Caitlyn confirming she was running by after school, one from Landon checking in on her, and one from Killian. She opened the latter and smiled.
>Killian: Dinner. Mexican. See U at 7
>Bekki: Bring tequila. Margaritas. Why R U doing this?
>Killian: Beer, no hard stuff. Don’t think 2 much about it. I’m not.
She put the phone down and chuckled. Don’t think too much about it. Yeah, like that was going to happen.
>Bekki: My turn for dinner. What time?
>Killian: Can’t. Racing the storm heading this way. Sorry.
>Bekki: No worries. Working l8?
>Killian: Have crews here until we get done. Will be very l8.
Killian stood and cracked his back. Yeah, they were working late. Hell, he was going to sleep here. There was a full-sized bed in the small room at the back of the trailer. His feet hung off the bottom if he wasn’t curled up, which was practically all the time because Duke felt it was his right to sleep in the bed with him.
He stepped to the window and watched his people bending rebar to form the foundation of the main building. He glanced up. They were racing against the weather. A tropical system was moving northeast, bringing what the weather forecasters were calling a ‘deluge of rain.’ Three to six inches were expected over the weekend. He’d brought in lights so they could work late. Getting the rebar footings formed and the cement poured was paramount. If they could get it poured tomorrow it would give them two days for it to dry before the rain hit, so they would only incur a couple days of delay. If they didn’t get the foundation in, it would be a week or more before they worked again.
He grabbed his hard hat and gloves. Time to get his hands dirty. A smile crossed his face. He loved his work.
The burn in his back and biceps was a familiar one. As he and his crew raced the weather, he felt… alive. Starting the foundation of a massive project was thrilling.
“Hey, boss man.” Killian lifted and looked for whoever called him. He saw Jeff pointing to the entry control point of the construction site.
His eyes tracked the direction Jeff indicated. There, with her Marauder’s baseball cap, tight blue jeans, and an oversized plaid shirt with a smile as wide as Texas, was Bekki. She held up three huge bags. “I brought dinner.”
He slapped his leather gloves together to get the dirt off them and smiled back at her. “Take it over to the trailer. I’ll be there in a little bit.” He grabbed hold of the rebar he was working when one of his workers tapped him on the shoulder. “You know, boss, if I had that little lady waiting for me, I wouldn’t make her wait.”
He chuckled and twisted wire around the junction of two angled pieces of iron. “She’s just a friend.” He nodded to the person assisting him and they tied the rods into position.
“Damn good friend to come all the way down here with food,” another of his crew chimed in.
“Be rude not to see what she brought. Besides, the food truck will be here in about ten minutes and we’ll break anyway,” Garret added as he dropped into the trenched footing area with the rest of them.
He laughed and took off his gloves. “All right, I’ll go.”
“See? That didn’t take any arm twisting at all,” a smart mouth interjected.
“You wouldn’t have to twist my arm either,” yet another man sounded off.
He waved his men off and climbed his way out of the trench. He used his leather gloves to whack his jeans, dislodging the caked dirt from them. As he made his way to the trailer, Duke trotted out to greet him. He grabbed the tennis ball from the dog’s mouth and chucked it as far as he could into the safe area of the lot. The dog played all day as every one of his workers would toss a ball for him. Duke skittered off after his ball and Killian mounted the steps of the trailer. The aroma when he opened the door was heavenly. “Is that fresh-baked bread I smell?”
Becky spun around and smiled. The swelling around her cheek and her lip had lessened, but the full glory of all the dark purples and reds were on display. “I stopped by Sanderson’s Deli. They just pulled out the sourdough bread bowls. I got us clam chowder, salad, and chocolate cake for dessert. I know you said you couldn’t stop