The Fix (Carolina Connections #1)

by Sylvie Stewart

  “I’m going to grab a drink. Anyone need a beer?” Laney asked, rising from her chair.

  “Sure,” Gavin and I responded simultaneously as Laney went into the kitchen.

  “Is it strange that I’m jealous of a five-year-old?” Gavin asked, taking in the treehouse and the two faces peering out the window.

  “If we’re talking about Fiona, I can’t answer that, dude. If we’re talking about the treehouse, I’m right there with you.”

  “Definitely the treehouse. I can get laid without pissing my sister off, thank you very much.”

  I laughed at the mental image of Gavin hitting on Fiona with Laney as a witness. “Smart man.”

  Gavin sat forward in his chair and put his elbows to his knees. “Hey, I know it’s late notice, but do you think there’s any chance I can take Thursday off? There’s somewhere I’ve really got to be and I can only do it on Thursday.”

  “Shit, man,” I started, not looking forward to what I had to say next. “You haven’t earned any vacation days yet and if I let you take off it sets a bad precedent. It puts me in an awkward position, Gavin, especially considering Laney and all but I have to say ‘no.’ I’m really sorry.” I hated having to do this, especially to Laney’s brother but the rules are the rules and if I let one person break them then it’s just a slippery slope. That’s not the kind of work environment I can tolerate.

  He looked like he’d already known the answer before I told him but I still felt bad.

  “Hey, no problem. Just thought I’d ask.”

  We were both awkwardly quiet until Laney came back out with the beers and a glass of wine for herself. She hollered out to the treehouse, “Hey, any of you adventurers thirsty?!”

  “Only if it starts with ‘w’ and ends with ‘ine!’” came Fiona’s answer as she and Rocco descended the ladder.

  “Who do you think you’re talking to?!” Laney shouted back and headed back into the kitchen.

  Fiona and Rocco approached the table, Fiona rubbing at her hands trying to wipe the dirt off. “I swear this red clay dirt is so hard to wash off sometimes,” Fiona commented.

  “You should use douche,” suggested Rocco as casually as can be, wiping his own hands on his jeans.

  We all froze. Well, all of us but Rocco. His only parent was currently inside and had not heard what Rocco said and I think the three of us were all just waiting for each other to come up with the correct response. Nothing.

  Just as Laney came out the door Gavin hissed at Fiona and me, “Do. Not. Tell. Laney. I like my balls where they are.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Now Accepting Applications for a Corner Man

  Laney

  It was official. I was in love. And everything all those damn movies and romance novels said was all true. Well, almost. Nate couldn’t get it up ten times in a night and doing it against a wall was ridiculously difficult, not to mention entirely impractical. But all the parts about food tasting better and jokes being funnier and finding yourself with a great big smile during a boring-ass meeting? All true. It was a little like being drunk but still able to operate a moving vehicle and hold down your day job. I was saying hello to complete strangers at the grocery store and complimenting them on their outfits. I was singing in my car and getting caught by other drivers at stoplights and not caring in the least. All I had to do was think about that sexy man and I turned into a fool.

  Neither of us had said anything regarding our genuine feelings yet, but I had a hunch his heart was right in line with mine. Or at least I hoped it was. Not a day had gone by without Nate sporting the scruff I’d told him I liked so much, so that had to mean something, right?

  And everything else was going well too. Rocco seemed to like his new daycare a lot better and I was really excited to see him start to engage with some of the other kids. The nose twitching was still around sometimes but was not nearly as prevalent as it had been. And he and Nate were getting along really well. Now I just had to tackle asking Rocco how he’d feel about Nate having “sleepovers” at our house. Part of me felt like it was too soon but my gut was telling me this was it. Nate was the one.

  I’d finally introduced my parents to Nate over Skype last week. Yeah, that wasn’t weird at all. But he felt that since we’d spent a few evenings with his parents already, it was time to meet mine. Luckily Rocco dominated the online conversation as he usually did so it all turned out okay in the end.

  Fiona was still in a Terrence-free zone but hadn’t had a date with anyone else as far as I knew. She and Nate got along well too, which was a big bonus since I spent so much time with her. And Nate being Gavin’s boss hadn’t turned out to be as awkward as I’d feared. They hung out like friends when Nate was at our house and Gavin still seemed to like his job so all was good.

  Until it wasn’t.

  It was Thursday after work and Nate let himself in the front door as usual. Rocco and I had been home for a little while and I was chopping vegetables, pretending to know what to do with them, while Rocco watched cartoons in the living room. As soon as Nate entered the kitchen I could feel a weird vibe. He didn’t come over and kiss me right away like he usually did so that was my confirmation that something was wrong. He dragged his fingers through his sweaty, matted hair and set down his hoodie.

  “Hey, mind if I jump in the shower? I’m a mess.”

  “Sure. You okay?”

  “I don’t know…” he hedged. “We’ll talk later.”

  That did not sound good. Not at all. My first instinct was to follow him into the bedroom and make him talk. But then I forced myself to think like a guy and I left him alone for the moment as he’d asked.

  Dinner was very quiet. Gavin hadn’t come home to eat, which wasn’t unusual, but it would have been nice to have someone else to relieve the tension at the table. Nate was stewing and even Rocco’s chatter wasn’t enough to rouse him. I just spent the time responding to Rocco and asking him about his day.

  When dinner was over, Nate grabbed his hoodie and started to open his mouth to speak. I cut him off before he could get one word out. “You don’t need to tell me everything if you don’t want to, but you don’t get to leave here without saying at least something.” I leaned against the stove and waited.

  He set his sweatshirt back down and then his hand went back to his hair. “It’s nothing, it’s just…well, have you seen Gavin today?”

  I looked at him warily. “No. I usually leave before he gets up. Did something happen to him?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “Stop worrying me, Nate. Wasn’t Gavin at work today?”

  “No. He never showed.”

  “Are you sure? Maybe he was at a different site today or something.”

  “Laney, I’m his foreman.”

  “Well there has to be a good reason, right?” But I was feeling uneasy all the same.

  “I’m pretty sure there’s a reason alright.” He sighed and then threw his hand out to the side. “This sucks.”

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Gavin asked me earlier this week if he could take today off. I told him he hadn’t earned vacation yet so the answer was ‘no’.”

  “Okay, that makes sense I guess. Why did he need the day off?”

  “He didn’t say. He just said he had something he needed to do and it could only be done today. But he seemed okay when I turned him down.”

  I approached him and put my hands to his chest. “Nate, I’m sorry he put you in this situation. I hope there is a good explanation and this can all be worked out, but it sucks that you were put in the middle like this.”

  “No, it goes with the job, regardless of who my girlfriend is.” His hands ran up and down my arms. “The problem is that now I’ll have to dock his pay and put him on probation. I’m worried he’s not going to take it well and I don’t want him taking it out on you. He can be pissed at me, but he knew the consequences and I know things can sometimes be tense between you two.”

 
; He wasn’t wrong. And I was pissed and disappointed that Gavin had put Nate in this position. Things had been going so well and I’d thought the big dope had finally grown up a bit. Where in the world could he be and how could it be important enough to risk his job? Not to mention disrespecting Nate like that.

  “Listen, I’m sorry I’m being so moody. If it’s okay with you I’m just going to go home. I don’t really want to run into Gavin tonight and I’ll have a more level head in the morning if and when he shows up to work.”

  I told him I understood and gave him the biggest hug I could muster.

  Damn you, Gavin!

  ***

  It was eleven o’clock when I heard the front door shut – smoothly, thanks to Nate’s handy-work. Gavin’s footsteps were hardly audible and I’m sure he assumed I was asleep, not waiting to strike like the freaking rattlesnake I was feeling like at this moment.

  “Where in the hell have you been?”

  He jumped and his hand covered his heart. Good, I scared the shit out of him. He quickly regained his composure. “None of your business, Mom. Go to bed.”

  “It is my business when, a) you have me worried you’re dead in a ditch somewhere and, b) my boyfriend is your boss and you decided to play hooky like you’re sixteen again and put him in a really difficult spot.

  “See, I knew it was a bad idea for you guys to date. I totally saw this coming!”

  “You saw yourself acting like an irresponsible dipshit again?”

  “I wasn’t being irresponsible. I weighed my options and decided that the consequences of skipping work were worth it.”

  “Oh, this should be good. What exactly could have been more important? Were you donating a kidney?”

  “Don’t be such a bitch. I went to see Coach Willis.” He inched closer to the couch.

  “Why?” I was utterly confused.

  “He called me up this weekend and told me he’d be in Charlotte and wanted to see me. But he was only going to be there today. I thought…I thought. Goddammit! I thought he was calling because he wanted me back on a team. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking, I just got the call and I couldn’t not go.” He slumped onto the couch next to me and his head dropped back.

  He was looking pretty pathetic so I calmed myself down a bit. “What did he really want?”

  “He’s got some camps he’s working with and wanted to know if I wanted a temp job coaching some kids. And he said he missed seeing my ugly mug so he asked me to come in person.”

  I didn’t know what to say.

  “I don’t want to coach some snot nosed kids. I want to play. I was supposed to play.”

  I remained silent and rubbed his arm. My heart broke for him.

  But only for a second because then he went and pissed me right off.

  “I’m quitting the construction job and going to Virginia.”

  My back got so straight I could have taught an etiquette class. “You what?! Are you joking?”

  “No. I’m just not cut out for this.”

  “Not cut out for what? Being an adult?” I had officially lost the calm I had regained. I leapt off the couch and my finger pointed right in his face. I couldn’t have stopped myself if I’d tried – the urge to rant at him had been bottled up for so long I just exploded.

  “You lived in Mom and Dad’s house for two years and never got a job – never paid a dime. You let them buy you a Jeep, for Christ’s sake – it may be a shitty one but you still let them pay for it. They were so afraid you were going to fall apart and so disappointed for you that they would have done anything – and you let them!

  “You acted like a spoiled child whose favorite toy had been taken away and you let them wait on you hand and foot. It only took eight weeks to recover from your injury – an injury that was a direct result of your goddamned impulsive nature, by the way – but you milked the hell out of it and acted like a whiny baby. You took advantage of them and refused to grow the fuck up and take responsibility.”

  I couldn’t seem to stop. “So life didn’t turn out how you wanted it to – join the fucking club. Do you think that I lay in my bed as a child dreaming of my future life as a single mom pinching pennies and working a boring ass job to make ends meet? – And don’t even think of throwing the help I got from Mom and Dad in my face. I know I was damn lucky to have them and I appreciated the hell out of it. Never did I take it for granted, and I pulled my weight as best I could. I got dealt a bad hand and took it on the chin, unlike you. I picked myself up and moved on because that’s what it is to be an adult.”

  I was so worked up by this point I felt like I needed a corner man to wipe my face down.

  But Gavin was up and facing off with me and had been swiping my finger aside repeatedly. He had come to fight too. “You got dealt a bad hand?! Ha! You decided to spread your legs for some douchebag with a guitar and suffered the consequences. I chose to get on that motorcycle and you chose to be a slut, so don’t paint me with a different brush, Laney. We both fucked up. The only difference is that my fuck up killed the only dream I’ve ever had in my entire life! Yours just changed the timing of what your life had in store for you anyway.”

  He laughed without a trace of humor. “You got an awesome kid out of your fuck-up, and if I asked you on your worst day if you’d change one thing about how your cards fell you would always say ‘no’ because a ‘yes’ would mean you wouldn’t have Rocco. You ask me the same thing and I’d answer ‘yes’ every single time. I would give anything to change that night and get my career back. There is no fallback or plan B. There’s nothing.

  “So you go ahead and be all superior and call me an idiot like I know you love to do, but you will never understand what it’s like to be me and lose the one dream you ever had. You’ve got Rocco, you’ve got your new house, you’ve got your perfect boyfriend, and you’ve even got the fuckwad California kid to fund your life. Wow, I feel so sorry for you!” he sneered and started to walk away.

  Then he continued over his shoulder, “Now, if it’s alright with you I think I’ll go get drunk with Brett because unlike my sister who’s supposed to have my back, he has never failed me. Tell Rocco I’ll catch him tomorrow and tell Nate whatever the hell you want to.”

  He tried to storm out the door but I stepped right in his way. “You don’t get to drop the mic and stomp out of here. You talk about your dead dreams and, yeah, it sucks ass that you didn’t get to play pro ball, but you could do anything else in the world! You didn’t even bother to finish college. Mom and Dad were standing there, money in hand, offering to help you finish. You could have chosen anything, but getting drunk with Brett was what you chose – it’s what you always choose!”

  He tried to push me aside but I wasn’t done. “And as for my dreams? I never had a chance to even figure out what they were – I didn’t get the time to. I was going to get a four year degree and a chance to figure out my future on my own time. Instead I’m stuck in a cubicle for the rest of my life doing a job Brett could probably do hungover.”

  Gavin rounded on me and shoved his finger in my face. “You’re so full of shit. You curse me for taking advantage of Mom and Dad and then you tell me I should have taken their money for college? Which is it? And if you hate your job so damn much, why don’t you just quit?!” he hissed in my face and pushed me aside to reach the door.

  “God, you’re such a child! You don’t get it at all!” I yelled at him.

  He flipped me off, proving my point, and slammed the door behind him, making me feel so agitated that I wanted to scream and throw things. Why couldn’t he see that he had the world at his feet if he’d just open his eyes and consider the possibilities waiting out there for him? Son of a bitch!

  I checked on Rocco to make sure we hadn’t woken him up, but thankfully he was fast asleep positioned sideways on his bed. I felt so incredibly crappy and there was no way I was going to sleep so I called Fiona, praying that she wasn’t asleep yet. I got her voicemail. Well, reality TV is was, then.
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  ***

  Nate: Did Gavin ever show up last night?

  Laney: Yeah, and we got into it. I’m pretty sure we’ve disowned each other.

  Nate: I’ve done that to Bailey numerous times but she’s still somehow hanging around.

  Laney: I don’t think he’s coming to work today. I’ll explain everything later, but I’m really sorry he’s being such an ass.

  Nate: Can’t wait to hear this one. Have a good day and I’ll call you later.

  Laney: XOXO

  Nate: You know I can’t bring myself to do that crap.

  Laney: Oh, come on, just one lousy emoji or acronym and I’ll leave you alone…

  Nothing. Damn.

  I had just arrived at work and really should have been doing my job but I had to catch up with Nate and I still hadn’t heard from Fiona. I had been so pissed off last night that I’d tossed and turned and waited for Gavin to come home but he never showed. Not a huge surprise. So I was basically a zombie this morning, my Diet Coke doing nothing to revive me. I barely made it through the day and I may have possibly nodded off on the toilet in the early afternoon. If the pins and needles in my butt-cheeks were any indication I probably did. Is it bad form as an employee to bring a pillow into the bathroom?

  I texted Fiona again and finally got a response. “ttyl sorry,” was all it said.

  By the time I picked up Rocco and got home I was so glad it was the weekend and I just wanted to pass out. I followed Rocco in the door and was pleasantly surprised to find Nate standing in my kitchen making dinner. “Oh my God, I love you.”

  Yes, that’s what I said. Shit fuck damn!

  Being the wonderful man he is, after a silent beat he just turned around and smiled, flashing me the dimple.

  “Can we please just pretend I didn’t say that and you come here and give me a kiss instead?” I pleaded.

  That got a good laugh and the kiss wasn’t so bad either.

  “Hey, dude,” Nate addressed Rocco after making my belly dip. “I’m making home-made pizza. You want to help?”