“I hear,” Roy said. “We have a lot of work ahead of ourselves, so how about we all get to it?”
Jack laughed. “Acting like you’re the one in charge, aren’t you, Roy?”
Roy flushed, embarrassed. “Not at all,” he protested.
“Nah, he’s just actin like an annoying big brother telling everyone what to do,” Ronald, the youngest Griffin, joked.
“I know all about that,” Myles, the youngest Spangler, chimed in, and they all managed to laugh despite everything that had transpired that day.
ChapterTwo
For years and years, Beverly Young had worked with her father at his construction business, Nails R Us. She knew it wasn't a profession many girls enjoyed, but for her, it was perfect. Her mom worked as a traveling nurse, so at times, she would be gone from home for weeks or even months. Beverly and her father had become so very close because of this.
During the summers, she would tag alone with her father when he would work instead of hanging out with friends. She had been using a hammer from a very young age. If her mom ever learned how young, it would not have been good, but Beverly loved that her father let her help, even if only with teeny tiny jobs at first.
For the past three years, she had been his partner.
And then, three weeks ago, he had died suddenly. He had a massive heart attack on the ride home from seeing a friend. Thankfully, he must have realized something was wrong because he had pulled over, so no one else had been hurt, and there hadn't been a crash.
But losing her father... Beverly had taken off the past two weeks off to try to deal with her grief. All last week, she had finished up the last two jobs they had on their docket.
And now, this morning, the day after that terrible freak storm, she had a meeting to try to land what could be a large enough job to cover her expenses for three months.
Beverly rose early as the sun slowly crept up over the horizon. She took a moment to compose herself, taking a few deep breaths and running her fingers through her hair. She was nervous about facing this client, a man she had never met before. Her father's business thrived on word of mouth, and most of their clients hired them for repeat jobs, but this potential client had called after hearing one of their ads on the radio. If she wanted to keep Nails R Us going, she had to prove that she could handle any job thrown at her.
Beverly took a quick shower and debated what to wear. In the end, changed into an outfit that would make both her father proud but also be business appropriate—dark blue jeans, a crisp white blouse, and a gray blazer with silver buttons down the front. She finished off the look with black boots and simple jewelry.
Normally, she dressed in a navy blue skirt suit for business meetings with her father, but she could hardly bring herself to even look at that outfit right now. Her fingers did brush against the material, though, and a wave of sadness washed over her. How many meetings had she worn that suit to with her father?
Back in the bathroom again, she took a deep breath as she looked in the mirror, her green eyes still puffy from lack of sleep and grief. Taking a few more moments to compose herself, shethen carefully applied her makeup, making sure not to apply too much since this meeting was strictly professional. Puffy eyes would hardly make a good first impression.
Her father had taught her to always come prepared for business, so she grabbed her portfolio from on top of her dresser before heading to the kitchen for breakfast. Her stomach was too tight for anything more than coffee and toast, but still, it was something.
As soon as she finished eating, she grabbed her keys and headed out the door.
The sky was an angry gray that matched how she felt inside, but she pushed forward. As Beverly walked down the street to her car, the wind picked up and blew strands of her strawberry blond hair across her face. She picked up her pace, hurried inside her car, and programmed the address into her GPS.
As soon as Beverly arrived at the meeting site, she could already feel tension in the air from all who were gathered there. She shook hands with those around her and nodded politely while studying each person. They all seemed to work for the company, and none of them knew she would be coming.
Confused, she asked to be brought to the boss. An older gentleman strolled forward. He gave her a kind smile.
"Hello, I am Mr. Davis," he said. "I'm the owner of the property. You are..."
"I'm Beverly Young."
"Ah, yes. Nails R Us, is that right?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. I spoke with a..."
"Brandon," she supplied.
"Yes, a Brandon Young. Where is? I hoped to meet the one who would be doing the construction work, not his secretary. Why are you here?"
She blinked a few times. "Ah, sir, I'm afraid to say..."
"He's too busy to come in, hmm? Well, that isn't a good sign. I can't abide people who can't be bothered meet their employers." He tsked with his tongue.