One Month Later
“You goin’ out tonight?” Dalton asks as he finishes loading hand tools into the bed of his work truck.
I can’t help but smile. “Yep.”
Dalton raises an eyebrow as he glances my way. “There are a lot of issues that arise at a lady’s paint night…or is this about the plethora of ladies in attendance?”
The truth is, Lizzie runs a great place. I don’t foresee any issues happening, but while Collin is working his other job, I like to make my presence known on the weekends. The idiots do make appearances, especially now that some of Lizzie’s special events have garnered so much attention. According to my brother, her paint nights are sold out almost as quickly as she posts them, and the other things she’s trying are gaining as much attention, like her Little Black Dress Night, coming soon, and her weekly book club.
“Maybe I’ll join you,” he says, tossing the last few tools into his truck and closing the tailgate.
I snort. “Bethany won’t let that happen. Last time we went out for a beer you passed out naked in the kiddie pool on the back deck.”
He makes a face. “Yeah, not my finest moment, but I was hot and wanted to cool off.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t drown,” I reply, climbing into the cab of my truck and rolling down the window.
“That’s what Bethany said,” he grumbles. “Of course, it didn’t help Jacob was the one who found me.”
I bark out a laugh, loving this story so much. “Maybe next time don’t leave the blinds at the sliding glass doors open.”
“Anyway, I might be able to come up for a beer. I don’t think we have anything planned tonight,” he starts, holding up his hand. “No hard shit though.”
I snort. “Says the man who orders shots of Fireball the moment we cross the threshold.”
He shivers. “Nope. Not happening. I had to tell Bethany no more cinnamon candles in the house. Every time she’d light one, I could taste that shit and want to barf.”
Shutting the door to my truck, I fire up the engine. The air blasting at my face is hot, causing me to turn it down. “Don’t piss off Bethany, but if you can get out of the house for an hour, I’ll be up there.”
He nods before throwing a wave and climbing into his own truck.
I pull out of the laydown yard and head for home, ready for a shower and a cold beer. I love my job, and for the most part, the heat doesn’t bother me. I’d been in worse conditions when I was in the Marines. Sweating your balls off in the damn desert isn’t for the faint of heart, that’s for sure.
I’m a heavy equipment operator for the local construction company. While I can jump in just about any piece of equipment we have, I spend the majority of my time on a paver, laying asphalt. It’s monotonous most of the time, but I’m damn good at it. I have the focus to keep the machine moving straight, which is actually a lot harder than you’d think.
The late September sun is starting to fall, the temperatures finally starting to drop. “Yeah,” I tell him, setting my lunch box in the cab of my own work truck. “Lizzie’s doing one of her paint nights tonight at the bar, and Collin is on shift at the firehouse this weekend, so I’ll head up later and just make sure everything’s okay.”
But I’m also damn good in an excavator. When I’m not on the paver, I dig. My time in the military, removing obstacles in our path, usually with some sort of blast, taught me I much prefer to rebuild than destroy. I enjoyed my time as a combat engineer, but being in a machine and helping create something from nothing is exactly where I’m supposed to be in life.
When I pull into my driveway, I park in front of the garage and jump out. We’ve hit our busy season at work, so even though I’ve been working six days a week for the last month, and I could easily stay in and sleep until Tuesday, I know I’ll head for Lizzie’s bar. I probably won’t even drink a lot. Maybe one or two and that’ll be it. As tired as I am, I don’t want to add a hangover on top of my exhaustion.
I run through the shower and dress in a pair of clean jeans and an AC/DC T-shirt. I shove my feet into boots and stop in the kitchen to reheat some leftovers. I’m used to eating a quick ham and cheese or roast beef sandwich on the go at work, so when I’m home, I prefer to cook a decent meal. I love to grill, even if I’m not the best chef. Turns out, throwing a good seasoning on it and slow cooking over open flames can cook about any meat to perfection.
After I eat some reheated chicken and vegetables, I grab my wallet and keys and head back out. It’s pushing seven, which means the paint night has already started. It doesn’t take much time to get to The Tipsy Lizard in downtown Cooper Town, mostly because this town is less than a mile long from city limit to city limit. A decent number of the four thousand residents who call Cooper Town home live just outside of city limits, thanks to the farms and a few rural subdivisions.
Like the one I live in.
Eight houses in a horseshoe, surrounded by trees and with a creek running alongside the east edge. I’m fortunate to have the house closest to the water, and even though I technically have neighbors, the houses aren’t that close. The lots are big, and the tree coverage and landscaping provide space and privacy. It’s a great place to live, and I was damn lucky to snatch this house up when it went on the market a year ago.
I make my way into town, the windows down so the warm summer breeze blows through the cab. I love being outside. Camping, fishing, four wheeling—anything I can do to be outdoors. That’s probably one of the reasons why I chose the career I did. The heat of summer and the cold of early spring and late fall don’t bother me.
What does bother me is not working in the winter. I need to stay active, to keep myself busy. I don’t do well with free time, so I keep busy during the off-season with side work. I help my buddy at the farm a lot, which is right up my alley. The only thing I don’t like is smelling like cow shit at the end of the day, but I don’t complain much. Truth is, I just like working, and I’ll do it as long as I’m physically able.
I don’t bother trying to find a parking spot on the main drag, mostly because I know they’ll all be taken by the women attending paint night. Instead, I park around back where Lizzie and other employees park and then walk around to the front of the building. The back entrance is more of an emergency exit or one used to get in and out of the apartment above.
Fully expecting to hear some classic country playing through the speakers, all I hear when I open the front entrance is women laughing. My eyes scan the room and quickly land on the tables off to the right. They’re full of laughing women, all painting their masterpieces while having a drink or enjoying some of Lizzie’s appetizers. She always makes a big spread of food for her guests, including some of the regulars in attendance too.
Even though I spot my sister, Sommer, and a few others I know at the tables, I head for the bar to grab a drink. Jani is working and offers a friendly smile. “Hey, Cade. What can I getcha?”
