Page 70 of A Case of You
The job could be his. It was only guaranteed for four months, though. After that, they’d talk to him and see if there were other options, or if they could keep him on part-time once Bob returned to work.
If Bob even returned to work.
But Jeff would have to let them know by tomorrow morning, or they’d advertise the position.
It wasn’t even the money at that point. Jeff had health insurance through Brandon’s job. Anything he made he could put toward their household funds. Maybe toward the mortgage, or even their retirement accounts.
Start really contributing again.
And it wasn’t even full-time. Five mornings a week, Monday through Friday.
Perfect!
He headed home and barely remembered he needed to get dinner started for everyone.
Maybe his luck had finally changed for the better. He’d been taking it easy, and between using the hot tub, doing the gentle exercises his doctor prescribed, and seeing Nate once a week, it seemed to be helping.
Was he “cured?” No. The doctors warned him that, at this point, it looked like this was his new normal.
Okay, so he’d deal with that.
But a chance to go back to work, doing something he was qualified to do, and which was physically easy to do?
He had to take the chance.
While he thought about calling Brandon to ask him, he knew this conversation was best had in person. Stuart needed to be involved as well, because it would impact him.
Em and Grace were sitting at the dinner table with them when Jeff’s opportunity arose.
Brandon had been asking the girls, then Stuart, about their day.
Then came Jeff’s turn. “So what’d you do today, buddy?”
He took a deep breath. “I ran up to Brooke’s to hang out for a while. And then I stopped by the dealership to say hi to some of the guys.”
“Yeah? I’m guessing you didn’t wear yourself out today.”
Jeff fought the urge to let his body respond to Brandon’s implied tone, and the way the corner of his mouth quirked up, that Brandon would be interested in having some fun that night.
“No, but I had an interesting conversation at the dealership.” He went for broke and laid it all out, all four of them now motionless and listening as he told them about the job offer.
No one spoke, awaiting Brandon’s response.
“What did you tell them?” he finally asked.
“I said I’d let them know tomorrow morning.”
Brandon’s blue gaze met and held his. “I’m guessing you really want to take the job?”
“I do.”
“They know about your health issues? I won’t agree to you working if you’re going to be killing yourself.”
“Yes. I won’t have to do any deliveries, or heavy lifting, just man the counter and answer phones and look up parts. It’s inside, air-conditioned. Part-time, in the mornings when I’m feeling my best anyway. And I can sit for most of it.”
He saw more than heard Brandon’s sigh, the way his shoulders dropped a tad as he stared at Jeff. “Is this something you feel youcando?” he finally asked.
“Absolutely.”
