“You back for more already?” Ian called down the steps as he stretched and yawned.
“More what?” his father, Dean Asher, called back. “Or do I not want to know? Although I think I know.”
Ian paused on the stairs, winced and rubbed his forehead.
“Ian?”
“Hi, Dad. I forgot you were coming by this morning,” Ian said as he squared his shoulders and made his way down to the living room.
“Apparently so. You up for skiing today?”
“I will be. Give me a minute.”
“Take all the time you need.”
His father was a young-looking fifty-six with pale blond hair very gradually turning gray. Ian remembered last year at the opening day of the local baseball team Asher Construction sponsored that his dad had worn a team T-shirt and a ball cap. One of the coaches had assumed Ian and his father were actually brothers instead of father and son. Ian could only pray he aged as well as his father. But for all the good genes, Dad was still very much Dad and Dad did not look happy with his son this morning.
“Coffee?” His fathered handed him a steaming cup. “Hope you don’t mind I made a pot.”
“Don’t mind,” Ian said. “Thank you. I needed this.”
“I believe it. You had a late night?” Dean Asher raised his eyebrow.
“Sort of.”
“More than sort of, I think. You should clean up after yourself a little better.” His father nodded toward the corner of the living room where a condom wrapper lay on the bare floor where he’d fucked Flash after their little photo session. He’d thrown away the condom but must have been too preoccupied with her beautiful naked body to pick up the foil wrapper after they’d finished.
“Oops,” Ian said. “You got me. Your son has sex sometimes.”
“Where did I go wrong? Anyone I know?” His father took a big sip of his own coffee.
Ian walked over to the sink and turned the water on. He splashed his face with cool water and then cupped his hands to wet his hair with it.
“Veronica Redding,” Ian said as he grabbed a dishtowel off the rack to dry his face. He dropped the dishtowel onto the counter, leaned back and waited for his father to pronounce judgment.
“Veronica Redding? You mean Flash Redding? Our welder?”
“That’s her. You sound surprised.”
“I am. For a couple reasons.”
“And those are?”
“Well...quite frankly, I didn’t think she liked men.”
Ian rolled his eyes.
“Sorry,” his father said. “Female welder, short hair, got a tattoo of a half-naked lady on her bicep...you assume things.”
“Trust me, she likes men. But as Flash would say, you’re half-right.”
“My apologies for assuming,” he said. “However, there is still the little issue of her being an employee of Asher Construction. Unless you’ve put in your two weeks’ notice without telling me about it...”
“Not me, her. She quit two days ago.”
“Did she quit because she wanted to quit? Or did she quit because you asked her to quit so you two could...”
“I had no idea she was quitting until she quit. She got a new job and she starts in January. We’re pretty much closed down for the month except for the billing department and the interior painting on the office complex in Hood River. She’ll get her last paycheck next Friday. For all intents and purposes she is an ex-employee of Asher Construction.”