Plain Jayne by Laura Drewry Page B

fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place.
    John Bender,
The Breakfast Club
    Nick pulled up to the job site just as the owners stepped out of what would eventually be their foyer.
    “Nick, thank goodness you’re here.” Judy Schwann, dressed head to toe in pink velour, hurried toward him, her hand reaching for his, her husband, Ross, hot on her heels.
    “Something wrong?” He knew before he took this job that these two would be high maintenance, but Judy was in his mother’s book club, so what was a guy to do?
    “I hope not.” She wrapped her fingers around his arm and looked up at him with her watery gray eyes. “I thought we’d be further along by now.”
    Nick patted her hand, then shook Ross’s. “We talked about this, remember? I told you we’d have you in by the end of September, and we will.”
    “Yes, but—”
    They’d been over this half a dozen times already. “We’re going as fast as we can,” he said. “But as I explained at the start, building a home is an exercise in patience. Do you want it done fast or do you want it done right?”
    “Right,” she sighed. Nobody could pout the way Judy could. She had to be sixty if she was a day, and still that pink-painted lip came out whenever she wasn’t getting what she wanted.
    Nick offered her what he hoped what an encouraging smile. “Why don’t you and Ross have another look at the floor samples I gave you? We’re going to need to get that ordered by next week.”
    “Okay,” she sniffed. “I just want it finished.”
    No one wanted this job finished faster than Nick did, but he gave her an understanding nod and waved them off before reaching inside the cab of his truck and pulling out a tray of coffees and a box of doughnuts.
    As though on cue, three men in tool belts crept out of the house, keeping wary eyes onthe road in case Judy should come back.
    “Thanks, Boss.”
    After a quick briefing of how the work was progressing, Nick took his coffee inside, leaving the others to their snack. As expected, everything was coming along nicely. The kid, Kyle, was still learning, but he’d come a long way since he first showed up a year ago looking for work. Nick still smiled when he thought about that.
    Kyle had been a few months shy of graduating high school, with no idea what he wanted to do. His jeans hung halfway down his butt and he hadn’t even bothered to pull his earbuds out as he stood there, flicking his hair back, chewing gum and wondering if Nick was hiring.
    Nick’s immediate reaction was to say no—he couldn’t afford to waste time training someone who didn’t want to work in the first place—but there was something about this kid that stopped him. First day on the job, Kyle showed up with the earbuds in place and the jeans hanging low. All it took was one glance from Delmar and they taught Kyle his first lesson.
    Nick pulled out a box cutter, grabbed the cord of the earbuds, and sliced them in half.
    “I explained this to you when I hired you.” Nick dangled what was left of the earbuds in his hand. “The work site is no place for these, and no one around here wants to see your junk, so unless you want Delmar to pull ’em up for you, keep your ass covered or get off my job.”
    Kyle’s eyes nearly bulged out of his skull, but his jeans were forevermore belted around his waist and Nick couldn’t even remember ever seeing the kid check his phone for text messages while he was working.
    Yup, Kyle was a good kid. So good, Nick had replaced the earbuds with better ones a week later.
    Nick pulled the lid from his coffee cup and swallowed a mouthful. God, he loved this work. One day you’re looking at a stump-covered lot, a few months later, it’s a family’s home. If they didn’t like something, he could fix it. If something went wrong, he could fix that, too. It was all a matter of a strong foundation, solid framework, and knowing what the home owners wanted. After that, it was simple.
    Well, most of the