Page 28 of Daddy, Sir

“Got it.” He glanced up at several darker red sections that made his house look like it had a rash and pointed. “Like those spots?”

“Right.” She filled a trowel and smoothed it over a section, then textured it with the stucco tool. “Sorry. This is tedious and messy, but until we can get you some construction skills, I need you here.”

“Oh, I get it,” he said, deciding to tease her as he repeated her demonstration until he could do it to her satisfaction. “Put the newbie on the crap jobs.”

She smiled faintly, “Well, yeah, but it’s not just busy work. I’ll be helping once I get that retaining wall finished.”

“What’s the hurry?” he asked.

“The owner was deployed overseas and is coming home any day.” She gave him a brilliant grin and waved as she backed toward the retaining wall. “I want this place to be perfect when he gets here.”

“Sounds good. I like the way you think.”

“Yeah, a lot of work, but worth it.” She stopped and hurried back to him, then looked around to make sure they were alone. “I forgot to ask, and don’t be insulted because I ask all my employees the same thing. Do you have a place to sleep tonight?”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Great.” She visibly relaxed. “How about food and gas money? You good for those too?”

“All taken care of.” He spread more cement on the adobe and feathered it into the original stucco like she showed him. “Thanks for asking.”

“Great. I mean, good.” She smiled again, showing straight, white teeth. “Anyway, I’ll be laying brick for most of the rest of the morning. Holler if you have any questions, and if you need a lunch, there’s a cooler full of sandwiches and water in the supply trailer.”

Aw, hell. Sadie probably didn’t have a shy bone in her gorgeous body, but damned if she wasn’t ticking all his boxes. Those questions came from experience, meaning at least a few of the people on her crew had been or still were unhoused.

Meaning, that for all her ball—and wall—busting when she fired Jim, Sadie had a sweet, squishy inside and a great big heart.

Sadie

She kept one eye on her new hire and the other on Beatriz while they rebuilt the retaining wall the way it should have been done in the first place. On a good note, there were enough broken bricks left from her little temper tantrum to create the elegant curves and insets that made the original so beautiful. Jolene Miller, her landscape architect friend, would be around to put the finishing touches on the neglected gardens once the construction was complete.

Of course, Jolene was running behind at The Majestic. There was a good reason she and Sadie were friends. Neither of them liked half-assing jobs, and Jolene had almost fifteen acres of junk and invasive plants to clean up before she could return the property to its former glory.

If they had time after their contracted work on the motel, maybe her crew could help, but she doubted it would fit into their already packed schedule.

“He’s doing good,” Beatriz said as she carefully placed bricks along the curved section of the wall. “Not making no trouble or nothing, like Jim the asshole. Way easier on the eyes too.”

“That’s the truth.” She forced her eyes away from Daniel’s very fine backside and laid down another layer of mortar.

Laughing, Beatriz set the last few bricks to tie the new wall into what was left of the original. “We should take him out for pizza and welcome him to the family. He’s almost done with the west side of the house already.”

“Nah.” She scraped her trowel on the edge of the bucket of mortar. “You bitches will scare him off.”

“Are you kidding?” Beatriz chuckled and shook her head. “We got that fine piece of eye candy who actually does a job without complaining. We’re not going to scare him off.”

“Anyway,” Sadie said, changing the subject, “what do you think about bricklaying?”

“I like it.” Beatriz wiped her hands on a rag. “It’s like playing with Legos and mud at the same time.”

“Cool. We’ll see about hooking you up with some classes.”

“After I get my GED.” Grimacing, Beatriz added, “I don’t have the bandwidth for it right now.”

“Fair enough.” Sadie squeezed her shoulder. “I’m going to grab a sandwich and help Daniel with the stucco.”

By the end of the day, she and Daniel had managed to get all but a few spots on the south side of the house finished, and the place didn’t look like it had the pox anymore. The kitchen cabinets were in, and her paint crew had the interior primed and ready for the morning.

“Good work,” she said, pitching her voice to carry to her entire crew. “You’ve all gone above and beyond to get this house ready for her owner, and I know he’s going to be thrilled when he finally gets home. As a thank you, I’m treating everyone to pizza at Luigi’s.”

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