Page 51 of Unbearable
“We should go out for a drink sometime.” The comment surprised Fox so much, he almost hit his foot with the nail gun. He took a moment to secure the new board in place.
“We have a company policy against socializing with clients. Sorry.” He didn’t know if that was true, but there was no way he was going out with this man. Even for a friendly beer which he doubted Edmund drank. “Have you picked out what color you want this room?”
“No, that girl—what’s her name—is supposed to put together some samples for me to look at.” Fox found it interesting that he couldn’t remember the name of the woman he’d hit on earlier and who turned him down. What a farce.
“Heidi?”
“Whatever,” he answered with a shrug. “Where do you buy your shirts?”
“Oh.” Fox looked down at his T-shirt. “Target usually. Sometimes Tractor Supply, if I’m near one.”
“Goodness,” Edmund laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a Target. Or to, what did you call it? Tractor something? I will admit, I prefer a more polished look. If I’m going to wear a T-shirt,” he added with disdain in his voice. “It’s going to be, at the very least, Ralph Lauren.” He picked an imaginary speck of dirt from his dress shirt. Fox couldn’t think of an appropriate answer, so he didn’t say anything.
“Did you go to school to learn how to do that?” Edmund waved dismissively at the floor.
“No, just on the job training. I started at the bottom and worked my way up.” Fox was proud of how far he had come at this job. From gopher to supervisor was nothing to sneeze at in the construction industry. He’d begun at eighteen when he moved to Boston with his sister. She went to college while he went to work. He was proud of both of them.
“Yes, I suppose. Not everyone can have a real education after all. We need the rest of you to make the world spin.”
Was the guy trying to get under his skin?He hit a new board harder than necessary with the nail gun. If he stopped responding, maybe Edmund would grow bored and drift off.
He walked to the farthest corner from where Edmund sat in his chair to examine the boards. There weren’t as many that needed replaced, but it would at least give him a reprieve from the questions. He made a mental note to bring his ear protection tomorrow.
“What do you do for fun, Fox? What gets your motor going when you’re not here?” Edmund said a little louder.
“I spend time with my family,” he answered.
“Ahh, the little woman and the demon seeds.” Fox gave him a hard stare, but Edmund seemed unfazed. “No nights out with the boys?”
“Just work and family.”
“No little by-blows running around out there from too much cheap beer at the bar?”
What. The. Actual. Hell?
“I need to go speak to Joey about something. Excuse me,” Fox said, laying the nail gun down. If he didn’t leave now, he might drive a nail through Edmund’s head.
Without waiting for an answer, he headed for the stairs. Unfortunately, Edmund followed him. Fox picked up his pace when he reached the second floor almost running into the foreman when he turned a corner.
“Hey, Fox. How’s it coming along up there?” Joey asked.
“Slowly,” Edmund answered behind him. Fox barely managed not to roll his eyes. “He’s spending a lot of time inspecting the floor.”
“Ahh, well he’s just one man up there, and it’s important that the floors hold up. When we’re finished down here, I can send more up to help him,” he said, addressing Edmund before turning back to Fox.
“I don’t think he needs more help,” Edmund continued. “I just think he needs to focus a little more and move on to more important things.”
“I was coming to find you anyway,” Joey said after a few minutes looking between the two men. His eyebrows crimped in the middle as he studied Edmund. Fox wasn’t sure if his foreman could read minds or not, but he must know that Fox couldn’t take much more without breaking. Edmund was an asshole. “Boss said there’s some problem at the Woburn build. He wants you to go check on that.”
“Great, good. Can you send up someone to finish replacing the floorboards upstairs? That would help me a lot.”
“Sure. You’d better head out though.”
With a grateful nod, Fox headed to the back stairs. He left Edmund scowling after him. What that man’s problem was with him he couldn’t begin to fathom. The sooner this job was over, the better.
He tossed his tool belt into the seat of his truck and jumped in the driver’s side. It wasn’t even worth returning his gear to the site.
He doubted there was anything wrong with any of his job sites. The foremen were too good to let something get out of hand. Any excuse to get out of there, he welcomed, though.