1
EVERETT
The pavement was new and impressive, and I felt a little bad even parking on it. The crew had finished on Friday. And on Monday morning, I was the first one there, stopping my truck just outside to admire it. The place was really starting to come together.
The building was still a doublewide trailer, but now with the addition to one side, it was becoming more like a business office rather than a home. It had been my idea, and I was pretty happy with how it came out.
The building itself was set further back from the road, and for a long time, we only had gravel laid in front of it. But now it was paved smooth with thick white lines to mark parking spaces, and I didn’t know why, but it made everything feel real.
Not that things hadn’t been real for a long time. We were busy and getting busier every day, it seemed. Some of the freelance crew had become full-time workers for us as Carter and Deacon started to take more office roles. I was still out in the field more than often, though the plan was to get all three of us in the office more, running the business side of things.
All that was how I ended up with the hiring duties. For one, I was with the crew the most these days, which meant I was better able to figure out who would fit and who wouldn’t. We were beyond the point of using day laborers and instead were getting guys from local contracting companies to come in for short-term contracts.
It made it more dependable to have someone we knew was going to be there a while.
Then I met Wendy.
Immediately, I was struck by her moxie and ability to be one of the guys. She had attended a job fair that I set out a table for, looking for someone to be my assistant and on-site manager. I expected a line of big fellas, all flannel and beards, but Wendy stuck out, a fireball of personality and grit. Wide-eyed and young, she didn’t seem to flinch that most people looked down on her, both figuratively and literally. I liked that. She wouldn’t take shit from anybody.
I hired her on the spot, and when I told Deacon and Carter, they thought I was nuts. They literally told me so. But I was the one in charge of hiring, so it was my call. I just hoped she proved them wrong.
I parked in the new lot, sliding into the spot marked for me. I got out and stood on the new pavement and waited. I had told Wendy to meet me before the place opened, and while there was still a half hour left before then, I was hoping she would get the hint that I meant more than a few minutes.
When I heard a car coming down the road toward the building, I looked up from where I was pacing. I smiled when I saw that it was Wendy, and she waved as she pulled in right beside my truck. We still had about fifteen minutes before anyone else would get there and twenty before the business opened. Good enough.
“Morning,” I said as she opened her car door.
“Morning,” she echoed, her voice chipper and punchy.
Wendy was what most people would consider an attractive girl, but she wasn’t my type. She was, however, the type of personality I felt like I could get along with splendidly. Deacon was more reserved, and Carter was more business-like. I needed someone else around that could match my intensity. Anything that could make the downtime around there a little less boring.
“Ready to meet our rough-and-tumble crew?” I asked, holding out my hand for a shake. She took it in a strong grip for such a tiny person and shook.
“Hell yeah,” she said. “I’ve got a mug of coffee and six hours sleep. Let’s rock and roll.”
“Six?” I asked. “I thought the recommended amount was eight?”
“Probably,” she said. “But I haven’t seen eight hours of sleep since my kid was born.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you had a kid,” I said. “How old?”
“Three months,” she said. “It’s killing me not to be at home with my little one, but I’m also not the ‘sit around and do nothing’ type. I miss working. I miss being out in the fresh air doing stuff.”
“Well, you will get plenty of that here,” I said. “I only worry you might not know what you’re getting yourself into.”
She laughed. “Oh, I for sure know I don’t know what I’m getting myself into. But I love a good challenge, and I haven’t quit anything since soccer in fourth grade, and that’s because soccer sucks. I prefer baseball.”
“Well, then you are going to fit right in,” I said with a chuckle. “Come on, let’s go into the office.”