I just said I’d do cheap drinks on Friday night at the bar.” I turn away to pick at a chipped piece of tile still on the wall, but Tom puts his hand on my elbow.
“Who’d you ask?”
“I just told Alex to ask everybody who was interested.” I take a drink from my water bottle. “I’m sorry, but you can’t come. You’re the boss. No one will be able to relax.”
He bangs the door shut behind him with his boot. “You just can’t help yourself.”
Everything inside me leaps in fright. I refuse to put my hand over my startled heart. Playing the cardio card is cheating. “Oh, great. What have I done now?”
He’s angry eyes and crossed arms. “I have to push everyone hard to finish this place. When it’s done, then they drink. For now, they work.”
“But what they do in their free time—”
“I don’t want them getting caught up in the Darcy Barrett whirlwind. Believe me, once you’re in it, you can’t get out.” His phone buzzes and he rejects the call hard enough to crack the glass. “This is week one, Darce. You should have asked me first.”
“All I did was suggest that—”
“You invited the entire site crew out to a bar, where the hot homeowner”—here, he indicates quotation marks with his fingers in a way that feels insulting—“is going to lay on cheap drinks. Cancel it. Half of them have to work Saturday morning.”
“Looks like I’ve pissed off my hot builder.” I give him the same quotation fingers back. “You can’t decide what they do in their free time. They’re big boys. And I was told that I make things fun around here.”
Surely he knew I’d take the bait on that?
“This entire thing? It’s my thing.” He makes a hand motion that apparently encompasses the entire house and everything in it. “I’m everyone’s boss. Even yours. Ask me before you do stupid shit like this again.” He puts his head out the door. “Friday’s canceled.”
“That sucks,” I hear Alex say as the door is shut again.
“You’re being an asshole. It really doesn’t suit you.” It knocks a little of his momentum out of him, but he rallies after a beat and lowers his voice.
“If I don’t keep it together, this entire project will turn to shit. I have to be the hard-ass boss to these guys. And now to you, apparently.”
“Well, if this is the complete reaming a new employee gets when they make an innocent mistake, then you’re not a very good boss.” I aim a low blow. “Just because you have no life doesn’t mean the rest of us should just stay home.”
He’s incredulous. “I have no life because I’m trying to sell your house.”
“You’ve had no life for a long time now. When was the last time you went out? Had a drink, dinner, a date? When was the last time you went swimming?”
“I’ve got no time.”
“You’re always saying that. The Tom I knew couldn’t live without chlorine.”
“Well, the Darcy I knew took photos of real shit and of her own volition. Don’t be pretending to me like your life is so fulfilling.” He puts a hand in his hair. “I cannot think straight with you in here.”
He leaves a big pause, and there’s that familiar look in his eyes. I’ve seen it so many times, right before he chooses Jamie’s side. “I think this whole idea of having you work was a mistake.”
“Don’t you fucking dare try to cut me out of this. You’re overreacting like crazy.”
“You just get me so …” Tom closes his eyes. There’s that shoulder roll. Like he’s climbing back into his body a little. “Just look at it from my perspective. These guys on-site, they know I’m the boss. You’re the homeowner. We’re a team now. I thought I got that across to you.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be nice to these guys.”
He leans on the wall, coating his shoulder in dust. “Early on, I was everyone’s friend, but I got walked over. I suppose that’s not news to you.” There’s vulnerability there before he blinks it away. “I’m supposed to be in control of everything.”
Colin’s list of burdensome responsibilities is still running on a loop in the background, and I nearly open my mouth to ask if everything is going okay. But I can’t. He’ll just growl at me.
My glowing sense of pride is completely gone now. “I was really enjoying myself just now. I was looking forward to you seeing what I did. And you come in and tell me I shouldn’t even be here? Real nice.” I pull on the window for air. Of course, the little asshole doesn’t budge.
“Leave it. I’ll do it.” For him, the fucking thing will probably slide up like silk. I go for the crowbar on the floor but Tom puts his boot on it. “I said demo the room, not level it to the ground.”
“Another thing, Tom. Don’t tell people to keep an eye on me. That’s really insulting. Do they all know about my … ?” I tap my chest.
“Just these three know. I doubt my insurance covers you doing this. That’s the risk I’m taking for you. And now I have to go and find a new roofing contractor.” His eyes narrow.
“Why is that my fault?”
“I fired him.” Tom might as well have a sledgehammer in his fist now.
Well, at least I know who called me hot-in-quotation-marks. “You’ve been marinating in too much testosterone. I was doing a job in here.”
His eyes flash bright. “And that’s why I have zero patience for guys who talk like that about women on a job site. I’d fire him for saying that about anyone, not just you.”
Every time Tom steps up to the plate and shows me who he is, it’s a relief. Aldo would have roared laughing. I look out the window. “What exactly did he say?”
“I’ll spare you the details.”
I put my hand on my hip. “Well, am I digging a grave or not?”
He laughs without much humor. “Make it a real deep one. He was one of my last options, too. One of the last that Aldo hasn’t gotten to. Your house may have no new roof at this rate.”
I gesture upward. “I’m sure the one up there is fine.”