Chapter 2

Cassie

Normally when the summer hit and I came home to Colorado from college, my days would be filled with shopping trips, girls’ nights out, and anything else my heart desired. It was my time to let loose since I worked damn hard at school due to my father expecting me to keep good grades. I was going to college to get my degree in engineering. I figured I would work for my father’s company and one day own it. I was an only child, and though my father was hesitant to have his little girl around all those construction roughnecks, he knew that without a son, I was the only hope of keeping his company alive and going. He was successful, always had been, and it was because he was one of the hardest-working people I knew.

It was my first day on the job, so I woke up early and dressed, putting on something professional but suitable for the worksite. I would be hands-on, interning with the foreman of the job, making sure shit went as it was supposed to. I was confident in my ability to do the job. I had the education and I had grown up watching my father run the company, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous. I was going to be the only woman on the job, the only other one having retired two months before. She had been one of the crew and was rough and tough like the boys. I, on the other hand, was tough in personality but not the kind of girl that rubbed shoulders with the guys. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure how they would take me being there as technically an extension of the boss and the boss’s daughter.

I headed out to the site, driving myself instead of taking the chauffeured route, figuring that would only add to the animosity toward me. When I got to the office, my father was already talking with the foreman, who was telling him how the project was going. Every construction project ended up behind at some point. It was part of the game, and that was where they were now. My dad looked up and smiled as I walked in.

“Cassie,” he said, walking over and hugging me. “First day on the job. Bill, this is my daughter, Cassie. She will be interning with you for the summer like we discussed.”

“Good to see you, Cassie,” he said, shaking my hand. “I remember you when you were a teenager visiting the site. Of course, I was a lowly crew member at the time.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand.

“Bill here has worked for me for about fifteen years,” my father said, patting him on the back. “He is running the residential neighborhood job that you will be interning for. He is the best in the business and can really give you a good feel for the field and what it has to offer.”

“Excellent,” I said. “How is the project going?”

“It’s good,” Bill said. “We’re about a day behind but that’s nothing to worry about. We’ll get things going. Just need to light a fire under these guys and they’ll catch right back up. We usually run into this every so often throughout a long gig. The guys get tired and start to slack off. You have to treat them like kids sometimes, pushing them to get their work done.”

“Bill handles it, because if I did, we would constantly be hiring,” my father said, walking behind his desk.

“Speaking of the crew,” I said. “It’s no secret I am going to be the only woman out there on the site. I know these roughneck boys. I remember them growing up. Can you give me some pointers on how to handle them? How to talk to them and get them to understand that I am not just a skirt in a sea of work boots?”

“That’s a good question.” Bill chuckled and glanced at my father. “These boys don’t have filters, and not just in the workplace. They talk like that, act like that, and think like that everywhere in their life. They grew up in the slums. Their fathers worked here, and their grandfathers worked construction too. They spent their whole lives waiting to be out on those sites, swinging hammers and talkin’ shit—excuse my language. They have no filters, and they won’t want to treat you any different than anyone else who walks onto their turf.”

“They know me,” my father said. “They know if they mess with my daughter, they will find themselves off the schedule.”

“I appreciate the protective detail, Dad, but if I am going to be working for this company in the future, and possibly owning it one day, I need to learn to deal with these boys on my own,” I said.

“She’s right,” Bill said, nodding his head. “She has to learn how the place works without the protection of her father. My advice, Cassie, is to build a wall between you and them. Do as much talking as you need to but don’t get too friendly. You have a mark on you, and not just because you are a woman but because you are the boss’s daughter. You have to show them who is in charge and that you won’t take shit from any of them. It’s a dominance thing, and I hate that it’s like that, but those are the cards you are being dealt.”

“The three of us are going to head over to the site,” my father said. “I want you to get a feel for the place, see how it’s run, see who oversees what, and so on. You need a base to start from so you know which way the work is headed and who you go to when there is an issue.”

“You are going to the site?”

“Yes,” my father said. “It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve been by, and I find it helps kick their asses into gear when I am there looking over their shoulders for a day or so. They may give Bill here a tough time but that’s because he doesn’t sign their paychecks. They will see I am serious about not getting any further behind.”

We headed over to the site in my father’s truck, and I grabbed my hard hat and clipboard before jumping out. We started with a tour of the place and an overview of the project. As we walked through, I noticed some of the guys ogling me and whispering to each other as I walked past. I ignored it, figuring in time that would end and they would start to look at me like I was my father. I was a woman in a predominantly male world, and though that didn’t give them the right to harass me, I knew I was walking into the snake pit with my tight jeans, boots, and women’s collared work shirt. I purposely hadn’t put any makeup on this morning and had pulled my hair into a low ponytail. It wasn’t the kind of place I would get all dolled up for.

I knew the kind of shit those boys talked about when they didn’t think anyone was listening. They probably had some pool running to see who I would sleep with first. I had no intention of sleeping with any of them, both because it was my father’s company and because they were of no interest to me. I found it comical that any of them thought I would be interested in them. They weren’t typically my kind of guy. I had a job to do, and just because I was a woman didn’t make me loose or a pushover. I received my fair share of attention from the boys at college, and there was too much going on in my life to be worrying about dating anyone, much less sleeping with the guys at my father’s company. I was here for a purpose, and I was going to let them know that.

“Cassie, this is Rodger,” Bill said, introducing us. “Rodger is the forklift supervisor. He is in charge of every piece of machinery on this site. Rodger, this is Cassie. She is interning on site with us for the summer. You can think of her as an extension of me, so if you need something and can’t get me, you can go to her.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said. “If any of these guys give you a rough time, you let me know. I’ll take care of ’em.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “I think I can handle this, though.”

They introduced me to a couple other supervisors who all gave me the same spiel. I tried not to take offense that they all wanted to offer their protection because I had tits and a vagina. They would soon find out I didn’t need their protection. I had thick skin for a rich girl.

We didn’t get to meet everyone; the project was huge, and there were hundreds of people on site at any given time. If I had been introduced to every crew member and supervisor, it would have taken me all summer. I received the need-to-know kind of tour and would have to figure the rest of it out on my own. I had no problem with that. I was assertive enough to introduce myself to the rest if it was ever necessary while I was here.

“We’re going to head over to one of the building sites in progress and you can see a routine work schedule for the crew,” Bill said, walking ahead. “It’s primarily what we will be focusing on this summer, trying to push these knuckleheads to get the work done on time.”

“Got it,” I said, nodding my head and stepping over a pile of debris and trash.

“So, this is unit forty-three,” Bill said, looking up at the half-built house. “It is scheduled to be done in a few weeks if I can keep them focused. Teams are assigned to work on different areas. This area is for the structure. These guys are either my most experienced in the company or they got their experience from outside.

“Scott,” Bill said, shaking a guy’s hand. “Looks good, brother. Looks really good.”

“Thanks,” he said, glancing over at me.

“Scott, this is Cassie. She’s my intern this summer,” Bill said. “Cassie, Scott has been with the crew since he was sixteen. He is the best structural guy I got.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said. I shook his hand and couldn’t help but notice how his large, strong grip enveloped my tiny palm. I suddenly felt so delicate in the presence of this big, burly man.

The handshake lasted for a little longer than usual but long enough to realize he didn’t want to let go. I glanced up into his striking blue eyes and caught myself staring into them for a fleeting moment until he looked away. So my eyes wandered, me not knowing what to do to them, and my gaze landed on his arm muscles, glorious underneath his short sleeves. All the men out here were strong, but there was something about him that made me a little weak in the knees. He must have guessed what I was thinking because he shifted his stance and nodded his head, looking back and forth between Bill and me. I got the sensation he didn’t really know where to look either.

“Good to meet you too,” he said finally, scratching his head and glancing out to some faraway place. Was he definitely avoiding my eyes?

“Hey,” I said, turning to Bill. “Give me two seconds. I have to use the restroom.”

“Sure,” he said. “Porta-potty is right over there.”

I smiled and nodded my head at Scott before walking away to the back of the building. The smell from the potty was overwhelming, but I was used to using them from when I was a kid. When I was done, I walked out and almost straight into a big rugged man standing there waiting.

“Well hello,” he said. “You must be the new intern. I’m Carl, and I am here for anything—and I mean anything—you might need.”

I furrowed my brow, knowing what he was getting at.

“Thanks, Carl,” I said. “But I can assure you there is nothing you have that I will ever need. If you’ll excuse me, I have work to get done.”