The Fix (The Carolina Connections, #1)(6)

“Come on in,” I beckoned to the kid.

It was the following Monday and I was starting my day at an apartment building we were putting up on the north side of town. I’d spent the weekend at the office and at the company’s various worksites with Bailey, still trying to get up to speed. We had a few new crew members starting this week and it looked like the first one had arrived.

So maybe “kid” wasn’t exactly the right word for the guy standing at the open doorway. He was probably early twenties, and I had only just turned thirty-one myself. But from the looks of his work history that Bailey had passed on to me, I couldn’t think of what else to call him. There was hardly a thing there. What in the hell had this guy been doing since high school?

He stepped toward me in the site trailer, hands in the front pockets of his jeans, a tentative expression clear on his face. He was fairly tall, probably only an inch or two shorter than my 6’2” and I suppose he looked strong enough. Bailey did mention the stellar character references she’d gotten from a couple of the guy’s former baseball coaches, I think. At any rate, something made her give him a shot, so I figured I’d just go with it. The kid didn’t know shit about construction, that was clear, but that didn’t bother me per se. At this point, I just needed all the extra hands I could get, and as long as we kept a close eye on him, he could learn a lot of what he needed to know on the job. Nothing like trial by fire.

“Monroe, right?” I asked him.

“Yeah, that’s me. Gavin Monroe.”

“Nate Murphy.” I stuck out my hand.

He took it and gave it a firm shake. “Nice to meet you. And, uh, thanks for the job. You won’t be disappointed.”

“Well, I guess that remains to be seen, Gavin.” His Adam’s apple bobbed but he held my eyes. This could work out fine after all. “Follow me and I’ll show you around. You’ll have to pardon me—I’m still trying to get up to speed on all these open projects, but I’m assuming my sister told you all about that when she interviewed you?”

“Yeah, she did. I hope your dad’s doing better.”

“He’s hanging in there, thanks.” I handed the kid a hard hat as I donned my own by the door of the trailer. “You bring a pair of work gloves with you?”

“No, sir.” The uncertain look was back.

“We’ll find you a pair.” I took a step down the stairs. “I’m assuming those boots are steel toed.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes, sir.”

“All right, come on, I’ll introduce you to Mark. He’s the foreman on this job and he’ll get you squared away. Not sure if you’ll stay on this site or not but we’ll play it by ear.” I strode toward the closest building, not waiting to see if the kid followed. “And cut the ‘sir’ crap!” I raised my voice over the buzz of a power saw. “You work hard and do your job and save the manners for your mom.”





Chapter Three





The But Sandwich





LANEY

“Soooo hungry,” Gavin whined like the little baby he is. He was stretched out on the sofa with his hands cradling his stomach and his sweaty shirt sullying the upholstery.

“Why didn’t you eat any lunch?” I asked from the kitchen where I was helping Rocco with his backpack. We’d just walked in the door a minute earlier and I was equal parts eager and anxious to hear about Gavin’s first day.

“I did.” Whine. “But they had me running around so much I burned that off by about one o’clock. I forgot how much sweat a human body can produce in a day.”

Eww.

“I’m hungry too, Mommy,” Rocco said as he pulled off his shoes and left them in the middle of the floor—right by the dried up, half-chewed Cocoa Krispies I’d forgotten about from this morning. Double eww.

“Okay, baby.” I grabbed the paper towel roll from the counter and went to the sink to wet a few. “How does frozen pizza sound?” I called to the other room.

“Make it two, and no veggies!” came the response from Gavin.

“Yeah, no veggies!” Rocco echoed.

I smiled. I know I probably shouldn’t. But when I didn’t stop to think too hard about whether or not Gavin was the best influence on my son, I was so grateful that there was a man in his life on a consistent basis. One who would never flake out on him and suddenly find something better to do. Sometimes it even seemed that the similarity in their maturity levels was, in fact, the very glue that bonded them.

I admit that one of my fears when my mom and dad moved was that Rocco would be left with just me, and I would be depriving him of the opportunity to have loving and reliable men in his life. That was definitely a contributing factor in my decision to allow Gavin to move in with us.

My biggest fear has always been messing my kid up.

I just had to keep reminding myself that, in the battle for Rocco’s well-being, a guy who loves him will beat out veggies every time.

As awesome as my kid is, he obviously did not just spontaneously appear in my womb one day—as if my ovaries were having a boring day and said, “Hey, you know what would be fun?” No, he was the result of numerous lime gelatin shots, a hot friend-of-a-friend musician visiting from California, and some extraordinarily bad judgment on everyone’s part.