Twice now, he nearly ruined Foxtrot’s name. Two screwups in only two jobs. Some goddamn supervisor he turned out to be. He was putting the company’s and his buddies’ reputations in jeopardy.
Once he finished Blanche’s kitchen, Leo was going to think long and hard about telling Stone to find someone else to run the crew.
He was bad luck.
A burden.
Perhaps he was better off as a crew member, instead of a leader in a position to hurt Foxtrot.
Swallowing back a sour taste in his mouth, he forced himself to face a bitter truth. Maybe there were other things in his life he was fooling himself he could handle, too.
Chapter Seventeen
It still hadn’t sunk in.
Two days ago, Kaydee watched Fiona sign papers to get the ball rolling on purchasing Yellow Rose from their boss. After talking with Rose and Earl last week, they all met again, but this time with business lawyers in attendance. Since the purchase price was well within Fi’s preapproval amount for a business loan, and Rose had all her papers in order, it’d only taken her friend’s lawyer a few days to go through everything and secure a good loan rate. So now Fi was just waiting on a call to let her know when she’d close.
In the meantime, it was work as usual. They both had a half shift today. Kaydee yawned. Normally, she liked to work eight-hour days, but those had been rare lately. Thankfully, today wasn’t one of them. She only had an hour left. Which was good because…damn, she was still dog-tired from Sunday with Leo. Too much celebrating. She fought a grin. Nah, no such thing as too much Leo. He visited, but as usually happened when he stayed the night, there wasn’t much sleep involved.
It was three days later, and she was still trying to play catch-up.
Kaydee yawned again—something she’d been doing a lot lately. Leo’s fault. Her lips twitched, and warmth flooded her chest. Just thinking about him made her heart smile. And if that sentimental hoo-hah wasn’t true, she’d probably puke.
But it was true. Every bit.
“Your young man is putting that smile on your face,” Ida Nelson said as she sat waiting with her sister. The two women came in once a month to have their hair set and to gossip.
Kaydee was waiting for Fiona to finish the appointment she was on before the two of them tackled the sisters. They liked to sit under the dryers together, so there was no sense starting one until they could both be done.
“How do you know it’s a man?” Olivia elbowed her sister. “Maybe it’s a woman.”
Kaydee’s smile increased. “It’s a guy.” Leo was definitely all man.
“Ah, to be young and in love again,” Ida said, a dreamy look coming into her eyes.
Or perhaps it was just cataracts.
It didn’t matter. Kaydee’s mind caught the L-word and stuck.
“Love?” Her heart dropped into her fluttering stomach.
What did she know about love? Other than for family and friends.
“Trust me, honey.” Olivia had risen to her feet and stood in front of the counter smiling at her. “Any man who brings a flush to your cheeks and a soft look in your eyes is definitely someone you’re in love with.”
“In love?” With Leo. Kaydee blinked and sat back in her chair. Was she in love with him? She had no clue. She’d never been in love before. Never opened herself up for it.
“Does he make your heart flutter?” Ida asked, standing next to her sister now.
“Do you miss him when he’s not around?” Olivia asked.
Ida leaned closer. “Do you count the hours until you see him?”
All seemingly silly questions, but the thing was, Kaydee did do all three. “Yeah.” She cleared her throat, feeling a little foolish having this conversation in public.
“Here’s the kicker,” Ida said, leaning closer still. “This one is the true test.”
Olivia jerked her head toward her sister and snorted. “True test? What would you know of a true test? You haven’t been in love for decades.”
