Page 87 of Between Never and Forever
Sharon doesn’t say anything for a long time, long enough that I force myself to bring my eyes to hers. She’s watching me with a furrowed brow.
“When do they start the on-site filming?” she asks, and I clench my jaw.
“Three to four weeks.”
“Still want me to keep Brynn?”
I jerk out a nod, then turn to my daughter, ending the conversation.
“I’m heading to the rebuild today, Boss. You comin’ with me or stayin’ with Ms. Sharon?”
She looks up at me and purses her lips, thinking it over.
“Can I video chat with Cameron?”
Brynn’s best friend Cameron is visiting family in Connecticut for the summer. It’s been a huge adjustment for her since she’s used to seeing Cameron every day, especially since Cameron is really Brynn’s only friend. For a while, I was trying to set up playdates and get her into more activities, so she’d meet people, but Brynn put me in my place pretty quickly.
Even though she loves school, she doesn’t like most kids her age, and they don’t like her. I think she’s too smart for them. I don’t tell her that because I don’t want to raise an arrogant kid, but she knows. Brynn’s happy with Cameron, Ms. Sharon, me, and her books. She says she’s not lonely, that she doesn’t want or need any more friends. I get it, but I still find myself hoping she’ll branch out eventually.
“Yeah, you can video chat Cameron.”
“I’ll stay here, then.”
I make sure I don’t let her see my relief when I agree, then I say goodbye and head out.
The drive to my hometown takes about an hour and I keep the radio off. When I pull into town, I go straight to the River View build site. My guys are already working hard when I park along the curb and climb out of the truck, shoving a hard hat on my head as a good example.
The project is about 75% complete. The neighborhood is eleven houses and we’ve finished eight of them. If all goes as planned, we should be done with everything by mid-fall.
“Levi,” Marcus, my project manager, greets me, then gestures to the build in front of me. It almost looks like a house. “They’re finishing up the plumbing here today.”
I follow him into the build and nod a hello to the subcontractors installing the plumbing. Marcus takes me through the rooms so I can see the progress, and I type notes on my phone to send to Sharon. Rough electrical looks good, plumbing so far looks good and should be done by end of day, and if we can get the inspectors out here early next week, we should be able to start insulation before the weekend.
I give Marcus the okay, and then follow him to the build next door to do the same thing. This one isn’t as far along, and the team is still hammering away, getting it ready for electrical, but we’ve been lucky. Weather has been favorable, and thanks to our private donor, money’s been doing the talking, so the construction is moving along quickly.
“It’s looking good, right?” Marcus says as we step back out into the sun. “Movin’ fast.”
I grunt my approval, check my watch, then tell him Sharon will have lunch sent around noon. I do a quick walk through of some of the finished houses, and then I make the drive to the last place I want to be, but where my conscience and guilt won’t let me avoid.
I park my truck on the curb, then walk up the sidewalk to the door. The shrubbery is neatly trimmed, the flower beds weeded and freshly mulched. The landscapers must have been by recently. I step up unto the wrap-around front porch and knock, then wait.
It takes my mother thirty seconds to open the door, another two to check behind me and then meet my eyes with a frown. She doesn’t say anything as she opens the door wider and gestures for me to come in.
“Mom,” I say with a nod, kicking off my shoes and following her into the kitchen. I take a seat in a chair at the kitchen table as she starts a pot of coffee. “The landscaping looks nice. Who’d you have do it?”
“Beverly Windsor’s son came by and did it for me.”
She flicks her eyes to me, then looks back to the task of counting out scoops of coffee and dumping them into the filter. She wants me to feel guilty that it was Beverly Windsor’s son who did her landscaping and not her own. I don’t.
“He did a good job,” I say.
She scoffs and pulls two mugs from the cabinet, then brings them to the table. She sets one down in front of me, then the other in front of the chair where she always sits. I meet her hard eyes, and I brace myself for what I know is coming. When she speaks, her voice is steel.
“You could have brought my granddaughter.”
I inhale slowly. Not even ahi, how are you. She’s just going to dive right into an argument. I’m not surprised.
“Brynn didn’t want to come,” I say clearly. Aside from the slightest flinch in her brow, there’s no sign she heard me.
