Chapter 19

Scott

I stood at work, staring at the beams, thinking about Cassie. I was sick with worry having not heard from her since the morning before when she called me about Carl. I had no idea what was going on with the whole situation, and Cassie hadn’t shown up for work this morning. The only person I had paid any notice to was Carl, who gave me a sickening smirk as he passed. It took everything in me not to punch him right in the face, but I figured he would get what he deserved in the end. He was a thorn in my side, and now he was not only messing with my life, but he was messing with Cassie’s life too.

I walked over to the breezeway and looked up at the trailer, watching Bill walk out of the office on the phone. Cassie was still nowhere in sight. I needed to know she was okay, that she wasn’t hurt or hadn’t been shipped off somewhere by her crazy father. I walked out into the open area and pulled out my phone and dialed her number. I listened to it ring over and over again, but she never picked up. It wasn’t like her to not answer my calls, even when we were upset with each other. I left a message.

“Cassie, please call me back. I haven’t heard from you since you called yesterday, and I need to know that you are okay. Whatever happened, you can tell me. We can work through it. Just call me back.”

I hung up the phone and put it back in my pocket, sighing and kicking at the dirt. I made my way over to the trailer to grab a cup of coffee. I went inside and poured a cup, dumping some sugar in it and taking it out to the table. I sat down and ran my hands through my hair, staring down into the cup. I couldn’t understand how everything had gotten so messed up in so many ways. I looked up as a truck pulled through the entrance to the site and parked in front of the trailer. Mark, Cassie’s father, got out of the truck and looked around, stopping when his eyes fell on me. He walked part of the way over and pointed his finger at me.

“I have something to take care of inside, but don’t go anywhere. I want to talk to you,” he said.

I nodded my head and watched him walk into the trailer. I knew exactly what he was going in there to do. He was going in to tell Bill that he was firing me. I had worked for his company for fourteen years, and this was the thanks I was going to get for it. Fired in the middle of a project because I fell in love with his daughter. If she wasn’t answering her phone, and Carl had told him what I’d said, there was no way I was keeping my job. All those years, struggling through, giving up so many things to chase my dreams, and it was all coming down on me in the blink of an eye.

I felt like crying, or screaming, or doing anything other than sitting there on that seat, waiting for him to give me the ax. I was the best guy they had out here, but he didn’t give a damn. All he wanted was revenge for what he thought happened with Cassie. There was no way he knew the whole story, and if he did, he was a worse man than I thought. I looked up as he exited the building, Bill walking behind him. Bill looked over at me sadly and tipped his hat in my direction. Mark looked at me and waved me over to his truck. He climbed into the driver’s seat, and I climbed into the passenger’s side.

I shut the door and took a deep breath. Mark took off his hard hat and turned down the radio before leaning back in his seat. He stared out the window silently for a moment, making the situation even more awkward.

“Carl called me,” he said. “He told me everything. I know what you have been doing with my daughter.”

“With all due respect, sir, Carl couldn’t possibly have told you everything. He is the scum of the earth and only heard what he knew he would want to tell you,” I said.

“Nonetheless,” he said, “none of that matters. The fact of the matter is, you have been sleeping with my daughter. I don’t know what went through your head to make you think that was a good idea, but you seriously fucked up. I don’t want to see you anywhere near this company again. You’re fired.”

“That’s it? After fourteen years, after my father gave his life for this damn company, you fire me? You think your money for my mother’s hospital bills made up for my father’s life? And now you fire me?”

“It is what it is,” he said coldly.

“You have no idea what it is,” I said. “I have given everything I have to your company, and you are stomping on that and my parents’ memory like they meant nothing. Maybe to you they didn’t, and maybe up there in that mansion of yours you can’t understand how things work, but I love Cassie. No matter what you do, you can’t take that away from either of us.”

“Shut your mouth,” he yelled, turning toward me angrily. “You need to watch the way you talk to me, boy. You say you love my daughter, but there is no way in hell you can. You barely even know her. You are in love with the idea of her, the rich girl, the daughter of a huge company’s owner. You don’t know what love is. Besides, she is too good for you. She has a bright future ahead of her. She needs someone on her level. You will only hold her back. You got your rocks off with her; now stay the hell away from her. That isn’t a request.”

“You’re wrong. You are the one who doesn’t know your daughter. You are the one who has no idea how to love someone. You are the person who is holding her back from having a beautiful life. You are the one she will someday resent, and the only person you will have to blame when that day comes is yourself. There is no hiding from this, Mark. You are the poison that is keeping your daughter down.”

“Get the fuck out of my truck,” he said. “We will mail your last check.”

“Keep it,” I said, opening the door. “I don’t want any more of your blood money.”

I got out of the truck and stood back as he took off, turning around and speeding down the path in anger. Bill walked up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. I breathed deeply, looking up at him.

“I’m sorry, kid. You didn’t deserve that,” he said.

“Thanks, Bill,” I said, handing him my hard hat. “I’ll see you around.”

“Hey, if you need anything, you let me know,” he said. “I promised your mamma I would do what I could to look after you.”

“Thanks, man,” I said. “I’ll be all right.”

I walked over to my car and climbed in. I sat there and stared at the site. That had been my life for so long, and now it was over. Everything was over. My dreams for the future, my time with Cassie, my career—all gone in the blink of an eye. I felt even more crushed than I had that morning, and I shook my head, putting the car in drive and heading toward my house. My heart was sunk, completely unable to come back up to the surface. I had worked so damn hard for so long for it all to be gone just like that. Sure, there were other companies, but who would hire me after Mark got a hold of them? He would make sure I never worked in construction in that state again. It was a lost cause.

I got home and tossed my boots in the corner, figuring I wouldn’t need them anymore anyway. I walked over to the couch and sat down, opening my Uber app and canceling my route for the night. There was no way I was going out that night. I could barely keep myself together just sitting on the couch. Instead, I sat there in the silence, calling Cassie over and over again. I didn’t know if she would ever pick up, but she owed it to me. We were supposed to go through this shit together. She wasn’t supposed to hang me out to dry. But no matter how many times I dialed her number, she never picked up. I sat there staring at the blank television screen for a few minutes, wondering what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I didn’t have enough to start my own business, and there wasn’t a company that would give me a loan without a job. I needed to use my savings to tide me over until I found something else.

Still, through all of those thoughts, all of that despair, I couldn’t get Cassie off my mind. I wanted to talk to her, hear her voice, tell her it wasn’t all her fault. I picked up the phone and called her again, and again until I knew she was ignoring my phone calls. I filled her mailbox up, and when I got the rejection message that it was full, I screamed out in anger, throwing my phone across the room. How could she have done this to me? She’d left me out to dry. I was so frustrated that I didn’t even know what to do with myself. I got up and walked over to the kitchen, grabbed the bottle of whiskey, and took a swig from it. It burned on the way down, but it felt good. It felt real, just like what I had done to myself.

I had risked everything when I met Cassie. I knew it was a bad idea to be with her, but I fell in love, and I made the choice to take the risk. Now I was feeling the burn from it all. And what did I get out of it? Absolutely fucking nothing. I had risked everything in my life for a woman who didn’t even think I was worth it. A woman who wouldn’t even pick up the phone. This was exactly why I should never let a woman in. They did nothing but wreak havoc and ruin everything. Cassie had ruined my career, and worst of all, she had ruined my heart.