It was a start. Four different martial arts programs, the YMCA, and three churches. On the last three…
Yeah…no. Hard pass.
Wasn’t that he had anything against religion in particular, but Cameron’s parents had been hard-core Evangelicals and simultaneously tried to slut-shame and then victim-blame Lois at every turn, demanded “forgiveness” from her and Hank without making any serious efforts to demand true change from Cameron the first time around, and then tried to find any loophole possible to get him off of the murder charges.
Nope.
Once Hank had returned the trailer—and he even asked the woman behind the counter if she had any recommendations for child care, but she didn’t—he headed to his new employer.
Ken Listley wasn’t at all what Hank had pictured through their phone conversations. He had a deep, rolling voice that Hank had imagined belonged to a large, broad, younger man, but Listley was about five nine and thin as a rail, probably in his sixties, from the full head of grey hair and the lines in his face burned there from so much time spent working out under the sun. The man ran a large-scale construction contracting business, with roofing, electrical, and plumbing divisions. They did repairs, as well as a lot of new-construction work for developers in the area, like Sarton and others.
Hank sat in the office to fill out all the forms. He’d have to go take a drug test today, too, at their expense, but he knew he’d pass it. He’d never done anything like that, because he’d never felt a need to and he couldn’t have afforded it, anyway. Hell, the only reason he had the bottle of Jack was because it was a going-away present from one of his former coworkers he used to give rides to all the time.
This time when the forms asked for next-of-kin, he didn’t hesitate to put Dox’s information.
Ken Listley did have one bit of good news. “I asked around for you after you told me about your daughter. I hope you don’t mind.” He handed Hank a slip of paper with some names and numbers written on it. “Those were some recommendations about daycare.”
Hank nodded. “Thank you so much. I’m sorry it’s going to take me a few days to handle that.”
Ken, as he’d asked Hank to call him, waved down his apologies. “I’m a grandfather. I get it. So, from what you said on the phone, you have experience running crews…”
They talked for over an hour. Florida building codes were, of course, different than what he’d dealt with in Pennsylvania. Far stricter roofing requirements to stand up to hurricanes, but holding up under the weight of snow wasn’t an issue.
“Here’s my thinking,” Ken said. “I want you to work from the bottom up so you know all aspects of the business. But if you prove yourself, and my guys like you, I want to look at moving you into a crew leader position within a year. Not a huge pay boost, but from there we can look at helping you get your contractor’s license. I want to start stepping back my day-to-day involvement, and I’ve got several guys I’m already aiming in that direction.
“You can imagine, it’s hard to get and keep quality help who can pass drug tests, who will work for what I can pay them to start, and who can prove they can work legally. I lost four guys just in the last month, when our office manager discovered their paperwork was forged. I hated to let them go because they were nice guys and hard workers, but I can’t lose my insurance or my contractor’s license.
“Used to be as long as a guy could give me something that looked legit, I could claim ignorance. As long as they were sober and put in an honest day’s labor, I didn’t give a damn.” He shook his head. “It’s hit the whole construction industry hard around here.”
“I just need to be able to pay my bills and take care of my daughter.”
Listley drove Hank out to several job sites to introduce him to the crew foremen before driving him to the lab to handle the urine sample and blood work. Then back to the office.
“You can ride with the crew or drive yourself usually,” Listley told him, “but I guess you’ll need to drive yourself for a while, until you get your daughter’s child care handled.”
“Yes, sir. I appreciate it.”
“Just don’t make me regret it, that’s all. I’ll give people plenty of chances, especially if they work hard. I’m not an asshole but I have a business to run.”
“I won’t make you regret it, sir. Thank you.”
Hank made it to the school in time to get a good place in the pick-up line for JJ. They didn’t live on a school bus route, which would have made his mornings a little easier. It was too soon to know if they’d be on one for next year.
JJ spotted the truck and ran for him with a grin on her face that, for a few brief and blissful seconds, erased all troubles and worries from his mind. He got out and swung her into his arms for a hug before taking her backpack from her and helping her into the cab.
“How was school today?”
She climbed into her car seat so he could get her buckled in. “I love my teacher, Daddy! She’s soooo nice. And I already made a friend.”
“That’s good.”
She continued telling him about her day as he drove to the first place on his list to look at, one of the martial arts dojos, the one closest to his new employer’s office.
“What’s this place?” she asked when he found a spot in the large strip mall’s parking lot.
“They have an afternoon camp. They pick up kids from your school and bring them here, and then I’d pick you up here after I get off work. You want to learn how to do…kara-tay?” He said it like SpongeBob, eliciting a giggle from her.
“Can I? That sounds sooo cool!”
