Breath of Scandal

“Graham!”

“He said it, Mom, not me. I’m just telling you.”

“What other quaint expressions have you picked up from Mr. Burke?”

He grinned. “I think he likes me now, but he totally lost it when Loner and me got up on that gravel heap.”

“Loner?”

“His dog. That’s what Mr. Burke calls him. Anyway, I was just scaling it like a regular hill when Mr. Burke came running out of his trailer yelling at me to get the hell down from there—that’s what he said, Mom. Then he took my arm and kinda shook me and asked me didn’t I have a lick of sense and didn’t I know that kids smother in gravel heaps all the time.

“I told him I wasn’t a kid. He said, ‘You aren’t grown, either. And while you’re around here, you’ll do as I say.’ He was scary, ’cause when he talks all quiet and mean like that, you can’t see his lips move under his mustache, you know?”

“Yes, I know.” She’d seen Dillon lose his temper. Like Graham, she had caught herself watching his mustache and his lips for signs of movement.

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Hell no. I mean, heck no. Later he apologized for grabbing my arm. He said when he saw me and Loner up on the gravel, he was scared shitless it would swallow us whole.” She frowned at his language. Again Graham grinned up at her guilelessly. It was fun to be saying words he was ordinarily forbidden to use. “He’s gotta grip that would break bone.”

His strength had never been in doubt. On more than one occasion Jade had paused at the window of her portable office to gaze at him while he was at work and unaware that anyone was watching. His stride was long and sure as he moved about, overseeing the excavation. Even at a distance, she could pick him out from the other workers because he always wore a white hard hat and aviator sunglasses… and there was his mustache, of course.

“… if I could. Can I?”

“I’m sorry, Graham. Can you do what?”

He rolled his eyes the way teenagers do when their parents demonstrate incredible stupidity. “Can I ride my bike out to the site? I know the way.”

“But it’s several miles.”

“Please, Mom.”

“It sounds like some big-stakes negotiating is going on here,” Cathy said. She entered the room carrying a tray of cookies and drinks. There was a glass of milk for Graham and coffee for Jade and her. “You’ll need sustenance to carry on.”

In the brief time she’d been there, Cathy had already exercised her knack for making a house into a home. Jade hadn’t realized how vital Cathy was to her until she’d had to do without her for six weeks. She did all the shopping, cooked all their meals, and managed the house. That’s what she wanted to do, and she was excellent at it. Without someone to fuss over, Cathy would consider her life meaningless.

She set the tray on the coffee table and took a seat beside Jade on the sofa. “What topic are we debating tonight?”

Around his first, oven-fresh chocolate chip cookie, Graham explained. “Mr. Burke said I could come out to the site anytime I want. What’s wrong with riding my bike out there, Mom?”

“In the first place, it’s too far to go on a bicycle. Second, the construction site isn’t a playground. You could get in the way of the workers or you could get hurt. Finally, you should be making friends your own age.”

“I’ve already met several boys in the neighborhood.”

She hoped he would develop some friendships over the summer, which would make enrolling in school easier next fall. Being with boys his own age would be a much healthier pastime than hanging out with her reclusive general contractor.

“Mr. Burke has better things to do than entertain you.”

“But he said I could, Mom. You don’t want me to have any fun,” he grumbled.

Cathy, ever the diplomat, said, “Maybe I could ask Mr. Burke to dinner one night soon.”

“Gee. That’d be neat,” Graham said, smiling again.

“I’m not so sure,” Jade said hastily.

“Why not, Mom?”

“Unless he goes out, he eats alone in that trailer night after night,” Cathy argued gently. “I’m sure he would appreciate a home-cooked meal.”