Page 9 of Now or Never

“All the more reason to go!”

Adam shook his head, trying to make sense of his father actually taking a break from work. “When?”

Denise called from behind him, “Now!”

“Now?!” Adam slumped in his seat. “Where are you going?”

“Everywhere!” Denise called again, making his dad grin with unfettered glee.

The shock on Adam’s face must have been evident, because his dad stopped and turned to him. “You’re the one who kept badgering us about taking a break. It’s all we’ve heard since Christmas. Life is meant to be lived, and all that. Can you believe this, Denise?”

Adam gave his dad a hard blink. Hehadbeen badgering them. He just never thought they’d actually listen.

“Where exactly is everywhere?”

His dad took the wheel and looked over the dashboard as if he were marvelling at a mountain range in the distance, not the weed shop on the corner next to the gas station.

“Straight across Canada. We’re headed east first. We’ll be gone about six weeks.”

“Six . . .” Adam trailed off, wondering how much more his already filled slate could handle. “When I said you guys should go on vacation, I meant, like, a week in Mexico.”

His dad grimaced. “You know I don’t like hotels.”

Adam rolled his eyes. He’d heard his father complain a million times about sleeping on a bed thousands of strangers had slept on. He should have seen this coming.

He was about to list all the shit he already had going on and tell his dad that the business loan for the pub came through, but the sound of Denise happily humming behind him and his father’s grin stopped him.

They needed a break. They deserved it.

He took a deep breath. “Okay. What do you need from me?”

His dad turned with a smile. “I thought I had it all covered, but Roger suddenly blew out his knee. I need you to manage my crew while he recovers from surgery. At least four weeks.”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“What’s the job?”

His dad’s grin widened. “That’s the good news. It’s Ethan and Natalie’s house.”

Adam’s brows pulled together. “That’s not supposed to be until the spring.”

“I bumped it up. The Ashtons decided to go all out on a huge addition to their property. Outdoor kitchen, stables, in-groundpool, the works. They’re willing to wait until the spring, so I swapped their job for Ethan’s.”

Adam rolled through a list of all the shit he’d have to get done. It wasn’t impossible, as long as he stopped sleeping. But Ethan and Natalie had been so happy going through the blueprints, he knew they’d be thrilled that their house would be built early.

He looked over at his dad, now standing with his stepmom in the kitchen, giggling over some contraption, happier than he’d seen him in a long time.

Okay.

He could do this.

“No problem,” he said, injecting his usual arrogance. “I’ll take care of everything here. You two have fun.”

“Thanks, Adam. Just one other thing.”

Good God, what now?

His dad walked to his bag on the bench seat in the eating area and pulled out a small stack of papers. “We need permission to use the driveway at Monroe Manor for the build, so I need you to get Chelsea Davenport to sign this, for the insurance.”

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