SHE QUICKLY DROVE TO Chris’s job site, taking with her the electrical submittals he’d been waiting on. Boots were no longer needed now just to cross the lot. She didn’t hesitate either, waiting to see if she were “allowed” there. She never felt odd or shy or unsure anymore. Nope. No more. Not on Chris’s job. She marched in, her knowledge exponentially increased as to all the parts of the construction process and what was going on at the site compared to the day she started. She also had a purpose now, a real part in all this. And her final perk? She’d grown increasingly proud of and interested in her work and she was glad of it.

She entered without knocking. Chris was on the phone, but turned towards her and smiled, waving his arm towards the tabletop to let her know to set his inbox contents there. She did. He got off the phone and sighed. A pencil was stuck behind his left ear that almost made him look scholarly. Almost. The roughness in Chris’s looks belied his intelligence as well as his courteous and kind personality, capped off by a killer sense of humor. She smirked and said, “How’s it going, Professor?”

“What?” He stared at her blankly. She tapped on her ear.

He patted his ear and then laughed. “Oh, forgot about that. I was about to start the lumber take-off when I got slammed with four phone calls in a row, which was… let’s see, an hour-and-a-half ago. Looks like I’ll be working late. I need to check these numbers. Lumber order is due soon and I have to make sure it’s correct.”

She wandered closer. “You always double-check the materials?”

“Always. To make sure the lumber company quoted the correct amount per the plan, and then I recheck it right down to the last bucket of nails and screws. I have to be sure that the framers have the right materials to start, along with the right numbers to handle so much material.”

He tapped the pencil against his opposite hand. “You want to learn how? Watch me do it?”

She smiled. He always included her if she were around to observe whatever task he was doing, and each time, it was different. She was already counting on it and hoping he’d ask her. “I do. Who else can teach me?” She approached him and her gaze drifted towards the drafting table. “Lloyd even told me I was helpful today. He should give you a raise because I wouldn’t be half so ‘helpful’ if you hadn’t taught me like a mentor.”

Chris’s massive shoulders fell forward as he rested his weight on his hands and the table surface. “You’re a quick study. He’d have been wasting your talents then. And it’s a rare thing indeed I can show anyone anything. Mentor? Me?” He shook his head. “That’s why I do it, Julia. Not for you so much, but because it strokes my ego to have something I can finally show someone else.”

She nodded and replied, “You’re humble too. You show the laborers how to do things all the time. I’ve witnessed it. And I know you stop and learn things from almost every single subcontractor or their workers that you’ve had on-site. There is no ego-stroking about this for you. You try to learn as much as you teach.”

He turned his head away. “Ah, hell. That’s just good business. The more I know, the better I can work and the more job security and chance for advancement I can create for myself. I can bring these projects in on time and budget, but it only happens if I know and understand what I’m doing. I’m a lot like you, Julia, and half of what I do is stuff I still don’t have any mastery of. And if I need help and guidance, why wouldn’t other workers?”

“Most men, especially the men in this industry, are driven or controlled by an outdated and crazy macho ego. So yeah, it’s pretty rare. Don’t think I didn’t notice and don’t think I’m not right. Trust me, I would know.”

He frowned, pushing off from the table. His appearance and personality hadn’t meshed on her first impression of him. His kindness, intelligence, and ability to remain patient and answer any and all questions still amazed her even after three months of being around him. “Who’s giving you trouble?”

She laughed, almost patting his shoulder. But she probably couldn’t have reached it if she tried. “No one specifically and nothing in particular. You know how it is.”

“Unfortunately I do. But I don’t do that, right?” he asked. He often checked in with her about his treatment of her. As if he believed he’d suddenly flipped into being a chauvinist jerk. He didn’t and hadn’t. However, she appreciated the way he kept check on himself. His gaze showed genuine concern, as if her answer mattered to him. She reached over and patted his hand, which he set back on the table. He glanced up sharply, wondering if she did it as reassurance.

“You don’t. Not once. Neither does Lloyd. That’s what makes all of this tolerable.”

“Well, let’s get to work here.”

She smiled as he brought over the plans, a yellow legal pad, some pens and pencils, a ruler and a few other gizmos. He explained which one was called a “plan wheel” and used it to scroll along the lines of the plans for measurement. The one Chris used interfaced with his laptop. He carefully started at the very beginning, showing her how to get set up and how to keep track of what he was checking. He told her never to hurry or skip a step. He often paused to make sure that what he explained was clear. But he never dumbed it down.

“You should have been a teacher, Chris,” she said when he set his pencil down. He leaned back in his chair to stretch his arms over his head and realign his spine. She straightened her own spine. They had been leaning over the plans for almost two hours.

“It has to interest me. If it were just general subjects, I wouldn’t care to talk about them. But I like this stuff so it’s fulfilling for me to show others. Plus, this is about the maximum of how long I can sit at a desk working. I’m ready to go hammer in some nails or jackhammer out some concrete. Got to do that yesterday. They poured a concrete curbing wrong and I got to bust it out of there. Total waste of time and money, but damn, it was fun.”

She shook her head, her laugh pealing out like a song. He grinned too. “You’re such a contradiction. Fun to jackhammer? Yuck. But I suppose muscles like those are wasted just teaching me how to do lumber take-offs.”

His head tilted. “Watch the sexual harassment, Ms. Lindstrom.”

She chuckled and rolled her eyes at him. “Forgive me, Mr. Vaughn. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. Besides, I didn’t say I admired them, I merely stated that you do have them. And you and I occupy equal positions, so there is no clash of unequal power here.”

He cringed. “Okay. Damn. You sure get a point across.”

She glanced up at the clock hung over the doorway. “Oh, crap. I have to go. I’m late.” There was a large family gathering at her parents’ house tonight. Her cousin, Olivia Salazar, and her husband, Derek, were the guests of honor. Olivia played the flute for a living, and was a valued member of the San Francisco Symphony. She had played at many venues from local dives to the White House. Recently, she was chosen to join a core group of instrumentalists to record the music for an upcoming movie.

He waved at her as she rushed out of there with barely a small smile, running across the lot to her car before racing home.

Home for Julia was the L-shaped rambler that her mom and dad bought years ago in Calliston. It was only a few miles from downtown where her dad, and now, she too, worked. She was only minutes from pulling in. She flung her car door open before rushing inside. The living room, which was open to the dining room and kitchen, was full of people. Food was appetizingly displayed on the dining room table and people were browsing through the various dishes.

“Julia!” She turned towards the first voice that caught her, her aunt, Gretchen. Close to sixty now, she was a tall, blonde, well-proportioned, and stylish woman. She looked as classy and sophisticated as she had decades before. Julia smiled with real pleasure when her aunt swooped her up in an embrace. Gretchen let her go, still clasping her hands. “I’ve heard almost daily reports of your journey into the construction world. Congrats, darling. I am so proud of you.” Her eyes glimmered with love. Julia smiled back. Gretchen had witnessed so much of her younger, more troubled years. Gretchen often came over to help her with her junior and senior homeschooling assignments. Gretchen also directed her mom into finding the help she needed.

She chatted for several minutes with her aunt and Tony, her uncle, who came up and wrapped his only arm around Gretchen’s waist as he kissed the side of her face. He lost his other arm over thirty years ago while serving in Afghanistan. Julia was the youngest of all the cousins on the Moore side of the family, which included Ally, Kylie, Olivia, and her. Her cousins and stepsisters, Kylie and Ally, were in their early thirties. Olivia, who was Gretchen and Tony’s daughter, was thirty-two, and then there was Julia. At age twenty-four, she arrived after everyone else. Like the afterthought. The baby. Shielded and protected. But also loved and adored by all. Gretchen often took care of her, claiming she needed a baby fix, and as Julia grew up, a young adult fix. Whatever age she was, Julia got special attention from all the family members, or so it seemed. She became their mascot in a loving, sweet, and often irritating way.

 Nate was married to Ally and they shared a law practice together. Strangely enough, Nate entered the family as Julia’s stepbrother. His dad was married to Vickie before she dumped him, ending her fifth marriage. Nate had no siblings and Julia had no brother so they simply adopted each other and had considered themselves brother and sister for more than fifteen years now. He slung his arm over her shoulder. “Hey Ju-Ju-Bee, why are you so late?”

“I was doing a lumber take-off.”

He blinked. “Are you for real?”

“For real. I was learning how to figure out how much lumber was needed for the framing strictly off the plans and specs. Time got away from me.”

“So the rumors are true? You’re really working in construction now?”

“Yes.” She smiled with unmasked pride. It might have been the first time at one of these events when she had something impressive to talk about. Her job was keeping her very busy and certainly was not trivial or pointless.

Two kids suddenly dodged behind Julia, each grabbing a leg and squealing as they hid behind her. She glanced down. They both had their eyes shut, as if they believed that would make them invisible. She laughed and saw Ally coming after them. Her expression was scowling as she shouted, “You little demons. What were you thinking?”

Nate smiled and his white teeth flashed against his dark skin. His mom’s family was from India and his strong genes of dark hair and olive skin were dominant in his and Ally’s twin boys, who were not quite three years old. “What have you two done to your mother now?” Nate asked as he leaned down and managed to scoop both of them up. With one in each arm, he slung them over his shoulders, letting their heads hang down his back as they laughed and squealed in excitement.

Ally paused in her chase to kiss Julia as she rolled her eyes. “He never told me that twins ran on his mother’s side.” Turning towards her husband and kids, she rested her hands on her hips as she stormed after them. Nate backed up, challenging her to come and get them all while both boys chanted him on.

It surprised everyone when Nate and Ally, who had long proclaimed they didn’t want to have any kids, showed up pregnant. They ran their own law practice, devoting a lot of work on behalf of people who were victimized by big corporations and subsequent cover-ups. They were quite successful. Then one day, and quite ironically, Ally, whose life was planned out until her retirement, showed up with twins. Turned out that twins were not uncommon on Nate’s mother’s side. Never mind, they were twin boys, and just as wild, crazy, and rambunctious as every stereotype of twin boy toddlers ever described. Ally usually looked exhausted, and always seemed to be half undone. Her hair was haphazardly pulled back in a ponytail as she struggled to keep up with her darling children.

Sometimes Ally looked as if she were ready to kill all three of them, until she smiled and laughed. She learned to relax in ways Julia had never observed from her before. Her usually stern, Type A, goal-oriented sister never seemed to sit still. Julia once asked her if she regretted having kids, in the plural. Ally responded with a small smile, saying, “I cried alone in my car when I found out my baby bump was a ‘they’ and not a ‘he’ or ‘she’. Of course it was not in my plans. Not two kids. Let alone, having them at the same time. But then I thought, maybe this was how it was supposed to be. I doubt I would have committed to having two and now I can’t imagine being any happier than I am. As crazy as it is. Did I ever think that I’d willingly and gladly choose to stay home all day taking care of two babies? No, and if you asked me that four years ago, I would have told you that it was about as likely as me sprouting feathers and wings before flying away.”

Julia laughed at the analogy. When Ally had the twins and later decided not to go back to work immediately, Julia was shocked. In no time, however, six months passed, and then a year, and now it had been almost three years. Surprising? Yes, very. No one ever expected Ally to stay home. Not even Nate. He told Julia he nearly passed out the first morning she was supposed to return to work. Stepping out in her full Ally-professional attire: an expensive, tailored suit, tasteful heels, and upswept red hair, Nate said she walked out the front door, her briefcase in hand, and was gone ten minutes max. Nate arranged to stay with the boys until Ally could get reacclimated and the twins could be taken to the daycare facility they spent months lining up. But Ally suddenly walked back into the house, set her briefcase down, and yanked her hair out as she said, “I’m not going back. Someone has to take care of them, whether it’s daycare or you or me, someone has to, right? So, why not me? It’s as valid as you going to work. Or me going to work.”

“Are you saying… that you want to stay home?” Nate inquired.

Ally’s lips tipped up. “Yes, I am. My mom did and that meant the world to me. Why can’t I do the same for my kids? We certainly can afford it.”

Nate nodded, smiled and said, “We can.” Even now, Julia’s amazement at her decision still hadn’t set in, almost three years later.

And stranger still, Ally had no inclination to go back. Not yet. She didn’t even talk about it.

Julia turned when Kylie came around the corner. She was following her daughter, now one year old as she toddled along, falling onto her well-padded, diapered butt every few steps. Flailing her arms, she’d slowly get back up. Then Kylie’s two-year-old came shooting past them. Kylie tried to scoop her up as she made a mad dash towards the table where Grandma Leila sat. “Not so fast, Claudia!”

Kylie’s gaze caught Julia’s and she grinned her greeting, rolling her eyes and shaking her head good-naturedly. Baby number three was only half grown inside her belly. Kylie waited several years in order to finish college and start her career as a champion in the child protective services. Kylie’s kids were planned, and only when they were ready did they have their first, then their second and now, their third child. Kylie confided to Julia that with Tristan being forty-three, they didn’t want to wait too long. A span of ten years separated them age wise. Kylie worked full-time and still managed a full case load. She claimed that all the sadness and stress of her job vanished when she came home to her own family. It always renewed her hope in human compassion.

Julia’s parents were suddenly blessed with four grandkids, soon to be five, and all in less than three years. Julia loved it. She got to babysit often and enjoyed having baby and toddler time without any of the real responsibility. She was everyone’s favorite babysitter and she spent many a Saturday night doing it by choice. Besides, it helped pass the time.

Kissing her grandparents hello, Julia was sure to embrace both sets. Leila and Lewis were her dad’s parents. Both of Julia’s moms’ parents were Gayle and Jay Moore.

She got a hug and kiss from her mom before her dad hugged her too, pausing long enough to talk to her for a good fifteen minutes. Then she spotted Olivia walking in from the back patio. Her long, black hair was plaited in an elaborate, inverted braid. She noticed Julia and a huge smile shone on her face. They hadn’t seen each other in many months. Olivia always stayed in constant contact with Kylie, and they were lifelong best friends, but Julia was the little cousin so she received less contact from them as they got older.

“Julia!” She rushed forward and swept Julia up in a bear hug. They were almost the same height.

“So you did another cool thing, huh?” Julia squeezed her back.

Olivia laughed with an eye roll. “You know how my parents love to find any reason to celebrate me. Only child syndrome.” Olivia was adopted by Gretchen and Tony when she was eight years old. They had no other kids.

“Well, and so they should. You don’t live an ordinary life. Congratulations. You are so amazing.” And she was too, at least to Julia. Not many people could make a living from a hobby, especially in the arts. She played the flute and turned it into a career that was varied, versatile, and incredible. After graduating from Peterson College for the Arts with a BA in music, Olivia went on to obtain her master’s degree. She went on tour with several different musical groups and performed as part of their bands, traveling around the world. Intermittently, she taught classes and gave private lessons. She did many soundtracks for commercials and TV before she hit the movies. She met Derek and they dated when she was a freshman at Peterson.

Despite a short family scandal when Derek was a drug dealer, they managed to reconnect during Olivia’s junior year. It began as a slow burn when they first started up again, but by the time she graduated from Peterson, they were engaged. They postponed their wedding until after she finished her first world tour. Meanwhile, Derek became a paramedic and later took advanced training. He often visited Olivia and genuinely supported her talent. With no kids and no plans for them anytime soon, Olivia’s career was still rising. The opportunities kept coming and most involved extensive travel.

And to anyone who knew them, the biggest surprise was learning that Derek had recently decided to go back to college to get a nursing degree. That was pretty epic. It was no joke to the family members who “got” it. They understood the profound journey undertaken by Tony, Gretchen, and Olivia when they decided to mentor Derek and help him advance from his job as a drug dealer to now a wannabe nurse. Derek joked that he missed his drug-pushing days, and needed a way to do it legally. To be fair, Derek was drawn to the medical field only after watching the paramedics save Olivia’s life. She was given an overdose by Derek’s turf war enemies at a time when he belonged to a dark underworld. Olivia had no idea that he was involved in such a mess.

They had been married now for seven years, but often spent time apart whenever her career required it. Julia could see that Derek harbored a form of hero worship of his wife. He thought she was brilliant from her flawless smile to her flute playing to her pinkie toes. It was rather sweet to watch how moonstruck he was by her.

Julia and Olivia fell into a half-hour catch-up session. Giggling while watching Ally being imperfect for once and seeing Kylie smile and talk constantly put both girls in a festive mood. Soon, Derek joined them, slinging his arm around Olivia’s shoulders as he talked about his plans to start school the following September.

Julia’s heart rose and swelled as she glanced around at her family. They were a perfectly imperfect family. She looked at Grandma Gayle, still making excuses for Vickie even after fifty-plus years. Grandma Leila didn’t like Grandma Gayle and often made snide, whispered remarks under her breath. Her insults bordered on cruel barbs but they always made the grandkids squirm, trying to hold in their laughter.

It could make one’s head spin, trying to follow the family tree with so many entangled webs.

A knock on the front door came about eight o’clock. Julia groaned, glancing at her mom. It had better not be Vickie. Tracy shrugged, shaking her head to the negative. Julia took it as a sign that she hadn’t invited Vickie. Julia sighed with relief. Donny and Tracy Lindstrom raised Julia as a team, as partners, as her parents. They were always loving, involved, kind, strict, supportive, and full of expectations as parents. When they released Vickie from her role as a pseudo-mother, Julia felt much happier and freer. She believed she was even emotionally more balanced.

That was why she drew a line in the sand with her family. It was either Julia or Vickie and Julia never wavered on her resolve, not even after five years. Not once. She had no intention of changing that now.

So the entire family was gathered there together, laughing, eating, teasing, and celebrating. The next generation of kids were squealing, and one had started crying, making more noise than all the adults, combined.

Her dad was unaware of the subtle conversation she and her mom just had. He walked over and answered the door. Julia couldn’t picture who else it could be. The entire family was present and no one else would randomly come by.

So how could they have allowed that awful woman to come tonight? After five years without any contact, Julia wasn’t about to start getting nostalgic now. She stiffened, getting ready to leave. Fuck Vickie.