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My soon to be brother-in-law arrived a moment later, cutting my time with Aly short. I stood up, smiled at her, and followed Porter up the stairs. I felt my leg twitch but ignored it. This was my first day on the job, my first day on any job since the injury. It was going to be a long one.
“There’s a bit of paperwork,” Porter said, motioning toward one of the chairs in his office.
I sat down gratefully.
“First, I’m gonna take you on a tour and introduce you to everyone you’ll be working with. I’ll drop you off with Danny. He’s our seasoned driver. For the rest of the week, you’re going to be going on deliveries with him. We’ll see how that works out and move forward from there.”
I nodded. “Sounds good.”
“Your dad’s going to drop by around noon, so I hope that you’ll feel comfortable having lunch with him.” The comment was almost apologetic.
I drew in a deep breath. I had to expect that the old man would want something in exchange for his generosity. Hell, Mrs. Washington wanted the same thing from me just for keeping my rent low. I supposed they were old and in need of companionship.
“And if you can end up with Aly around three, that should give you time to fill out all the paperwork, okay?”
“Right,” I agreed. Lunch with Dad at noon and finish up the day talking to Aly. I had something to look forward to after the trial of the first day. While I could have done without another heart-to-heart with my dad, the prospect of two hours alone with Aly had my blood racing with anticipation.
Porter took me out of the house, and we walked the rows of stacked lumber. He pointed out various types of wood. “Here’s pine. That’s the cheaper variety. Over here is oak. We have some walnut and maple but that’s indoors.”
He didn’t walk slowly or wait for me to catch up. Either he had forgotten I was injured or just didn’t care. I kept up, but by the end of the tour, my leg was throbbing. We wound up behind another building in a larger parking lot that was designated for staff vehicles and deliveries.
“This here is Danny.” Porter waved at an older man with a pot belly who was cleaning out the cab of a sturdy pickup truck. “Danny, this is Linc.”
I held out my hand. Danny emerged from the truck, a cup of coffee and a candy wrapper in one hand. He offered the other to me and we shook. Danny swung the truck door shut, his face sunburnt and wrinkled.
“You’re Mr. Matthews’ kid?” the driver guessed.
“That’s right,” I said.
“Well, it’s a family business,” Danny explained as if he needed a reason to include me.
“Take your break at noon,” Porter told his employee.
“Sure,” Danny agreed.
“Linc, when you’re done with your lunch, find Danny again.” Porter turned to the other man. “Linc’s gonna shadow you for the rest of the week.”
“You got it.” Danny saluted. I wondered if he was ex-military. Sometimes civilians saluted as a kind of joke. Sometimes veterans retained the habit and it carried over into their normal lives.
As soon as Porter was gone, I asked. “Were you in the service?”
“Yeah,” he confirmed. “Worked at a recruiting station. Never saw any combat.” He eyed me up and down, searching for my injury. “I understand you were in Afghanistan.”
“Does everybody know that?” I asked.
Danny grinned. “Pretty much. You just let me know if I’m going too fast or if you have any questions.”
“Sure,” I said.
“I just got in from a run, so you can watch me fill out my mileage. Lucky you.”
“Okay.”
He walked to the red barn-like building that bordered the parking lot. I knew from Porter’s tour that it housed the registerand a small tool shop. Danny took me through a side door into what looked like a crappy break room. The floor was full of sawdust and wood chips—not in an aesthetic way but like nobody ever swept. There was a fridge, a counter, and a sink, all stained with brown age spots.
On one wall was a corkboard with paperwork layered haphazardly. Danny selected one form, detached it from the wall, and brought it to the single table. He sat down and wrote some numbers before standing up and pinning it back to the board.
“Gotta write down the mileage, the truck number, and your name,” he said to explain.
