The Step Sister (Sister Series, #10)

by Leanne Davis

  “Yes.”

  He was pleased at the lack of inflection in Julia’s tone. She’d have to survive Margaret’s wrath if she intended to continue working there.

  Chris imagined Margaret probably wasn’t very nice to Julia. Margaret often rolled her eyes, or sighed and scowled, calling Lloyd’s assistants his ass-candy. Or eye-candy. Pussy PAs. She did that while smirking with pleasure as she explained PAs were also the initials they used for project assistants. Margaret’s list of derogatory names to describe Lloyd’s liaisons with his assistants was endless. Chris couldn’t blame her, having to watch the parade of women constantly coming through the office. All were young and attractive, which would not have mattered except that more often than not, they lacked any skills for the position and had little or no work ethic or ambition. Meanwhile, Margaret still worked ten-hour days and had more than proven her exceptional capabilities and stamina.

  Biting her lip, Julia replied, “That’s why Margaret seemed to dislike me and dismissed me? I don’t have a degree. Duh. Lloyd said most of this job was hands-on and told me I would learn it as I did it. I’m also supposed to take over all the submittals processing from the subcontractors for all the jobs.” She shook her head, throwing her hands up in the air. “Problem is, I don’t know what submittals are or how to keep track of them.”

  His lips twitched. “Well that’s a huge problem. Submittals are the proposals that are given to us from each and every subcontractor or materials provider we hired to supply the things we need for this job. The process Lloyd talked about is for you to check and see if their submittals match what the plans and specs require.”

  She licked her lips, twisting her fingers around each other.

  Chris tilted his head. “What did I say? You suddenly look as if you were sucking on a wedge of lemon.”

  “I don’t exactly know how to match their submittals to the specs because I don’t know what those are…”

  He smiled as he nodded. “Lloyd didn’t explain anything to you yet, did he?”

  Negative head shake.

  Jumping to his feet, Chris walked over to the plans table. “Come here.”

  Julia obeyed, coming up beside him. Her head was between his elbow and shoulder. Her eyes dimmed as she met his gaze while glancing up. He pointed to a thick book. “So those right there are the specifications. The architects write them up according to the set of architectural blueprints they make for each project. You get what blueprints are, right?”

  “Yes. Of course. I just can’t read them.”

  “I can show you some basics.”

  Her head tilted to the side. “Why would you do that?”

  “’Cause you need to know how. Besides, Lloyd’s great to work for but he isn’t the best at supplying the details. Like making sure any new people understand their jobs and what he’s saying and how to properly dress.” He cringed visibly. “I couldn’t read a blueprint upside-down or sideways, let alone match up the specs to the architectural details. Well, let’s see over here…”

  He pointed to the site plans and showed her a small insignia of A-1, which he then applied to detail A-1 in the specification book. The spec details included a drawing of a certain type and size of rock. “So you see, everything is itemized, sometimes right down to the exact brand. The materials they use must be exactly what the architect and engineers had in mind, and that’s so the building won’t fall down or flood or whatever. It’s to make sure everything functions as it was initially envisioned, and that the vision isn’t lost in translation when someone like me, who doesn’t belong to either of those professions, tries to interpret their intentions from this,” he plunked a finger on the top sheet of the plans, adding, “to a real building and site.”

  “You couldn’t read them either in the beginning? The plans, I mean?”

  “No. I was hired to basically run around all the job sites, hammering nails wherever I was told to or removing construction debris. I was what’s called a general laborer. But it’s simply a title for all the grunt work of the site. So don’t feel dumb. Everyone has a first day.”

  Her eyebrows furrowed together. “Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.”

  Lloyd stuck his head back in. “Ready, Chris?”

  “Coming.” Chris turned back to Julia. “Like I said, you aren’t safely dressed to go around the site as you are. But ask Lloyd to let you come back this week and bring some boots and pants and I’ll show you around. Then you can see how the real site relates to those.” He waved towards the site plan. “Okay?”

  “That would be so helpful. Thank you, Chris.”

  “You can wait here and have some coffee.” He stuck the hard hat on his head. “Just don’t get it for anyone else or they’ll always expect you to.”

  “Expect me to what?”

  “Bring them coffee. You aren’t a waitress here. Keep that in mind before you hop up to do anyone’s bidding. Don’t do grunt work that other people can perfectly well do for themselves.”

  “Basically don’t let them treat me as if I’m a woman doing a man’s job.”

  “Exactly. Make sure you are treated as person simply doing your job.”

  “Except of course, for Mr. Cartwright.”

  It was on the tip of Chris’s tongue and he was about to add, especially Mr. Cartwright. Oh, that old, wily bastard. He insisted that everyone call him Lloyd, even the freaking warehouse manager. But his assistant? She made it sound as if Lloyd were some kind of older, better hero, someone for her to respect and kowtow to. Chris had seen Lloyd’s moves once too often and he sighed as he shook his head. “Even him.”

  “What about you?” She kept her tone light and smiled as she said it. Was she being lighthearted with him?

  “Even me.”

  She smiled. “I was about to rush over and get that guy some coffee, until you did. You shocked me. It never occurred to me to say no. Although I didn’t like being singled out or called sweetheart.”

  “I can’t imagine why anyone would at work. I hope to see you, Julia.”

  “You will. Bye.” Julia’s smile made his heart bump in a weird way. Frowning, he turned back towards his dad, waiting, and staring out at the mucky lot. His brain was spinning as he began thinking of how to resolve the soupy mess before them. He had to get it cleared out and dried soon or their building schedule would suffer greatly.

  Chris stopped near his dad who glanced up at him. “Ready?”

  “Yeah. Just explaining to Julia how the plans and the submittals mesh together.”

  Lloyd laughed and they fell into step. “I doubt she’ll ever get that. Hot, little piece though, isn’t she?”

  Chris rolled his eyes. She definitely was. But why didn’t the old man have even an ounce of ethical standards? Where was his moral fiber? “Aren’t you friends with her dad or something?” Chris muttered.

  “Nah. More like fleeting business associates. Julia is his daughter. She’s kind of messed up or having trouble finding a job. I knew what she looked like so I offered her one, of course. Gentleman that I am.”

  They stepped across the sticky muck. “How do you avoid getting sued?”

  He snickered. “Ah, Chris. You’re such a novice. I don’t touch any woman who works for me unless they’ve signed forms stating it’s consensual.”

  “That’s creepy,” Chris replied. “And this works? The women, the assistants agreed to all you do?”

  “Of course. I don’t do it unless they’re interested. I’m not a sexual predator.”

  Maybe not, but he walked the sleazy border of it. Chris failed to add that he did not intend to be seducing women who were young enough to be his own daughter at the age of fifty-six. Nor did he mess around with coworkers. Ever. That was a concrete rule to him. And shouldn’t it be? Especially for Lloyd? The boss? Didn’t he see the conflicts of interest he created for himself?

  “Anyway, this one, Julia, seems smart enough. Any reason why you couldn’t teach her the job, without sleeping with her? Don’t y
ou want to rely on an assistant who is not inept? We’re pretty freaking busy right now. We need the help. Here’s a crazy-assed thought, why don’t you use her for the position you hired her for and formally employ her?”

  Why was he arguing that? What was he pursuing now? Who cared? So what if some woman he didn’t know slept with his father? Chris witnessed five other girls in the brief four years he’d been working there. He learned no more than their names because there was nothing to be gained from them, much less, any reliance on them. What Chris said was true, and they were seriously slammed with work. The office was behind in responding to customer requests and answering questions, as well as getting all the supplies and materials out to the job sites. Chris called four days ago to get the specification on the type of screening they needed to cover the new grate they were putting in. He had still heard nothing. They also needed a new printer/scanner because theirs died, but no one had done anything to procure it so far.

  Lloyd slapped his back with a rich bark of laughter. “Ah, Chris you’re such a damn prude. You look like you could rip apart two pit bulls with your teeth just for fun, but in truth, I suspect you’re more apt to cuddle a stray puppy than do anything violent. I already employ her. It’s not my fault if things develop into something more personal.”

  It was his fault and his fault alone.

  “You could not let it develop this time,” Chris pressed. Why did that seem so important? Who cared? He recalled his damn heart was blipping at her smile. He just didn’t want her sleeping with his dad. End of story. To be honest? She seemed nice. Not many of the women Lloyd hired for that job were very nice. They seemed to understand why they were hired and in fact, they wanted to be hired for that sole purpose. None of them seemed to care about their performances on their first week of work. Not like Julia did.

  “I could… we’ll have to see…” Lloyd said, his voice trailing off as a sleazy smirk appeared.

  “We are overworked and the project managers aren’t responding to requests they deem unimportant or too time-consuming. They’ll only address the big stuff. This Julia is needed. She could fulfill the small, daily tasks and requests that need to get done, Lloyd. I’m not kidding around.”

  Lloyd’s mouth twisted one way and then the next. “She does seem smart and capable enough.”

  “She doesn’t have a clue who you usually hire for that job. She seems normal. So why not put her to work? We need the help.”

  Lloyd sighed. “Hell, you could take the fun out of a strip joint, couldn’t you? Fine. I’ll start training her for real. Just so you know, she’s going to be assisting you the most. So if you’re so hellbent on making her worker of the year, realize a lot of that will fall to you. I don’t have the time or patience.”

  “Yeah, that’s fair.”

  “And Chris?”

  Chris waited as Lloyd dramatically raised his eyebrows and studied him. “She has no education and zero experience. Twenty-four years old and has only ever answered phones for her father’s small business. So, good luck.” Lloyd then slapped him on the back and proceeded forward.

  Chris sighed in relief as he followed his father around the job site conducting the rest of the meeting, all the while remaining hyper-aware of the employee waiting in the job shack for them to return. He tried to ignore the ripple of something close to anticipation.

  But it wasn’t the same type of lewd intentions like Lloyd had. No. He admitted to acknowledging she was unusually beautiful and young, and hell! That was just an observation. Like her noticing, he was big. He was big. She was pretty. Factual. It wasn’t creepy or gross or inappropriate. It was merely a person noting features of another person.

  A person he now officially worked with.

  Chapter Two

  THE MAN WAS HUGE. A bald, tattooed, lumbering giant who looked like he belonged on a Harley with a motorcycle gang around him, deferring to his leadership. But, no. So far, Chris had been exceptionally helpful, of all things. He was, in fact, the most welcoming person she’d met and very nice. Glancing at him, however, nice was not the best word to describe him, even if that’s what he was. Julia avoided contact with him at first, having been so surprised by his presence and demeanor. Huge, muscle-bound studs were not her type. Combined with the bald head, and tattoo sleeves on his arms, well, he was definitely not her type. But he was the only one who bothered to take a second to tell her something about her new job. He showed her what the hell a set of plans looked like, along with submittals and how to match them up. He showed her how to not only keep track of them, but also check them against said plans and specs.

  Her head started to spin as she thought about everything she needed to know. What could have possessed her to take such a job? In construction? It was the worst fit for her. It wasn’t anything she ever seriously considered doing and all around, a very odd choice for her. She wasn’t a girl who was tough or even interested in being that way. Having no clue how anything was built, she also never cared to learn. Least of all, she had zero ambition to work in a field that was comprised mostly of men, about eighty-nine percent, to be exact. She quickly gathered that.

  And yet, there she was. It never truly occurred to her that she could get the job. She thought she’d be instantly eliminated from the list of candidates because she was woefully unqualified. Her dad set up the interview with his client and she obediently agreed to it, out of filial duty and gratitude to her dad as well as to Lloyd Cartwright for giving her a chance. She knew her dad always held her best interests at heart. It wasn’t his fault if she couldn’t rise up to be a better daughter and person than she was. Braver. Smarter. More successful. More courageous. More fun. At this point, she might have just settled for being less shy and a whole hell of a lot more fun.

  So far, her job, which she’d done for exactly five days, appeared to be simply following Lloyd around. He didn’t bother to tell her whom he was talking to or why or how they related to his company. She had no idea who did what and where or why. She was truly lost and clueless, yet Lloyd seemed perfectly satisfied with her performance, so far. She tried to do more but wasn’t sure exactly what to do. The instruction from Chris Vaughn was the most detailed version she’d been given.

  Walking onto the job site required every ounce of courage she had, but she did it anyway, being fully aware of all the workers who entered the small, dirty job shack. It was kept tidy as a rule, but definitely suffered from its utilitarianism. Caked mud streaked the floors and coffee stained the tables and plans, but everything was neatly stacked where it belonged. The tools were kept on one end, and the other end was dedicated to the plans and Chris’s desk, as the site supervisor.

  Why didn’t Lloyd ever mention that Julia needed a pair of boots? Or long pants? He implied that the proper dress for his office was business professional. In other words, what she presently had on. She was never told that she would be visiting the job sites. Lloyd made it sound like communication from the field would merely be coordinated through her. As in the form of emails, phone calls, texts, snail mail, and all other correspondence except for physically being there.

  Waiting now for Chris and Lloyd to finish speaking with the men from the meeting, she picked up a pencil and tapped it on the table, straddling it between her fingers. She downed the last of her coffee. Coffee. Who knew how quickly the office chauvinism would be directed her way? One trip out to the field and there it was. Sweetheart. She scoffed. Lloyd should have scolded the man. But no, that was Chris who did that. Being new she felt she had no legitimacy. This being Chris’s site, he obviously had sway over everyone there. He used it as he should, where Lloyd had not.

  She fisted her hands. She would demand… no, insist… no, she might politely ask Lloyd to start teaching her more about what she was supposed to do, and on a more detailed level. She enjoyed seeing the place as a whole, observing how it all fit together, but she was starting to feel like a sidekick. She was ready to do much more than that.

  She stared out the window, wat
ching the group of men who were moving around the muddy hole and further up towards the other end of the site. She got up and checked the site plan, taking a moment to align where they were according to the page. The driveway. She saw where the driveway connected with the main road and the markings to delineate the curbs. The thickness of the concrete to be poured had to be proportional to the angle of the ramp going upwards.

  She flipped the pages of the site plan and studied other details, from the various landscaping components to how the parking lot would be drained. Eventually, low voices interrupted her silent perusal. Was she learning something? She believed so. She read a lot of the notes on the plans and specs. Oddly enough, she could remember each one exactly, like it was imprinted on her brain. Interpreting what they meant and knowing how to make them emerge from the muddy lot behind her was right out of her league, but she was starting to see how the parts fit together, which was new for her.

  Chris and Lloyd entered and Lloyd glanced her way. “I need to go with the owner. We’re discussing a change order and how to apply it. Can I leave you with Chris?” He turned towards Chris. “Show her some more basic things. And then see her back to the office, okay?”

  Chris’s eyebrows lifted up. “I got the paver coming by to discuss the driveway tie-in.”

  “Good. Have her watch and learn. Drop her back on your way home.” It was definitely an order and not a question. Chris’s mouth fell open in annoyance and Julia could sense him restraining his reply.

  She didn’t appreciate being passed off like an annoying little sister or a needy friend who asked for a lift. But then again, her skill level and the position she got hired for pretty much relegated her to that. Perhaps she should have been the girl who served all the real, qualified workers their coffee.

  “Sure,” Chris mumbled. Lloyd didn’t wait for her to agree as he shot out the door. She fumed inwardly.