Chapter Twelve
CALVIN HADsomehow taken control of the job assignments. Liam wasn’t sure it made sense; the old man really didn’t have any experience in constructionormanagement. But nobody seemed to want to argue with him, and since Liam, Ben, and Seth all ended up on the same crew, Liam didn’t have any reason to object either.
“Is Dinah going to be pissed she’s not with us?” Ben askedSeth.
Liam looked around; he was pretty sure he’d seen a pregnant woman earlier, presumably Seth’s wife, but he wasn’t sure where she’d gotten off to.
“Nah,” Seth said. “She’s pretty good at making friends. And really, she knows all the people on her crew anyway.”
“But Uncle Calvin assigned Julia Bindermans to the same group,” Ben said. “A child. So clearly they’ll be doing less demanding work.Aren’t you worried Dinah’s going to think he’s sheltering her because she’s pregnant? Like she can’t decide for herself what’s safe?”
“Why are you trying to make trouble? Why do you want to ruin my marriage?”
“You think that’s exactly what Calvin did, and you’re glad he did it, because you’d be worried about her otherwise, but you know Dinah won’t like it?” The affectionate teasing in Ben’svoice made Liam’s chest ache. There’d been a time whenhe’dbeen the one to make Ben sound like that.
“I’m very busy with the tasks I’ve been assigned,” Seth said. “And I’m afraid I just didn’t notice anything about Julia Bindermans. I absolutely wasn’t monitoring the jobs my wife was assigned, because why would I? She’s an adult and can take care of herself and doesn’t need me hanging over hershoulder and worrying about her all the time.”
“That’s good,” Ben admitted. “She might actually let you get away with that.”
“I’ve been married for a while. Learned some tricks.”
Then they both turned to Liam and seemed ready to get the conversation back to business. “Have you done this before?” Seth asked. “Framing? I know you’re an architect, but—hands-on?”
It was tempting to build himselfup, but Liam opted for honesty instead. “I’ve never even supervised this kind of construction. Most of my projects are—well, bigger. Steel and concrete and glass. Not nearly as much wood. I’m an absolute amateur.”
“But you can use a hammer,” Ben put in. Was Liam imagining it, or did Ben sound almost defensive, as if he didn’t want Liam to denigrate himself too much?
“Yeah, I can use a hammer,”Liam agreed cautiously. “Haven’t for quite a while—the last thing I built was probably that deck for your uncle. But it’s not a really sophisticated skill.”
“Okay, then,” Seth said. “We’re on.” And he took charge of their little group, apparently able to exercise his tradesman’s authority over the white-collar types even when the job at hand had nothing at all to do with his actual trade.
Theydidn’t talk much, not about anything more intense than moving a two-by-four a shade in one direction or the other, but it all felt totally comfortable. When Seth grumbled about the sun being too hot, Ben shot an amused look in Liam’s direction and mouthed the words “delicate redhead,” and it was like the heat of the day had melted the years away, as if the three of them were back to who they’dbeen so long ago, when they’d been perfect.
But they weren’t perfect anymore, and Liam’s shoulders started aching far too early. He worked out regularly, but of course trips to the gym weren’t quite the same as actual physical labor. He hadn’t even known a muscleexistedin that particular spot between his shoulder blades and couldn’t quite figure out what job it performed or why it was complainingso much about its current exertions, but he managed to work through it.
Still, he wasn’t sorry when they took a midmorning break. He and Ben had been doing similar work, and they both ended up stretching their arms and backs in almost exactly the same way when they got a chance. If Liam took the three steps to stand behind Ben, he’d know exactly where to press his thumbs, exactly how to easethem apart and stretch the pain away.
It was an excuse, of course, but it might be one he could get away with. If he was providing a service, touching would be okay, wouldn’t it? A friend was in pain. What kind of asshole wouldn’t do what he could to ease the discomfort? What kind of loser wouldn’t walk over, lean in, let himself feel the sweat-dampened fabric and beneath it the warm, livingmuscle of a body that used to be so familiar, so treasured—
“Liam!” Seth said, obviously for the second time. “You okay? You kind of zoned out for a minute there.”
“Sorry. Uh—work. Just thinking about something at work.”
“Everything okay?” Ben asked. He tossed Liam one of the Nalgene water bottles the crew were using instead of disposable plastic and turned to lean against a sawhorse next tothe one Liam was leaning on. “You had a crisis or something last weekend. That worked out okay?”
“Yeah. It—well, I was going to say it worked out really well, but my boss had a heart attack, so I guess it’d be pretty insensitive to be too happy about it. But it was a professional opportunity I was able to capitalize on.”
“You—you were able tocapitalizeon your boss’s heart attack?”
Shit. Liamcould have anticipated how that statement would sound to someone like Ben, couldn’t he? “Not really my boss, actually, at the time. My ex-boss. And it was kind of an unfriendly end to the business relationship.” Was he making this better, or worse? “But when he realized he needed me….”
Yeah, this was making it worse. Making it sound like Liam was taking revenge, gloating over an old man’s medicalemergency.
“I didn’t steal his company away from him or anything.” And it had been Tristan’s own fault that he hadn’t set up a better support system, hadn’t trusted Liam earlier. The heart attack hadn’t been Liam’s fault! He wasn’t responsible for Tristan’s health or his stress levels or any other damn thing. “We’re going to be partners now, that’s all. I’m buying into the company. And, yeah,his heart attack was what made him realize he needed a partner, sothat’show it worked out okay for me, but he could have chosen anyone else to work with. I wasn’t blackmailing him or anything!”
“Okay,” Ben agreed. “So—congratulations? You’re a partner now?”
“Not formally. Not yet. But, yeah, it’s in the works. Thanks.”
