at home. It was doable, but damn if it didn’t terrify me.
Joss came back with two fresh glasses of lemonade. “How is Jace doing?” she asked. “Caitlyn was so worried about him.”
“He’s doing better. I honestly don’t know what else to do to help him through this stuff. It’s such a bitch to grow up. Kids are cruel.”
“Yes, they are. I think all you can do is support him.”
“I call the school every day and remind them to keep an eye on things. They probably hate me, but in my opinion, they got caught sitting down on the job. I’m going to be on them every damn day to remind them to watch the kids. If he gets popped again, I swear it’s going to end badly for everyone.”
“Rawr, mama bear ain’t playing.”
“No, she isn’t,” I said. “You know the kid that hit him only got suspended for two days.”
“Did he apologize?”
“Yes, Jace said the teacher made him, but you know how that goes. They don’t mean it and all it does is add fuel to the fire.”
“But maybe it won’t,” she said. “Maybe they got it out of their systems, and they can be friends now.”
“I hope so, but I’m not going to hold my breath.”
“Caitlyn is keeping an eye on things too,” she said. “She’s my little spy. She’ll let me know if there is any trouble.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. At this point, she is his only friend.”
“He’ll make more friends. I’m sure of it. It’s just an awkward time for him.”
I watched them do circles before pumping their little legs and speeding off. I didn’t understand why the other kids couldn’t see how awesome he was.
Chapter 22
Nash
I was pissed to be stuck at this office. It wasn’t that I wasn’t planning to work at the tax firm today, but my other office was still shut down for the day. None of my staff was in the office. Carly was trying to work from home, but it wasn’t very effective. My tenants in the building couldn’t be in their offices and they were all raising hell. It was a clusterfuck and I was helpless to fix it.
I was waiting on a call back from the plumber. They worked all damn weekend. I knew they were milking me for overtime. I was furious to find out late last night the problem was still not fixed. I didn’t know shit about plumbing, but I did know that the five guys working on the problem should have had it done by now.
I rubbed my eyes and rolled my neck back and forth. I knew it would get fixed. It would get better. I just had to get through today. It would be all good. This was just another part of owning real estate. Shit happened.
The plumbing issues were a pain in the ass, but that wasn’t it. I needed to talk to Saige today. I knew I had to do it, but I was dreading the conversation. I could only imagine what she was going to say. Davin’s words had hit home. Did she think I was using her? Was she using me? It shouldn’t have bothered me to think she was, but it did. I just wanted to pretend it was already talked about and we could go on with our days.
When my cell rang, I glanced at the name on the caller ID and practically jumped on the phone. “Hello,” I answered.
“Mr. Aarons, this is Hank with Floyd’s Plumbing.”
“Yes, Hank. I’ve been waiting for your call. Tell me you’ve got good news.”
“We’ve isolated the problem and can get it fixed. It’ll be tomorrow.”
I rolled my eyes. “Great. Tomorrow morning?”
He hesitated. “I would expect by tomorrow night.”
“Where is the problem?” I asked.
“There were several pipes that were corroded. We’re replacing all of the ones we found to be potential problems.”
He was purposely running up the bill. “I suppose there are a lot?”
“It’s extensive. You might want to hold the builder responsible. You’ve got some issues here.”
That was typical contractor speak. He wanted a nice, big job. “Thanks, I’ll take it under advisement. And what’s the bill? What is this going to cost me?”
When he told me, I almost fell out of my chair. “What the hell? Are the pipes lined with gold?”
I listened to him list out all the work he did. It was bullshit and he knew it. I ended up hanging up after letting him know what a scam it was. It pissed me off to be