Building Baby

Chapter 2: Meet and Greet

Driving down the highway, the rolling river on her right, Roxanne considered her next move. She had to get back to her office and get the permit so she could submit it first thing tomorrow morning, hopefully, before Baxter had time to change his mind. He wasn't the only one who worked in the permit office, so if she submitted it for processing before Baxter could sour the deal, she'd be fine.

At least she'd be able to keep her boss off her back. She was grateful for the job after a long stint of being unemployed. Her last position as a building manager ended in turmoil after the building collapsed. It hadn't been her fault, a slew of miscalculations by the foreman and architect, but that didn't stop the onslaught of blame that came her way.

Her reputation as a reliable building site manager vanished. Everyone associated with that project had been basically blacklisted. For months she grumbled on her father's couch, having given up her apartment to save money. It was probably what made her dad accelerate his gambling, causing him to owe a local loan shark thousands due to his desperate blunder.

Her dad had always been game for a hustle, but it had mostly been small games – cards, pool, the occasional horse racing bet. Roxanne's mom left when she was three, in part due to her own addictions, so Roxanne grew up with her dad who taught her everything he knew about construction. He took great care of her, and they were close.

So, he took it pretty hard when Roxanne couldn't find work. Retired himself due to an injury, his gambling escalated to make ends meet. Roxanne begged him to stop, told him she just needed a little time to get back on her feet, but he wouldn't listen. He swore each bet was a sure thing, and she hadn't realized how bad it had actually gotten until it was too late.

The only thing Roxanne couldn't stand watching more than beauty pageants was seeing her dad wallow at home after another sobering loss at poker or horse racing or whatever vice he was using to gamble that day. It was an addiction and a dangerous one.

Being the kind of girl who doesn't give up, she started picking up odd jobs with contractors. When a newbie working on a house flip with her mentioned a developer he knew who was starting a new project, Roxanne did her research. She found out the developer needed a little more seed money, which Roxanne agreed to get in exchange for hiring her as building site manager.

With so much riding on making the building project a success, both for her career and for her father's safety, Roxanne needed things to go smoothly. And that included filing the building permits.

It was dusk by the time she pulled back into the dirt covered road leading to her trailer on the edge of the building site. With the sun setting in the distance, she noticed two vehicles parked nearby. At first she thought they might be associated with Baxter, but then she realized he was probably at the bar licking his wounds.

As she drove up, slowly inching toward the vehicles, she noted one looked like her boss' pick-up. The other was a pristine white luxury SUV that appeared as if it had just been driven off the lot. She really hoped she could just run into her trailer, get the folder, and jet. She didn't feel like having a conversation. Not that day.

She particularly hoped the SUV did not belong to the loan shark her dad owed. After finding out about the building project, she groveled to the loan shark and promised him a big return on his investment if he put money into the real estate deal, plus a substantial part of her paycheck every month to pay down her father's debt, plus interest. He agreed to invest the money and take her payments. However, he warned Roxanne that if he lost his investment or she couldn't make the payments, her father would suffer.

When she stepped out of her beat up car, she was relieved to see it wasn't the loan shark. Standing next to her boss was a tall, impeccably dressed man in shiny leather shoes staring back at her. In fact, he stared so hard, and stood rim rod straight, it startled her.

He was good looking, clean cut, not a hair out of place, but not her type. Too square. Too uptight. She squirmed under his watchful eye as she walked toward them, and for the second time that afternoon, she wished she hadn't worn those kitten heels.

“Roxy," called Danny as he waved her over, stubbing his cigarette out on the pebbled ground.

“Hi. What's up?" she said, stepping slowly, trying not to look too wobbly on the broken heel.

“What's wrong with you?" Danny asked, looking down at her feet. She slouched on one hip, trying to look cool.

“It's nothing. I just…" she stuttered. “I was just getting that permit and …"

“Oh, yeah. The permit. Good ole' Baxter. How's he doing? I know he likes to sign those things in person, especially with you." He gave her a grin and a knowing nod.

“Yeah, good ole' Baxter." She swung her arm like Popeye, giving a wink. “Whose your friend?" She asked, nodding toward the mystery man.

“Yeah, I'd like you to meet Tom," Danny said. Tom reached out his arm in a stiff offering, robotic and emotionless. Roxanne hesitated for a second before shaking his hand. Unlike his static demeanor, his hand felt soft and warm. It surprised her for a second, and then the moment vanished as Tom mechanically retracted his hand, face still stoic.

“He's a real estate developer. Thinking about doing a project with me. I was giving him a tour of the site. This is Roxanne. The site manager for this job." Roxanne smiled at Tom, but he just acknowledged her with a perfunctory nod of his head.

“Looking for another lady for kickball this week. We're up against those downtown office snobs. I hate those pricks. You in?" Danny asked Roxanne.

“Definitely," she said. “I need to take their first baseman down. He said I kick like a girl. You play?" She nodded toward Tom. She could tell he wasn't the kickball type, but she wanted to see how he'd answer. By this point, he hadn't spoken a word.

“No," was all he said, blinking once and continuing to stand rim-rod straight.

“It's a lot of fun. You should join us. With long legs like yours, you look like you'd be a great kicker," she said, trying to flatter him. She usually knew how to put guys at ease, engage in small talk.

“I never thought of that, but I don't have the best aim," he replied, still looking past Roxanne, not meeting her eyes.

“Well, that just takes practice. A lot can be overcome with practice," Roxanne said, smirking due to a memory, “Just something my dad always said."

Tom turned slightly toward her and looked in Roxanne's eyes. When he smiled – only slightly – Roxanne felt a brief moment of relief, as if she'd finally cracked a secret code. It was then, after he smiled, that she recognized Tom from television.

He was part of a famous real estate family in the area she had seen once on the news. They had just built a big new office building downtown. Why he would want to do a deal with Danny, Roxanne couldn't fathom. Danny seemed like a good guy, but not into the kinds of projects she imagined Tom would be interested in.

From what Roxanne remembered, somehow, Tom seemed to smile more on TV. Maybe he just needed a camera on him to show emotion. But that smile, that little glimpse of an upturned lip made Roxanne want more of it. Somehow, she'd have to get him to do it again, if for no other reason than to amuse herself that she could infuse a robot with some humanity.

“So what are you into Tom? Besides real estate, what are your hobbies?" she asked.

“I didn't come prepared for a personal interview," he said, again not looking at Roxanne.

“Oh, yeah. I didn't mean to interrogate you, just making conversation. Seeing if we have anything in common."

“We don't," Tom said, cutting her off.

Roxanne frowned and looked down, again regretting her shoe choice because she wanted to scamper away, tell these guys she needed to get home. It was the second time that day she'd try to play the buddy card – first with Baxter which turned out horrific and then with Tom which wasn't going smoothly either. Having worked so closely with men for so many years, she usually got along well with them. She wasn't sure where she went wrong.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean any offense. I… I just like to keep my personal life - personal. Please understand," Tom said. Roxanne looked up and saw him searching her face for some type of release, some indication that she wasn't totally pissed at him.

“No, it's okay. I just… well, I better get going. Got some stuff to do," she said, a little unsure what to say next, wanting to extricate herself from the conversation.

“Meeting your pops at The Hole in the Wall?" Danny asked, referring to a bar Roxanne and some of the other construction crew frequented.

“Nah, not tonight. Think I'll just lay low tonight," Roxanne said.

“It was nice meeting you, Roxanne," Tom dipped his head toward her, the words coming out of his lips sounding more like a platitude than a sincere statement.

“You too, Tom." Roxanne considered how bizarre he seemed; not completely comfortable with strangers, she supposed. At the same time, Roxanne replayed the warm, gentle feeling of his hand against hers.

As the two men turned to walk away, Roxanne watched before tottering toward her trailer. She had more pressing issues to worry about than whether she could make Danny's new investor friend smile. After what she'd been through with Baxter, she knew she should focus on her job so she could pay her rent and keep the loan shark at bay.

And yet she couldn't shake the brief spark she felt when she managed to elicit a smile from Tom. It was a feeling she could get addicted to.

The conflicting feelings she had about Tom were soon forgotten, however, for when she opened the squeaky door to her trailer, her mouth fell open in disgust.