“Well, I don’t want you to agree unless it’s something you really want to do. So, I’ll go ahead and mention it, and then you can think about it. Believe me, you can say no.”
He chuckled, and she wished the sound did not reverberate straight through her. Forcing her mind to the business at hand, she sucked in a fortifying breath. “I have no idea if you ever hire a very responsible teenager to help out after school or on weekends. Someone interested in learning all they can about working on houses. Because they’re not eighteen, you might not be able to do it for safety reasons. Or you may just consider it to be a risk that you’re not interested in. Or maybe you just don’t want to. Or maybe—”
He chuckled again, and said, “I’m not sure there was a question in all that, Caitlyn.”
Realizing she’d blabbed the same way Terri had the previous evening, she grinned. “You’re right. I didn’t actually ask a question. I guess I don’t really want to ask a question because you don’t need to give me an answer. I just want to let you know about a teenager who could use a break.” Sighing, she amended, “Honestly, I know a lot of them that could use a break. But this is a student who mentioned that he wants to learn to work on houses. Right now, he has a part-time job bagging groceries. But I know that he would devote whatever time he could arrange to help out. He’s not afraid of hard work. He’s very smart. And while I don’t know if it’s anything you’re interested in, if you’d even just let him come by sometimes to see what you do, it would be great. If you said no right now, I do understand. If you want to think about it, that’s fine too—”
“Yes.”
Blinking, she tilted her head to the side. “Yes?”
“Yes.”
“At the risk of sounding foolish, Griffin, yes to what?”
His smile widened, hitting her in the gut. Trying to focus on his words and not the way his smile made her knees want to buckle, she cleared her throat, waiting.
“I don’t need to think about it. I’d need to talk to him and get parental permission first. Then, if he really wants to learn and is willing to work, I could hire him for basic cleanup after school, and he’d get some field training on weekends.” Shrugging, he added, “He and I could figure out what would work once we meet.”
Swallowing deeply, she stared. “Really? Please, don’t agree just because you feel like you should. But, honestly, it would mean so much to Russ.”
He stepped closer, his smile softer now. “I’m not agreeing for any reason other than it sounds like a good plan. I’m not doing this to get back into your good graces although that’s where I want to be.”
“Okay,” she breathed, fighting the desire to lift on her toes to kiss him. “I’ve got to get to work but I’ll talk to him. Thank you. I know he’ll be excited.” Darting around him before she gave in to urges better left buried, she jogged down the stairs, a smile splitting her face.
16
“We have got to keep things moving.”
“You don’t think I know this?” One person slumped into the chair, swiping their hand over their face, looking at the two others in the room. “You think I don’t know the risks?”
Another stood with hands on hips. “I don’t know how we let ourselves be talked into dealing here. It was supposed to be so easy, but now there are too many people involved. Too many variables. Too many things that can go wrong.”
They looked at the young person standing near them. “You’ve been sloppy in recruiting. If one of your protégé’s can’t keep their fucking mouths shut, we’re all going to prison.”
“Shit,” they said, clutching their stomach.
“Contain whatever has gotten out. Plug the holes and pull in the dealers that we can trust. All others are out.”
“I don’t know how well that’ll go over—”
“And I don’t give a fuck! The dealers that can be trusted will make a whole lot more money moving the product. I’ve got someone cutting the H with fenty. The ones using will need more and will keep their damn mouths shut because if not, we’ll cut off their supply. Also, get more of it off the school campus. Too many fucking eyes around.”
The teen nodded, fear written on their face. “Sure. I’ll take care of it.”
The first one chuckled. “And that’s why you’re so good… fucking responsible. And you get the payments to prove it.”
The teen left the room and the others looked at each other. “You got it safe?”
“Of course. No one will know. No one will suspect. It’s all good.”
“It’d better be. We do this a little bit longer, and we’ll have enough to get the fuck away from Hope City and with money to live off of.”
Closing their eyes, they sighed, nodding slowly.
17
Three days. For the past three days, Griffin had endured the polite, friendly, but not quite exuberant smile and greeting each morning and afternoon from Caitlyn. He’d made a point to be outside when she left for work each morning so that he would have the opportunity to greet her and hopefully have a chance to say something more than just ‘Good morning,’ or ‘How are you?’ or ‘You look nice today.’ But each morning, she’d smiled, nodded, answered in short, polite sentences, and then hurried out to her car.
And now it was Friday, and he was no closer to asking her out than he had been at the beginning of the week. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he sighed. Maybe it’s for the best. As soon as that thought hit him, he immediately dismissed it. It’s only for the best if I want to keep being a scared chickenshit who’d rather be alone than take a chance with a wonderful woman.
Going over his crew’s instructions for the day, he climbed into his truck and headed to the Victorian house near the high school. He was splitting his time between this house and Margaretha’s as well as looking at another one to begin. He already had two other crews working on townhouse flips that didn’t require his special woodwork, and while thrilled that Jack supervised those, he knew he needed to stop by to check on their progress, as well.
Spending most of his day near the high school, he knew he was a glutton for punishment. Working on the back porch of the Victorian, all he had to do was glance across a deep, wide, fenced-in yard to the street that divided the neighborhood from the back of the high school property. From there, he could see the stadium and practice field locker rooms.
Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket, he pulled it out and glanced at the caller ID. Not recognizing the number, he almost didn’t answer. At the last second, he hit the answer button. “Capella Construction.”
“Griffin?”
Instantly recognizing Caitlyn’s voice, he sucked in a quick breath as his heart jolted. “Caitlyn, hey. How are you?”
Her laughter met his ear, and he closed his eyes. There was such a lightness about her that he felt it even through the phone. He was so grateful she was speaking to him, hopeful for more than friendship but willing to take whatever he could at this point.