I took a few ‘after’ photos for my records and we headed back out to the truck.
“Tank, if you’re not too busy, wanna walk around and see what else they’ve got here?” Lucy asked me.
“Uh, I guess we could. I’ve got nothing else to do today so let’s relax.”
We strolled around the main portion of the campus and checked out all the amenities. They had a pool, a putt-putt golf course and a large community center. We walked around the lake and met several people. One couple stopped us and asked if we were new members. We told them we weren’t and we’d repaired a damaged cabin.
“You two should join us. It looks like you are comfortable with naturism and we always could use more couples.”
“Oh, we’re not a couple,” said Lucy. “He’s my boss.”
“I see, and if you were a couple, you’d be the boss,” the man laughed at Lucy.
“Hey!” his wife said as she playfully slapped him, “Be nice, now.”
A bit later on the trail I noticed Lucy slowing down a bit before she stopped and turned to me. “Tank, ever think of joining?”
“No. Not really. I’ve gotten used to this, I guess, but it’s still not for me.”
“I could consider it, but it’s not such a big attraction that I’d join. Let’s head out. I think I owe you a lunch, seeing as how you paid me for Mrs. Patelli’s work.”
Lucy
After that we were fortunate to have been selected for a couple of larger projects. One was a fairly big kitchen remodel in an older home. Those can’t be bid on because with old homes you never know what you might find and what needs to be redone. Tank gives an estimate of cost for materials for the basic job and an estimate for labor. However, those contracts all state extra costs should be expected and any additional work will be approved by the owner unless it is a code issue, in which case we do the job and add the cost in at the end. All of this makes my head spin sometimes and I’m glad Tank is the one who has to deal with that.
The other job was next door to Linda’s place. Tank was almost ready to not even bid when I convinced him he needed to.
“Shit, Tank, so Linda lives next door. It’s not like you’ll have to see her all the time. And we need the work.”
He finally agreed and that bid was accepted as well. We now had two jobs going so he planned for us to review both jobs in the morning and potentially split up. I might end up doing several hours alone at one site while he was at the other.
That was how I ended up running into Linda. I was at the Wikkenheim place next to hers and was running supplies and equipment to the garage attic they wanted to convert to a NetBnB unit. Tank and I had cleared it all out the day before and I was responsible for the final demolition of the walls so the electrician and plumber could come in.
On my third or fourth trip to my car, I heard a voice call out, “Uh, Lucy, uh, your name’s Lucy, right?”
I stopped and turned to see Linda. It’s a small town and I’m sure she knew who I was but I wanted to be as polite as possible. “Yeah, I’m Lucy, work for Tank. How are you, Linda?”
“Not so great. You may have heard that Tank and I kinda broke up.”
“Yeah, he briefly mentioned it. Sorry to hear it.”
“Did he tell you anything about it?”
“Not much. He was kinda down and pretty much stayed to himself for the day or so afterwards. Why?”
“I think I may have misread things. Uh, what’s your relationship with him, if I may ask?”
“Sure. He’s my boss. End of story.”
“You and he have never, uh, uh…”
“If you’re asking if we have a thing going on, the answer is ‘no.’ Tank is my boss, he’s always been a gentleman and on a few occasions when we’ve worked late or had a stressful day, well we’ve been known to grab a beer or burger together.”
“I, uh, someone saw your car outside the office one night and I may have jumped to conclusions.”
“Yeah, you did. We’d had a crazy day at work and instead of the usual one beer, we had two. I’m a lightweight with alcohol so I asked him to drive me home. He dropped me off there and picked me up the next morning.”
“So, uh, nothing happened?”
“Nope. Nothing.”
“Now I’m embarrassed. I accused him of, you know…”
“Look, Linda, I really gotta get back to work. But I’ll tell you this. Tank is a great guy. He works hard. He’s a fair boss. And I like him as a person. But he’s never hit on me, not once. So, see you around. OK?”
She took the dismissal politely and I got back to work. That evening I talked to Tank by phone and didn’t mention my meeting Linda.
Tank
I was excited to be able to work two jobs at once. That way if a sub or supplies were delayed, we could easily spend our time working on the other job and not twiddle our thumbs. That evening I spoke with Lucy about what she had done at the garage job and what was planned on the kitchen job the next day.
Then I got a call on my land line from Linda.
“Hey, Linda. What’s up?”
“Tank, I’ve called to apologize.”
“What for?”
“I so much as accused you of sleeping with Lucy and I now realize I was wrong.”
Although she was being contrite, it kind of pissed me off she obviously didn’t believe me when I told her the truth. “Well, great, glad to hear that. Why do you realize it now and why didn’t you believe me sooner?”
“I have to confess that I talked to Lucy today. She told me nothing happened that night before she went on to say what a great boss you are.”
“Checking out my story, Linda? Look, it’s clear you didn’t believe me and yet you suggested that maybe our relationship was destined to get stronger. How can that happen when you don’t trust your partner?”
“Tank, I realize I was wrong and I’m apologizing. Please, let me do that much.”
“Linda, you’ve apologized. Thank you. Now I need to get back to some paperwork.”
“OK, Tank. I’ll let you get to it. Before I go, uh, would you maybe, like to come over for dinner, just dinner so we can chat some more?”
I took a deep breath and counted to ten before I answered, “Ahh, I think it would probably not be a good idea. It was clear we had different ideas about us and now with this lack of trust, well, it’d be too uncomfortable. I’m not mad, Linda, and let’s be friendly acquaintances when we meet. But I think we need to each go our own way. OK?”
“I guess so. Thank you for talking with me, Tank. See you around,” she said quickly with a little sob and hung up the phone.
Her little call actually upset me. A lot. I thought we had split, then she checks up on my story, apologizes and tries to get us together again. I’m willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, but trust is the one issue that has to be there beforehand. No trust? Then no benefit of the doubt. Simple as that. I was unable to concentrate on the paperwork so I shitcanned it for the night and watched an old movie on the tube until I fell asleep.
Lucy
Tank was obviously upset or deep in thought most of the next morning. He was perfectly polite and discussed our work as we went through each task but there wasn’t any of the fun and teasing which had become our normal way of interacting. At lunch he was pretty quiet and I was dying to know why, but I kept my mouth shut. By quitting time, I was pretty tired and didn’t relish the thought of fixing my meal so I asked him if he’d drive through The Burger Barn so I could pick up a to-go meal.