“You’re fuckin’ kidding me,” Downy grumbled. “Jonah, you can’t just call in sick like this.”
I snorted as I handed the security TSA agent my ticket. “Watch me.”
“Jonah…” Downy started ranting.
I shoved the phone in my pocket and smiled at the TSA agent. “Thank you.”
The woman winked at me and waved me through to the express security line. “Thank you for your service.”
I grinned wider. “Have a good day.”
The express security line was a breeze. There were all of eight people in the line, and three of them stepped back to empty their pockets. Since I only had my phone, wallet, boots, and belt, which was already in my hand, the agent nodded me through her personal line and said, “Drop those on the belt.”
I did, placing them all on the belt sans bin—another no-no but she didn’t seem to care—and went up to her.
She patted me down, I had a feeling thoroughly enjoying herself seeing as she took her time, and then patted my shoulder. “Thank you.”
The woman laughed. “That was the first time I ever had someone get patted down and thanked for it.”
I shrugged. “You did it fast. I can’t complain.”
She winked and gestured for me to move, which I did moments later, allowing her to move to a mother with two infant children in a stroller.
I shoved my feet back into my shoes and then picked up my shit, only then pulling the phone back out of my pocket.
“Are you even listening to me right now?” Downy growled.
“Sorry, I was getting manhandled by security,” I apologized, though it wasn’t in the least sincere. “And no, I wasn’t listening to you. Not when all you have to say annoys me.”
Downy sighed. “This is your job, Jonah. I went out of my way to get it for you, and so far, you’ve done nothing but shit on my efforts.”
I gritted my teeth as I glanced around, looking for my terminal.
The airport was unusually busy today, and almost every single terminal was full.
“Listen, bro,” I said, trying to keep my temper in check. “I realize that you stuck your neck out for me. I also realize that you think I don’t know what I’m doing, but I do. I got a house. I got land. I got a paid-for truck and a zero-percent financed tractor. I realize that you think that you’re doing me a favor by telling me to be at work today, for six hours at that, for a pity desk duty job that your fuckin’ friend thinks he’s doing me a favor by placing me in so I can get some cash, but he’s not. I don’t need the cash. I’m making it just fuckin’ fine on my own right now. In fact, if I wanted to not work for the next goddamn year, I could do it. So how about you take your good intentions and shove them up your ass.”
Downy sighed. “You’re really okay?”
“Yes,” I said firmly.
“Fine,” he grumbled. “I’ll call Luke and let him know that you don’t need the shift. But, just sayin’, Jonah, you better be here when your shift starts in a couple of days. I really did pull some strings to get you back on the job, and I think you’ll like the new area they’re putting you in.”
That was the first time I’d heard anything about a ‘new area.’
“What’s that mean?” I asked as I stopped next to my gate and groaned.
There wasn’t a single space to sit available except next to a hacking woman who looked like she was on her death bed.
No fucking thank you.
“It means that you have a job,” Downy replied.
I growled.
“And, as of today, Lock will be joining this job with you,” Downy replied excitedly.
Lock, aka Downy’s son, Lachlan Downy Jr, aka my nephew, was all grown up and shit now. He’d served a couple of tours of duty in Iraq, and this was the first I was hearing about him coming home.
“He’s home?” I asked, feeling a pang of regret hit me at the realization that I’d missed his arrival. I’d missed the little shit.
But, I guessed, he wasn’t exactly a little shit anymore.
He was a grown ass man just like I was now.
Damn, I was getting old.
“Yeah,” Downy confirmed. “He got home about three days ago. He didn’t waste time asking Luke for a job without me knowing. He was signing paperwork when I came into work today.”
“Fuckin’ awesome,” I said. “What about the academy, though?”
“Since his old job put him through it at the civilian school close to his old base, he only had to have the shit transferred to Texas,” Downy rumbled. “What is that sound?”
I looked over at the hacking lady that’d moved from her seat and was making her way toward the bathrooms that I was standing next to.