A Glimpse of Fire by Debbi Rawlins Page B

graduate degree.”
    “There are cookies here, too. The chocolate-chunk ones are awesome.” She was gonna smack that big-mouth Tony.
    Nancy shook her head. Her brown hair, still a littledamp, hung down around her shoulders instead of being pulled up in her usual work ponytail. “I don’t get it. If I didn’t have to do such a dirty job, I sure as heck wouldn’t be out there sweating every day. I’d even rather waitress if it weren’t for Petey.” She shrugged. “When you got a kid and no husband, you gotta make sure the money is steady coming in.”
    “I understand. But that doesn’t mean you have to put up with the kind of abuse those jerks dish out. That’s why we’re here tonight.”
    Nancy’s face darkened and she hunched her shoulders. “No one knows about the meeting, do they? I can’t afford to get fired.”
    “Number one, they can’t fire you for this. That would be illegal. Number two, none of the guys know unless one of the women told them.”
    “Who opened their friggin’ big mouth?” Jan walked in, shrugging off her backpack. She still wore her work jeans and boots. Her short dark hair hadn’t been washed but merely slicked back. “I’ll take care of ’em.”
    “No one.” Dallas sighed. That’s all they needed. Jan was a loose cannon with enough muscle and attitude to cause some damage. Rumor had it that she’d decked one of the forklift drivers and sent him to the hospital. “I was just reassuring Nancy. That’s all.”
    Three other women who Dallas vaguely recognized walked in together. They all worked for Capshaw’s Construction, too, but they were part of a crew that worked on the Upper East Side, which meant word was spreading.
    Dallas ushered them toward the coffee and cookiesand then poked her head out the door to glance down the hall. Another woman had just stepped out of the elevator. Alone. Not good. Apparently word wasn’t spreading quickly enough. It was already ten minutes past the time the meeting was supposed to start.
    “Hey, are we gonna start soon? I only got a babysitter for three hours,” a short, stocky blonde said between bites of cookie. “And I already used up one of them.”
    “Let’s wait five more minutes, okay?” Dallas foolishly checked her watch again. Only seconds had passed. Where the hell was everybody? From the responses she’d received, she’d been so sure of a larger turnout. But that was the basic problem. Their initial enthusiasm always seemed to evaporate into fear.
    After ten more minutes of eating and chatting and exploring the conference room, the women began to get restless, and Dallas decided it was best to get started.
    They all took seats and went around the table introducing themselves. Even though they all worked for Capshaw’s Construction, they worked for different crews and knew each other casually.
    “Okay,” Dallas said after the room got quiet. “Who wants to volunteer to lead the meeting?”
    Six blank faces stared back at her and then they glanced nervously at each other.
    Jan spoke first. “I thought this was your party.”
    Dallas shook her head. “This gender problem doesn’t belong to any particular individual. That’s the reason forthis meeting—to pull together to decide what action we should take. There’s strength in numbers.”
    “We already have a union.” Jan snorted. “Not that they give a rat’s ass about us.”
    “Look,” Dallas said, “we need to make a stand together. Neither the union nor Capshaw’s Construction can ignore us if we make a joint statement.”
    “But they can fire us.” Nancy clasped her hands so tightly that her nails dug into her skin.
    “No, they can’t.” Dallas gave her a reassuring smile. “That would leave them wide open for a lawsuit.”
    “They’ll still give us a bad time,” Sally said, her freckled face flushed. She looked twelve and sweet. Amazing what came out of her mouth. “I get enough shit from those pigs as it is.”
    “Individually, yes, I