4
Tate
My morning routine was the same as always. I woke up and went for a run, enjoying the scenery and waving at the people I always see. I stopped and got a cup of coffee, and then I headed home. It was a good routine, but I still felt a kind of lonely emptiness.
It helped a little bit to be at work, especially if we had a big project. It wasn’t as lonely with all the guys in one place working together. My best friend and partner, Levi, kept me busy most of the time, too. We had been working on a joint project, and it wasn’t that big of one so it had just been the two of us. We agreed on a time to show up every day. Until then, I showered and dressed in jeans and a tee shirt, my self-made uniform.
I hopped in my truck and set off for the job site. Then I got a call on the way there.
“Hello?” I had Bluetooth so I only had to press a button and answer.
“You sound like shit.” Levi boomed through the speaker. He always said that, even if I didn’t sound like shit. But I did have a late night, so I probably did.
“Right. What do you want? I’m already on my way.” I answered. I came to a red light in the small downtown where a hot brunette was crossing the street. She even looked in the truck and shot me a smile. I smiled back.
I was no womanizer like Levi, but I did have fun sometimes. Anyway, I had to drive off and leave her behind.
“Nothing. Well we actually have another site to look at after we finish today.”
“Gotcha.” We usually have a break between projects, but the company had started doing really well so we get new jobs a lot faster. Levi and I always take the lead on them, so we get first pick on a team too.
“Oh, actually can you get me a breakfast combo from Mickey D’s? Thanks.” He laughed and hung up before I could even protest.
I rolled my eyes but went a different direction so I could find one close enough to stop. I got to the worksite ten minutes after my usual time. He was already in the kitchen hanging the cabinets. It was actually all we had left, which was why we would be finished by lunch today.
“Your meal awaits.” I drop it on the newly finished countertop that we covered with butcher paper to protect from being scratched.
“Thanks man.” He brushed back his dark hair and went straight for the food. I got something for myself, so we ate before we started working.
“Where is this place at?” I asked him, referring to the new job he said we picked up. Well, he picked it up and probably just volunteered me.
“No clue. I barely looked at the address.”
I rolled my eyes but I wasn’t surprised. Levi was never the organized or prepared type, but it worked for him. I’d known him for years, since I started working with the company. We were both handymen but we had our differences. When plumbing or anything like that came in the picture, I stepped aside and let him handle it. We worked well as a team. He was even good at tinkering and making things from scratch sometimes. A lot of the jobs we took had personally requested him, and he dragged me along.
“This place came out nice.” He said with a mouth stuffed with hash browns.
“Yeah, it did.” I chuckled. It only took us forty-five days. We stayed on track and on budget.
“Too bad they were pretentious pricks.” He finished up and stood.
“Chill man, there could be cameras in here.” I followed him and tossed the trash.
“Doubtful.” We drank our coffee until it was all gone. We usually weren’t that casual on the job sites, but the owners left for the Hamptons while we were working. Their house was pretty big, but they just wanted the kitchen and bathrooms redone. They didn’t want to stick around for all the noise and dust, I guessed.
“Only people with shitty kids get those cameras.” Levi said. I didn’t agree, but I didn’t want to get pulled into that conversation either.
He wasn’t stupid, but sometimes I got stuck in the most baseless conversations with him. He liked to talk a lot, and I didn’t like to talk very much. In our years together, we had learned to work it out, but sometimes he liked to pester me.
While we hung the shelves, he continued to bring up useless topics, but I enjoyed them to pass the time. He was pretty adamant about hooking up with someone to celebrate the job being done. The last time we tag-teamed a woman was at one of our co-workers’ bachelor party. But it was fun nonetheless. Too bad there weren’t many women willing to do that. Surprising, as far as I was concerned.
“Looks good.” We finished up. He had shed his shirt and used it to wipe the sweat from his face.
We both looked at the dark cabinets and took the last few measurements.
“Yeah. We should walk through it again. I have a feeling about these two,” I said.
The first meeting we had with them was spent suppressing the urge to argue. They were very insistent and thought they knew everything about contracting. Those were the worst kinds of people, and you couldn’t put them in their place either.
We did a final walk through and took photos for the job site folder and website. We didn’t share the address, so no one would know where it was anyway. Then the clean-up crew came in and put everything back where it should be. There was no point in sticking around for the owners to come back.
“So, where is the new place at?” I asked him again as we left the house. “And where is your truck?” I asked him as well, since I didn’t see it outside.
“Oh, I got a ride.” He smirked and hopped into the passenger side of my truck. That was code for he was with a woman last night and he wooed her with his tales of being a strong contractor, good with his hands.
“Like I said, I only glanced at the address. It came in pretty late last night but I managed to catch it before I was otherwise occupied.” He grinned. I shook my head but I couldn’t even judge; I was pretty much the same way.
He shifted through his phone and plugged the address into our GPS. It was a place out on Fishers Island, so I imagined an old couple living there. Or maybe someone living alone. But there weren’t many young people out that far, so I didn’t expect anything exciting.
“We won’t do any work today will we? I’m spent,” I said. We worked so late the past few days to stay on schedule because we knew the owners would not like it if we finished late.
“Nah, just an estimate. See what they want to do,” he answered. He turned the radio on, the new Imagine Dragons song blaring through. Every radio station had it on permanent replay.
“Cool.”
The drive took about thirty minutes from where we were. The island was off the tip of Long Island, with no roads to it. Using the ferry made it a bitch to get there, but we could be reimbursed by the company for all that. We drove up to the house and…shit.
“We haven’t seen a place like this in years.” Levi leaned forward and stared with wide eyes.
I stared too; it was real messed up. Maybe it was a flip? I had no clue. There were no cars out front when I pulled into the driveway. The outside of the house was a sad, chipped, white color, with plank siding and a rickety porch. The roof would need to go. Everything needed to go, in my opinion.
“Let’s check it out.”
I parked and we left the truck. Levi knocked on the door but there was no answer.
“They didn’t put their number on the form for me to call,” Levi said. I shrugged and looked through the windows.
The couch looked like it had been laid on, but everything else was covered up or falling apart.
“Someone was here. We can wait. I don’t have any plans for the rest of the day.” I stepped over the railing and sat down on the steps.
The land was pretty decent, though it needed a lot of landscaping. But it would be a nice place to fix up, just really expensive. Probably our most expensive one yet.
“I’m going to walk around.” Levi stepped down the stairs.
“That’s trespassing. We haven’t taken the job yet.” I stood up and faced him. He laughed his careless laugh and set off anyway.
I had to follow him and make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. Sometimes I felt like the older sibling trying to keep tabs on their brother. But we walked around and saw that the water tank would need to be replaced, unless Levi could fix it. He was good with lost causes. The foundation seemed fairly solid though. The backyard had a gorgeous view, but the back of the house was pretty worn out. It had vines going up the sides, and bricks coming loose.
“This is a complete disaster.” Levi said. He walked back around the front and I followed.
“Yeah, but that’s kind of the work we’re supposed to do.” I pointed out.
“True. I still don’t want to use a team though. Then we have to be on our best behavior and shit. Plus, more people just makes it take longer.” He shook his head.
We both sat on the porch steps. “Let’s just wait for the owner. They might not even want to give us the job.”