“That’s bull! You use it all the time, Dad.” Junior insisted, and I watched with a smile as Mac shook his head.
“No I don’t.”
“Yes you do!”
“Use it in a sentence.” Mac demanded, leaning back in his chair and crossing his bulging arms.
“Miss Kelly is a total babe.” Junior declared, and Mac’s hearty laugh echoed throughout the house.
“Can’t argue with that.” He stated after he finally recovered. I rolled my eyes at the two of them. Mac alternated between teasing M.J. for his silly behavior and peppering him with compliments and fist bumps when he was successful. I was impressed that Junior could play Boggle at all, since he was only seven. I was even more impressed that Mac owned the game.
“You should stay for lunch!” M.J. said to me. “We’re grilling out!”
“I—” I started to say I couldn’t, but Mac swooped in to rescue me.
“Go on and get some fresh air, ya little nerd.” Mac said.
“Can I see if Maddy can play?” M.J. asked, as enthusiastically as if his father had just informed him they were taking a trip to the moon.
“Sure. But you stay in our yard or hers. Alright?” Mac replied, leaning back in his chair.
“Yes, sir.” M.J. nodded, and ran out the back door.
“Their fence has a gate right across from ours.” Mac explained awkwardly, “It’s like ten feet to the next yard.” He seemed like he was trying to convince me, so I nodded. I could see Junior racing to the next house and opening the gate. I turned to Mac and saw he was watching until the gate closed. He glanced at me, then back to his mug. We sat in awkward silence at his kitchen table for a few seconds. Watching him sipping coffee by daylight after everything we’d done the night before seemed pretty surreal.
“He’s so smart.” A gentle smile overtook me.
“Yeah. I don’t know where he gets it.” The pensive crease between his eyes showed me he wasn’t kidding. I dropped the smile and blinked in surprise.
“Sorry to just show up like this,” I finally said. “I actually had something I wanted to talk to you about last night.”
He turned to look at me, his blue steely eyes holding their usual confidence. I wanted to throw myself at him, but he’d made that impossible the night before. Besides, I was on a mission. Though I had no desire to meddle in his business, it couldn’t be helped. I was all the more resolved to do the right thing after spending time with M.J. I needed to be sure Mac was in the loop, even if I hated relaying the news.
“Want some more coffee?” he asked, and I nodded. He picked up my cup and crossed the kitchen. I got up and followed him, licking my lips nervously.
“Mac Junior’s teacher is concerned about him.”
“Oh? How so?” He paused, his hand still out toward the coffee maker.
“His scores are down He’s been falling asleep in class. She tried to talk to his mother—”
“I’ll take care of it,” he said sharply.
His body went rigid, and he seemed to be working too hard to breathe. I’d never seen Mac angry before, and I instinctively took a step back, but pushed on. “There’s something else.”
He sighed heavily, and by the way his head rocked back I could tell he was looking at the ceiling. “What?”
“She mentioned that he’s had a lot of hygiene issues lately.”
“What?” He turned to face me. “His teacher is just…gossiping about us in the teacher’s lounge?”
“No!” I looked up at his hostile expression, and my heart galloped like an untamed stallion. I could feel my skin catch fire, and I tried to remain calm. “She heard that we were dating.”
He looked at me suddenly, and an unfriendly smile appeared on his face. “I’m sure you set the record straight on that, right? Told her what a mistake I was.”
My jaw dropped, and my head was throbbing.
This must be what a stroke feels like.
“So, you came here as a mandatory reporter?” He tilted his head, and the fire in his eyes wasn’t the kind I’d come to expect from him. “Checking in on us? Making sure I’m feeding him? Did we pass your inspection, Miss Palmer?”
“Stop! I came here as your friend. I wanted to let you know so that you weren’t blindsided.” He turned his back on me. Enough time passed that I decided I had overstayed my welcome. Walking back to the table, I grabbed my keys. I was moving toward the door when he finally spoke.
“Kelly,” his voice was as soft as a caress. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
“I deserved that. Sorry I interrupted your morning. I’ll show myself out.” I hurried out the door and rushed to my car.
THE PROBLEM WITH success is that when it arrives you expect all of your dreams to come true. Or in my case, you at least want to take a moment to enjoy the view. The prize package isn’t like it is in the movies; a big house, a nice truck and a Playboy Playmate to share all of that with. Truth is, most of us that fumblefuck our way to the finish line are just plain lucky. Right place, right time. We stumble into success, and when we do, the reward rarely comes in the form we expect.
When my buddy, Joe, asked me to come work with him, I thought “what the hell?” It would be a great side business to make some extra cash. My baby mama was a very expensive dependent, and I could always use a little something more to keep her happy and off my back. I had no idea Joe’s shop would become so popular, and I was in no way prepared for the workload.
Things got so busy that I had to quit my day job in construction. I was psyched to have found my American Dream. Lucrative, honest work doing something I loved. And our partnership was ideal. Joe can make almost anything out of any kind of wood, so he headed up the fabrication division. My passion has always been in repurposing old stuff for new uses. I took care of stocking the showroom with one of a kind creations, while Joe did a lot of commissioned custom work. Since I had connections all over the area, scoring unwanted materials from demos is a snap. Between the two of us, we could cover just about anything anyone wanted done with wood. It’s almost like having a license to print money.
Good Wood started out in the building Joe owned, with a small storefront to showcase some of our featured products. In a matter of months, we expanded into the building next store and purchased an off-site warehouse to store raw material and finished products. Dollars rolled in, and for the first time in years, I had a sizable balance in my savings account. I was able to keep Mac Jr.’s mom off my back and buy myself a Harley. It got so busy that we had to start being more selective about the jobs we took. Eventually, we were forced to triple our prices just to control the workload. I’m not complaining about our success, but it would be nice to have ten minutes to myself, to drink my morning cup of coffee.
There were also the growing problems that came with having increased cash flow. Specifically, M.J.’s mom. Instead of the money making things easier between us, the woman just seemed to become more of a problem. She had always been a partier, but lately things were getting out of hand. First, I find out she had been ditching our boy with my brother while she went out and did God knows what. Then there was her arrest and now Kelly’s report that Patty wasn’t doing what she needed to for MJ. That last bit took away the last of my restraint, and I dropped MJ with my mom so I could go have a talk with Patty. As was the norm instead of an adult conversation, Patty flipped out.
“Oh, you know that’s total bullshit,” she said, as she exhaled the smoke from her cigarette in my general direction. “M.J.’s teacher sucks. She’s just not challenging him.”
“Funny, he doesn’t have an issue staying awake on my weeks.” I shot back, looking at her platinum hair with its dark black roots and wondering who told her she looked good blonde.
“Quit trying to make a case for full custody. You can’t afford another legal battle with me, Mac. Just because that little tramp you’re fucking works at the school, doesn’t mean you can make shit up and turn them against me.”
She took one lo
ok at my face and snickered. “Don’t look so surprised Mac. I have my sources.”
“Let me say this slowly so you aren’t confused in any way: you do your fucking job and be a decent mom, or make no mistake, you’ll never see that little boy again.” I seethed, and that shut her up quick.
Even so, she started fighting with me over text the minute I drove away. We went back and forth for hours, until I finally shut my phone off. Once I calmed down from my initial anger, I wondered how she knew about Kelly. Regardless, I had a feeling I was going back to court. Since that night, I’d randomly stopped in on Patty and M.J. for about a month. She seemed to be on top of things. I think she saw just how serious I was when I threatened her.
Between the extra time babysitting Patty, and the added burden at work, I was hard-pressed to have any time to relax. It was funny how Joe’s charitable ambitions kept eating into my free time. His latest brain child was a big build-off event he’d decided to call Heartwood. Anyone who could drive a nail or carve a block was descending on Austin to participate. Everybody was going to get together and make crap that would be auctioned at the end of the day. All proceeds were being donated to the homeless shelter Francis used to crash at. Heartwood was still several months away, but it was just one more demand on my already non-existent free time.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all about giving back. Lord knows that if I hadn’t been cut a few breaks when I was younger, I would have ended up in juvenile hall. But when Joe decided that we should contribute to society, I was thinking we would write a check. I should have known better. I kind of blame my sister and her bleeding heart ways for my brother-in-law’s newfound philanthropy.
Joe and I had always been tight. His proposing to my sister just made it official. I was against them getting together at first, but even I can see how good they are for one another. Since Joe became a dad, he’s a lot more like his old self. The guy I ran with who always did the right thing, before his first wife and baby died and he fell apart.
I was happy that he and Molly were getting hitched. Still, I thought he was nuts when he decided that we should do our part to nurture the carpenters of the new generation. He put the word out that we were open to mentoring young people of talent, and that’s how we ended up with Nick. He’d been a total screw up when we first brought him on. Sure, he had raw talent. I won’t deny that. But between his constant texting and continuous passes at my pregnant sister, I was sure Joe would punt him out the door…literally. Instead, Nick stepped up and followed Joe’s lead. Against all odds, he’d become a productive member of society.
Word travels fast in the construction world, and it wasn’t long before we had more potential apprentices than The Donald. The kicker was, the second we got an apprenticeship program in place, Joe took a few weeks off to spend time with his kids. Guess who inherited his pet project and the headache to go along with it?
Joe had been back for a month now, but with two babies still keeping them up at all hours, he was the king of the half day. So naturally, adult babysitting fell to me.
“Mr. Hildebrandt? Mr. Hildebrandt, sir? Are you in here?” The nasal tones of our newest recruit, a skinny kid who looked like the lost Weasley from Harry Potter, set my teeth on edge. He was a nice enough kid, but with the limited amount of caffeine in my system, he was stomping on thin ice with that voice of his.
“Yeah,” my response sounded gruff even to me, but I didn’t care. I never signed up to be wet-nurse to a bunch of brats. “Back here in the office.”
The kid came bursting right in, exuding excitement and reaffirming to me that all gingers have no soul. There’s no way that any normal person could be have this much energy this early in the morning.
“Hello, sir!” His voice cracked like he was still going through puberty, and I winced at the decibel level issuing from his cake hole. He opened his mouth to continue and I held up my palm, face out.
“Whoa there, Sparky. It’s early and I just poured my first cup of coffee. My head is killing me. Whatever you’re here to say needs to be said calmly and, more importantly, quietly.” The kid looked like I just flushed his goldfish. I released a long suffering sigh. “What do you want? Just get on with it.”
He took a step back (I assume in response to my tone), and I could see that it had just dawned on him that bursting in on me like the ‘Cheerful Morning Brigade’ had been a very bad idea.
“Well, sir, I know that I’m new here, and I don’t want to cause any trouble…”
I sipped my coffee to keep from screaming at him. Joe had specifically asked me to stop yelling at the apprentices. Besides, it wasn’t the kid’s fault I was exhausted. Staying up half the night arguing with M.J.’s mom had been my choice. Taking it out on Little Orphan Annie wasn’t going to improve the pounding in my head, so I opted for a quiet conversation.
“Out with it, Red. You’re killing me.” Putting my head down in one hand, I waved my coffee cup in an encouraging motion.
“Well...I was here really late last night, working on the project that you said we had to be done with by the end of the month. I was in the back, sanding when I heard some people come into the shop. Michael and Tom came in, but they weren’t alone. They had girls with them.”
I let my mind wander again as “Snitchy McSouless, The Long Lost Weasley” detailed the rowdy nighttime activities of two of his fellow apprentices.
“Then Kelly came stomping down the stairs and told them if they didn’t leave she was calling the cops. I figured I should tell you before she told Joe.”
“What?” I whipped my head in his direction at the mention of her name.
“Kelly. Francis’s daughter. She banged on the glass and told them she was trying to sleep and they should go before the cops showed up. It was midnight, so you can’t really blame her. She’s a schoolteacher, right? She was wearing a white tank top and boxers…she’s so hot…no bra—”
“Was she staying at Francis’ or something?” I frowned, confused and needing way more coffee to follow his ADD storytelling.
“No. She moved into the apartment upstairs. The one that Joe and Molly moved out of. I thought you knew,” he replied, staring at me in open surprise.
The knowledge that all that stood between Kelly and me was a thin slice of ceiling was tortuous. I’d tried to call her once since she stormed out of my house, but it was late at night and she’d never called back. I still thought about her all the time. She was as addictive as crack, and I was a full-on junkie.
Kelly had piqued my interest the moment I laid eyes on her, but it wasn’t until she’d been in my kitchen with my son that I knew I was in serious trouble. I more than liked Kelly before she stepped inside my house, but seeing her with Junior did me in. She was great with kids, and it wasn’t just an act. She had a way about her that put MJ at ease and made him want to do better just because she was paying attention. Seeing them together made me wish for things I hadn’t realized I wanted.
Then when she told me why she was really there, it was clear that my pipe dreams about Kelly were just that. I couldn’t really blame her for showing up to check me out with M.J. If anything, her concern just proved what a good woman she was. It seemed unfair that destiny had put her in my path. She’d make someone a great mother someday, just not my son. He was stuck with Patricia, for better or worse.
The intern continued to prattle incessantly, and all I could do was replay his description of Kelly the night before. Those long legs, toned thighs leading up to that perfect ass…it was going to be a living hell knowing I was one floor away from that woman. She tired me out in all the right ways. I chugged more coffee, trying to claw my way to awake. As much as it pained me, I had to admit that I missed her for more than the sex.
I missed her sass. As a matter of fact, she was sharp enough to make me feel like a dull knife at times. Conversations with her kept me up all night considering her notions or the delicate way she turned a phrase. She made me try harder. I’m not saying she was out of my lea
gue, but that’s only because my ego won’t allow it. I definitely had to up my game whenever I was with Kelly.
I’d never been involved with someone like her before. She was polished and confident. A respectable lady, teaching young minds and molding future leaders. Her bills were paid, and she didn’t need anyone to take care of her. At least she didn’t think she did.
I knew better. There was a scared little girl hiding inside all the hard work and lean muscle. I’d scratched the surface of her veneer the night she told me about her parents. While her strength was admirable, I could tell she was lonely. She also seemed very used to being that way. I wasn’t used to giving a shit about anyone’s feelings but mine and Junior’s, but when it came to Kelly, my thoughts were tangled in knots.
To be fair to my ex-wife and my other previous conquests, I wasn’t shopping in the same aisle of the store when I found most of them. They were the female equivalent of low lying fruit: convenience store impulse buys who were waiting tables at Hooters or working their way through college cleaning poles. I’d been lucky to stumble upon Kelly, or more accurately, to have her stumble upon me. Since Chickenshit Bingo, I’d tried to go back to my usual hunting grounds, but the experience just wasn’t the same.
Chicken Shit Bingo wasn’t debonair, but the way Kelly had treated me after we’d spent the night together seemed harder to forgive. I’d retaliated with my own bad behavior, and now here we were, with her living upstairs and me not even knowing that she’d moved.
We’d had our ups and downs (not the good kind, though we’d had plenty of those, too) but I found it impossible to forget her. Recalling how beautiful she looked tangled in her white sheets and the filthy things she did so enthusiastically with me, I was tempted to abandon the annoying tattletale and head on upstairs to say hello.
I managed to resist the urge to invite myself to Kelly’s and adulted for a bit longer, nodding at the kid’s story at the appropriate intervals. When he had finally spun down, I’d at least managed to finish most of my coffee.
Wood U (Carved Hearts #4) Page 16