“Not really. He said you’d train me.” Like this wasn’t awkward.
“I can only train you if you know the basics and you have some skills,” Roger explained.
“I know how to tear apart an engine and rebuild it. I do my own maintenance, and I can fix almost anything that needs it as long as I can take the time to figure it out.” I crossed my arms and leaned against the workbench next to him because something told me I could do this job as long as they were willing to give me a chance. Roger grinned and I hoped that was a good sign.
Two
Tig Sawyer
Driving down the mainstreet in Foggy Basin I still couldn’t believe I was back here. I’d tried living in several places since leaving after graduation and not once did I imagine I’d end up back in Foggy Basin, but here I was. I’d moved back here afew weeks before Christmas and was shocked to find out Hudson was back in town too.
“Who else leaves town for years only to return and meet the love of his life at the very store he swore he’d never work at?” I asked myself before turning up the radio. Working at home had been fine, until I moved to the middle of nowhere. Unless I drove into town, I didn’t see another person for days and that soon got very boring. So here I was driving to the rice dryer on the edge of town where I’d been hired to help them set up their new control system.
I drove through the four-way stop and past the city limits to the dryer. When I was a kid, this place was big, but now it was massive, and they not only dried rice but every other grain that grew nearby. About a mile out of town I turned toward the facility and was again amazed how much it had changed. Pulling in beside another truck in the visitor area, I walked over to the office just as Jeff Snyder saw me. “Tig, I heard you were coming here to work. How the hell have you been?”
“Jeff, do you work here?” We shook hands and I took note of the fact he was still slim and athletic. He was a few years younger than me but I knew him when I lived here before, and I’d talked to him a few times since I’d come back but mostly it was small talk about how much Foggy Basin had changed.
“Yes, came back with a degree and ended up manager of the dryer.” He smirked at me while wearing a very self-satisfied grin.
“Manager?”
“Yep, I bet you never in a million years thought I’d be your boss.”
Oh, god.“No, I can honestly say that thought never crossed my mind.” My mind raced with the realization that I’d done this to myself. I could have kept working from home.
“Don’t worry, I’m a great boss. Even if I say so myself.”
“Right,” I said, and tried not to sound as disgusted as I was. “So, what’s the job?”
Immediately he was focused on work, and I was more than relieved. “We’re modernizing the whole system and combining it all into one control panel and one centralized room. As it currently is, there isn’t one program for every system, and we really need there to be.”
“So, are we talking about programming it or designing the system?” I asked.
“Both, right now we have no system in place. Nothing here has changed in at least twenty years and it’s about time to modernize.”
“You do realize this will take a few months.” I’d worked on other projects like this, and while it wasn’t above my skillset, it was not a quick process.
“You can have as much time as you need. I checked out your qualifications and you come very highly recommended. Not bad for a kid from Foggy Basin,” he said and grinned.
“Show me exactly what you’ve got going on,” I said and followed as he led me to a completely different building.
“Tig?”
I knew that voice, and I wasn’t sure if I should be happy or annoyed to hear it, so at first, I ignored it.
“Tig Sawyer, I know you are not ignoring me,” Isaac said. I was too much of a coward to look right at him, but I knew he’d be standing there with his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face.
“Oh, hey, Isaac, I didn’t see you there.” It wasn’t a lie. I hadn’t seen him until I heard him but then I did definitely try to ignore him. I tried to smile when I finally met his eyes and sure enough, he was annoyed as hell and looking as hot as the last time I’d seen him. He had on a t-shirt that was soaked in sweat, and baggy jeans with a flannel tied around his waist. His arms weremuscular, and his hair was a mess, and I kicked myself for not calling him.
“Sure,” he said and planted his feet.
“You two know each other?” Jeff asked.
“No,” Isaac said at the same time I said yes.
“We met at Nuts and Bolts. I wanted to say hello to Hudson and Isaac was there visiting his friend,” I explained as the heat started to creep up my neck.
“Come on, Isaac, let’s get back to work,” an older man said, and I was so fucking thankful for him in that moment I had to force myself not to react. Isaac narrowed his eyes a little more before finally following the other man.
