Chapter 18

Cassie

I woke up on Friday almost glad that work was canceled again. I wouldn’t have to face Scott on the job. The rain had poured all night, and the mud was so thick on the site that you could barely get the forklifts through it. It was a battlefield of mud and muck out there and not safe for anyone to be working in, especially not when they were putting posts in the ground and running electrical wires. I couldn’t sit inside the house and cry anymore, though, so I grabbed my keys and headed out before my father went to his office. I had some errands to run anyway, and I was starting to go nuts thinking about the terrible fight Scott and I had gotten into.

I understood why he was upset, but everything he’d said was wrong. Yes, I thought he was good enough for me, but standing there in front of him and listening to him scream just froze me in my spot. I couldn’t even get the words out of my mouth, and he took that as an affirmation. I wanted to get back to the way things were, and the next day I would be able to go back to work. The mud would be dry enough by then from the hot summer sun to resume construction. I knew what that meant though: a bunch of grumpy men who would have to come in all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday to make up for the time that was lost. I knew they would want the hours after missing two days, but I also knew they wouldn’t be fond of being there on the weekend.

My phone rang, and I grimaced, seeing my father’s name pop up on the screen. Part of me didn’t want to answer, didn’t want to talk to the man who was making everything so hard for me and Scott. I knew, though, if I didn’t answer, he would keep calling until I did.

“Hi, Daddy,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Where are you?”

“I am out in town running some errands I have been neglecting,” I said. “Everything okay?”

“I wanted to let you know that I called in the team for the weekend,” he said.

“I figured you would have,” I replied. “I’ll be there with them in the morning.”

“There is something else,” my father said, a stern tone in his voice. “I got a message from Carl, one of the crew members at your site. He said it was urgent, that he needed to talk to me about you. I’m not sure what he would have to tell me about you, but I figured I would ask you first, and maybe you can shed some light on what is going on. It’s not often I get a call directly from the crew.”

“God, not that guy,” I said, my nerves shooting up. “Daddy, I want you to listen to me. You cannot trust anything that man has to say. Please, don’t even call him back. I will take care of whatever issue he has when I go to work tomorrow. He should have come to me in the first place, but he doesn’t seem to understand what his place is and what mine is.”

“Well, he already called, so I might as well hear him out,” he said.

“Dad, please, I’m asking you not to. Do this for me,” I said.

“Why?” he asked. “What is it that he has to say that you don’t want me to hear so badly?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But this guy is nuts, Dad. Really. He has been constantly hitting on me, making me uncomfortable, and causing a scene with me since the day I started. There was even a time when he put his hands on me, and one of the other guys had to step in and stop him. He doesn’t know what no means, and he degrades me for being a woman at every turn.”

“That’s interesting,” he said.

“What is?”

“Just that he said you would say that,” he said. “I lied, Cassie. I already talked to Carl, and I was testing you to see what you would say. I know about Scott. I know about everything. I don’t know why you thought you could keep something like this from me, but you have seriously had a lapse in judgment.”

“Daddy, he really is an asshole,” I said.

“Asshole or not, he had some interesting things to tell me about Scott and you,” he said. “Things that I am shocked, to say the least, to have heard.”

“Daddy, you need to hear me out,” I said. “I am not a child anymore.”

“No, you are not,” he said. “Which means that you should have known better than this. I want you to turn that car around, wherever you are, and come home. We have some things to discuss.”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” I said.

“I don’t care what you want to talk about or how old you think you are,” he said. “You are to come home immediately. You can’t run away from this, Cassie. You involved my company, my crew, and my reputation in your careless and thoughtless actions. I have never been this angry with you before, and you need to face the music. I will see you shortly.”

“Dad,” I said, but he hung up the phone.

He was so angry, angrier than I had ever heard him. Carl had told him everything, and right on the heels of the argument Scott and I had had about the whole situation. I hadn’t even had any time to think about it. Now I had to go home and face the music, not even knowing if I had something to fight for.

I sat there watching cars zoom past me, thinking about the mess I had made. Maybe Scott was right. I didn’t even think about how this would affect him. I just wanted my freedom from the clutches of my father. He was an impossible man to reason with, and there was no way he was going to let Scott get away with this and still work for his company. It felt completely hopeless. I picked up my phone and dialed Scott, needing to talk to him. I was starting to feel panicky.

“Hello?” he said emotionlessly.

“Scott, Carl called my father. I tried to tell my father what kind of man Carl is, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He wants me to come straight home, and I’m hoping I will be able to reason with him.”

“Doubtful,” he said.

“Have you heard anything from him or Carl?”

“Nope,” he said, not saying much.

“I don’t know what to expect,” I said. “I don’t know what all of this will mean for you or for me. I don’t know how I am supposed to fix this. It’s such a mess.”

“Take a deep breath,” he said. “It is what it is at this point, and there is nothing we can do to change that. Go face your father. He is not going to wait on you forever.”

“All right,” I sniffled. “I’ll call you later.”

“Yeah,” he said, hanging up the phone.

He was so short with me, so shallow in his words, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what he was thinking. I figured that was probably the least of my worries at the moment. I had to face my father and attempt to get him to change his mind. I pulled down the mirror in the car and wiped the tears and mascara from my face. I looked terrible, like I hadn’t slept in days. I shook my head and put the mirror back up before starting the car. I pulled out into traffic and headed toward the house. The entire way there, nerves bubbled up in my stomach. I wondered what he was going to say, what he was going to tell me about what Carl had said. I knew he didn’t know the whole story. There was no way he could.

When I got to the house, my father was waiting for me in the office. I walked in slowly, putting my purse down and shutting the door. We were the only ones in the house besides the housekeepers, but I figured it was best no one else heard our conversation. I walked over and sat down in the chair, opening my mouth to talk.

“No,” my father said, putting up his hand. “I have heard quite enough bullshit for one day. I give you everything you could ever need or want. I put you through college, make sure you don’t have to work, hand you your internship on a silver platter, and I will the company to you, and what do you do? You go against the very fiber of the morality of this company. I didn’t give you any rules for when you came here except that you were not to sleep with anyone who worked for me. That was my only rule. And what happens? You go shacking up with the first guy you meet on the site. You weren’t even careful about it either. The most notoriously big-mouthed asshole in the company knows about it.”

“Dad, if you will just hear me out—”

“I raised you with a silver spoon in your mouth,” he said. “You had the best upbringing and educational background, better than most, and a family name to make you proud. You could have any man you want, and you pick some roughneck construction worker from the slums. You are too good for him, point blank. He does not fit into this world, Cassie. He is not the man you should be giving yourself to in any shape or form.”

“It wasn’t like that,” I said. “I didn’t just jump into bed with Scott. On one of the first few days I was on your job site, one of your crew—Carl—accosted me by the bathrooms. He had his hands on me and wouldn’t let me go. Scott came over, saw what was happening, and rescued me from the situation. He was the hero. He took care of me because one of your men thinks he can put his hands on whoever he likes. That was when I realized I had feelings for the man. Real feelings.”

“Feelings in your pants,” my father said, scoffing. “How could you possibly have feelings for a man of that caliber? Good for him, he saved you from Carl. I appreciate that fact, but his consolation prize should have been a bonus, not you. I have taught you better than that. What have you been doing out there at that school? Whoring yourself out to every man you thought would piss me off? Is that what this is? Payback of some sorts?”

“That’s ridiculous,” I said, shaking my head. “I am an adult, not some angry child trying to get back at her father. It is my choice to see whoever I want.”

“You’re right. I can’t control who you see, but I can control who works for my company,” he said. “Scott will be fired. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. He will not come into my world, charm my daughter, and make her think life in the slums is something romantic. He will not take advantage of the good things my company did for him and his family after his father passed away. It is disgusting to me that you would even think you could be happy in that kind of life. Get yourself together.”

“Father, no,” I sobbed. “Please, if you love me, if you want me to be a part of this family, you won’t do this to Scott. This is my fault. I charmed him, not the other way around. Punish me but let him keep his job.”

“You will always be a part of this family,” my father said. “You have no control over that. And whether you were the charmer or not, he was the one who failed.”

“Please,” I cried.

“I think it’s best that you don’t come back to work until Monday,” he said.

I got up and ran from the room, throwing my bedroom door open and falling onto the bed. I sobbed loudly, knowing there was nothing I could do to change his mind. Scott really was a good guy, and I actually and truly loved him.