Page 68 of Swiped By My Dad's Best Friend
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TRACE
Ihummed along to the radio while driving a route so familiar to me I could now do it on autopilot. This time, I wasn’t alone. My longtime crew supervisor, Henry Jacobs, sat beside me, peering suspiciously through the windshield at a dreary sky.
“Hope it doesn’t rain,” he said.
“It’s not going to rain.” I’d checked the forecast before we left to make sure. Twice.
“Looks like rain.”
“Then we’ll just have to hope it holds off,” I said.
Henry wasn’t wrong. The sky was a light gray, too full of clouds for the sun to break through. But it looked to be gathering east of Hayworth. With any luck, it’d miss us. The forecast had called for evening showers, not daytime ones.
The highway curved westward, then north, and I followed it without much effort, having made the drive to Hayworth so many times. My body vibrated with tension, eager to see Cooper even though this visit couldn’t be like the others. I was arriving with half my crew, ready to work. The couple of guys I left back home would take care of our routine maintenance on the schedule. The rest of us were spread into two pickups.
Unsurprisingly, Henry and the crew had looked at me as if I were out of my mind when I told them about this project. I’d convinced them it was for a good cause, but they’d still been puzzled by my desire to help a cause so far away. I’d second-guessed myself a dozen times; I’d impulsively offered to do the work for Cooper because I couldn’t help myself. When my boy needed something, I wanted to provide.
He’d given me opportunity to back out—especially after hearing more details about my business trouble—but I was a man of my word. I put in a call to a few local companies, to see if there was another way, but none of them could spare the manpower on such short notice. Two of them agreed to donate the use of some of their equipment to an experienced crew for a few hours, though, so we didn’t have to transport heavy machinery at least.
“You’re in an awfully good mood today,” Henry said.
I realized I was humming again and stopped. “It’s a nice day for a drive.”
Henry squinted out the window, looking at the dreary landscape once more. “If you say so.”
“I just mean, it’s nice to get out of town.”
“Hmm.”
I was digging a hole. Henry had the ability to draw words out of people with long silences. It didn’t always work on me. I wasn’t that chatty myself. But just now, I had to fight the urge to explain my motives. I knew he must be wondering again why I’d care about a charity project so far from home when there were plenty of needs in our own town.
I cleared my throat. “Truth is, it’s a favor. I’ve got friends up at Hayworth College.”
Henry nodded.
“It’s where I go every weekend.”
Henry glanced over at me, eyes sharp. “I’d wondered why you were so eager to cut out each Friday afternoon. You used to be the last one to leave the office each night.”
I grimaced. “I’m not just running off to play. I’m teaching a seminar at the college.”
“I didn’t figure you for the playing type,” he said.
He had no idea. Because truth be told, I headed to Hayworth earlier each week in the hopes of catching a few extra hours with Cooper. I was most definitely indulging in play.
“The teaching gig? You doing that to keep us afloat?”
That startled me into glancing at him. “What do you mean?”
“Business hasn’t been so good.”
I focused on the road as we entered the town, flipping my blinker to turn at Nebraska Street, then continue down toward Laurence Avenue. I’d kept the truth from the crew, but I should have known Henry would notice.
“Yeah, I’m doing what I can. Between LeRoy going on paternity at half pay, and me making some cash from this seminar, we should be able to wait it out a while.”
“And if it doesn’t get better?”
