“Weston, can I speak to you outside, please?” I interrupt.
He has a puzzled look on his face, but nods his head yes and walks out, which should be at the front door, but it’s currently just a bunch of tarp.
Grabbing him by the arm, I drag him farther away. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? We cannot fire him.”
His jaw briefly drops before he chimes in, “He deserves to be fired. He’s disrespecting you.”
Closing my eyes, I put my thumb and index finger on my head. Frustration is getting the better of me, and I feel like I'm the only one here who cares if we finish on time. “You do know you’re on a very tight timeline, correct?”
Clearly unaffected by me, he says, “It doesn’t matter. He talked down to you and he’s out of here.”
“He’s far from the last man who is going to take advantage of me because I’m a woman. He’s also not the last man who’s ever going to disrespect me because he doesn’t think a woman should be in charge of this job. You can’t fire everyone who’s a kind of an ass.”
“You’re right, I don’t want to fire everyone who is kind of an ass, I just want to fire the ones that are kind of an ass toyou.”
That’s a hard sentiment to be mad at. The inner part of me who loved this side of Weston, who was hell bent on defending me, is melting at this. I rake over memories of the last few years, trying to scrape up a time someone stood up for me like this.
“I appreciate you defending me right now, but I really can’t do this. If you want to fire him, you’re going to have to find a new contractor that can be here in the next forty-eight hours.”
He folds his arms over his chest and shrugs. “Done.”
Okay, that’s it. I’m going to lose it, and Frank won’t be the only one getting fired today because I am going to kill Weston. “You can’t be serious. There’s no way you will find somebody. Not only that, when you come in here, and you take over a situation like that, you make it seem like I can’t handle it, and I can.”
His face falls when my words sink in. “Shit, Willow, that wasn’t what I was trying to do at all.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a set of balls hanging between my legs, so men tend not to take me seriously. You know what does make them take me seriously? Standing on business and reminding them who’s boss. I can’t do that when you come in and take over. I appreciate you wanting them to respect me, but I can earn their respect on my own merit.”
He nods with a remorseful look on his face. “Okay, from here on out, I’ll stay out of it unless you loop me in. I wasn’t trying to step on your toes. It’s hard for me to watch someone being an ass to you and do nothing about it.”
My anger is short-lived because, as much as I hate it, he’s only trying to be kind. “I’ll make you a deal, as long as they aren’t working for me, you can come to my defense anytime. But at work, you need to let me handle my business.”
West puts his hands up and surrenders. “It won’t happen again. But I really think we need to fire Frank. I don’t know what was going on between you two, but chances are, he’s not the type of person we wantworking on this project anyway. I’ll find somebody by the end of the day, I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Her statement is a harsh reminder of the past promises he made about never leaving or hurting me, only to do both and provide me the deepest cut of my life.
“I’ve let you down in the past. I'm never going to do that again. That’s a promise I know I can keep. Now I’m gonna go and find Frank’s replacement.”
Weston stalks off toward his truck, and I stare at his large frame. And I can’t help but notice how damn good he looks in those wranglers. As annoyed as I am with him right now, a part of me is glowering. That man, right there, saw a problem and solved it for me, no questions asked. And not to prove he’s some sort of man’s man. He did that just for me. I’ve spent twelve years missing someone I didn’t think existed, but as I watch the dirt kick up under his tires, I wonder if I’ve had it all wrong.
Chapter 18
Weston
Family dinner is exactly what I needed after a stressful few days. Somehow, I was able to magically pull a reliable and honest contractor out of my ass. My dad has connections with just about everyone and was able to help me find someone in a hurry. Willow was beside herself, but anything I can do to make that girl believe that she can count on me, I’m going to do it. I’ll show up one hundred and ten percent every day of the year if I have to.
Laughter sounds off from around the table, shaking me from my thoughts. I take a good, hard look at the faces sitting around it and get a sudden wave of appreciation. While not everything in my life is perfect or has gone to plan, this group has been with me through it all. I’ll never take my family for granted. My dad stands behind my mom’s chair, his arms gently draped over her shoulders. Aspen’s at work, and Rhett is out of town, but everyone else is here. It’s not often that we all get free time to shoot the shit, but today things are calm, and we’re actually caught up.
I pull out my phone and check the time; I’ve got a standing meeting I can’t miss.
“Alright, I’ve got to head out. You making dinner tomorrow night, Mom, or are you forcing me to scrounge up food on my own?”
She rolls her eyes. “Sweetie, you’re thirty-one. I know good and well you can make your own meals. You’re on your own, your dad and Iare going to do a long weekend in Cheyenne, and we’re heading up tonight.”
“Why can’t your ‘weekly meeting’ make you dinner. I’m sure she would be more than happy to,” Mav jokes.
Cocking my head to the side, I look over to his wife. “Ava, did you just hear that Mav wants to cook dinner for the rest of the week?” I ask.
“I’m so glad I’m not the only one who heard that. Steak sounds great with mashed potatoes. Oooh, and some gravy.” She turns to Mav and holds on to his arm as she paints the picture of her perfect dinner, which I admit, is making my mouth water, too.
