“Fine, you have until six this evening.”
“You said the end of today and today ends at midnight, Finn.” I shot back at him, he knew damn well we couldn’t get this done by six, even without the rain.
I was sure he would argue, then I saw his eyes light up with, what I am convinced was a wicked thought, “Fine, but anything after six, you finish alone, none of the crew can help you, if you end by midnight, everyone gets their bonus, if not no bonus for two weeks.”
“Ya can’t do that! Its madness in the dark, its bloody madness, even with the full moon due out tonight. It’s not safe fer her Finn,” Daniel protested, he ignored my attempts to shush him and stepped in front of me.
Worried that Daniel would do something that could get him fired I quickly spoke, “Fine! Deal! it will be done by midnight and none of the crew will help, but when I win Finn and I will win, they get twice the bonus you generally give them for the next three weeks.”
Pushing Daniel out of my way, which was no small feat considering the man is as big as an ox, I thrust out my hand eager to make the deal so I could get the lads backed away from Finn before they started throwing fists.
Finn grabbed me hand and I tried not to cringe at the clammy, softness of hands that had never done a day’s work of hard labor in their life.
“Done, you crazy bird, wait till I tell me Da all about how you lost the crew their bonus,” Finn said in a smug tone.
“Oh yeah? Wait till I tell him how you agreed to double those bonuses Finn, and you will be doublin’ them! Now get lost, we have roofin’ to do.” I told him as I shoved past him toward the work trailer to get me hat and tool belt.
“Ya can’t do this Cami, call the lad back, we’ll take the week of lost bonuses.” Michael, one of the younger guys on the crew, shouted from behind me.
I stopped in me tracks and turned around. All twelve of the men voiced their agreement with Michael, including Daniel, who was still scowling at me. They were good men, good workers, Finn had no idea how to treat Walt’s people. I knew they would give up their bonus no matter the hardship if it meant keepin’ me safe and I wanted to hug them all for it. Still, I had started this chain of events and I was going to fix it.
“Listen, I’m goin’ to do this! However, we only have until six tonight to get as much done as possible, cause whatever is left over is all on me. I need you lads to help me help you. Now you don’t have to, but with or without yer help, I’m gonna show that arse hat Finn that he can’t intimidate us or hold your wages over me head. So are ya lads going to help me or are ya going to stand around wailing like a bunch of women?” I asked, hoping my pep talk would rally the men into action,
“Come on lads, we got three roofs to finish we got no time to waste, let’s have at it,” Daniel ordered picking up his work hat and tool belt. He walked toward the supply truck and started unloading the modern shingles I had talked the client into using and the other lads followed.
Sighing with relief I grabbed the nail gun and slipped it in my waist belt. I had eight hours to get as much roofin’ done as possible before I was on my own. I didn’t know how I was going to get it all done by midnight, I just knew I couldn’t fail.
Dalton
After Camille bolted out of the house like the devil himself was chasing her, I trudged into the warm family kitchen.
“Can I interest you in a strong cuppa?” Kathryn called from the doorway.
I turned to her and gave her a grateful smile, “Does a cuppa include lots of caffeine and creamer?” I asked hoping that the Irish loved coffee as much as I did.
“Och now,” She laughed as she moved me toward the table and pressed my shoulders until I sat down on the hard oak chair. Running my hands through my hair I tried to wake up. The jet lag combined with the time change, coupled with my long conversation with my brothers had left me feeling like I wanted to crawl back into bed.
“A cuppa is tea, Cami likes hers with lots of sugar and milk, but if it’s coffee you be wanting, I can take care of that. Ya poor lad, you look like you didn’t sleep a wink last night,” Camille’s mother smiled as she placed a large, blueberry muffin in front me, “You’re not still upset about Camille and Sean are ya sweetie?”
I was going to answer her honestly and tell her no, what really bothered me was that I had never in my life had to chase a woman. Women chased me. Now wait, before you get all judgy again, I'm not egotistical, it just so happens that I have a naturally charming way with the opposite sex and I have never found myself having to actually work at getting a woman.
Now, I was going to actually have to chase a woman that I wasn’t even going to get to have sex with. I swear this is some sort of Kharma bitch slap. Payback for all the women I have blown off or never called again, or gave my famous -remember we’re just casual but we can be friends- speech to. Which by the way never works because deep down all women know what that statement really means.
“No, of course not, I’m just a little jet lagged,” I answered. See, I was totally honest with the woman. Besides, she looked so worried about me being upset I didn’t want to cause her any heartache.
Kathryn gave me a bright smile and I was taken aback for a moment. Camille had her mother’s smile, smooth porcelain complexion, high cheekbones and full lips. If this is what Camille would like in her sixties, she was going to be just fine.
“Dalton happy to see you’re up early,” Jack greeted me as he sat down on the opposite side of the table. I smothered a grin as Kathryn rushed over and gave him a loud smack on the lips. I saw him look around his expression darkening.
“Did Cami run off without eating? Again?” he asked Kathryn as she prepared a muffin. I could see her shoulders visibly tense, this must be a source of contention for them. After all, it has to be hard for Jack to watch Camille chase Walt’s love and affection when her biological father was living in her own house.
“Ya know Camille, she was rushing around this morning. So I am assuming she was running late, she didn’t even have her morning cuppa,” she replied giving looking. As soon as she realized I was watching her she plastered a fake smile on her beautiful face and brought me a steaming mug of what smelled and looked like coffee.
I grabbed the mug gratefully and gave her my million megawatt smile. As predicted her face lit up and she happily sat in a chair next to Jack and beamed at me from across the table. Now, why doesn’t Camille respond to me like that when I smile at her? Because she knows you’re full of shit, I answered myself.
I wrapped my hands around the warm mug and took a huge drink of the hot concoction, then promptly coughed and sputtered as my throat felt like it was fire. “Wha-what… is… in… this?” I managed to croak out as I reached for napkins to mop up the mess.
Kathryn jumped out of her seat, grabbed a dish towel and started dabbing at my face my hands, my whoa… hold on there woman… I grabbed her hand as she tried to dry two stray drops of coffee on my crotch.
Kathryn’s cheeks were pink as she realized what she was rubbing. I gently took the dishrag and began cleaning myself.
“I thought you wanted coffee, lad?” She asked innocently. She looked embarrassed, and I didn’t want to make it worse but I could swear I tasted whiskey in that mug.
“I did… I do, I just wondered what was in it, besides coffee I mean.” I looked at Jack, who was watching the whole scene with an annoying look of amusement.
“Well, coffee, cream, and sugar,” She pointed to each finger as she read off the ingredients, “Oh and of course, Irish whiskey. Ya can’t have a proper Irish coffee without good whiskey,” she explained as she once again began flitting around the kitchen.
Jack laughed and I wanted to smack him upside the head. There was no doubt he knew exactly what was in the coffee mug and he let me walk right into it. Evil Jackie Gleason, doppelgänger.
“What’s in your mug?” I asked as I finished mopping up the last of the coffee on the oak table.
Jack smiled as he took a long drink, “
Coffee, my boy, I always drink coffee in the morning, black as night too. Otherwise there’s no telling what will end up in there,” he winked at me as he rose from the table.
Realizing I’d been tricked, I smiled at Jack and then at Kathryn, who handed me another mug looking apologetic.
“Sorry Dalton just had to mess with ya a wee bit,” she told me as she placed the cup in my hands. Leaning in I gave her a quick peck on the cheek and wink to let her know that no harm was done.
“Come on Dalton, I’ll show you where the gazebo needs to go so you can quit molesting my girl,” Jack told me as he threw me a thick black jacket.
I put it on but was going to tell him that I was pretty sure my long sleeve shirt and blue flannel were warm enough until cold brisk air hit my face. “Wow, it’s a little colder than I thought,” I told Jack, thankful for the puffy, fleece-lined coat.
“Yeah, took me a bit to get used to the damp and the cold. Las Vegas is the opposite, hot and dry but you’ll get used it,” he promised as he trudged through the wet grass.
“Do you miss it? Vegas I mean?” I added the last part because the last thing I wanted to do was make him feel guilty for being in Ireland while Synclair, his niece that he had pretty much-taken care of since she was younger was in Carson City.
He stopped and turned, for a moment a look of regret washed across his face and his eyes seemed to dim, “I miss Syn, she’s like a daughter to me but she and I both used that bar as a way to hide from dealing with the world. Synclair used it as a way to hide from getting close to people and I used it as a buffer between me and my regrets,” he finished sitting on an old, iron bench that was sitting under a large tree.
“Regrets?” I asked taking a seat next to him.
He sighed, not a just a little sigh, he sighed like a man that had seen too much of the world and kept himself up at night because of all the things he should’ve done differently.
“Regrets, I have a whole closet full of skeletons Dalton. All of them a regret. I regret not chasing my sister to Nevada, I knew she was pregnant, and I knew that child was going to get lost in my sister’s drug induced world, but I wasn’t ready to a raise a child. Then there’s Camille. I left her alone too. I told myself it was best, that Walt could give her everything, but that was just bullshit. I wanted the best of both worlds, I wanted to be free to chase my dreams, build my business and all that. I was an idiot, I tried to set things right by going to Vegas to talk to my sister and to help my niece, but I was too late.” Jack turned to me and for a moment I thought the man was going to cry, not knowing what else to do I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
“Naw, Synclair adores you, Jack, you’re her family, her rock, she’d beat a bus full of nuns to death if they even looked at you funny,” I told him trying to lighten the suddenly very heavy conversation.
“I adore her too, but by the time I found her she had pretty much already saved herself, and then Cami, I wanted her to come to the states and live with me, I wanted to be her dad.”
“So what happened? Did Kathryn and Walt refuse to let her come live with you?” It sounded like the logical obstacle to me. I mean, after all, I’m not sure I would be so willing to let my daughter go live with what amounted to an absentee father, in Las Vegas, so that he felt better.
Jack shook his head, “No, that was what was so weird, and one of my biggest regrets. Kathryn put up a huge fuss, she called me names, told me I couldn’t just walk back into Cami’s life full time after only spending a few holidays and summer vacations with her, but Walt was all for it.”
Really? I can see where Jack thought that whole thing was shady, Walt was willing to let his teenage daughter move to the United States to live with a man she mostly spoke to through text and email messages? Yeah, I wasn’t feeling a strong parental vibe for Camille on Walt’s end. That thought just made me want to punch the man more. It also made me realize that Walt had already tired of being Camille’s father when she was just a teen, well before his “new” son burst onto the scene.
From the look on Jack’s face, he knew it too, “From that moment on I did my best to fly out here and spend time with Cami or fly her to the states, I made sure we talked daily and Synclair made sure to buy her Christmas and birthday presents that were from us,” Jack chuckled.
Yeah, I could imagine what presents Synclair had found for Camille, “Pepper spray or baseball bats?” I asked teasingly.
“Both,” he answered immediately. Chuckling he added, “Hell, one year she sent her a police-issued taser gun that she got from a friend on the Las Vegas Metro Police Division.”
“They both love you, Jack, they both took some hard hits, in some ways it’s almost harder on Camille,” I told him as I looked at the green rolling hills surrounding the homestead.
“How so? I would think Synclair had the worst of it, living in shit hotels watching her mother waste away.” Jack’s look told me that he had no idea the hell that Camille was living in.
I thought for a moment, I didn’t want to make light of what Synclair’s life had been like before Jack came into her life, but I needed him to understand that Synclair didn’t need saving anymore, but his daughter did.
“Jack, I don’t want to make this a thing where one woman had it rougher than the other, but Synclair’s life changed when her mom overdosed when she was twenty, she’s had you in her life for fifteen years, while Camille is about twenty-six or so and she’s still trapped in her own personal hell,” The man just stared at me so I took that as my sign to continue.
“What happened last night was a byproduct of how much crap Camille deals with. An ex-boyfriend that shouts to the world she’s frigid, a stepfather who has more in common with Norman Bate’s mother than the dad from the Brady Bunch, and you are so busy not wanting to rock the boat with Kathryn that you let her mistakenly, and misguidedly I’m sure… well, offer Camille up to both Sean and Walt as a human sacrifice, in the name of making Camille happy,” there I had said it, if fists flew so be it.
“You’re waiting for me to clock you aren’t you?” Jack asked. I hadn’t looked at him since I had started talking for fear that I would see his pissed off expression and not tell him what I thought. Looking at him now he looked angry.
I was trying to figure out a slick way to pull out my cell phone and start googling hotels in Dublin when Jack smiled and clapped a firm hand on my shoulder.
“I’m not gonna hit you, son,” he told me as he stood from the bench.
Still feeling like I was disrespecting my elders, I answered, “Thank you, sir, my face appreciates that.” It did… it really did, even as a Navy SEAL, I hated getting hit in the face, that shit just hurt. Oh, what? Come on people, we can’t all be Rocky Balboa. I will gladly say I’m man enough to admit that I like my face and don’t want it bruised, beaten or mangled, in particular by a man old enough to be my father, and whom I couldn’t hit back. Well, not without pain and testicle removing consequences from my brother’s future bride.
“You know, when Synclair told me that Camille caught the eye of the Hudson brother that is also known as a ladies man, I didn’t want you anywhere near my Cami.” His face showed he was deadly serious.
“However, now I see you might be exactly what the doctor ordered, you see what the rest of us don’t and I look forward to watching my daughter make you work for something that typically comes easy to you. You won’t be sorry Dalt, she’ll love you fierce that one.”
I shot off the bench and grabbed his arm before he could walk away, I know the panic showed in my eyes, “Whoa, no one is talking love here Jack,” I told him while he smiled at me with that big goofy grin. Seriously, I had just had this talk last night with my brothers when they told me I needed to woo, Camille.
Woo? Really? What the hell kind of word was woo, anyway? Yet, both of my brothers had ended up with amazing women, but… shit… where the hell did that come from? Let it be known, I am not going to fall in love with Camille, she is not going to fall in love wi
th me, this is about helping her break free from this shitty existence she trapped herself in, that’s it, that’s all… there will be no LOVE here, got it? Hey, I can hear you all laughing! Just stow it, cut a guy a break here!
“I’m not in love with Camille,” I told him. I didn’t want to hurt Jack’s feelings, but I am not currently in the market for a significant other.
“Nope, you’re not and she’s not in love with you either, you’re not even her type.” Jack retorted as he walked toward a large shed next to a stone wall.
What? Not in love with me? All women love me! Not her type? “Did she say that? She couldn’t have meant me, I’m every woman’s type Jack trust me,” I assured him, or maybe I was assuring myself, all I know is that someone was being assured of something.
Jack shook his head, I could tell he was trying not to smile, “Well, it may have come up. It’s okay Dalton, you’re not the first player to come up against a woman who can’t be played, won’t be charmed and won’t take less than everything, I don’t blame you for being afraid.”
I stood there, mouth hanging open as I tried to absorb the insanity that was coming out of this man. “Afraid… I’m not afraid Jack, what would I have to be afraid of?” I know I shouldn’t have asked, but I did and just when I was going to take it back, he turned to me.
“Course you are Dalt, every man get’s afraid when he realizes he’s found the woman that sees past all his bullshit straight to his heart, and him to hers. You can tell me Dalt, how scared are you?” Jack asked eyeing me with a look that dared to deny what he was saying.
I was shaking my head in denial, yet I answered, “Terrified Jack, fucking terrified,” I told him, absolutely stunned at my own admission.
Jack just laughed and shook his head and opened the roll-up door on the large, shed-like building we were standing in front of.
“You’re gonna be just fine Dalton, just fine, come on let’s get you started on what you came here for,” Jack told me as I stood there like Forest Gump when he saw his first pair of tits. Fine, he said I’d be fine, he was right too, just focus on what I came to Ireland for in the first place, but the hell if I knew what that was anymore.
Lucky Charms: A Hudson Family Series- Book 3- Dalton and Cami Page 9
