Page 9 of Controlled Burn
The third guy was also a handsome man. He was wearing a button-up shirt and slacks in his picture, and he looked very comfortable in them, like he wore them every day. His profile said he worked in hospital administration and that he loved to read.
Ezra took the phone from me and read his profile. “Ohh, I like him for you. He looks like he would be a nice guy.”
“Well, he has a good job, he likes to read, and he does have kind eyes,” I agreed.
“Match him. Who knows? Maybe it will work out.”
“He fits all the things I said I wanted, and it’s just lunch, right?”
Ezra and Joey both nodded, so I took a deep breath and slid the bar to the right to make a match.
Chapter 4
Keith
We were on the first day of a three-day-off stretch, and I’d come over to Robert’s to check out this new project of his.
“So this is it, huh?” I pointed at the massive stack of pallets in the back of Robert’s truck.
“This is it. I’ve been watching videos on all the different kinds of outdoor furniture you can build with old pallets, and it looks kind of fun. I figured I’d start out making a pair of Adirondack chairs for my deck. You always say I need to spruce up my backyard, right?” He held out his phone to show me a really nice-looking set of deck chairs that had the Texas flag painted on them.
“And you’re going to turn those”—I nodded toward the pallets in the back of his truck—“into something that looks like that?”
“Oh, ye of little faith. I’ve watched the videos. It doesn’t look that hard.”
“It looks like you have everything you need.”
“I do, well, everything except my tools.” He laughed and shook his head. “I left them at Caleb’s last weekend when I was over there installing a new light fixture for him. He’s hopeless where home repairs are concerned.”
“We all have our strengths. Caleb’s are just more up here.” I tapped the side of my head.
“Yeah, he’s pretty smart. For example, I think he was right about me needing a hobby. I’m actually kind of excited. I haven’t built anything since shop class way back in high school, but I seem to remember liking it.”
“Sounds like you have a plan.”
“I do, and I’m off to a pretty good start. Come see.”
I followed him into the garage and was amazed at the change. It had been mostly full of junk and yard tools before, but now it looked like a legit woodworking shop, complete with saw horses, table saws, and a brand-new workbench.
“Wow, looks like you’ve been busy out here.”
“Yeah, I went shopping on Monday for all the saws and tools, and I spent pretty much our whole day off on Wednesday setting all this up.”
“You want me to help you unload the pallets?” I asked.
“Nah, not today. I think picking up the pallets is about as much as I’m going to do. I’m beat. That was a rough-ass shift.”
“It was,” I agreed. “At least we managed to keep that fire from spreading to the house, though. I know the woman was devastated about losing all the stuff she had stored in that shed, but it could’ve been so much worse.”
“Yeah, she was lucky her neighbor’s dog had to go out to potty in the middle of the night like that, or no one would’ve known the shed was on fire before it was too late. I’m getting too damn old for these late-night calls, though.”
“I hear that.” I really did. I was a good seven years younger than Robert, and I wondered some days how much longer I’d be able to keep it up. My dad was turning sixty this year, and he’d just retired, but some days, I wasn’t sure I had twenty more years in me.
Robert clapped me on the shoulder and shook his head. “There’s a early game on, and I have a cold six-pack. How about we order a pizza later for lunch?”
“Sounds good to me. I got nowhere to be.” Since neither of us ever dated anyone seriously, this was pretty normal for us. I kept thinking that one of these days, he would find a woman he wanted to build something with, but so far, he hadn’t.
A couple hours later, the ballgame was about to end, and I was thinking that I really should head home when the front door opened, and Caleb walked in.