Page 18 of Forgotten Path
“Sharon, what can I do for you?”
He clomped through the garage, listening to his sharp footsteps echoing off the stone rather than Sharon’s rambling introductory statement.
She didn’t get to the meat of her call until he was in his house, kicked back on the couch with a cold beer cracked open and his booted feet propped up on the glass and chrome coffee table.
“…assurances before I meet with Chad and Brianna again?”
“I’ve already told you. There aren’t going to be any more complaints to the state.”
“Because you cleaned up the site, and you’re complying with the regs, right?” She pressed.
He took a long pull on the beer and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth before answering. “I took care of it.”
“Is that a yes?”
“I said it’s taken care of, Sharon.” He edged his voice with a warning.
She either didn’t catch it or didn’t heed it. “Fred, that’s not good enough. You don’t know what a judgmental witch Brianna can be.”
“She still giving you a hard time?”
There was a long pause. “No,” Sharon admitted, with a hint of whine creeping into her voice. “That’s what worries me. Right after we returned from the long weekend, I told her I’d talked to you and assured her you understood how important it was to follow the best practices.”
“And?”
He hated when people—but, being realistic, the people were always women—beat around the bush. Why did women make you drag a story out of them bit by bit when it was obvious they wanted to tell you? His ex-wife had been the queen of the doling out a story in dribs and drabs. Drove him straight up the wall.
“And,” Sharon continued, the whine in full bloom, “she just nodded and said ‘good.’”
“Well, isn’t it good?”
“You don’t get it. Brianna’s the chiefsustainabilityofficer. She thinks her job description includes saving the turtles and personally ensuring everyone on the planet has clean air and water. She’s a major pain in the ass—always. But with something like this? Something she could use to drive a wedge between me and Chad? She’d be on me like a mosquito in the summertime. The fact that she’s not probably means she’s up to something. Or she’s whispering in Chad’s ear.”
“I’ll talk to her,” he finally said so she would stop yammering.
“You’ll what?” Sharon yelled.
He pulled the phone away from his ear, drained his beer, and gave a louder-than-necessary belch. “I said I’ll talk to her. Send her out to the job site. I’ll give her a tour.”
He could hear her breath speeding up through the phone.
“Oh, I don’t know. Do you think—?”
He cut her off before she could rattle off a list of inane hypothetical questions.
“—You asked me to handle the issue. The issue’s handled. Don’t call me about it again.” Then, worried he was being too harsh with the woman who signed his checks, he hurried to add, “You hired me to a job. Trust me to do it, okay?”
“I do,” she assured him. “I’m just not sure sending Brianna to the construction site is a good idea. Even if you are doing everything by the book now, she’ll find something to be upset about.”
“Then you handle it.”
“I guess I could talk to her.”
He wasn’t gonna sit here and give her career counseling all night, but she needed to go over Brianna’s head. “Forget about her. She’s your equal, not your boss, right?”
“Right.”
“So, talk to Chad. Tell him everything’s good. Cut her out of the conversation.”
