Page 111 of Loving Wild

His eyes scan the room before narrowing on me.

“Aye, well she should’ve waited to be signed in, then I could’ve issued her with a hat and . . .”

He pauses, I’m assuming because Gabe has cut him off.

“We did.”

“Upstairs in one of the bedrooms.”

“Possibly, aye.”

“Aye. Perfectly,” Dave says before handing the phone back to me.

“Get back to fucking work, the fucking lot o’ ya,” he bellows before turning and heading back up the stairs. The sound of hand tools and chatter instantly filling the air again.

“Wait there, I’ll go get ya a hat,” he says over his shoulder but without actually making eye contact with me.

“Thanks, Davey, that’s sweet of you,” I call back before blowing him an air kiss.

With my phone to my ear, I step back outside so I can hear what Gabe has to say. He’s chuckling down the line.

“Hey,” I say with a smile.

“I was gonna ask if you’re okay, but maybe it’s him I should ask. Try not to make him cry, babe.”

“I’ll do my best, but if he behaves like a dick again, I’ll fight him.”

“Please don’t. He’s already stressed the fuck out. His office was set up out on the driveway but got dismantled yesterday because they needed the access. I didn’t realise he was gonna relocate to an upstairs bedroom.”

“It’s sorted now, he’s gone to find me a hat.”

“Cool. I’ve gotta go. Be gentle with him. Love you.”

“Love you too. Have a good meeting.”

I end the call, slide my phone back in my pocket, and turn to see Dave standing behind me with a hard hat and a Hi-Vis waistcoat in his hand.

“Jeez, Dave,” I say as I hold my palm against my chest. “You trying to kill me off today? You scared the shit out of me by shouting earlier, now you’re sneaking up behind me, almost giving me a heart attack.”

I take the hat from him and put it on my head as he stares at me silently.

“Thanks,” I tell him as I take the Hi-Vis. “Wish they had other colour options in these things. Fluoro yellow doesnotwork for us rangas does it, Dave?”

“Gabe failed to mention he was living with a comedian.”

“It’s comedienne, Dave, I’m a female in case you hadn’t noticed,” I tell him with a wink.

“Fuck me,” he mumbles. “This way,” he adds before turning and heading back towards the stairs.

* * *

Despite our rocky start,Dave and I have become firm friends over the past months. I now have over a dozen jobs on the go, but my most lucrative, and therefore where I spend most of my time, is the Red Hill job. Each day I rock up for work, I make sure I bring Dave a coffee and a pie from his favourite local bakers, we have a good ol’ chin wag, where he fills me in on all the gossip happening on-site, complains about how much his wife spends on bed sheets and throw pillows, and his daughters on shoes and makeup. I, in turn, show him mock-ups on my computer, along with my mood boards, of my design ideas for each room, which, for a six feet four inches tall and almost as wide, bearded construction worker, he shows a surprising amount of knowledge.

September and October have sailed by in a bubble of love for Gabe and me. Ava—who’s move in with us has now become permanent—as our sidekick.

After a couple of weeks in and out of the hospital with postpartum complications, Lena had ended up having to have a hysterectomy. Ava asked to collect more of her belongings from home and never once mentioned moving back to her mum’s until Gabe asked what she’d like to do. Her answer was to stay put with us.

Lena hadn’t argued with that decision, and rather than go through the lawyers, Gabe has left the arrangement as a mutual one, so Ava doesn’t feel pressured if she changes her mind at any stage.