Chapter 1
Bryan
“M r. McBride, are you serious?”
“Very. The houses you’re building now will be subsidized
housing for all of you, plus a few others,” I explained. “You mean you’ve built us a home?” Daniel Lockey, the man who’d taken on several kids simply because they had no one, stared at me in amazement. “No. You built yourselves a home.” I grinned. “And it’s well deserved. You guys have worked hard and earned your paychecks. The first four months of payments are subsidized by us, which will give you guys time to set yourselves up at other jobs.” I’d come out to check up on a few jobsites, and ended up with gigantic hugs from the homeless men on one of our biggest projects. I got up this morning and saw a text message from Drew stating he wouldn’t be coming in today, so I had to hop out of bed and get going with the construction sites. Things had been on the up and up for Drew and his tattoo shop, and we were on the last leg of liquidating the rest of his holdings in the company. “Thank you so much, Mr. McBride,” Daniel said. “You’re welcome,” I said, laughing happily. “You’re all welcome.” I checked a few things off on the site before I drove over to another one. I had seven sites I had to evaluate and project time frames for before checking out three other jobsites that were interested in working with us. I had a great deal of paperwork to fill out and then get everything uploaded into the system. This was a good time to think about ways to make this system more automatic, so it would be easier on all of us. “Bryan! What brings you around?” “Hey, Duke. Work, of course. What brings you around?” My lead foreman I’d promoted a few weeks ago slapped my back as I approached him on one of the sites. “Oh, you know. My bossman said I had to roll out of bed today and work. You know, the usual,” he said. “Sounds like a dick,” I said, grinning. “You should tell him off.” “You’re a fucking asshole for making me work, McBride,” he said. “Tough shit. I pay you enough money to roll out of bed at seven.” “Makin’ rounds? I thought Drew had our site today,” he said. “Got a message from Drew this morning saying he wasn’t coming in.” “That’s been happening a lot lately,” he said. “What gives?” “Well, Drew’s in the process of winding things down, especially since most of his assets with the company have been liquidated. He’s got his shop open and stocked with stuff, so it’s only a matter of time before I take over everything.” “How you gonna do with all that?” he asked. “I’m trying it out today. So far, I’ve already skipped a meal, needed more coffee, and contemplated making all of our systems electronic so I don’t have to go through all this paperwork bullshit so often.” “You’re just now doing all this stuff? Shit, you got it easy. Try getting up at five in the morning.” The grin on his face made me chuckle while we slowly started to walk the site. “So, talk me through this. How’s everything going?” I asked. “The ground was easy to level, and we’re about to start laying down all the plumbing. Those rainstorms that poured through last week really put us behind, so we’re trying to play catch up. But the ground wasn’t too saturated, so I’ve got guys already laying foundation on the plumbing we got done before the storms.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “Think you’ll experience any pushback on the delivery date?”
“Not if I can keep them maybe an extra hour for a few days,” he said.
“Let me know if you need to, and we’ll get overtime payments in check. I don’t want these guys out here without the proper pay in their pockets.”
“You got it, boss.”
“Can I ask you something?” I asked.
“Sure. What’s up?”
“How do you like living in San Diego?”
“Why? You thinkin’ about moving, too?” he asked.
“No, but I am considering branching out into new territory. Just wondering how you enjoy the area.”
“Ah. Gotcha,” he said, nodding. “Well, San Diego is a nice city. Even in the dead of winter, it isn’t brutally cold. The mornings might be in the low forties, but it warms up into the sixties and is perfect weather for working the way we do. Some guys are still out here in short sleeved shirts and not sweating their asses off. Plus, if we wanna get drunk during lunch, we’re always walking distance from the bars.”
“Ha, ha, ha,” I said. “You think you’re a funny man.”
“I get my kicks where I can get ‘em,” he said.
“Anything else you enjoy about the city?” I asked.
“Many parts of the city need the type of work you do. Subsidized housing that isn’t bullshit. Those tiny homes you built a couple months ago are a huge hit around here. I know you got some properties interested in our business. You should consider doing another tiny home project.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” I said, grinning.
In truth, I was looking to uproot Duke. He was the most reliable man I had, and if I wanted to expand into other cities that wanted our help and our expertise, I wanted to send someone I knew could handle it, someone I could trust, especially since Drew had made the decision to officially pull away. Duke was the only person I could think of I would send, but I didn’t want to uproot him from a place he loved if it meant new business. His family was important to him, and it was one of the reasons why I’d hired him in the first place. “Well, there’s some additional funding coming in for one of the lots we’re looking to develop. Another ‘cheap houses’ project,” I said. “You thinking another mobile home project?” Duke asked. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. That project alone was the most lucrative one we’ve done yet. It’s in an area that could really use a revitalization. You up for overseeing it?” “You just tell me where to go, and I’ll be there,” he said. “Perfect. It wouldn’t be for another couple of months. We’ve got seven developments we’re wrapping up, so we don’t have the manpower to disperse right now. I’m trying to schedule out through the middle of next year so we can focus on some other things.” “Well, I’m here whenever ya need me.” “Perfect.” I saw some cameras at the corner of the property. Reporters were taking pictures and people were yelling for me to come over. I sighed and shook my head while Duke simply laughed, and we walked away from them all while I continued to survey the site we were developing. “Seems that column got you a bit of attention,” Duke said. “No fucking joke. I was grabbing a beer with Drew a few days ago, and someone just walked up and started bombarding me with questions while they were recording me. I still had my damn bottle in my mouth.” “Still on the whole ‘plight of the homeless man’ angle?” he asked. “Plight? Who the hell are you?” “Hey, I know big words. I just don’t give a shit about using them.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. And yes, they’re still on it. Independent blogs from college kids in the city and other smaller town newspapers wanting quotes and shit like that. This was why I didn’t want to boast about what I was doing. I knew it would bring in this flood of attention that would only detract from the work we have to do,” I said. “But it served a good cause. I heard your brother’s art gallery went well. I hated I couldn’t make it. Daughter and wife were both sick.” “You’re good, and it was a hit, so there’s that. They feeling better?” “Finally,” he said. “Flu season takes my wife down every time.” “I’ve seen an uptick in the people volunteering in homeless shelters,” I said. “Probably because of the attention your article got,” he said. “I’ve noticed it, too.” “I didn’t know you went into the homeless shelters.” “My family and I volunteer one weekend a month. We hit up the women’s shelter as well to help. You know my wife used one of those when getting away from her first husband.” “Wait a second. Darlene was married before you?” I asked. “Yep. To an absolute asshole. Beat her to pieces and put her in the hospital twice before she fled in the middle of the night. She’s got a passion for helping the shelter that helped her, so the first weekend of every month, we help out.” “I didn’t know any of that. How’s she doing now with it all?” I asked. “Twenty-two years married and she’s still smart as a whip. Strongest woman I know, though she drives me nuts.” “But you love her all the same, admit it.” “I do. She gave me the most beautiful daughter in the world. I owe her my life for that.” The sparkle in Duke’s eyes while he talked about his family made me think about Hailey. She’d been a bit distant lately, and it was beginning to worry me. She’d taken up my offer to move in, but she was dragging her feet on getting everything moved out. She said it was because she didn’t have the money to cut her lease three months early, but I kept telling her I could pay the penalty charges. And no matter what I told her, she wouldn’t take the help. “Still having issues with Hailey?” Duke asked. “Not really issues. She’s just not as excited about moving in as I thought she would be.” “Give her time. She’s been independent for most of her life. She’s probably trying to adjust before she moves in so she doesn’t stress you
out.” “But she knows I’d help her with that,” I said. “Independent is the keyword in that sentence.” “You’re a sarcastic little fucker, aren’t you?” I asked, smirking. “Get used to it. You’ll be seeing a lot more of me now that Drew’s finding his own way.” Just then, my phone rang. I smiled when I saw it was Hailey and immediately picked up the phone. I waved to Duke and took off for my truck, dodging the people who wanted quotes and photos and videos of me as Islid into my truck. I cranked it up and got the hell out of there while my smile hurt my cheeks. “Hello, beautiful,” I said. “To what do I owe this phone call?” “I’m so sorry, Bryan, but I have to cancel our dinner plans tonight.” “Again? Hailey, what’s going on?” I asked. “It’s just stuff with the gallery. This media attention is really dragging things along and slowing me up. I’ve got paintings I have to finish if I don’t want to have bare walls.” “Are you not painting at your apartment?” I asked. “Bryan, I’m really sorry, but I just can’t. Could we reschedule for tomorrow night?” “Sure, that’s not a problem. Will you at least come over tonight?” “I don’t know how late I’ll be, but I’ll slip in after I close up here.”
“Wonderful. I’ll keep the bed warm for you,” I said. “Okay. Love you.” “Love you, too.” I had to say, I was disappointed. This wasn’t the first time in the past couple weeks Hailey had bailed on plans. She’d canceled on me multiple times and sometimes without even rescheduling. I kept trying to ask her if I could help or if there was anything I could do to lighten up her schedule a bit, but she wasn’t having any of it. I couldn’t help but think she was being a bit evasive. I wanted to ask her if it was the whole moving in thing. I knew it had been spur of the moment and a bit rushed on our part, and I wanted to let her know she didn’t have to if she didn’t want to. I knew the media attention would naturally keep her busier, like it’d been intervening in my business as well, but I couldn’t shake the feeling she was hiding something from me. The very idea made my stomach turn as I pulled up to the last site I had to check out for the day. The last time we were in this position, it wasn’t what I thought it was. I’d jumped to conclusions and had grown to hate her before I came to my senses and talked to her. So, there was precedence that this wasn’t what I thought it was. On the other hand, I felt we were at a place where I shouldn’t have to pullshit like this from her. She should know she could come to me with anything, no matter how small it was. All I knew was what my gut was telling me, and my gut was screaming something wasn’t right. And it wasn’t just dinners. She was keeping herself more covered up. The weather was getting chillier and the wind was getting brisk, but every time I saw her, she was wearing another layer. I kept asking if she felt well, if she was getting sick or coming down with something. But all she would do was shrug me off and tell me she was feeling fine. I knew something wasn’t fine.
When I was around her, she seemed to be somewhere else. During the few lunches we did share together, she was only half-listening. She blamed it on being tired and rundown from the gallery and the attention she was getting, so I suggested hiring someone to help her out with the place. She had the disposable income now to hire someone, which meant she could take days off at a time to rest and maybe even spend some time with me in bed or cuddled up on the couch. At first, she seemed intrigued by the idea and even told me she was interviewing people. But whenever I did manage to come by the gallery to surprise her with a kiss and a cup of coffee, there was never anyone there to help her. I didn’t press her about it because it was her business, but I could’ve sworn the bags underneath her eyes were a bit heavier than before. I had to admit, every time I was at her gallery, there was someone there asking her questions. They would talk with her and jot things down, getting her information and taking her picture. She was being hounded as much as I was, and I knew how draining that could be. I wasn’t talking with anyone, and I was getting tired of them coming around, so I could only imagine the exhaustion she was experiencing by actually engaging these reporters and small-time bloggers. Even when I piled everything together and coupled it with the fact that she kept canceling plans, my gut kept firing off at me in the middle of the night. I’d roll over, and she wouldn’t be there. One time, I even caught her crying on the toilet seat. Part of me wanted to go in there and hold her before demanding what was wrong, but I knew if I did there was a chance she might not move in with me. There had to be a reason she wasn’t confiding in me. Maybe it had something to do with Anna or her parents, but she had me incredibly worried regardless of what it was. And now that she’d canceled the dinner for the second time, I could no longer standidly by while this all took place. I had to get her to talk to me no matter what it took.