Dylan's Redemption (13 page)

Jay cringed at the loud tone of her voice. His flannel shirt was half-tucked in, one sleeve slowly unrolling. Two days’ worth of beard shadowed his jaw, and his tangled hair stuck up on one side. Hungover, he’d regret that very soon.

“He arrived ten minutes late. He’s been out helping get one of the houses ready for the landscapers.” James knew exactly where this ended. Her kicking Jay’s ass.

“So he’s enjoyed a nice quiet morning.”

“Yes,” James replied.

“Why didn’t you tell me Jay’s been taking it easy?”

“Well, now, you seemed tired. I didn’t want to add any extra work to your day.”

Pissed, she snapped, “He’s supposed to Sheetrock one of the houses. Now, that crew is a man short. If he can’t pull his weight, I want to know about it.”

“J.T.,” Jay tried to explain again.

She pointed a menacing finger at him. “Shut up.”

Hungover, hauling Sheetrock and drilling in screws was sure to split Jay’s head clear open. James let him slide. He was only trying to take care of her, but she had to maintain her position as boss and couldn’t let anyone slide on the rules.

James frowned and his deep brown eyes held a look of apology. “I got tied up with some of the other pressing matters on the site, so you wouldn’t have to come out yourself. I’m sorry. Won’t happen again.”

She nodded in acceptance of James’s explanation and turned her attention to Dylan to take care of the situation with Jay.

The door to her office burst open again and Brian stormed in, red-faced, mouth set in a grim line, ready to explode. He didn’t stop to consider the other men in her office. He only had eyes for her.

“Why the hell are you putting up new walls? I went by the house this morning. I told you not to do the addition.”

“J.T., I really didn’t start that fight. You have to believe me,” Jay pleaded.

All hell broke loose. Jay whined, Brian yelled about the walls on the house, Greg took the opportunity to tell Dylan, “Stay clear of her. If you didn’t give a shit about what happened after you left her, why the hell do you care now?” James told Jay to “Shut your trap and wait for J.T. to make her decision.” Dylan exploded at Greg, telling him, “Mind your own damn business, Jess and I will work things out our way. Stay out of it.”

Unable to take it anymore, she put two fingers between her lips and let out a shrill whistle. The exceptionally loud sound made everyone shut up and stare at her. She stood, planted her palms on her desk, and leaned toward the men.

“Shut up. God, you’re all giving me a headache.”

Jay winced in agreement. He probably had the mother of all headaches after drinking last night.

“Here we go. Sheriff, what are the damages at the bar?”

“It comes to two hundred and thirty-five dollars. Jay told the manager he wouldn’t pay. Brody knew he worked for Hope Construction, since he drove one of the company trucks. He asked me to handle it.”

Jessie put her hand up to stop him and caught Jay in her gaze. “You took one of my company trucks last night to go drinking in town, you busted up the place, and you drove home drunk.”

“I wasn’t drunk.” Jay stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Please don’t fire me, J.T. I know I screwed up. It won’t happen again. I swear.”

“Damn right it won’t,” she fired back.

She sucked in a deep breath and swept the wisps of hair from her cheek, but only managed to pull more of her hair out of her ponytail. She addressed Dylan. “Tell Brody the crew and I will be in tomorrow night. I’ll throw a little business his way to smooth things over. Any damages to the bar, let me know, and I’ll take care of them.”

“It’s nothing like that, just a few chairs and tables that got busted up.”

Jessie took out a large binder from the locked drawer in her desk, wrote out a check, and handed it to Dylan. “Fine, one problem down.”

Jessie locked the checks in her desk.

“Next. Brian, I can’t help it if the house had dry rot. It needed new walls. I’m putting them up.”

“Dry rot, my ass. You completely disregarded what I said. I told you not to do the additions.”

“Would you believe termites?” She gave him another fake smile.

“What?”

“If you won’t believe the dry rot, how about termites?”

“You aren’t listening to me.”

“You listen to me. I spent six hours working on those blueprints for the addition. I called in several favors at the building permit office to get everything in order to do the job. I lined up all the supplies and deliveries. I put a lot of work into this project because I want to make sure when you and Marilee move into the house it’s yours and not a bad memory. I gave you the job, so you can start fresh. Besides, it’s too late to be mad about it now. I knocked down the walls yesterday and poured the foundation for the additions. There’s no turning back. Get over it.”

He snatched the baseball cap off his head and slapped it against his thigh, a sign of pure frustration. Nearly finished with the house, she’d completely transformed it. She’d torn out the old tree stump out front, planted a new tree—several, in fact—and put in a brick walkway up to the door. The wall between the kitchen and family room had been removed, the kitchen gutted, the bathrooms were almost completely renovated, and the addition was coming along. She’d done a lot of work. All he’d done was complain and piss her off.

Reluctantly, Brian gave in without her losing her temper. “I’ll go by the place after work and help out wherever you need me. The place looks great. Sorry I yelled at you.”

“I don’t want you anywhere near that place until it’s done. Go home to your wife and spend time with her before the baby arrives. You have a lot of making up to do. Take the time you need to put your marriage back on track. Get things packed. The house should be ready to move into by next Saturday.”

“Next Saturday? So soon?”

“There’s a baby on the way. Time is of the essence, wouldn’t you say?”

“The time is way overdue.”

Yes, past time he started living the life he should be living.

“Your lunch is almost over. I’d suggest you grab something to eat and get back to work. I hear your boss can be a real bitch.” She smiled to help alleviate some of his upset.

“She’s not so bad. I love her.”

Touched, she caught her breath. They’d never been the happy family that expressed their feelings. After everything that happened, she didn’t know what to say. She loved him, but the words didn’t come easy for her, so she mustered up a smile and said, “Go, I have work to do,” with as much cheer as she could put into the words.

Brian gave her a lopsided smile and a break, letting her out of the awkward moment, leaving her office to finish his lunch and get back to work.

Her office remained full of men, however, with Dylan, Greg, James, and Jay waiting on her.

She picked up her tool belt from the table behind her desk and strapped it around her waist. Jay’s eyes never left her hips. She took off her flannel shirt to reveal the tank top she wore underneath. She wanted to be comfortable while she worked out in the sun. She tugged on her baseball cap, pulling her ponytail out the back. Jay looked like he’d start drooling soon. She’d make him see her as something other than a sexpot.

“J.T.? Are you about to institute the bloodshot crew?” Greg asked.

An apt name for the guys who showed up with bloodshot eyes and hangovers that left them unable to pull their weight and landed them on her crew. Jessie started working those guys on Pop’s jobs. They never showed up hungover more than once.

Greg couldn’t help himself, he razzed Jay. “Man, I feel sorry for you. Working with J.T. when you’re a hundred percent is a test of a man’s abilities. Doing it when you’re hungover is a test of sheer will and determination to keep your job and your life, because when you’re finished you want to puke up your guts and cut off your head to keep it from pounding anymore. You’re in for a shitty day, my friend.”

“I haven’t had to do this in a long time.” Jessie eyed Jay. “He’s new. He thinks the rules don’t apply to him. He actually smacked me on the ass the other day and called me sweetie.”

Greg winced. “Big mistake, buddy. You’re in for it now.”

Jessie noted Jay had the presence of mind to look chagrined. He turned green as well. She’d work out all the bad boy and get to the heart of the man who wanted to do the right thing, or she’d fire him.

Studying the map on the wall, she picked a house. “James, take Jay over to number eleven. The roof has been framed. We’ll lay out the boards and shingle it. Get everything set up. I’ll be there shortly.”

“Come on, boss. It was just a fight. You can take it out of my pay.” Jay pouted.

“I’ll take it out of your ass because that’s the only way you’ll learn I mean business. You’ll either survive the next four hours, or you’ll quit. You sure as hell won’t show up late or hungover to one of my jobsites ever again. You will also turn over the keys to my truck. You just lost your privileges.”

He cussed under his breath, fished the keys out of his pocket, and handed them to her before following James out the door.

She waited for them to leave, knowing Dylan still wanted to talk to her.

“Dylan, I don’t have time to rehash the past. I told you, leave it alone.”

“Not going to happen, Jess. If we’re going to move forward, we need to finish the past.”

“We aren’t moving forward. It’s done. Over. There’s nothing left between us.”

“We aren’t done. We aren’t over. We’re just getting started again.”

Greg read the fatigue and resignation in J.T.’s eyes. The office was busy, and J.T. needed a break. At the end of her rope, dealing with the sheriff and her employee tapped all her energy, making her shoulders slump. Greg had seen her like this a few times. She’d work herself to death because she had nothing else but work to distract her from what really bothered her. Dylan and their past.

She hated talking about the too-painful subject. She could tell Dylan the truth and get the whole thing done. She didn’t want Dylan to blame her for what happened. She blamed herself enough. It wasn’t her fault, but she couldn’t help the way she felt.

Would he blame J.T. for not finding him and missing the opportunity to see his daughter? Maybe he cared enough about J.T. to understand she couldn’t have prevented what happened. She’d been so young and done everything she could. Alone.

“Greg, I’ll take a rain check on lunch, but thanks all the same,” Jessie said by way of goodbye, and started past him and Dylan to get back to work.

Greg stopped her with his hand to her arm and turned her to face him. He wanted to see just how much Dylan cared.

He held her, softly running his hands over her shoulders to her neck, holding her in place. He peered down into her surprised eyes.

“You know, darlin’, I have a weakness for a pretty lady in a tool belt.” He leaned down and kissed her softly on the mouth. Shocked, she stood immobile. “You and I should get married. We’ll roll your company up with Dad’s, and take a nice long vacation. Dad would love it. He already thinks of you as a daughter. Think about it,” he ordered, and then he bent his head and really kissed her.

She grabbed his forearms to steady herself. After the initial surprise wore off, she stiffened her spine. She might not have known what had gotten into him at first, but it didn’t take her long to figure out he did it to push Dylan’s buttons. It worked, making Greg happy.

Dylan exploded, unable to take one more second watching this guy put his hands on his woman. “Get your hands off her.” His words held just enough unleashed rage to catch both their attentions.

Greg only smiled more broadly, looking over J.T.’s head.

“Why?” Greg asked cockily.

“Because she belongs with me.”

“She may have gone for you back in the day, but she’s all grown up now. I don’t think she’d make the same mistake of falling into bed with you again, knowing you can’t leave her fast enough.”

“That’s not how it happened.” Dylan hated having to defend himself to this asshole.

“No? That’s right. You went all out and took her in the backseat of a car.”

“Are you guys finished talking about me like I’m not here?” Jessie tried to take a step toward the door, but Greg didn’t let go. A silent order to stay put. Dylan wanted to yank his hands away from Jessie. He didn’t want this man, or any man for that matter, touching her.

“If you cared so much about her, why did you leave and never look back?”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Bullshit. You knew you were leaving the night of the prom and you still slept with her without any possibility of a future between the two of you. You didn’t even talk to her afterward. Nice way of showing her how much you care. She thought that night meant something. All it meant to you is goodbye. So don’t pretend you cared then or now.”

Dylan felt every angry word pelt him in the heart. “You’re right.” He faced Jessie. “I was an asshole. I handled the whole thing badly. If I could do it over, I’d change so many things about that night, except what happened between us. I felt it. You felt it. We shared something amazing. Something like that doesn’t just disappear. I’ve held on to it all these years. So have you. I see it in your eyes every time you look at me. Whatever it is you want to tell me, we’ll get passed it. I thought I lost you once, Jess, I won’t lose you again.”

“Those are some nice words, but she fell for them once. She won’t fall for it again,” Greg said, though he didn’t put much certainty into the words.

“Enough. I’m not standing here while you two have a pissing match.” She yanked her arm free. “I don’t care who either of you think I belong with. I don’t belong to anyone. No one wanted me.” She slammed the door behind her and left Dylan, Greg, and her assistant staring, the phones ringing unanswered.

No one wanted me.
Those words rang out in the silence.

“I don’t think she realizes what she just said. She believes it though. I’ll cut you a small break because I love that girl like she’s my own sister. That’s all there is between us.”

Relief washed away some of Dylan’s hostility.

“As long as I’ve known her, she’s never gone on a date with anyone,” Greg continued. “She learned the hard way from Buddy, Brian, and you she wasn’t worth the trouble. She thinks men will just hurt her, or leave her. It took a long time for her to trust Dad and me. She was always wary and unsure of our intentions.”