Chapter Forty-Eight
Two Years Later
Jace
“Aw, look, Jace has a little heart-shaped note in his lunch box…isn’t that sweet.” I felt myself blush. Daphne insists on packing my lunch every day, which I love. But I usually check it for the notes before I open it in front of the other guys.
I’m not ashamed of her…completely to the contrary. But, working in construction, you have to have a little bit of a hard edge. Pink, heart-shaped sticky notes kind of blow that out of the water.
“You’re just jealous, Craig. I’m sorry that nobody loves you enough to send you a heart-shaped note in your lunch.”
“I’ll give you one for that ham sandwich,” Mike said to Craig.
“It would take a lot more than a sticky note for you to get your hands on my ham.” Mike and I were laughing before Craig realized how that sounded. “Aw, screw you guys!” He turned his back to us and started eating his lunch. Mike looked up at me again and said,
“Did you get that raise?”
“I got it. It’s my two-year increase. It’ll help a lot with the new house and everything.”
Mike nodded. “My raises would help if I could get the wife to stop having kids. That Catholic stuff is okay, but I really wish the Pope would approve birth control. She told me yesterday she’s pregnant again.”
Craig still had his back to us, but I saw his shoulders shake. “What’s up with you?” Mike asked him.
“How many is that, nine?”
“Shut up,” Mike said. “It’s six.”
“And, you haven’t made a boy yet?”
“This one’s gonna be a boy, I can feel it.”
“That’s what you said about the last two.”
Mike shrugged. “Oh well, if this one ain’t, she’ll probably try for 10 more.”
“You could stop having sex, you know. That would stop the production of children.”
“Fuck that,” Mike said. We laughed.
I thought about how different my life was now from two years ago. The only men I had in my life then were my brothers and other priests. I didn’t realize how much fun it was to stand around like this and just talk and laugh like one of the guys. That’s all I am here.
Max had got me the job. I used to work construction when I was in high school and he had a client with a construction firm starting a new project in the city. It was perfect for me, and I took it as another sign that I was making the right move.
Ryan had only rolled his eyes at me when he heard I’d gone through with leaving the church. I think he was just worried about me, but now, two years later, even he has to admit that I did the right thing.
“When are you gonna have some, Jace?”
“I think we’re going to wait for a bit. We just got married a month ago, you know.”
“Yeah, we were there,” Craig said. “That little wife of yours is…”
“Don’t say it,” I told him with a warning look.
“What?” he said, trying to look innocent. “I was just going to say she’s a nice gal.”
“Yeah, right.” He laughed his lecherous laugh. I wasn’t really offended. Craig talked about his wife all the time. He was crazy about her. He just liked to give me a hard time.
After lunch, we went back to work for another four hours. I was operating the crane today. The building was an old church, and we were refurbishing it.
None of the guys here know about my past as a priest, but the first day we were on the job, Craig caught me staring up at the cross at the top of the old brick building. There must have been reverence in my eyes because after that he called me Father Jace. I had to laugh at that.
When the day was over, I gathered my things, climbed in my pick-up and went home…to the woman and the life I loved.