“Do you want me to leave?” Tuck asked as he lifted the tray. “So you can spend some time with your friends?”
“No, you’re more than welcome to stay. Totally your decision, though.”
“I’m intrigued about you, Ariel, and I think Roxi may be able to enlighten me on some things.”
“Shit,” she muttered, following him back to the living room. “Was there anything special you wanted, Roxi? Fruit or anything else?”
She shook her head. “This is perfect, thank you.”
Ariel took a seat across from Tuck, who gave her a wicked grin. This could prove to be disastrous for her. The one thing she didn’t need to happen was for Tuck to get blackmail material on her.
“So,” she said. “This godmother thing. What do I get to do? Spoil them rotten and be like the favourite aunt?”
“Something like that. Of course, if something happens to us, then the raising of said young’un will fall on you.”
She didn’t even hesitate. “I’m honoured you’d choose me for such a thing.”
“I know it’s a lot to ask,” Roxi said, “but I can’t think—”
“Not a lot to ask, Roxi. Can I ask a question, though? What about Lalia?”
“Love her to death but she’s not in a place right now where it would make sense for me to ask her this. I know how you are in a crisis situation and let’s be honest, Lalia’s not the best in them.”
“I’m in,” she said.
Roxi’s smile said it all. They shared a look and a nod. The moment was shattered by Tuck.
“Tell me one of the most entertaining things you remember of Ariel from when she was a Marine.”
“No, no, that’s not necessary.” Ariel glared at him and he only watched her with an innocent look.
“I think it is,” Tuck inserted.
“Let me think.”
“Seriously, Rox? You gonna throw me under the bus like that?”
“Of course. Why would you even ask me that? You know I will in a heartbeat. Now hush, pregnant woman thinking.”
She grunted, rolled her eyes and stared at Sam. “I blame you for this, creating a monster.”
“I know,” he replied, nodding sombrely.
“I also just want you to know I see that smile in those eyes of yours.”
He nodded again. “I know.”
“Oh,” Roxi said. “How about the time we were at the movies and I was complaining about being hungry.” She looked at Ariel. “Remember that?”
Yes, she did. “Evil bitch.”
Roxi flipped her off. “Anyway. I was starving. We went there after getting done for the day and had finished a fifteen click run right before it. Had we stopped for food we would have missed the movie. So there we are, watching”—she pursed her lips—“some action, blow ‘em up kind of movie, not recalling which one, and she finally gets fed up with me griping. We had no money for anything from the snack bar. So she reaches into her purse and smacks me with a packet, says, ‘Here, eat this and stop your incessant whining.’”
“It was incessant. Lord, you were annoying. I was enjoying watching the destruction and there you were, every minute. ‘I’m hungry. Waa. I’m hungry.’ It was annoying.”
“Again, Tuck asked me, not you, so zip it.”
Ariel crossed her arms and muttered unpleasant things under her breath.
“I heard that,” Roxi said.
“You were supposed to,” she said in a sing-song voice.
“Whatever, whore. So, I look down to see what it was and she’d given me an MRE.”
“What! You were hungry, I gave you some food.” She threw her hands up in frustration.
Tuck and Sam were smiling and laughing.
“You gave me beef ravioli. Who the hell walks around with that in their pants pocket, really?”
She tried not to laugh as she recalled Roxi’s expression. “The other one was Jamaican pork chop and noodles, I think. Or cheese tortellini.”
Roxi waved a hand. “So there I am in the movie theatre while people around me are eating popcorn, nachos and other things. Hot pretzels, nachos, hell, even pizza. But not me, I’m finger-eating a cold MRE.”
“Evil heifer,” Ariel said affectionately.
“Do you still carry them around with you?”
Adopting a superior expression, Ariel sniffed. “Not in my pocket, thank you very much.”
“What about your vehicle?”
“It never hurts to be prepared,” she said, her voice rising.
Roxi gave her a pointed look. “And you do it so well.”
“Oh, this is good,” Tuck said. “Tell me more.”
“Well, there’s the time with the condoms.”
Ariel wiped her eyes as she howled with laughter. “He
so
doesn’t need to know about that.”
Roxi shrugged shamelessly. “I think he just may.”
Tuck, curse him, agreed with Roxi immediately.
Slumping back in her chair, Ariel knew she was defeated. She crossed her arms and pouted. Roxi ignored her and did what she was always good at doing—told stories.
* * * *
Tuck tossed his gear in the back of his truck and walked for the office. The past week had been a blast. Ariel’s friends, Sam and Roxi, had been around the entire time. They’d gone out, stayed in and all around had fun. The stories the women told on one another were just hilarious. It had been a long time since he’d laughed that hard. Probably since he and Steve had been with Ariel and Connie the night they’d lost power in the building.
The Hochs had left today and honestly, he was going to miss them. Sam had grown on him and he saw now what Ariel had pointed out to him that first time he saw the man. He was stoic but there was no denying his love for Roxi or their unborn son. The man didn’t mind getting her food or waiting on her hand and foot—not that she let him, but Tuck knew he would have no issue doing it—and doing things a lot of men would deem unmanly. None of it bothered Sam.
He even felt bad for his initial jealousy towards him when he’d first spied him in Ariel’s apartment. But walking in to find her practically in another man’s arms hadn’t sat well with him. Now that he knew, he was good with their relationship. Ariel hadn’t asked him if he was, and he hadn’t said anything to her about it. He was just better in his mind. No jealousy there. And he’d made a new friend.
Tuck had found Sam to be even more close-lipped about what he did in the Corps. The man’s patented response had been ‘I’m Recon,’—as if that was supposed to tell him what he did. Tuck had since looked it up on the Marines’ website and had got more than Sam had said. He was impressed from the small bit he’d read and understood.
One day, he’d questioned Sam as to whether he would ever get out of the Marines. Sam had stood there for a moment, staring out over the River Walk—which Roxi had wanted to come down and see—and said, “I’d die in my uniform if I could. I’ll serve until I can no longer do what I love to do so much with the accuracy I can do it with now. Once you have the desire to serve, it’s hard to turn it off. Roxi got out because it was what was best for her nephew. But I know, daily, she misses it.”
Tuck hadn’t been sure how to respond to that. He was worried, the way Ariel talked about getting back in. He didn’t want her to leave. Nor did he want her in danger.
He shook his head and pulled himself from the past with the Hochs and Ariel, where they had been like two couples double dating all the time. Ariel hadn’t minded that he’d hung out with them.
Richard stepped out as Tuck neared the mobile building and Tuck gave the man a nod accompanied by a slight smile.
“Got a moment, Pierce?” Richard’s hand was curved around the handle of a cane.
He frowned—when had the man needed assistance getting around? “Sure. What’s up?”
“I need to set up a time for you to meet with me at the office building downtown. Do you have your schedule handy?”
He pulled out his phone and brought it up. “What were you thinking?”
“Sooner the better. I know things here are running smoothly but I’m not sure what else you have on your workload.”
“My afternoon is clear if you’d like me to stop by after I finish work here.”
He dropped his gaze back to the hand on the top of the cane and watched his fingers clench it repeatedly, as if he wasn’t able to get a comfortable grip and needed it desperately. Tuck stood ready just in case he was needed. It bothered him to see Richard not feeling well.
“Say about four thirty?”
“I’ll be there.”
“Good lad. Good lad.” Richard, it appeared to Tuck, spoke almost to himself. His friend and mentor walked to the waiting car and slid into the back after the driver opened the door for him.
Tuck remained in his current position until the black car pulled from the construction site. Running a hand down his face, he sighed heavily. Something was off with Richard. Unable to worry about that now, he went into the white building and relished the air conditioning blaring through the small space.
“Sherry,” he said as he closed the door behind him.
“Hey, Tuck. What can I get for you?”
He looked at her—one of the two women who worked with their crew. She was tough. Before she’d fallen off some scaffolding and had material crush her leg, Sherry had been out there with them. She walked with a noticeable limp now but none of the men gave her a hard time. Not in the same way they might if she’d been some empty-headed, big-breasted girl. Sherry had a steel trap for a mind and if she caught anyone staring at her breasts, she might take their cock, just on principle. She could—and did—put up with healthy doses of teasing, but if a new worker got out of hand, Sherry had no problem putting them in their place.
“Need some blueprints on the back part of the museum. It looks different than I thought it would in my head.”
Normally he would have those outside with him but it had been raining off and on and he’d needed to be outdoors to look, so the papers were all in the office.
“Richard was looking at them a moment ago. Since I haven’t had time to put them away, they’re on the table to your left.” She came from the small kitchen holding a cup of coffee and sipped from it.
He moved there and saw she was spot on. “Thanks. What was Richard doing here?”
“Beats me, Tuck. I don’t question the boss man.”
“Bullshit,” he said laughing. Tuck gazed over at her and saw the grin on her face as well. “Did he seem as if something were bothering him? Not work related, but physically?”
She moved towards him. “Physically? What’s going on?” All joviality vanished. Sherry was nothing but business and concern.
“I saw him outside and I’ve never seen him with a cane before. Not to mention he couldn’t seem to get a good grip on it. He looked off balance to me and I just wanted to know if you’d seen it as well.”
She shook her head. “Nope. But to be honest, I didn’t see the cane either. He was sitting at the table looking over them when I walked in. When it was time for him to leave I was in the back. I mean, he was there when I went to the back to fix my coffee and you were there when I returned.”
He shrugged. “Okay, thanks.”
“Think something is up with him?”
“I do but I’m not sure what it is.” He placed his elbows on the table and rested his chin on laced fingers. “I’ll figure it out.”
She put her hand on his shoulder. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
“Will do, thanks.”
She went back to her desk and got busy doing orders and the numerous other things she did there. He found what he needed and saw what the dimensions of the back room were supposed to be.
“No way that’s what it truly is.” He jotted the numbers down on a sheet of paper then shoved it in his pocket before rolling the blueprints up and returning them to their proper place. “See you, Sherry.”
“Bye, handsome,” she called out without looking up from the computer. “Thanks for putting them back.”
“Anything for you, babe.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He chuckled as he stepped back outside. More rain fell and he hunched his shoulders as he walked back to the museum. Once he stepped inside, he shook the water from his hair and withdrew his cell phone.
“Calling me at work now, Tuck?” Ariel’s question was both teasing and welcoming.
He smiled and strode to the back. “Hey, beautiful. Are you busy?”
“Well, I’m at work. Aren’t you?”
“Yes, but that’s why I am calling you. Do you have time to come down here?”
“Everything okay?”
“It would be easier for me to ask with you standing here.”
“I can leave in five.”
“Drive carefully, it’s raining.”
Her laughter warmed him. “You know they did give me a window in this box of an office. I’ve been watching it. After the heat from most of the summer, I’m pleased to see this rain.”
“Just get here, woman.”
“Snapping a salute here. See you in a few.”
Ending the call, he did another scan of the room. It just didn’t seem right. He made his way slowly back to the front and waited for Ariel. When she arrived, he watched her get out of her LR3.
Today’s suit was black, pants rather than skirt, and did nothing to quell his imagination of what he knew very well lay beneath the material. Sure strides brought her across the muddy ground and if it bothered her, she didn’t show it.
“What’s up?” she asked, shaking the water off her umbrella.
“No ‘hi, honey, how are you?’”
“Nope. What’s up?” She leaned the dripping blue item against the wall.
He saw she had her clipboard binder with her. Reaching to the left, he grabbed a hard hat and placed it on her head.
“Really? This again?”
“It’s a construction site, babe.”
Her grumbles made him smile. “Fine. What did you need me to see?”
He began walking and she fell into step with him. “It’s in the back, one of the rooms there. I needed you to look at it and tell me if the equipment y’all use is there and if so, would it take up the room it is appearing to do so.”
In his periphery, he saw her frown. She opened her clipboard and pulled out a sheet of paper—a shrunken down version of his blueprints. Her expression was serious as she navigated the walk and stared at what she held.
He showed her into the room and immediately she shook her head. Tuck took off his hard hat and shoved a hand through his hair before putting it back on.
“No. This isn’t the room we have our things. Our stuff that we added is in the electrical room. The dimensions are all off in here, though.”