“Is it something you still want to do?”
“Not for the rest of my life, no. But for right now, it does what I need it to do. I got my bartending licensure so I pull in a little income that way at the tavern as well. It serves me fine for now. I was able to pay off the few loans I took out for my community college courses, and I just got those paid off a few months ago.”
“Congratulations. It sounds like you worked hard for that.”
“I did, and I’m proud of myself for doing so. Now, it’s a matter of setting a little bit of money back every night from my tips and stuff so I can go get those certifications. Those things aren’t cheap.”
“I can only imagine,” I said.
“So, did you grow up in this area?”
“Born and raised on the outskirts of Charleston. You said you’re from here, right?”
“Yes, but my family isn’t here anymore.”
“They aren’t?”
“No. A couple of years after I took the job with the tavern and enrolled into classes, my father got an amazing job prospect out in Oregon. They drained their savings account to fly out there a few times for interviews, and when they offered him the job it wasn’t something he could refuse.”
“So you’re here by yourself in Charleston while your family’s in Oregon?”
“Yep.”
“That sounds lonely.”
“It gets that way. It’s one of the reasons why Bianca—my best friend—and I decided to room together. Charleston’s expensive and neither of us have family in town.”
“She not from around here?”
“Nope. Her family’s all in Florida. They moved there after her dad retired from his accounting job.”
“Sounds like a job I’d want to retire from. I still don’t know how Flynn deals with the numbers,” I said.
“Flynn?”
“One of my brothers. Besides all of us making over houses and flipping them, we all have something we specialize in outside of the construction work. Flynn is our numbers guy.”
“What’s your specialty?” she asked.
“Design. I’m the one that lays out what we’re going to do, how we’re going to do it, and what it’s going to look like by the time we’re done.”
“So you’re the one that’s in control, basically.”
“Don’t tell Kane that. He might get upset.”
“Another brother?”
“The oldest.”
“Ah, the ‘oldest child’ syndrome. Bianca has that. I’m an only child, so I don’t know anything about that.”
“You know about ‘only child’ syndrome.”
“Uh huh. And what does that entail?”
“It means you’re a brat who needs guidance.”
“Oh, really? A brat who needs guidance? Does that mean you’re about to tell me that you can guide me in a way no other man can?”