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8 - Drake

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“I played quarterback in high school, too,” Billy, my new partner says. He says he’s thirty but looks closer to fifty.

“Cool.” That’s been my default reply for the last couple of hours.

I’m way too distracted worrying about Heidi to focus on another guy wanting to swap glory-days stories.

“Would have played in college, and who knows what would have happened then, but my coach picked Jimmy as the starter instead.”

“Cool.”

Billy throws the broom at me. “Dick.”

Even mad, he still smiles like we’re just locker-room buddies screwing around with each other.

I sigh and turn my attention to the guy. Not because I want to be nice to him, but because it’s what Heidi would do.

“Sorry. Lost in my thoughts. Coaches can be the worst. I had one who made everyone on the team except me run wind sprints until they all puked because I screwed up a play he called at the end of the game the weekend before. Instead of handing it off to our fullback, I faked the handoff and threw it to the tight end. Only problem was, the guy was running the right play and blocking for the run. Ball hit him in the back of the helmet and bounced into the defensive lineman’s hands.”

“Coach shoulda let you call the plays, right? Stupid coach.”

I scratch my cheek and think about the play with fresh eyes for the first time in years. “Nah. He’d made the right call, I just thought I was smarter than him. I wasn’t. Fuck, I should call and tell him that later.”

Billy looks at me like I’ve sprouted wings. He’s coming to the realization that his hero can screw things up just like everyone else.

Worse, most days.

As far as I can tell, I was completely wrong about Jenkins. I haven’t seen him approach Heidi once today despite the fact we are working with different partners after staging a little argument at the beginning of our shift.

He is so obviously still ignoring her that I feel like an even bigger asshole for suggesting it in the first place. I can’t imagine what must be going through Heidi’s head as she wrestles with thoughts of why he won’t give her a chance and the consequences that’ll have on her career.

Maybe I should go talk to him.

But the last thing she needs is me getting involved. Just like back in high school, I’m not as smart as I think I am.

She’ll ask for help if she needs it.

“Do you still play?” I ask Billy in a desperate attempt to make time move faster so I can talk to Heidi after work. “Maybe we could toss a ball around on the beach before the trip is over.”

His eyes sparkle like Santa brought him a puppy for Christmas. “I’m a little rusty, but that would be fucking awesome. No one will believe me when I tell them.”

I pat his shoulder. “Sure they will. We’ll get some pics and you can tweet them or whatever. Hell, I’ll have my social media manager put them up on my accounts. Why not?”

Billy looks close to tears of joy.

If he does start crying, am I supposed to hug him? Punch his shoulder? Dealing with emotions from fans is out of my league, because I’ve never really considered them real people. They have always been a chore of the job. Sign all the things and take all the selfies and eventually, they let me go home.

Fortunately, nature gives me an excuse. “I’ll be back in a sec. Gotta take a leak.”

Billy nods and starts frantically typing on his phone, sending a message to his buddies back home, I’m sure.

The work site doesn’t have working plumbing yet. It only has porta potties in the back yard, but at least they are spotless. After washing my hands, I take my time returning to the house. We’ve made a ton of progress over the last few days. A few of the rooms have drywall on them, which is starting to make it really feel like a place someone could live in sometime soon.

The kitchen is one of those rooms. The dining room next to it is another.

The site is quiet because the house has mostly cleared for an official break and everyone has stepped outside for some fresh air.

I freeze in place when I hear Heidi’s voice.

“Thank you for the opportunity to volunteer here over my spring break. I’ve had a blast learning how to use some of the tools, and knowing we’re helping a family that needs it has made all the work mean so much more.”

Jenkins gruffly responds. “Trying to soften me up about the internship recommendation, are you?”

I don’t like his tone, but I know better than to rush in and crack his skull. Heidi would kill me.

Unsure what I can do but desperate to protect her if he tries something stupid, I pull my phone from my pocket and press the button to turn on the recorder I use when giving interviews to protect myself from reporters deliberately misquoting me.

Heidi sounds nervous when she giggles. “A little bit. But I don’t think that’s abnormal, right? I mean, both things can be true. I really have enjoyed the work and the value to the community, and I do hope my effort has impressed you enough to put in a good word for me.”

The idiot harrumphs at my woman, and it’s all I can do to keep myself from punching through the wall to get to him.

“You have worked hard,” he finally concedes, “but I’d hoped to spend more time with you after-hours to get to know you better.”

I nearly squeeze the phone in half at the emphasis he puts on the word know.

Oh, I know exactly what you were really hoping for, you dirty old pervert.

“Excuse me? I don’t understand. You haven’t invited me to any kind of meeting, how could I have known?”

In a low, treacherous, near-whisper, he says, “Dear, you can’t possibly be this naive. You want a favor, I want a favor. You wash my back, I wash yours. You catch my drift.”

Heidi gasps.

I still hold my ground, but my imagination has no trouble coming up with ways to kill the man, using each and every one of the tools around the site.

“Are you implying what I think you’re implying?”

Jenkins dares to laugh. “At this point, I’m not sure what you’re thinking, so let me spell it out. Young women like you frequently fuck your way to the top. I’ve got the connections you need. You’ve got the body I want. Should I come to your room tonight or would you like to come to mine?”

When Heidi stammers and can’t finish her answer, I decide enough is enough.