“Fine, but I’m not making any long-term promises. For now, I’ll sit down with Mom and see what needs to be done. If a job has been started, I’ll finish it. If Dad already ordered materials for a job, I’ll see that it gets done.” He leaned forward, staring hard at each of his brothers. “But that’s it. If he’d only written an estimate or had an appointment scheduled to write one, we should pass the work off to another contractor. Mom will know the best ones to recommend.”
Mikhail was already shaking his head. “She won’t like that, and you know it. Seeing the business close down will be like losing Dad all over again. Besides, I hate the thought of her rattling around in that big house all alone so soon after his passing. Not to mention, she can’t take care of the whole house and that huge yard.”
Jack snorted. “Baby brother, I want to be there when you try telling her that. For sure, she’ll kick your worthless ass up and down the street for suggesting she can’t mow her own lawn.”
“That doesn’t mean she should have to do it all by herself.” Mikhail reached over to punch Jack’s arm. “And I’m not your baby brother, asshole. There’s less than a year’s difference in age between all three of us.”
Tino joined back in the conversation. “Mikhail is right on both counts. Mom won’t like it if we shut down Joe’s Construction Company, and she shouldn’t be alone right now.”
Mikhail clinked his beer bottle against Tino’s. “Here, here.”
Tino grinned. “But having said that, Jack is also right. You’re ten months younger than he is and six months younger than me. Any way you look at it, that makes you the baby of the family.”
He saluted Jack with his beer in a show of solidarity. “So, now that we have that much settled, what can we do to help you take over the business?”
Surrender tasted bitter. But after his time in the Army, Jack knew when a battle was a lost cause. “If you two idiots can hang around for a few days, I’ll make a trip back East to get my stuff packed up. If I’m going to be here for a while, there’s no sense in paying rent back there. I’ll make arrangements to have most of it shipped and just bring the things I’ll need for the short term with me. Considering everything, it will take me a week or so to get back here with my SUV.”
Tino leaned back in his seat, looking far more relaxed than he had a few minutes earlier. “I can hang out here for another week at least. While you’re gone, Mom and I can go through the active jobs to see what needs to be done. We’ll call the customers to make sure they know why there will be a delay. I should have it all organized by the time you get back.”
Mikhail joined in. “I asked for three weeks’ leave, so I’ll be here, too. While he works with Mom, I’ll do the yard work and go through the house to see if anything needs immediate attention before I have to leave. And if she wants help going through Dad’s things, we can handle that, too. If there’s anything of his that you might want, let me know.”
Jack caught himself rubbing his chest, trying to ease the ache that had taken up residence there the minute he’d gotten the call about Joe’s death. The man had been the one rock in Jack’s life, and his death left a big hole in all of his sons’ lives, that was for sure. He forced his hand back down to the table. The answer to Mikhail’s question was easy. “I don’t know if Mom will be weeding out any of Dad’s library, but I’d like his collection of Zane Grey books if they haven’t completely fallen apart by now.”
All three brothers smiled. Jack didn’t know about the other two, but he’d lost count of the number of times he’d seen their father reading those old Westerns. He’d often thought Joe would’ve been right at home in the Wild West. He’d definitely had the personality to be a hard-nosed lawman always on the hunt for outlaws.
Mikhail nodded. “I’ll let Mom know you’d like them.”
Jack finished off his second beer and set the empty on the table. “We’d better get back to the house so I can make travel arrangements.”
It was Tino’s turn to pay, and as they got up, he tossed some money down on the table to cover their tab. Outside, they piled into Joe’s old pickup. Jack turned the key, and the engine kicked over immediately. The truck was more than two decades old and looked its age after all the years it had spent at construction sites. However, like everything else that had been important in Joe’s life, the engine and transmission were in perfect running order. That brought back to Jack another rush of images of Joe and the three of them spending hours together tuning up car and lawn-mower engines. Even now, Jack could almost hear the man saying, “Take care of your tools, boys, and they’ll take care of you.”
The memory made him smile.
They rode in silence the short distance back to the house. As they pulled into the driveway, Tino cleared his throat. “Um, guys, what are we going to tell Mom about the business? I don’t want to lead her on and let her think we’re champing at the bit to take over the company permanently when we’re clearly not. Do you think honoring the last of Dad’s commitments will be enough to make her happy?”
Jack already knew the answer to that. Hell, no, she wouldn’t be happy. Marlene and Joe had dreamed of the day when their three sons would return home and start families of their own. No doubt the two of them saw giving them the company as a way to jump-start that process. Jack didn’t know how the other two felt about that possibility, but he had no intention of saddling the world with another generation of McShanes. “I’ll talk to her after dinner and let you know how it goes.”
Then the three of them trooped into the house and tried to pretend it didn’t seem awfully damn empty with Joe no longer there.
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Blown Away Page 21