Page 8 of Now or Never

“Feels more like a nightmare.”

Adam laughed and patted Max on the back. “I gotta go. I’ll see you at the arena, eight o’clock,” he called halfway out of the café. “The new guy you told me about is coming for an interview. Don’t forget about Float Fest!”

He jogged out the door, saw an opening in the traffic, and dashed through to his truck. Less than one minute later, he walked into the Vale Construction offices to the sound of the chime on the door.

“I’m not late!” he yelled, before someone could accuse him of it, but the room was empty. “Jill?”

The missing receptionist, who’d been working there for longer than he’d been alive, popped out of the break room, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

“Hi, Adam.”

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t realize it was lunch. Don’t stop for me.”

Jill shook her silver-streaked head and pushed her green glasses up her nose. “I was just finishing up, dear. Have you eaten? There’s pizza in the break room.”

“I’ll grab some in a minute. Is Dad here?”

Jill glanced at the clock on the monitor in front of her. “Looks like he’s late,” she said with a smirk.

Adam broke into a grin. “Oh, this is good,” he said, putting the coffee tray down and pulling one out. His dad was constantly harassing him for being late.

Jill smiled and took the cup with her name on it. “You’re a sweetheart, Adam. Don’t give Lawrence a hard time for being late. He’s going through some stuff.”

The blood drained from Adam’s face as he conjured the only memory he had of his father being late. It was twenty years ago after Adam’s hockey practice. When his dad pulled up to the front steps of the arena, Adam opened the door, and his father’s green eyes were bloodshot from the tears he was fighting back. “Get in, we need to talk” tumbled from his downturned mouth.

A warm hand gently rested on his, pulling him back from the memory of that horrible day when he found out about his mother’s diagnosis. He looked up to find Jill, face full of sorrow, looking at him.

“Nothing’s wrong, Adam. I promise.”

Adam nodded, shaking it off. He’d opened his mouth to ask what kind of stuff his father was going through, when a noise sounded outside and, suddenly, the room went dark.

“What the—”

He turned toward the front door and saw a massive vehicle parked directly in front of the entrance blocking the sunlight. He strode through the door, too shocked to hear the chime, just as his father opened the door to an absolutely huge RV.

“Adam!”

He stared at his father. “Is this an RV?”

“Nothing gets past you, does it?” his father said with a laugh. “Wait . . . look at this.”

His dad pressed a button, and a mechanicalwhirsounded as a set of three metal stairs emerged from under the RV and extended toward Adam.

“Come on up!”

“You bought an RV?” Adam asked as he climbed the stairs. His dad sat down in the driver’s seat and touched a couple of buttons. He fell into the chair beside him, astonished, until his stepmom, Denise, came out from . . . somewhere.

The thing was fucking massive.

“I finally talked him into it!” she said, bouncing on her heels. She grabbed a pair of scissors and started opening boxes on the floor. Out came a toaster, a coffeemaker, even an iron. She opened the cupboards and started placing the items inside.

“What . . .” Adam stammered, looking for words. “Are you moving in here?”

His dad laughed.

“We’re going on vacation, Adam,” Denise said.

“I have literallyneverseen you two take a vacation.”

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