Sully came through the door next, pausing when he saw me. “Morning.”
“Hey, Sully,” I said around powdered gloriousness.
“What are you doing here so early?”
“Can’t a guy be on time for work?”
Sully grunted. “With the schedule you’ve had with the police station, you’ve been squeaking into the warehouse five minutes late every day.”
I shrugged. “Day off does wonders.” Especially when a leggy blond cop made every second together count. “What’s on the docket today?”
I listened with half an ear as Lexi gave us our assignments. A handful of our day laborers showed up and things got a little chaotic. The donuts were long gone when my brother Cam came through the door, this time with the lone brother who had been missing since the family company exploded.
“Gus!” I put my cup down and flew across the warehouse to grab my brother in a bear hug. He was the shortest of the Murdock brothers at barely six feet. His beard was heavy and his skin a rich brown from his time in Costa Rica.
“Hey, man.” He slapped my back when I let him down. “Good to see you.”
“Didn’t think you were ever coming back.” Sully said as he came up to give him a hug as well.
Gus’s eyes were tired and he seemed skinnier. “Cam picked me up at the airport. There was a red-eye and since flights are hard to come by these days, I jumped on it.”
“Glad to have you back.” I frowned down at him. “Everything good?”
“Yeah, definitely.” He straightened his slumped shoulders. “All good. Just the time zones have me whacked out.”
Knowing there were only a handful of hours difference, I chalked it up to his late-night flight. Still frowning, I met Sully’s gaze. His dark brows were furrowed as well.
“Mom will feed you and let you sleep for twelve hours.” I clapped a hand over his shoulder.
“Nah. I can help out.”
“Sleep first. She’ll be pissed if you don’t go see her first.”
Gus sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Cam gave me a tight smile. “I’ll drop him then meet you at the job site.”
I nodded. “Sounds good.”
Sully and I stood shoulder to shoulder as we watched them walk out. “He’s just tired, right?” I asked.
“Sure.”
We were both quiet as we loaded up the trucks. Today’s job site was the new build we’d been hired to help out on. We mostly did renovations, but between the six of us brothers we had specialties in everything needed to build a house. Anything we didn’t know, our father would be able to answer.
It was a big step for the business even if it stressed out my older brother.
Growing pains with the business were to be expected. The previous builders had gotten overextended in the housing boom. They didn’t have enough crews for all the new builds they’d promised.
The Andrich family didn’t deserve to be left high and dry never knowing when their home would be finished.
And we were making a tidy sum on the job which worked out even better.
The ride over was tense, I could feel Sully’s brain working overtime.
“He’ll be fine, Sul.”
His only answer was the squeak of his fingers on his steering wheel. My original happy morning went to dust as soon as the work started. Two of our day laborers didn’t show up and one of the permits for the change to the blueprints ran into trouble.
