting Sam to bed, I would do anything to keep myself distracted. I would do anything to avoid Monday coming. But it was inevitable and couldn’t be avoided.
When Monday came, it was busy. And its evil teeth sank hard into me all day.
I dropped Sam off at daycare. He was normally fine with it, but he gave me a backwards look that was so sad, I was tempted to call off work and spend the day with him. Of course, that wasn’t a real option.
It crushed me when the reality of my life touched on Sam’s life. It wasn’t his fault he was born. It wasn’t his fault what happened between myself and Keith. That was something I always wanted Keith to understand.
When I got to work, it was like a bomb went off inside the office. A couple of deals fell through for both Bill and Mike. Mike was brash to begin with, fiercely competitive, demanding his company be the one and only real estate company in town. And rarely did things not work out for him.
So, when you added that to Bill being in a bad mood too, it was hell all day.
The paper wasn’t the right color white. The printer didn’t print fast enough. The coffee tasted like shit. I took it upon myself to sneak out and go get them both coffees, only to have Mike tell me he wasn’t paying me to deliver coffee to him.
It was one of those days where no matter what corner I turned, there was something messy waiting. After lunch, I got a call from Miss Beth at the daycare to let me know that one of the kids had gotten sick. And that was sick as in throwing up unexpectedly and everywhere. She wanted to give all the parents a courtesy call, just in case it turned out to be something contagious. Which meant I was then officially on stomach bug watch.
My only saving graces for the day were the view out of the window and Jane.
And strangely the two were tied together.
Jane came through the front door in a nice looking, blue women’s suit with a sleek black bag hanging off her left forearm. In her other hand was a holder with two coffees. Her head was tucked to the left as she talked on the phone.
“Well, we can counteroffer,” Jane said.
She came to the desk and held her hand out for me to take the coffees. When I did, she mouthed thank you.
“I don’t care what he said,” she said. “This is what we do. We have the right to make another offer. I know they’re in a hurry to sell, but I’m not going to take a hit like that. Hell, I’ll personally put them in a monthly rental myself. Well, you call me back when you’re ready to talk.”
Jane ended the call and threw her phone into her bag.
“Rough day for you too?” I asked.
“Is it me or is today like the Monday of all Mondays?”
I had to laugh. “Yes. It’s been crazy. Between Mike and Bill…”
“Oh, I heard they were on the warpath,” she said. “Hey. Grab a coffee and come outside for a smoke.”
“I don’t smoke,” I said. “I used to, but not anymore.”
“Good for you. You quitter.” she winked. “Come have a coffee, some fresh autumn air, and a little free secondhand smoke.”
“I can’t pass that up,” I said.
“Let’s go,” Jane said.
We walked out front.
With my coffee in hand, I took a deep breath and smiled. It was definitely fall. Leaves were starting to change. The days still got a little warm, but it was comfortable. Plus, it was fun to watch everyone start to decorate. From now until the end of December everything in town would be decorated. The fall colors would give way to Halloween and then go back to fall colors, to then suddenly change to everything Christmas. But as the new year would sweep in, the decorations would be gone, and it would be cold, snowy, and quiet until spring came.
That was just how the years went now. Faster than the one before. It always left me uneasy, wondering if things were ever going to smooth out for Sam.
I smelled the bitterness of the smoke and remembered that I was standing with Jane.
“Thanks for the coffee,” I said.
“You could use it,” she said. “They’re assholes in there. Bunch of macho guys that get pissed when they can’t get what they want.”
“Oh, I know,” I said.
“Hey, how’s your little boy doing?”
“Sam? He’s good. Great. Got a call from the daycare that a kid threw up.”
“That’s gross.”
“Yeah. So now I have to cross my fingers and hope Sam doesn’t get sick.”
“Good luck with that.”
“The joys of motherhood.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Jane said. “That world waved bye to me a long time ago.”
I kept a grin on my face. “You have a great job though. Nice car. Big house.”
“Yeah. It’s a good life, Jordyn. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if things were different.”
“Everyone does that though,” I said. “It’s called being a human.”
“And you… you’re tough.”
“Tough?”
“Yeah,” she said. “You work at this place. You take care of your son all by
yourself.”
“Well, he goes with his father every other weekend,” I said.
“Bullshit on that,” she said. “That’s not being a father. That’s being a glorified babysitter.” Jane touched her lips. “Sorry for saying that. I don’t know the personal situation.”
“No, it’s fine,” I said. “You’re about right with everything.”
Jane finished her cigarette and drank her coffee like it was a glass of water.
“Okay, I need to go figure out this offer,” she said. “Enjoy your coffee. Don’t worry so much about Mike. He’s rude as hell but he knows he can’t survive without you. You’re the best thing that’s happened to this office. Honestly. Remember that when he gets mad. Also, he loves candy bars. No joke. He preaches health and fitness, but if he gets like this, just leave a candy bar on his desk.”
“That’s something you could have told me a long time ago, Jane.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Wasn’t sure if I liked you or not.”
“Oh? Thanks.”
She smiled. “Enjoy all the pumpkin colored stuff.”
Jane went back inside.
I took a much-needed minute to myself. But only a minute.
I had to finish up my day and get Sam from daycare.
Then do everything a single mother needed to do to survive the day.
I was on day three of stomach bug watch. Sam was smart enough to use it to his advantage to argue about eating dinner, telling me he had an upset stomach. I let him off the hook because dinner wasn’t the best tasting thing in the world.
We went upstairs, and I ran the bath water for Sam while he collected his bucket of toys. The bucket was a small, clear tote that he found in my closet and asked if he could have for his bath toys. That was better than dealing with toys in the shower or on the floor. There was nothing graceful about stepping on a toy in the dark and having that shooting pain go through your entire body.
Sam came into the bathroom with his tote of toys and goggles on his forehead.
“Goggles?” I asked.
“Found them,” he said. “I can do shark diving.”
Every Other Weekend Page 6