4. Gotten Soft

4

GOTTEN SOFT

“ I finished the front and back walkway this weekend,” Easton said to his cousin Abe later that night.

“Dude,” Abe said. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“Yes, I did,” he said. “It’s been there longer than I’ve lived here.”

“You haven’t lived there in years,” Abe said, laughing.

“You know what I mean. I moved in when I was ten. So it’s at least twenty years old. But you know your father’s work lasts forever.”

“That’s right,” Abe said quietly. “The stones were wearing more than the work.”

“I used the pavers you said you had extra of. I’ll send you pictures when we hang up.”

“I appreciate it,” Abe said. “You’re helping me out more than you can imagine. I’ve got a good crew but not enough to run things.”

“I offered,” he said. “Anything for your mother. Your father too. How is Aunt Carrie doing?”

“She’s doing better. The pain isn’t as much. She hates the wheelchair, but there is no way she can start walking again for another five weeks other than small movements with a walker or crutches. Even then it’s PT. She’s fighting it, but I told her to cut it out. If she makes it worse, it will take longer.”

“She’s feisty like that.”

His aunt never sat still so she had to be going nuts with a broken pelvis from a car accident.

“She is. She wants me to go back home, but I told her you have a good handle on the business. You won’t let anything happen. I’m making calls from here and scheduling things too.”

“That’s right,” he said. “I’m just going to sites and taking pictures. You’re figuring out costs and timelines. I’m holding down the fort to get you started for your busy season.”

Easton knew it could be a few months he’d be here and had no problem with it. Work had no issues either. He was a partner, he could pretty much do what he wanted as long as his work was done and it always was.

As Laurel said, sleep was overrated.

“I’m sure I would have been fine, but I’ve got one less stress over this. I can never repay you for doing it.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’ve felt that way about your parents taking me in. I’d do anything for your parents. Plus it gives me a break. A mental one.”

“You’ve got to let go of Rachelle,” Abe said. “It’s been over six months. She’s a bitch and not worthy of you.”

He snorted. Maybe this was why he wanted to intervene when Laurel’s ex showed up at the door.

Easton knew what it was like to have something end.

He wasn’t the one who did it, but when he learned why, he would have.

“Nope,” he said. “She’s not.”

“But her being engaged is bothering you, isn’t it?”

He didn’t want to talk about this and wished he hadn’t brought it up, but he had no one to blame but himself.

“No,” he said. “It’s not. But being out of town I don’t have to worry about running into people and them bringing it up.”

“As if you ever leave your house and run into anyone,” Abe said, snorting. “You’re normally locked in your office at all hours.”

“When they need me, I’ve got to be around,” he said.

That was the excuse he gave himself for working himself into the ground. Or maybe he did it for years to prove he had what it took. All that work made him a partner though, so something good came out of it.

“Yeah, yeah,” Abe said. “Mom wants to talk to you.”

He took a deep breath and waited for his aunt to get on the phone. “What’s going on, Easton?”

“Nothing,” he said. “How are you feeling, Aunt Carrie?”

“I’m annoyed,” his aunt said. “I want out of this damn chair.”

“Don’t rush it,” he said. “If you do you’ll end up in it longer and then Abe will stay.”

His aunt laughed. “Good point. He should be back home running his father’s business and keeping that memory alive.”

“Hey,” he said. “I’m doing it. You think I can’t handle something I’ve been doing since I was twelve?”

“Not to insult you,” Aunt Carrie said, “but you haven’t done it in years. Maybe you’ve gotten soft sitting behind that desk.”

He laughed. He always loved her spunk. “I might have, but one week in there was some muscle memory. I’m all good. Think of the muscles I’m building. The women are just going to eat it up.”

His aunt was laughing and he knew it was the right thing to say.

“Glad it can help. Now you just have to let someone in.”

He thought of Laurel and that he’d dropped his guard more with her than anyone else.

Not that they exchanged numbers or anything, even though they had a date.

They knew where to find each other and that was good enough for him right now.

“If it’s meant,” he said, “I will.”

“You’re humoring me,” Aunt Carrie said.

“Do you think?” he asked.

“I’ll give the phone back to Abe,” Aunt Carrie said. “He’s waving his hand so that means my time is up.”

“Hey,” Abe said. “Sorry about that. You know she has to get her opinions in.”

“It’s all good,” he said. “I met your neighbor the other day. Thought I should tell you she helped with the pavers.”

“The hot chick in the little cottage?”

“Not sure there are any other hot chicks around here,” he said. “Have you talked to her?”

This made no sense.

“Nope,” Abe said. “I’ve seen her coming and going when I’ve been in the house or pulling into the driveway. I wave but nothing up close. She probably thinks we are the same person. We are the same age and have a lot of the same features from a distance.”

Now that made more sense.

“Could be,” he said.

“How did she help you?” Abe said. “Sit there and talk while you worked? I didn’t picture her as someone throwing stones and pavers around.”

“I didn’t think so either, but she was handing them off both days. Says she was bored and needed something to do.”

Abe laughed. “I wish I was home rather than you. I wouldn’t have minded her company.”

He wasn’t sure why he felt an inner burst of jealousy over those words for a man who was told he never felt jealousy before toward a woman.

“You’d have nothing to talk to her about,” he said.

“She talked to you. Unless she likes stuffy men. Is that the case? I’m not sure what she does for work. She hasn’t been there long.”

“I’m not stuffy,” he said. At least he didn’t think he was. Laurel didn’t appear to think that either.

“You didn’t tell me what she did. Or don’t you know?”

“I know,” he said. He told Abe how he met Laurel, the ex on the porch, the way she handled herself, then the rest of their time together.

“Damn,” Abe said. “Guess you did more talking than I thought. More than I’d do. I’d just be staring at her.”

He snorted. “Most likely. Then she’d kick your butt. I’m sure she could too.”

“There used to be a time you didn’t like independent women,” Abe said.

“Yeah, well, the ones I have to take care of didn’t work out so well either. Maybe I’ve got shitty luck with women,” he said.

“Or you haven’t found the right one,” Abe said. “Just like me. That is what I tell my mother all the time.”

“You do that to pacify her,” he said. “I say the truth.”

“If you say so,” Abe said.

“I do,” he said. Easton heard his computer going off and knew it was emails piling up.

“Dude, is that work?”

“Unfortunately,” he said.

“It’s Sunday.”

“It’s Monday morning in other places in the world,” he said.

“Better you than me,” Abe said.

“Someone has to make the world a better place,” he said, laughing.

“Get to it then,” Abe said. “And try to get some sleep tonight.”

“I’ll try,” he said. “Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen though.”

“Don’t make me want to fly home or get my mother on your case,” Abe said. “I’m already feeling guilty about this.”

He should have kept his mouth shut. “Just busting your ass,” he said.

He hung up after that and wished it was a joke, but it wasn’t. He most likely wouldn’t get much sleep and needed to do it soon so that he could be up hours before the sun to get things started. Thankfully it was going to rain tomorrow so not much he’d have to do for Abe’s business. Abe already rescheduled a quote for him to show up later on Tuesday afternoon.

Only another month of this, then life could get back to normal.

More like loneliness and he wondered what else he could do to get Laurel’s attention and wished that he’d gotten her number.