"Boss, you ready for the walk through?" Henry appeared at my side.
"Yeah."
"Got a headache?" he asked as I rubbed my temple.
I gave him a grim smile. "Gardening problems. Too much Ivy."
With a snort, he gave a nod of understanding. "That shit gets everywhere."
"You're telling me."
18
WINTER
I showed up at six to pick up Ivy. We were carpooling since Atra wasn't far from Finn's jobsite. I felt bad that I hadn't been here before, since I knew how important of a project it was to him. And I was worried. I'd talked to Tucker about it, and he said that a lot of people felt Finn would fail. He was too young and too inexperienced, and his uncle, the other half of O'Malley Construction, wasn't helping him. No one knew why, though, other than Finn's dad and uncle had fought about bidding for the project.
Given what I knew about the O'Malley mess, I suspected it had nothing to do with the project and everything to do with the O'Malley home life. But I kept that to myself. It was Finn's business, and no one else’s.
Finn was walking across the dirt-packed land toward the trailer when I drove up. He spotted me and immediately redirected his path to my car. I had to restrain myself from leaping out and running to him like some loved-starved teenager, even though that's how I felt inside.
Besides, watching him move, even walk, was a pleasure I didn't mind taking in. His long strides ate up the distance, and he was on me before I had enough time to appreciate the view.
"What are you doing here, sweetness?" He smiled, and my entire body warmed in response.
He leaned down and gave me a long, deep kiss that turned warm to hot in seconds. I forgot what he'd asked me, and when he released me, I tottered on my weak legs and smiled dumbly up at him for about five long seconds until his quirked eyebrow reminded me.
"Oh, I'm here to pick up Ivy."
"Right." He looked a shade disappointed but covered it well. Tucking my hand in his, he asked, "Want to see the project first?"
"I'd love to." The only other time I’d been here was that night, and I didn’t see much other than the inside of the trailer.
We walked over to the trailer. Ivy was seated at a big metal desk with paper sorted in big piles. Her lovely hair looked a little mussed, and she glowered when we stepped inside. "Finally, I can't wait to get out of here."
I gave Finn an apologetic grimace. Our plans to look at the property would have to wait. "Sorry, I was practicing on some pigskin today and time got away from me."
"Whatever." She stood and draped her purse across her body. "Let's go."
"How about I take you both out for dinner?" Finn interjected. He squeezed my hand. He wasn't ready to let me go, and frankly I'd been waiting all day to see him.
"No, God, I can't even think about eating." She patted her stomach, making Finn sigh. There was a dynamic here at play that I didn't really understand. Hopefully one or both would explain it to me later before I became uncomfortable.
"Why doesn't Ivy drive home, and I'll take you to dinner after I show you the jobsite?" Finn moved across the trailer and grabbed a yellow battered hard hat. "A little big for your tiny head, but it'll do," he said and set the helmet on my head as if his suggestion was a done deal. It slid forward and covered my eyes. He reached behind me and cranked something, and soon the helmet was just slightly too big instead of so big I couldn't wear it, kind of like the baseball helmet. He smiled, and I knew we were thinking of the same thing.
"I can't drive, genius," Ivy huffed from behind. When she’d taken the car the other day, she’d risked violating her parole. She wasn’t eligible for a license yet and usually got a ride home with someone since I had the car.
"I'll drive you home and come back," I offered.
"No need." Finn took the keys from my hand and threw them at Ivy. Reflexively she caught them. "I called your parole officer, and as long as you're going to and from work, you can drive." With that, he took my hand and led me out of the trailer.
"You called her parole officer?"
"He actually called me. Apparently your sister needs to be actively looking for a job if she's not currently employed. Her former boss called her parole officer and told him that she'd been fired, so he called Ivy and she told him that I'd hired her. He called to verify."
"Wow, Jimmy is a real asshole. Was he trying to get her parole revoked?"
"Don't know." His detached tone told me he didn't care either.
"You guys seemed tense. Do you want to tell me about that?"
"She doesn't want you to go out with me. Want to tell me about that?"