Page 6 of That Kind of Guy

I laughed and waved goodbye before heading inside. As I passed through the site, I made note of the job progress. I spotted Holden and waved to get his attention before gesturing for him to follow me outside where it was quieter.

My brother Holden ran the construction side, and I was the business guy. Whereas he was on construction sites, managing the crews and working with contractors, I was in the office, taking care of the financials. Occasionally, our tasks would overlap, like when we needed to quote a big job, or when we met with potential clients. Holden wasn’t exactly a personable kind of guy. Out of the four Rhodes boys, he was the grouchiest. Wyatt and Finn were almost as personable at me. Almost. I was the charming one. I always had been. I liked people, liked talking to them and fixing problems and making people happy. Wyatt owned a surf shop and was training to go pro as a surfer and Finn was a firefighter, often spending summers around the province fighting wildfires.

Holden and I had made a name for ourselves in this town with Rhodes Construction. People were skeptical when I returned from university with an MBA and a degree in environmental science and convinced Holden to start a company with me. Two brothers, twenty-three and twenty-two, start a construction company with no clients? Good luck. But Holden had worked in construction for four years and saw how disorganized and low-quality our competitors were. I saw how climate change was affecting our planet and knew we had an opportunity to offer customers solutions that would save them energy and money. Rhodes Construction was born, and we haven’t looked back since. The first years weren’t easy, but we turned those skeptics around.

He had sent me a text this morning with two words:Call me. My brother was a man of few words, so I wasn’t concerned, and the job site was on my way to our office so stopping by was convenient. Also, I liked to walk our job sites, say hello to the crews, and show my face. Our business had grown from the two of us, but I didn’t want to be one of those guys who hid in the office while everyone did the work for them. That wasn’t leadership. Leadership was showing your face, knowing your employees, and knowing the ins and outs of your business.

“Everything okay?” I asked as we pulled the earplugs out of our ears.

He shrugged. “SparkPro didn’t show up this morning, and they aren’t answering calls.” SparkPro was an electrical contractor we used when our electricians were tied up with other projects.

I frowned. “Cal confirmed the crew would be here today.” I slipped my phone out of my pocket and scanned through emails until I found the one I was looking for. “Tuesday morning, seven on the dot. Six electricians.”

Holden put his hands up and shrugged, as if to sayI don’t know what to tell you. “I need to start wiring today or the crew will need to work overtime to stay on schedule.”

“I’ll call them.” This had happened before. I had an idea of what was going on but didn’t want to say anything until I called Cal.

“If they don’t show up, I need to call someone else.”

“Don’t call someone else. I’ll call them right now and fix it.”

I scrolled through my contacts until I found Cal.

“SparkPro,” the older guy rasped. He had been a longtime smoker, and his voice was like phlegmy gravel.

“Cal, it’s Emmett.”

He grunted his hello. Cal wasn’t a small talk guy, so I cut straight to it.

“We expected your electricians this morning at seven,” I said in a concerned tone. “Did something happen? Or maybe I missed an email from you.”

In my years of working with hundreds of clients, crews, and personalities, I had learned one thing: assume innocence. I had a sneaking suspicion that another client had thrown money at Cal to get the electricians to their site, and Cal had conveniently forgotten to tell me. But electricians were scarce in our small town, and we needed Cal’s people to help keep our job on track.

“They got held up.”

“Hmm.” I moved out of the way as some of our crew moved beams into the community center. “Well, the thing is, Cal, we need to start wiring today or we’ll be delayed. We gave you our word that we’d use you as our electrical contractor, and I want to stick to that. Your people do quality work, and I trust them. I don’t know the other contractors, and I don’t like to use people I don’t know.”

I let that sit for a moment. I was about to ask Cal what I could do to make this work, but he grunted another acknowledgment.

“They’ll be there within an hour,” he promised.

“You’re a good guy, Cal,” I told him, and we said our goodbyes before hanging up.

I found Holden reviewing drawings with the architects. “SparkPro will be here in an hour. Call me if they aren’t here by noon.”

He nodded. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” I clapped him on the shoulder, feeling a little ping in my chest. I loved fixing problems like that. I loved it when I could smooth something over and make everyone happy.

Holden turned to me. “I forgot to ask, everything go okay with Will this morning?”

My good mood popped like a balloon, and my mouth pressed into a firm line as I nodded. “Yep.”

Will was my best friend. We had grown up together here in Queen’s Cove next door to each other. This morning, Will, his wife, and their four-year-old daughter, Kara, moved to Victoria, a city three hours away. My chest wrenched every time I thought about it. It wasn’t right.

“Do him and Nat need any help with their place?”

I shook my head. “I’ve got it covered. Renters are moving in tomorrow.”

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