Could you meet me at home in twenty minutes?
She knew it wouldn’t be easy for him to do, meeting her at home because he would have to leave a crew at a client’s house or property, but she didn’t want to tell him over the phon
e.
It would take Sophie that long to get to their house in Cooper. Josh didn’t ask questions. He texted her back, I’ll see you there.
Chapter 2
Josh
He was the quiet one and Sophie was his cheerleader. She always had been. As teenagers, she was on the sideline of every football game he played doing jumps, cartwheels and cheers. She was never far from him ever.
So, during the last month of their senior year in high school when she told him that she was pregnant, it was without doubt that Josh told Sophie they would get married. He had never looked back once in their marriage with regret. She was his life.
She might be his pain in the butt at times too, but she meant more to him than anything else in the world. The one thing he learned about Sophie was getting her to the doctor was a problem. He had been hounding his wife for weeks when he realized that she had missed her annual by ten months or better.
He laughed when she tried using the prostate excuse on him. What she didn’t understand was men didn’t get annual prostate exams like women got their pap smears. His nagging worked though she made her appointment.
Working with his crew at a major client today, he was supervising but even when he was onsite, Josh was usually dirty and sweaty. He didn’t just stand by and let his men sweat. He pitched in and helped them especially when the client was this important. A major manufacturer who had acres of land. The contract was worth a lot to his company.
He was walking crew to crew checking on their progress. They were cleaning up for fall. Planting some flowers at the entrance to give the place a warm welcome. Josh kept looking at his phone. Usually, Sophie would have called by now to let him know she was heading to the office.
“Boss, looking at that phone isn’t going to make it ring,” Miguel teased him.
“Waiting for Sophie’s call,” he explained.
The young man went back to work. He had been with Josh for ten years. He was twenty-eight and just had his first baby six months previously. After his wife was able, she brought his son in to see him and Sophie. Miguel was thrilled and proud. Josh remembered his own son’s birth and the feelings that had overwhelmed him. He was even present when Joshua, his grandson was born, another thrilling moment in his life.
Kai and Sophie were nervous. It was the first grandchild for the three of them. He wasn’t as nervous as when Sophie gave birth but then again maybe he was too dumb to be. He held Hannah’s hand then her leg when he was told to. His son on the other side of the bed looking him in the eye from time to time.
Josh faced Hannah so neither of them was embarrassed, but he saw Joshua when he was laid on Hannah’s stomach. It was the most amazing experience next to the birth of his own children. Hannah was like another kid to him. Hearing Joshua’s cries the moment he was born, he had cried himself, not a bit ashamed of showing emotion.
He didn’t go to church. He told himself like Sophie did that they were too busy. Too tired but he had faith. He prayed like every man did. When Hannah went into labor early at Thanksgiving, he asked God to watch over her and his grandson. He was a God, fearing man instilled in him by his mother, a cradle Catholic.
He often found himself stopping like today, gazing up at the bluest September skies he had seen in a while and saying thank you for a life he wasn’t sure he deserved. He was a lucky man with a good wife. He adored Sophie. He couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t felt this intensity when he gazed at her. Fell in love with her when they were teenagers. Married her at eighteen. Had Heath at nineteen.
Sure, marriage was hard. There were times he walked away in a fit of anger, swore he’d never go back. When he’d walked it off, he knew he couldn’t live without her or the family they had created. Josh would go home, find her in the house somewhere. He’d scoop her up in his arms and sit her on the counter, if she was in the kitchen, on the washer if she was in the laundry room or throw her on the bed if she was the bedroom. He would let her know in no uncertain terms that marriage to him, was forever.
She often laughed at him. Then she would kiss him. When that kiss ended in them making love he knew that her laughter was at his statement because he was never getting rid of her. Not ever.
He smiled thinking about her. Her dark hair was what caught his attention. Her thick hair framed her face, drew his eyes to her pale, blue eyes. Her full, pouty lips that he loved to kiss even after twenty-three years of marriage. Josh still loved her with a fierceness that took his breath away. He didn’t tell her often enough, he was sure.
Tonight, when he got home he would do just that.
“Hey Josh.” He turned at the sound of his name. The CEO of the manufacturing facility was parked along the edge of the drive. He knew him well. Maxwell Satterfield had struck the deal between Satterfield Manufacturing and Russack Landscaping. He was about six years older than Josh but from Cooper just like him.
He got out of the expensive Lexus and walked to where Josh was standing. The two men shook hands. Maxwell covered his eyes with his hands. “Left my sunglasses on the desk,” he complained.
“Nice and sunny today, Max. Not the smartest move you’ve made,” he teased his friend.
Max chuckled. “No, it’s not especially since I’m trying to get in nine holes before I head home. You play golf too, don’t you?”
“I do, at the Cooper Country Club. Not where you play.” Josh reminded him.
“You’re right. Normally, I don’t but I wouldn’t mind playing a round or two with you at Cooper. They have a great course there.”
“I’d like that Max. Just give me a call.”