two, I’d say.” Garret crossed his arms and stared out into the darkness with him. “We going to wait it out?”
They were on schedule, a bit ahead, but damn it, he’d rather have a cushion of a full day ahead. They’d lost time with vendor issues, but… “Go ahead and cut them loose. If the power comes on and they’re still here, we’ll work through to the end.”
Garret slapped his hands together and rubbed them. “Get out of the way, boss man, you don’t want to be caught in the stampede.” Garret whistled sharply. “Listen up. Clean up and get gone. If the power comes back on, we will start working again. If you’re out of the compound, you’re home free.”
Killian threw back his head and laughed. Men he swore were exhausted not more than five minutes ago sprinted like Olympic athletes to the sheds to turn in equipment. He pulled off his leather gloves and shoved them into his back pocket. Physically exhausted, he was still strung tight. He’d thrown himself into the mindless task of forming the rebar support for the foundation in order to stop worrying about Bekki. Not that it helped still his wayward thoughts from racing, but it did keep him from looking at his watch every twenty seconds. She was going to go live at ten. Her story was the first report on Channel Two’s evening broadcast—that was a coup, as her text explained. He was just glad this whole event was almost past them. He glanced at the face of his phone. He had an hour and a half to wait. Hopefully, the power would be back on by then, but if it wasn’t, he could watch the report on his phone. He headed for the trailer. Garret would button up the site. He was a hell of a project manager.
Killian could use a long hot shower; his shoulders were burning with the day’s effort. Maybe he’d go home and grab a shower instead of wedging himself into the sliver of water that worked as a shower in the trailer. But Bekki said she’d be coming here. Just as well—if he went home, he’d be tempted to invite Bekki over and never let her leave. He smiled and shook his head. As if that woman would be held without her permission.
He jogged up the steps of the trailer and opened up the door. Duke bolted out and danced around him, racing up and down the steps, barking happily. “Hey, bud. Let me grab a flashlight and we’ll take a walk.” The words set Duke off even more and the darned animal imitated a pogo stick, bouncing up and down on his hind legs. “All right, boy, all right.”
He grabbed a flashlight just in case the lights in the compound didn’t come back on. Usually, moonlight was enough to walk around the site at night, but there’d been clouds today, which were getting heavier. Hopefully, the twenty percent chance of rain would hold true and the clouds would blow over, at least until they got the footings built and the concrete poured. The blonde fur on the underside of Duke’s tail was the only thing he saw as the animal bounded down the trail toward the water.
Killian gave a sharp whistle and the dog raced back. “Hold on a minute, buddy.” He waited for Garret to walk up along with two of his employees. “See you in the morning.” He said good night and watched as they walked out the gate and locked it behind them. “Okay, let’s go.” He slid the flashlight into his back pocket and walked after Duke as he raced toward the water’s edge. The clouds broke enough that he could see Duke was on the scent of something. The animal worked back and forth across a wide swath of ground, his nose down and his tail up.
Killian walked to the rocky shoreline and looked out over the water. The darkness up to the bright lights of the working section of the Harbor was rather eerie albeit peaceful. He found an elevation on the bank and sat down. Duke showed up eventually and sat down beside him after licking his face. He ran his hand through the dog’s coat. They watched the water for a long time before Killian glanced over at Duke. “So, what do you think? Should we ask Bekki to move in with us?” The dog turned toward him, his head cocked as if he was trying