“You never know,” had been her reply.
He took almost every suggestion she offered when it came to ideas for expanding Tucker Construction. She thought a logo and a phone number display was a good idea because you never do know.
I guess I wasright about that.
J.J. walked up to the door and knocked. She stepped back as the door swung open, and D.J. leaned out; he had a phone to his ear.
“I told you I’ll be there after I get off the phone with the inspector.”
J.J. cocked her head; it was still hard to believe how grown her boys were. One day, they went down to the basement to play with Pokémon cards, and she swore they walked back up those stairs two minutes later looking like their mountain man dad.
“Mom! Oh, no, uh, yes, sorry, for sure. I’ll be there for sure.” D.J. held up his index finger to let her know, one second. She nodded. He stepped back into the trailer, and she stepped up into it.
“No, no, I know, so sorry, just wires crossed, and it’s all good. Promise.”
D.J. finished the call.
“Momma!” He wrapped J.J. in a hug, and she squeezed tight. It had been nine months; could a grown man grow more? If so, D.J. had added size in all directions.
“Good to see you, sweetie, and good to see you hard at work.”
D.J. immediately got a little sheepish.
Well, he wasn’t shameless, at least.
“Have a seat, here, here.” He picked up his laptop from the little bench mounted to the trailer wall surrounding the table. J.J. had no doubt neither the father nor son could actually sit on the bench. The size of them would surely rip out the wall anchors.
“Some news, the house is sold.”
“Grandma Jackie okay with that?”
Despite moving years ago, Jackie still called Irish Hills her summer home. She “wintered” in Winter Park.
“Not her call.” J.J., truth be told, hadn’t thought much about her mom’s lifestyle in the last few months. She didn’t have it in her to nurture anyone, even herself, after Dean.
“Well, it is her summer crash pad.”
“True, one issue at a time, I guess.” She’d deal with Jackie when she had to.
“Selling the house is why you’re back?”
“Partly. I bet you can guess the other part.”
D.J. shook his head and looked down.
“Mom, I told Libby it wouldn’t happen again. It was Chris Loger’s bachelor party. You know how that goes. He’s a maniac. Got out of hand.”
“Chris is getting married, that’s nice. To whom?”
“Girl he met over in Onsted. She does blood draws…what’s that called?”
“Phlebotomist.”
“Yeah, that, over at Bixby.”
“Hmm, well, the fact remains you were three sheets to the wind on the job or not on the job.”
“I know, I know. It was so stupid. Loger got Everclear, and I thought it was vodka, and Everclear is brutal, just brutal. Anyway, I’d worked all day, all week, and no sleep and just bad combo.”
