The Current Between Us (12 page)

“
All right, and my guys have already left for the day?” Trent asked.

“
Yes, a couple of hours ago. The ceiling guys are scheduled in tonight and the AC needs to be tested first,” Gage said.

“
I’ll get someone over there,” Trent said.

“
Thank you, Trent,” Gage said.

“
Thank you… I mean, not a problem. Wait, goodbye,” he fumbled all over himself and finally disconnected the call, standing there a minute looking down at his phone before the blare of a car horn forced him back into reality.

“
Shit,” he muttered, pulling Hunter along while pushing the cart farther aside. They had stopped behind a car needing to back out of its space.

“
Daddy, you said a bad word,” Em said, watching him closely. Hunter also stood, staring up and back at him. Both kids looked a little uncertain as to what was actually happening. Trent looked around the parking lot, trying to get his bearings. He saw his truck parked only a few spaces away and for some reason relief flooded at the thought of finally getting to the vehicle.

“
Come on, guys. I need to get you in the truck. I have a work emergency,” Trent said. Hunter stayed stuck to his side, Trent never let go until he finally bent down and scooped Hunter up, under one arm, holding Hunter like he held a football. He tugged his truck keys from his pocket and hit the unlock button.

“
Climb in, buddy. You too, Em,” he said, lifting her from the cart, placing her inside the truck. They could handle their own car seats, but both sat there looking at him until they climbed to the back window of the truck, and watched him dump their groceries into the bed. His brain went ninety to nothing and he palmed his phone again to check the time. It was already four thirty in the afternoon. His crew had worked all night, then all day. This fell strongly into the asking too much category, but he dialed, John, his lead journeyman electrician.

“
Yo, boss man,” John said, answering the phone.

“
Hey, what’s going on?” Trent asked.

“
Havin a party in the back yard! Whew, man, you should stop by. Bring the kids. I have my kids this weekend. I have plenty of beer. Stop by, man.”

“
What? You have your kids this weekend? I wouldn’t have asked you to work last night,” Trent said, and stopped pacing the length of the truck to drop his head on the side of the bed with a thump. No way could he ask John to go.

“
Nah, man, it’s cool. The old lady watched them, they’re going home soon anyway,” John said.

“
How much have you had to drink?” Trent knew the answer, but prayed for a miracle.

“
Not too much, man. A six pack or two,” John said. “What up?”

“
Nothing, you stay with your family. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Trent said.

“
Cool, stop by if you can, man.”

“
Thanks, I’ll talk to you later.” Trent disconnected the phone and braced his head in his hand. So much for miracles. It only left Trent to do the emergency work call. His pacing started up again, walking the length of the truck and back again. He called Rhonny, but she’d barely left Milwaukee with hours to go before she got home. The phone call to Sophia went to voice mail. He didn’t leave a message. She had talked about a big date this afternoon, and he knew in his heart he couldn’t interrupt her. She’d been too excited.

“
Daddy, we’re in our car seats.” Hunter’s head popped out the open truck door and jarred Trent back to them.

“
Guys, I have to go to work,” he said, looking in the backseat to make sure they were buckled in right before shutting the door and climbing in the driver’s side.

“
Boooooo!” It was an extended boo, lasting until he got in and started the truck.

“
And even more fun for you two, you’re going to have to come with me.” He feigned excitement as he spoke, backing out of the parking spot.

“
Yay!” they yelled back at him.

“
No, yay… You have to be quiet and super good. There’s too much dangerous stuff there, and they’re painting. You have to stay out of everyone’s way and it’s gonna be a little dark. I’ll give you a flashlight and stay close by, but you must be good. Can you do that for me?” he asked, looking in the rearview mirror at each of them before pulling out onto the road.

“
Can I take my new Hulk with us?” Hunter asked.

“
Me too, Daddy. I want to take my Barbie,” Em piped in.

“
Will you promise to be good and sit still, doing everything I tell you to?” Trent asked, navigating onto the highway.

“
Yes, sir,” they said in unison. They always tossed in the ‘sir’ in an attempt to show they were good.

“
No arguing or fighting. Promise me,” Trent said.

“
Yes, sir.” Again said together.

“
Daddy, if we’re good can we go to McDonald’s for dinner?” Hunter asked.

“
Yes, but only if you’re good,” Trent said.

“
Yay! We get to go to McDonald’s!”

Chapter 8

Trent made good time, but it still took forty-five minutes to get to the jobsite. They made a quick run by the house to unload the groceries, have a potty break, and grab an electrical breaker from his inventory. The drive to the gallery went fast, no traffic anywhere along the way. He pulled the kids from the backseat, grabbed his tool belt and an extra flashlight from the toolbox in the bed of the truck.

“You remember how you have to act, right? Very good, very quiet, and do not touch anything,” he said, buckling his tool belt in place.

“
And we get to play at McDonald’s?” Hunter asked.

“
And you get McDonald’s if you’re good,” Trent said, taking the breaker from the seat and scooping Em up in his arms.

“
What about those hard hats, can we wear those?” Hunter asked, causing Trent to smile as he backtracked to the truck, digging in the back for two hard hats.

“
Yes, sir, Hunt-man, good call, buddy,” Trent said. He found two, placing them on the kid’s heads. Trent ushered the two of them inside the building and looked immediately into the office, relieved when he didn’t see Gage. Keeping Em in his arms, he took Hunter by the hand and ate up the distance between the front door and the basement to the panel box. He all but drug Hunter along, trying to get out of the main gallery room before Gage showed up. It was dark in the basement. He left the door opened to filter in light and flipped on his flashlight. Once he got to the bottom of the stairs, he sat them both down on the last step from the bottom.

“
Sit right here. Don’t move, I have to work right over there. Do you see? No more than ten feet from you,” he said, pointing the flashlight in the direction of the panel box. “Keep your flashlight on and I’ll be right here with my other flashlight, okay? I won’t leave you at all.”

“
You made it,” Gage said. They all turned to see him coming down the stairs. Of course, he looked gorgeous in dark slacks and dress shirt he wore today.

“
Mr. Synclair, these are my children, Hunter and Emalynn. Today’s my nanny’s day off,” Trent began, trying to make excuses, but Gage cut him off.

“
No, it’s not a problem. Thank you for getting here so quickly,” Gage said, coming to stand directly behind the children. He took a seat on a step above them and placed a hand on each of their upturned heads, smiling down at both of them as Trent spoke.

“
It’s probably nothing more than a bad breaker. I know the amperage is right, the feed’s good or it would have already shown itself. I need to check the connections and a couple of other things just to make sure, but it shouldn’t take too long. We’ll be out of here soon,” Trent said, and for the first time in days, he looked Gage straight in the eyes. It helped to have the kids there between, it took some of the pressure off. Trent knelt down one last time to again tell the kids to stay put while he worked.

“
Hi, you two, I’m Gage, why don’t you come up to my office with me? I have paints, crayons, big rolls of paper. My nieces and nephews say it’s all really cool stuff. You can paint and color, while we wait for your dad to finish, and you won’t be stuck on this step the whole time. You can bring the flashlight, but I have windows in my office. It won’t get dark,” Gage said, looking at them, then up at Trent.

“
Can we, Daddy?” Hunter asked.

“
I don’t want to put you out, Mr. Synclair. They’ve done this before. They’ll be fine,” Trent said.

“
It’s not putting me out at all. I offered and it’ll speed things up for you. The AC people are waiting,” Gage said, helping the kids with their toys. “We’ll be in my office. I’ll leave the front office door open for you. We’ll stay in the front of the office. I’ll keep them safe.”

“
Daddy, can we?” Hunter asked again while Gage stood to his full height waiting for him to answer.

“
Be good, guys… On your best behavior and manners. I’ll just be a few minutes. Do what Mr. Synclair says and don’t touch anything you aren’t supposed to,” Trent said.

“
Yes!” Hunter cheered enthusiastically. Em being a little more reluctant stayed seated. “Em, come on! He has paints!”

“
I have lots of pink paints. Do you like pink?” Gage asked. He bent down again, getting more on her level.

“
Yes,” she answered quietly.

“
Then come up stairs with me and I can show them all to you,” Gage said.

It took a minute and Em looked up at Trent for confirmation. When he nodded his head, she finally rose and held up her arms to Gage.

“Em, walk…” Trent began, but Gage cut him off.

“
No, it’s fine, I got her. You get my AC people happy. We’ll be upstairs.”

****

“Paint or colors? I have both,” Gage said, putting Em on the floor as he walked into his office, heading straight to the credenza in the waiting area. He opened a cabinet and pulled out a large box filled with every type of paint, color, and coloring book imaginable.

“
You guys can sit at the table,” Gage said, walking past Em to place the box in the center of the small conference table. He pulled out two of the heavy oak chairs and helped Em, then Hunter, up into them. He pushed the chairs closer to the table, where they scrambled up on their knees to be able to see and reach better.

“
I have a little bit of everything here. After all it is an art gallery. What’s your preference?” he said, dumping the contents of the box directly onto the table, letting it scatter around for them both to see.

“
Paints! And the Hulk! Em likes colors,” Hunter said, pulling a Marvel coloring book and paint set to him.

“
Colors!” Em said, affirming Hunter’s selection for her, but she waited, her sweet little face smiling up at him, waiting for him to give her what she wanted.

“
Okay, Emalynn, do you like princess, or fairies, or Barbies?” Gage asked, shifting the different books in her direction. He handed her a boxed set of colors, letting her open the lid and see all the different shades available to her. Em chose the Barbie coloring book and began instantly searching out a page. Gage went to a sink, pouring water in a cup for Hunter. He ripped off several paper towels, ready for any spills.

“
How come you have all these colors?” Hunter asked, never taking his eyes from the page he’d selected. He began to work the brush in the lines on the page. Gage sat down between them, placing the water at the top of Hunter’s area and the paper towels around the glass.

“
Hunter, use all the brushes you want, you don’t have to use the same one over and over. It’ll help you keep the color exactly like you want them on the page. Cool?” Gage said, and grinned as Hunter turned toward him with the biggest smile ever. His smile looked exactly like Em’s, which looked exactly like their father’s and it completely took his breath away.

“
To answer your question, Hunter, I have lots of nieces and nephews who stop by all the time. I learned to keep them busy or they get bored and loud,” Gage said, turning his attention to Em, coloring away in her book.

“
My daddy says we get loud, too. Do you have daughters or sons?” Em asked, concentrating hard on her page, choosing the colors exactly how she thought the page should look. He loved the intensity she used in judging which color should go where.

“
Nope, not any,” Gage said, leaning over and pointing to a color Em might like to use for the sky.

“
Are you married?” Hunter asked, still concentrating hard on his painting.

“
Nope, not yet,” Gage said, placing a couple more paint brushes out for Hunter. The boy took him seriously when he said use a new brush for every color. Six used brushes were lying on the paper towels already.