“Damn, Tig, what did you do to Isaac?” Jeff asked. “No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.” He held his hands up before hurrying to the next room. “This is where you’ll be working. We’ve ordered new equipment, and it should be here within a week. The new computers should be here by then too.”
I was still so fixated on Isaac I could barely focus on what Jeff was saying. I glanced in the direction Isaac had disappeared and was thankful he wasn’t still standing there. Well, thankful and disappointed because anytime I got to see Isaac was a good day. Even pissed off Isaac. I pictured the look on his face again and shook my head. God what an idiot I was. “When did you want me to start?” I asked.
“Whenever you can. Like I said, you can take as long as you need but the quicker the better. I’d like to have at least some systems in place for this year’s harvest.”
“Harvest always seems to come fast,” I said and tried to gauge how long it would actually take me to do this.
“Look, I know you can do it. As long as you’re done in a timely manner the company will be happy,” Jeff said.
I knew I could do it, but I wasn’t sure I could take seeing Isaac every day without finally having to talk to him.
Three
Isaac
The rest of theday went great. I ignored the fact Tig had been here and was apparently working here now too and let Roger show me how to do everything connected withmaintaining the filters on one of the big dryers. “That’s it for today, Isaac, you did really good,” Roger said.
“Thanks, so far it’s not too bad.” The truth was, I’d loved every minute of it. I didn’t have to work with the public in any way, and I got to take shit apart and put it back together. Perfect.
“Be here tomorrow at seven. It’s better if we start early as you can tell it gets hot inside,” Roger said. “Stop by the office, they’ll want to give you your employee badge and get you setup with a uniform.”
“Alright, see you in the morning.” I moved over to the sink and after washing my hands and face I walked to the office.
“You’re Isaac Grant?” Jean Dawson asked.
“Yes, Jean, you know exactly who I am.” Jean was a long-time resident of Foggy Basin. She’d never been married and never let that stop her from doing anything she wanted to do. She had to be at least seventy, but I wasn’t willing to try her patience in the hope she wouldn’t be able to kick my ass. She’d always been a little scary.
Without looking up or even acknowledging me, she handed me a badge and a plastic wrapped bundle. “Those are your uniforms. If you quit before three months, we’ll deduct it from your last check.” She looked over her glasses at me and I smiled my pretty smile hoping it worked on her now like it had when I was a kid. “That shit doesn’t work on me. See you tomorrow,” she said and went back to whatever she’d been doing when I walked in.
“Well, that was weird,” I grumbled to myself as I shoved everything into my truck and got ready to go help Jack. Just then Tig came walking out of the control building and in some strange twist of fate, his eyes locked on mine. I didn’t look away until he did. Which for reasons I didn’t want to think about made me happy.Fuck you, Tig.
I drove into town and right to Nuts and Bolts. Jack had always been a good friend, and even if he was all in love with Hudson, I still liked hanging out with him. And possibly Hudson too, but I wasn’t willing to admit it. “Hey, asshole, what’s going on?” I asked when I walked in.
“Isaac, I’m glad you’re here. You’re just in time to unload the plants,” Jack said, not even taking the time to say hello.
After walking around him and leaning against the counter, I crossed my arms and stared him down. “Okay, but first I want to talk to you,” I said.
He furrowed his brow and stepped closer to me. “Is everything okay?”
“I got a job.”
“Isaac, that’s great news. Where?”
“The dryer,” I said.
“Really? I thought you were never going to work there even if it was the last fucking job on Earth?” Jack said and crossed his arms. He was the only one in town that took zero of the shit I tended to inflict on everyone.
“Well, I didn’t know what it was, but I thought I’d check it out. Jeff Snyder told me they were hiring and since I was recently fired, I saw no reason not to.”
“What will you be doing there?” Jack asked and waved for me to follow him to the back.
“Their maintenance guy is retiring so they want him to train me to take over his job.” I still couldn’t believe they were willing to give me that much responsibility.
“That is so perfect for you. You can fix anything,” Jack said and pulled me in for a hug.
“Yeah yeah.” My eyes closed and for half a second, I let myself enjoy his comfort, but then I thought of fucking Tig. “Where are the plants you want me to put away?”
“Those boxes right there,” he said just as the front door chimed. “Be right back.”
