Page 25 of Just One of the Groomsmen
“I’ve got something in the works.”
“And that something is…?”
“You’ll be the first to know when I decide if it’s actually something.” If anyone knew what it was like to be unhappy at a job but to grit your teeth and power through it anyway, it was him. Until recently. “How often do you go home hating your job?”
She shrugged. “I don’t hate the job. I just wish I had a different boss. Mr. Watkins is condescending and hard to please, and he never thinks anyone does anything as well as he does. The other day he walked into the room where I was working on a patient, instructed me to step aside, then told the guy ‘sometimes women just aren’t strong enough to manipulate the muscles the way they need to.’ I was so tempted to tell him that I’d happily manipulate his muscles. Since his head is figuratively up his ass, I might as well help him with the literally.”
Tucker chuckled. “I’m surprised you held back.”
“I like eating, not having to live with my parents, and paying the bills. I mean, I don’t so much like paying them, but you get what I’m sayin’. It means a lot of counting to ten while I control my temper, and you know that’s never been my strong point.”
“I’d sayboy, do I know,but then you might lose your temper.”
She let go of the tape measure and it came reeling back and snapped his finger. Case in point.
“We’ll just call that Exhibit A.” He gave her the measurements to jot down and then moved to the next section of the gazebo, taking the end of the tape so she’d getherfinger snapped if he let go. “Wasn’t the goal always to become a sports therapist for a team?”
“Yeah, but then my grandma had pulmonary emboli in her lungs, and right after she stopped having to constantly go in to get her blood checked, she fell and broke her hip. It was like every time I went to search for a job, I got proof that even a thirty- to forty-minute commute to Auburn might be too far.”
“She’s stable now, yeah?”
“Well, yeah. But once in a while her combo of meds hits her wrong.”
“She has your parents, and I can check in on her, too. I know Ford and the rest of the guys would say the same. You can’t hold off doing what you want forever. I quit my shitty job, and besides the total lack of stability, I feel great!” He added a laugh to show he was mostly joking, and she joined in.
“It’s the middle of the season, and—”
“So? Put out some feelers. It doesn’t hurt to see.”
She sighed. “You’re right. Working for the overlord was always supposed to be temporary. I do like the clients, though, so if I don’t get another job, I’ll focus on that.”
“Look at you. All sunshiny and shit.”
She rolled her eyes. He wanted her to find something she loved with people who realized how great she was, and she’d be amazing at working with a team.
His eyebrows drew together as he realized he’d just pushed her to get a job that would make her less accessible. But it was only a half hour or so drive each way, one they’d all made in college, and they’d managed to squeeze in time. On top of studying, no less.
She’d still be living here, and she’d be happier. Win, win.
“Tucker Crawford, just the person I was looking for!” Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Nellie Mae striding toward him, and were those dollar bills in her hand?
Instinctively every muscle tensed, then ached, thanks to the stiffness he was starting to believe would never go away.
Faye Dunville was right on her heels, a large, leashed pig reluctantly following her with each tug. “Oh, no you don’t. He needs to hear my side of the story, too.”
“Her pig ate half the food in my garden,” Nellie Mae blurted out.
“I told her she needed to fix her fence, but she didn’t listen. I can’t help that my animal does what animals do.”
“You’re responsible for what your pig does! And if you’re not, I can’t be responsible for what I do to your pig.”
Faye gasped, her free hand going to her chest. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“Oh, I would.”
They both directed their full attention to Tucker, and he glanced at Addie, who, instead of helping, had the gall to look amused.
If he didn’t know better, he’d think someone had dropped him in the middle of an overly dramatic play.
