The Personal Shopper

My dad had a rough past. He grew up on the rough side of town, and he got my mom pregnant when they were still in highschool. He didn’t even know about me though until I was five years old. One day my mom decided she couldn’t handle raising a little girl anymore, and so she came and dropped me off at my dad’s place.

I haven’t seen her since that day. Good thing too. I’d rather she just be out of my life completely than have her popping up every now and then to remind me that she didn’t want me.

My dad is enough for me anyway. Ever since the day he found out about me, he has been the best dad a girl could ask for. It’s always just been me and him.

It took some getting used to at first, but I was pretty young. I think it almost worked out in my favor with it just being me and him. He had to learn everything with me. It led to some pretty open and honest conversations like when I first got my period or my first boyfriend. I think I have a closer relationship with my dad than most girls with both parents do.

I get up and decide to search for Tyler on the job site to let him know about our meeting today.. Usually I send out email reminders of when the next one-on-one is a week before, but since I’ve been gone the last three weeks, I didn’t have the chance to. I walk out of my office trailer and head toward the job site.

I don’t see anyone out front, so I will probably have to go into the actual job site to find Tyler. I pause before heading in. I have my steel toes on, but I need a hard hat. I don’t know why I forgot to grab my own. I don’t feel like walking all the way back to my office trailer, so I head over to where we keep the spares for when contractors come onsite without one.

I bend down to grab one from the box, but all the extra large ones are sitting on top. Why do we always have people with big heads as visitors? I am digging around deeper in the box to find a smaller one, when I hear a deep voice behind me.

“Can I help you with something?”

I glance over my shoulder but don’t recognize the guy. He must be one of the new contractors that started since I’ve been gone. Weird. My dad didn’t tell me he hired any new contractors while I was away. Well, I guess I haven’t actually talked to him since I’ve been back yet. We are meeting for lunch later today. He’ll probably fill me in on everything I’ve missed then.

I turn back toward the bin and reach down deep for one of the smaller hard hats. “I’m good. Thanks.”

I grab the hard hat and turn back around toward the man. He is still standing there just staring at me. I put the hat on, and he gives me a funny look. I start walking toward the job site, and he reaches out and grabs my wrist. I turn my head back around and glare back at him. “What’s your problem?”

He just stares back at me just as intensely. “I can’t have random people walking around my site. I’ll ask again. Can I help you with something?”

I scoff. “Your site? Who do you think you are?”

He lets go of my wrist and crosses his arms over his chest. “The foreman.”

Now that he is standing back a few steps, I take a second to take in the man. He looks kind of familiar, but I can’t quite place what company he is with. If you can get past his angry scowl, he’s actually really attractive. Not like Tyler with his boy next door charm. This guy is more of a mysterious, brooding, sexy type. Where Tyler has blonde hair and blue eyes, this guy has dark, black hair and eyes so dark and intense they are almost hard to hold contact with.

I laugh out a disgusted sound. “Do you always lie to people or am I just special?” I cross my arms over my chest. “Was that supposed to impress me or something? What company sent you here?”

He looks back at me just as serious as he was before. “I’m not sure what game you are playing here, but I’m not lying. This is my job site and frankly, you can’t be here.”

I laugh again and take a step toward him. “Oh really?” I take another step forward so that I am standing right in front of him. I look up at his face and reach my hand to touch his chest.

“Wow dad. You’ve really gotten in shape since I’ve last seen you.” I run my hand from his chest over to his bicep and give a little squeeze. It barely budges. God, this man is even stronger than I thought. Not sure why I didn’t expect that considering the way his t-shirt is stretching tight across his chest. “How did you get so buff in three weeks?”

I go to reach for his stomach when his hand shoots out and grips my wrist tightly to stop me from touching him. I just continue to stare up into his eyes as he glares down at me. His hand squeezes tightly around my wrist, almost painfully so, and he is about to say something when Kenny walks out. “Oh Emory! You’re back!”

Kenny has been working for my dad for as long as I can remember. He is a tall skinny ginger with a full orange beard. He’s more like an uncle than an employee. He comes up to us, and the contractor man drops my hand. Kenny wraps his arm around my neck. “Welcome back kiddo. I see you already met the new mean ole foreman of ours.”

The man just rolls his eyes at Kenny. They obviously have met before he started here. Kenny would only joke around like that with someone he knows well.

Kenny steps back from the hug and jabs his elbow softly into my side. “We all said Emory here should be the new foreman, but instead we are stuck with this hardass.”

I look over to the mystery man and raise my eyebrows at him. “My dad never said he was hiring a new foreman.”

Kenny just laughs. “Well, technically our Alaric here is a founding member of the company. Started it with your dad all those years back. Sorry kiddo. He has to be your boss along with the rest of us sorry souls.”

I shoot my eyes back over to Alaric, and he just has a smug grin on his face. My face forms into a snarl. “Alaric? Alaric Coleman?”

He just nods back. “Emory.” He says my name with such disdain.

I just scoff. “What are you doing back? I thought your psycho family ran you out of town or something?”

He just sneers back at me. “I see you still can’t find a real job and are still relying on daddy to take care of you.”

I can’t believe Alaric is back. I haven’t seen him in so many years. When my dad first started getting his life on track, he started working at a construction company. He assisted everyone in the company until he knew the trade through and through. When he was 21, he started his own construction company. He needed help, so he hired the boy down the street from him.