Page 23 of Pining for You

Would John care that we’d been dating? Playing it cool, I rested a hip on my workbench. “Um, she’s a Pogue, right? The daughter of the guy who owns Port Paxton Property Management?”

Did that sound vague enough? Too vague?

“Yup, that’s the one. Plus, she’s Frank Pogue’s granddaughter. You know, Pogue’s Christmas Tree Farm?” John explained. “She grew up helping her grandfather shear the trees, so she’s already trained in of some of the work we do, and how to use the tools. Plus, she isn’t afraid of hard work in all weather.”

Except Chloe said she hated working outside. I knew she needed a job but she’d been so desperate that she had to apply to be a groundsperson? “You didn’t tell me you were thinking about hiring her.”

“Last I looked, I’m the boss here, not you. What’s your problem? You’ve been complaining about being shorthanded for the last month. Or is it you don’t like the idea of working with a woman?”

“It’s not that she’s a woman, it’s just…” I sputtered out. What? That I don’t like to mix dating and work?

Except John was right. Chloe had the skills. I’d seen it for myself.

I glanced over at her, assessing her as she examined a set of shears. She needed the job, needed a steady paycheck, though I had no doubts she wouldn’t stop looking for an office job. If I told John that, he might let her go without giving her a chance. Or he might ask how I knew she would be looking elsewhere and then I’d have to explain we’d been dating. It wasn’t like there was a rule Pine Ridge Prunery employees couldn’t date fellow employees—mainly because there’d never been a female PRP employee before. Other than Molly. But what if John decided to enforce a rule now?

“Look, I’ve hired her. So quit your bitching, pull your fucking big-boy pants on and get to work training her up.” John raised his voice. “Hey, Chloe.”

Chloe faced us, her gaze skating across my face before flitting away. Like she was embarrassed to be here? Or that she was afraid he might guess we were dating? Or…what?

“This here is Brad Calhoun. He’s our head arborist so you’re going to be working with him the first few weeks until he says you’re all trained up on safety procedures.”

Again, Chloe’s eyes flickered over me briefly — was that a blush rising in her cheeks—before she nodded with a, “Yeah, we met a few weeks ago at Marilyn Bordon’s.”

“Right. Now listen, you do exactly what Brad tells you and you’ll be good to go, you hear?”

“I will. Thanks, John.”

John walked away to talk with Finn, Krishna and Blair from Team B, leaving me facing Chloe who murmured an almost-shy, “Hey.”

I thought about asking her why she hadn’t mentioned she’d applied for the job. Had she accepted that date—hell maybe even fucked me that night—with the pure intention of turning it into a job offer? But she didn’t owe me any sort of explanation. Instead, I simply grunted a “hey” in response.

Aware of John and the other guys watching us, I headed to the racks of tools, trusting Chloe to follow me. I checked the printed list of client sites Molly had left on my workbench, mentally changing the order of them so I could train Chloe on ground clearing before I needed to trust her to spot any climbs I might need to do.

I explained what tools we’d need for each job site, and pointed to my personal preferences. “At the end of the day, it’ll be your job to make sure they’re all cleaned, sharpened and back in place, ready for whoever needs them tomorrow. I’ll go over all that with you then.”

Chloe nodded, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. “You don’t keep your tools in the truck?”

“I keep some tools there, but they all need to be cleaned so they don’t spread disease from one place to another, and that’s easiest right here in the work shop.”

“What about a wood chipper? Will it be my responsibility to hook one up to the back of the truck?”

“Yup. I’ll be training and supervising you, but John’ll set you up with a training session before you’re allowed near one.” I glanced again at Molly’s list. “Looks like we won’t need one this morning. If we decide we need it, we’ll drive back at lunch time and pick one up. And I’ll work it.”

“I’ve used them before at my grandfather’s farm.” Was that a touch of defensiveness in her tone?

“Yeah, I know, but I haven’t seen you work one and I want make sure you’re doing it properly. Those suckers are deadly and I don’t want to have to watch you do a Fargo imitation.”

“A what?”

“Fargo? The movie?”

She shook her head. “Never seen it.”

“One of the characters uses a wood chipper to dispose of a body.” I’d never witnessed it happen firsthand, but one of my classmates had been killed the first week he’d used one. It had been a lesson for our whole class to treat them with respect

Once we had loaded the company truck with the equipment we’d need, I hopped into the driver’s seat and waited until Chloe took her place. I pulled out the tablet I used to keep my personal notes, turned it on, and opened the spreadsheet I had created. Then I handed it to her and said, “Transfer Molly’s notes to this. I’ll show you what I like to track at each job site so we can give an honest assessment of hours to bill the customer, and then if we get called back, I can remember anything else I need to look at.”

As she tapped the notes into the tablet, I explained that I’d set up our route so we hit the farthest worksite first, then would gradually work our way back so the last one of the day was closest to the office. The next forty minutes as we drove around to the top side of Hawkeshead Lake, she typed, and I tried ignore the scent of her shampoo filling my truck. A vaguely floral scent I’d noticed the first time I’d kissed her, and awoken to the next day since my head was on her pillow. A scent that now gave me a woody. I shifted in my seat, both to relieve some of the pressure and in hopes Chloe wouldn’t notice my predicament.

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