Page 2 of Hard Hat Hottie

Hell, when did I become so transparent?

“Maybe she’s working the late shift,” he utters.

Good grief.

“Maybe she caught a ride with someone who dropped her off closer to the front door.”

Hmmm. That’s a possibility.That would suck. I need to?—

“Maybe she’s on vacation.”

Maybe if I ignore him, he’ll drop it.

“Or, maybe, unlike you, one of the smart, hot, rich docs put a move on her, and she’s rolling out of his bed as we speak.”

I tamp down a growl, but not before my irritable expression gives me away.

“Ha! I knew it. Your face is as hot as the tar down there. There’s steam rolling out of your ears.” Gus slaps his leg, and I have to fight the inclination to shove him. Just my luck, I’d push him off the scaffolding. “Jesus, Harry, just ask her out.”

“You’re talking nonsense, ya meddlin’ old fool.”

But he’s hit the mark, and he knows it.

I don’t know this girl’s name or even what she does here. For all intents and purposes, she’s a mirage in this concrete and asphalt desert. She probably has a husband and kids. Or is self-centered, her sights set higher than the likes of me. Hell, I’ve gotthe scars of Stephanie’s footprints on my back as she walked all over me to prove that’s a very real possibility.

I need to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground and stay focused on what’s important. My work. My friends. My family. Not another woman that spells trouble. Even if I wouldn’t mind dancing with that colorful temptress for just one night.

Bzzz. Bzzz.

Wiping the sweat from my brow, I reach into my back pocket to retrieve my phone, answering it without bothering to look at the screen. The sun’s rays are so heavy atop this scaffolding, I’d likely not see it clearly for the glare, anyway. “Hello?”

“Harry, how’ve you been?” The comforting sound of my little brother’s voice instantly cuts through the harsh shrill of machinery in the distance. He’s one of the few people who can bring a genuine smile to my overheated face. “Sorry it’s been a few days. I’m in the middle of my long stretch, and we’ve been busier with brush fires than normal. I feel like I spend each of my days off between twenty-four-hour shifts in bed.”

A hearty laugh belts from my chest at his statement. Matthew works with the fire department in Sycamore Mountain. He loves living amongst the lush hills and valleys of North Carolina. And while his permanent rotation includes a week of on again off again, twenty-four-hour shifts, he also has a live-in girlfriend for the first time in his life. And not just any girl, but one he’s crazy about.

I was lucky enough to witness the two of them together when he fell hard and fast for Ellie last July. He’d dropped everything to come and help me when I asked, even working under the scorching summer sun with our guys on a remodel while he washere. But nothing got him as hot and bothered as Ellie. It did this old curmudgeon’s heart good to see my little brother on cloud nine. “Cut the shit, Matt. Something tells me your girl has as much to do with your permanent lack of sleep as your fire shifts.”

A low chuckle rumbles through the line, confirming my suspicions. “Okay, okay. But I really did mean to call.” The joy of living his best life is emanating from Matt’s every breath.

My brother and I have faced our fair share of demons. The biggest of which was having a deadbeat dad who walked away from us when he divorced our mother.

Matthew and I were adopted by our parents, which was no easy feat by my mother’s retelling. The paperwork, time, patience, and financial obligations were daunting. Yet, despite this, Henry Hightower walked away without a second glance.

I admit it. I’ve struggled with all of it. Why did my birth parents give me up? Why wasn’t I good enough for my father to stay? To some degree, Matt grappled with similar questions. Yet he managed to see through the fog of his internal self-loathing enough to find his one true love. I’ve accepted my past for what it is. However, hearing one of the two most important people in my life reverberate happiness over this cell phone is the salve I need on this blistering hot day.

“I’d ask how it’s going there. But I’m painfully aware. I don’t know how you do it, Harry. Putting out fires in my heavy turnout gear in the summer heat of Sycamore Mountain is still more tolerable than working shirtless on the top story of a remodel in Candy Cane Key.”

Wiping the sweat from my hands, for fear the phone will slide out and tumble to an untimely death several floors below. I laugh. “I think you’re right. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking, starting a construction business down here. And last summer felt like a cold front had moved in compared to this year.”

“Well, thank heavens you’ve got things under control with Joyce now. I barely managed last year.” In true baby brother form, Matt had been the butt of many jokes from the guys on the crew when he’d temporarily joined our team. He took it all in stride, but let’s just say working with the fire department in a sleepy mountain town is probably a better fit for him.

Joyce Mason is nothing short of a miracle. A composed and capable nurse who came into my life precisely when I needed her, and I’ll be forever grateful.

My selfless mother devoted her life to me and my brother. All of my early childhood memories are happy ones, solely because of her. She worked hard enough for two parents, even before my father left. It really wasn’t until we hit adolescence that we questioned our identity. Why our adopted father and biological parents had chosen not to be a part of our lives, and how it had shaped our place in the world. Yet our mother was a lioness to her cubs, rooting us on like a determined force in the wild. She tried to keep us focused on all the positives in our lives. And the universe thanked her by stealing her mind like a thief in the night.

So now it’s my turn to fight the good fight for her. To give my mother the love and care she deserves. The situation seems sadly too similar to what she provided for Matt and me when no one else wanted us. Through her support, I’ve built a great business. A successful life I likely wouldn’t have had otherwise. I wish there was a way to cure the progressive dementia that’s taken over her mind. Hell, I’d settle for merely slowing it down. She’s only in her sixties. But if there’s one thing this life has taught me, it’s that you don’t always have a choice in the cards you’re dealt. It’s how you respond that matters. And I’m showing up for her. She’s my biggest priority.

When her confusion evolved quicker than I’d expected it might, I had to make some difficult choices. I refuse to place herin a facility unless there’s no other option. However her safety is paramount.

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