Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 104869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
“Why did you do that?”
“What? Talk to Tina?”
“Yes.” Her voice was thick with tears. She was such a mess right now. Her emotions weren’t usually so…present.
“Because you need to rest and recuperate.” She heard a smidgeon of warmth in his voice as he repeated her words back to her. “And this is a great town to do that.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“You do your thing. I do mine. We’ll be unlikely to ever see each other.”
“I don’t know what my thing is,” she mused, suddenly daunted. “I don’t think I’ve ever had real free time before.”
That seemed to trip him up and he stared at her in bemusement.
“What? Like…never?”
“When I was a child, maybe? But as soon as we were old enough, our dad wanted us to learn the business from a grassroots level and that meant hard hats and boots, out on construction sites, doing physical labor.”
He looked horrified.
“You’re shitting me, c’mon.”
“Not at all.”
“That’s literal child labor.”
“We weren’t getting paid.”
“Child slavery, then.”
She actually laughed in genuine amusement at that. Something she hadn’t thought she’d do for a while yet. He just sounded so comically aghast.
“Dad thought it built character. The boys loved it for the most part. For the first few years we were pretty much go-fers for the work crews and site foremen. We were all so eager and competitive for our father’s approval and attention that we soaked the experience up like thirsty sponges.
“We were encouraged to ask questions, but absolutely not allowed to touch or operate any equipment or heavy machinery. Not until we were eighteen. We got the grunt work. Lifting, carrying, fetching, that kind of stuff. I was stuck in the on-site offices most of the time, which really grated. My brothers were out in the thick of things while I was treated like a glorified assistant for a secretary.”
“How long before you had them pulling equal office duty?”
She gaped at him, expression nothing less than astonished.
“You’re too ambitious and stubborn to allow yourself to be pigeonholed,” he said a little self-consciously in response to that look.
“Uh…” She gathered her thoughts, a little flustered by his accurate read of her personality. And unsure if he thought it those were admirable traits or not. “A year, at most. By the time I was fifteen, I was so adept at problem-solving and ironing out snags that the site managers were singing my praises to dad. The boys, meanwhile, could wield hammers and nail guns efficiently—and Cade was old enough by then to start learning how to operate heavy machinery—but none of them had any knowledge of how to manage a job site. So Dad decided it was important for them to get some office experience too. And that meant rotating duties.”
“And eventually, I assume, you got to operate some heavy machinery too?” he asked with absolute certainty.
“I’m a licensed and accredited tower crane operator,” she divulged with a shy shrug and a small, proud smile. She might be a surgeon, but that license still felt like one of her greatest achievements.
His clear fascination upon hearing her abashed confession gratified her.
“What? How? You’re such a nervous driver.”
She laughed self-consciously.
“You operate a crane, Smith. You don’t drive it. A completely different skill set.”
He still looked utterly bemused and captivated by the information.
It had been so long since Kenny had seen anything remotely flattering in his gaze when he looked at her that she wasn’t quite sure how to deal with the warmth flooding her system. The dopamine rush was making her a little giddy.
“Wow, Kenna, that’s a fucking amazing accomplishment. When did you find the time to get licensed?” The praise made her blush and she fought the urge to preen a little.
She was still angry with him. Still hurt by all that had been said before. It would take more than a little praise to coax her out of that hurt. But, after all the negativity of the last few days, his words were like a soothing balm on her tattered ego.
“I got my license when I was twenty-one. At that point I was already in medical school, but it was important to me to get it. Up until I was nineteen I honestly believed I was going into the family business. I wanted to be on-site and in the thick of things. Nothing corporate like Cade or Nox.”
“What changed?”
She swallowed, knowing they were venturing into painful territory. She didn’t want any more pain tonight.
“Sorry. I got a little distracted…” she murmured self-consciously, skirting over his question. “I was saying I don’t know what I’d do with my free time. I went straight from school holidays on construction sites to university and medical school. I’ve always been so busy. I won’t know what to do with myself for the next few months.”
He didn’t respond for a moment, seeming lost in thought as he stared at her. She was just starting to feel uncomfortable when he blinked and shrugged.