Chapter Nineteen
“Why can’t you finish the job, Heart?”
Heart wedged her cell against her ear as Bill from the State Committee of the Environment spoke, loosening the screws on her theodolite, and lifted it off the tripod, jamming it into the neoprene case. Tires ground in the distance. Her eyes flashed to Blue Rocket, dust in its wake emerging from the trees surrounding his worker’s cabins in the distance. Her pulse, which had throbbed since she’d ducked out of Tyler’s office, raced like NASCAR in her veins.
What was he coming to do? Or say?
“You’ve never flaked on a contract,” Bill continued. “We value your skillset, which is why I keep contracting you.”
She sighed, unscrewing the tension on the tripod and collapsing the legs inward. “Y’all value my price tag if we’re brutally honest, Bill,” she murmured.
He harrumphed. She outcompeted her competitors to win the bids for a fraction of what she was worth, which still brought in ten times more than her adjunct jobs.
She didn’t notice Blue Rocket racing closer, didn’t notice it disappearing below a dip in the hill, the engine growing louder. That would mean she was honed in on Tyler, awaiting his arrival, anxious to see him after what had just transpired and the way he’d practically shunned her.
“Look, Bill, I have some qualms about this gig. Can I ask, what’s Fossyl’s intention here? They plan to pump again, I know that. But the potential land development? What’s gonna happen to this place?”
Bill exhaled. “You know the committee’s rules on sharing information from parties involved in a mineral dispute. I can’t disclose that. But in order for us to push Fossyl’s approval through for their renewed contract with the landowner, I gotta have these updated specs on file.”
Renewed contract? Had Tyler signed a contract? If so, why was he fighting it? And why had he signed it in the first place considering his animosity toward them?
“I understand,” she huffed, hoisting up her total station. “But I just…I don’t think it’s the right move. I can’t say why, I just have a gut feeling.”
She could totally say why. Tyler had kids who roamed out here, and the pump-jacks were dangerous. There was something of scientific import out here, too. She’d found evidence today. She didn’t want to be involved, because she liked Tyler far more than she should. The committee would simply hire another surveyor to get the job done. But to admit to why she wanted out, would be to admit to her partiality.
Blue Rocket’s hood roared up over the dip in the hill. Her pulse quickened. Why was Tyler racing out here like a bat out of hell? To tell her to leave? It was over? He hadn’t wanted an attachment and was gonna take the box cutters to it? Sickness roiled and yet, she was one step ahead of him. Time to cut and run. Like she would have with any one-night stand. Even if the thought of leaving this time hurt far more than it should.
“We can’t go on gut feelings, Heart. I need evidence of a problem. And so far, I see none. The pumps are up to safety codes. Just need your updated survey. Fossyl needs this T crossed to meet our requirements, and then they’re set to go.”
So she was working for Fossyl at the end of the day. She tried her best not to look at Tyler as Blue Rocket skidded to a halt behind her truck in a cloud of dust. Not wanting to see his expression and wonder what it meant as he shoved out of his truck door.
She carried her total station to her tailgate, hyper aware of his boots coming up behind her.
“You understand what you’re giving up, right?” Bill asked.
“I understand.” She set down the case and marched back out to the field to get her water jug, clipboard, and backpack, and to try and get out of Tyler’s earshot because he didn’t need to hear this. “I just don’t think I’m the right one for this job. I think the landowner has some legitimate complaints, and I don’t want to be involved—”
“What?” Tyler growled, whirling her around.
His chocolatey eyes darted back and forth between hers. He’d followed her. His hand burned on her arm. She ought to extricate herself, but she didn’t want to break the contact.
“You’re pullin’ up stakes? Why?” His shocked expression turned angry.
She juggled everything into one hand and pulled the phone from her ear, muting it. “I just…I have my concerns, Ty. About what you said happened to you, about your kids’ safety, and I just think I better throw in the towel—”
“So you let what I said sway you?” he demanded.
“How could I not be swayed?” she snapped. “You have kids to worry about, I get that. I don’t know what’s going on with your current contract, and it’s none of my business—”
“You’re making it your business if you quit out of sympathy… Or maybe you’re just running away.”
She scoffed. “I’m so not running aw—”
“This really what you always do? Something gets hard, or complicated, so you bolt?”
“Will you stop interrupting me?” she growled, and marched the rest of her things to her truck while he chased at her heels, swiping them from her and tossing them into her truck bed for her. She whirled around and chewed an untimely laugh into submission as his eyes darted to her mouth, as if he had radar for her smile. Even when he was mad at her, he couldn’t help being a gentleman and carrying her things. “Why do you want me to keep doing this job when it’s only going to help your nemesis?”
He huffed a wry laugh. “Why do you suddenly want to leave?”