plenty of nightmares about some close calls we’ve had. Remember when Neil kept installing shingles despite thunder booming around us to try to beat the coming storm and protect the interior work we’d done on the Malone project? You know, the time he damn near got fried by the lightning that struck the weathervane not ten feet from him?”
“Oh yeah.” Joe glanced over to the side as if recalling the incident. “I guess I forgot about that.”
“Well, I didn’t. It’d be pretty hard to when you’re the one responsible. That blue-white zigzag and his smoking boots are permanently embossed on the inside of my eyelids.” Mike scrubbed his hand over his face as if he could wipe it away when even the several years in between hadn’t been able to erase it.
“You’re meant for this. I…I’m not sure I am no matter how much I’d like to be.” Joe closed his notebook and put his pen too carefully on top.
“You are.” Mike cleared his throat and tested out an idea he’d been mulling over since he’d arrived in Middletown earlier that week. “Maybe the whole crew is.”
“Huh?” Joe tipped his head.
“We’re not getting any younger.” Mike winced. A baby at his age was going to be a whole new challenge. Maybe it was dumb to take on more, but seeing what Joe had been doing here… “What you’re working on. It’s inspiring me.”
“Are you kidding? It’s kind of a shit show.”
“Only because you’re used to being on a high-performing team and this is new. Fresh. And you haven’t figured out your process yet. It’s going to get better every day…and every project.”
“What do you mean? This is a one-time show, remember?” Joe looked at him like he’d hit his head. “I’m out here to expand Hot Rods for Eli and then, well… Then I have no fucking idea what I’m going to do.”
“Let’s be honest; you’re not coming home. This is where you belong. Where your heart wants to stay.” Mike voiced his biggest fear out loud. Or what had been his greatest worry. Now he wasn’t sure if it might not be the best opportunity they’d had in years.
“It’s not like that, Mike. I want two things and I can’t have both. How the hell am I supposed to choose?” Joe wrenched his head to the side and stared into the gorgeous greenery around them as if he couldn’t bear to meet Mike’s gaze. “I’ve done one for a long ass time. And now it seems like maybe I should do the other, at least for a while, while I have the chance.”
“I’m not criticizing you. I don’t blame you one bit. It’s gorgeous here. And, like I said, there’s a lot of potential…for more.” Mike cleared his throat. “You’re absolutely right. We’ve had a good, long run. And we can’t keep swinging hammers forever. My back is shit and Dave’s leg isn’t going to hold out much longer.”
Joe cursed under his breath.
“But there’s no reason we can’t graduate from grunt work and do what you’re doing. We could expand the business. Here in Middletown, there’s plenty of room to grow.”
Joe opened his mouth, then closed it. Then opened it again. But whatever he’d been about to say was lost when his son whooped and sprinted past them.
“Uncle Mike! Look!” Nathan shouted as he chucked a chewed-up tennis ball a pretty solid way across the clearing in the woods. His puppy tore after it as if it was the most amazing prize in the world, its floppy ears bouncing as it raced toward the fluorescent-green bit of heaven.
“Good throw, kid!” Mike couldn’t wait for his son and daughter to arrive. And to meet their new baby. It hadn’t quite sunk in, but he honestly couldn’t say he’d ever been happier. Lately things had seemed to be going by too fast. His kids were getting older. Abby especially was on the verge of being too grown for father-daughter shit. It wasn’t that he wanted to replace them, but… “Joe, I gotta tell you…”
“Hmm?” His best friend whipped back around, instantly keying in to Mike’s serious tone.
“I’ve been jealous of you lately.” There. He’d fucking admitted it.
“Me? What the hell?” Joe cocked his head.
“You’ve been out here, working on this project. It’s bigger than us. Something exciting and new and…”
“Completely out of my league. Don’t fucking remind me.” Joe groaned.
“It doesn’t have to be. What if our game was to change?” Hell, Mike’s whole world was about to be different, why