Lynnia (6 page)

Dario

“Mick. Mick!” Dario yelled.

A couple guys turned at the sound of his raised voice. He wasn’t one that would usually yell, but the older guy didn’t seem to want to hear anything outside of the machine that he was using.

“Neal, go let Mick know that he’s using the wrong machine. The client doesn’t want things to be as clean cut as we’ve done on past jobs. They say the owner wants some imperfections in this one. He can play with the joystick on one of the other machines.”

Neal nodded his head and jogged over to the older guy that Dario had been working with for the last eight years. Mick was one of the first guys to step up and show Dario the ropes. In the beginning of his taking on the title of foreman, he’d been worried that his mentor would have an issue taking orders from one that not only was younger than him, but one that he’d taught just about everything he knew. Moving on from the section of their jobsite that had the least work done,

Dario took a look around at what had been completed. The office space had some final touches that needed to be completed before inspection. There were touch ups and slight repairs, but it was finished, for the most part. The clients and the owners would be stopping by in the morning to do a walkthrough. His goal was always the same with every job. One area completed for review within a quarter of the agreed upon time. The client gets to see a portion of what the final job would look like and provide feedback so corrections could be made before the final product. He’d been working as foreman for almost two years and refused to miss a deadline that he implemented even if his head wasn’t on the job. It was something that had been proven time and time again over the last week.

“Anderson? Hey, D.? Will you hold on a sec?” Harry, self appointed chief of the crew, called after him.

He pulled his helmet off and stuck it under his arm. The curls of his brown hair flopped into his face before he smoothed them back. The man looked like he was concerned about something which put Dario on high alert.

“What’s going on Harry? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look worried, my man. Dude, what’s up?”

Harry ran his hand over his head again and took a deep breath. The helmet was perched on his side. Did dude actually look nervous?

“Did you take a good look at what’s going on in that room?”

Harry looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but where he was standing. They’d had disagreements in the past but they never really had a heated moment. Dario didn’t understand what was causing the man to act the way he was.

“I need you to come back this way with me. Remember, don’t shoot the messenger. I was just the one to take notice. I’m not implying anything here either.”

“Harry, stop. Whatever it is, it’ll be taken care of. What’s up?”

Dario followed him back to the other room and took a look at the flooring and how warped it looked in one corner. One of two things was going on with that area. Either the flooring came in warped and damaged, or, the one he hoped beyond hope that it wasn’t, there was water damage in that area. He ran a hand over his face as he looked at the issue that he missed the first time around then to the man he was grooming to be his successor.

“What am I seeing here, Harry? How long have I not seen it? Why didn’t the team catch this? Am I going to have to fire someone for being lazy?”

“That’s a lot of questions, Boss … D. I’m thinking it’s the flooring since it’s centrally located and affects only the two pieces. I only caught it last night cause I was doing the walkthrough you asked of me. Johnnie and Carter were the guys that headed up the team. I don’t know about the firing bit and alls, but they each signed off on it.”

Harry looked reluctant to report two of his teammates. That reaction is one of the reasons that Dario decided to take the man aside and work directly with him. His own mentor did the same to him. Mr. Watson always told him he needed to keep an eye out for the next person to pass on the knowledge that was imparted to him. Looking at the flooring again, he knew he was going to have to reprimand the two team leads. One might have to be fired because this would be his third offense. Dario was a firm believer in the company’s three strikes policy.

“I’ll have a talk with Johnnie and Carter about Palmer Construction’s policies and the standard that we expect. I’m thinking about Mr. Palmer, the acquisition team, and the client stopping in tomorrow.”

“Boss … D, we can’t have them coming in here with this work representing us. I know you gots things that you’ve been dealing with and all, but I need your head in the game. You’ve been that one that everyone looks up to. You have to bring your ‘a’ game each and every day. There are so many here waiting for you to slip up. Do we have time to get this fixed and finished?”

The nervous way Harry was reacting would be comical if they weren’t dealing with such a serious situation. Dealing with a young man that was newer to the company and the position, was a process. The twenty-three year old had proven himself on more than one occasion and was proving Dario right, once again. He’d made the right choice bringing the Justin Bieber look alike on to the team. Most guys would’ve walked by and allowed the mistake to just be. All of them could’ve been out of work if the client was to roll through here and see such an obvious mistake, to him it was obvious. Dario should’ve caught it. He shook his head and grabbed the back of his neck. Taking a deep breath, he handed the issue back to Harry to see what he came up with.

“Harry, you tell me. You’ve been working with me for a while now. Tell me what you think. Do we have time to fix what I allowed to happen because I wasn’t giving this place my full attention?”

Harry looked around then at his watch before taking in the damage that would be missed by an untrained eye, but Dario suspected the client would have an inspector with them. I was waiting for him to ask me the most important question of all.

“The real question is do we have the time to make sure the job that we present is our best. We can’t have the client question ours or the company’s integrity. If the guys are willing, then we will be able to give the client what they asked for. Will Mr. Palmer and the team approve overtime if necessary?”

Dario smiled as he looked at his friend and the next foreman to fill his shoes when he moved on from this position. He asked the question that needed to be asked. The team that worked on the flooring was in a different area of the building. Pulling them back to redo this one space for the presentation would cause them to be behind on the other part of the project. It would be the wise choice to make sure the company was okay with them working overtime so the company could put their best foot forward.

“It’s just about break time. We can send out a mass text and let everyone know that there will be overtime available if they’re interested.”

Three of the guys appeared next to Harry before Dario could finish his statement.

“Food and overtime are the secret to get this crowd’s attention. I know that’s the only time y’all can hear is when someone says food is on the way or there’s a chance for extra pay.”

Neal, one of the only Asian, actually Japanese-Americans, on the team was smiling as Tyson and Mick nodded in agreement with him. Tyson was the ladies man of their group. He tended to be the one doing the catcalling and bedding of the available females that crossed their paths. That jackass didn’t know how to turn the shit off.

“Hey D, you know it’s all good with me. I’m ready when you need me. I can talk to a couple other guys. We’re getting ready to get some eats right quick. Y’all down?”

They all looked Dario, waiting to see what his response would be. When they were in project mode, Dario usually stuck around the area and brought his lunch. He was so out of it that he hadn’t even packed a lunch that morning. Just as he was getting ready to let the guys know that he would meet them wherever they were going, he saw one of the new administrative leads at the Palmer Construction office.

A person could usually tell when one of the office personnel was in the area. They didn’t dress to be on a construction site. The clothing they wore was too corporate to be around cement, wood, nails and sweaty guys. This woman apparently had a bit of an idea of what she was getting herself into. The pink hard hat that she wore with the coveralls and boots were a welcome surprise. The only reason he knew she wasn’t one his new hires was the fact that he recognized the matching pink clipboard in her hand.

“D, who is that? Even in those coveralls, I can see the tight ass body she’s rocking,” Tyson spoke the words as an aside to him directly, but all of the guys heard him.

“That’s hotness, right there.”

All of the guys looked at the whitest white guy of the group and all laughed. There was no way those words would sound right coming out of Harry’s country boy mouth. Paulette was about a foot away by the time the guys pulled themselves together.

“Hello, Mr. Anderson, Sir. I was requested to come down and go over some checks and balances with you. I’m sorry. Do you mind if I just walk around for a bit? It’s the first time I’ve been on a construction site and I’m actually kind of excited they asked me to come down.”

Her hazel eyes caught the sun, which made them look like they sparkled as a smile spread across her face.

“Sure. I don’t mind at all. I’ll have one of the guys …”

Tyson was speaking before Dario could turn to initiate a worker for the task. Ty was probably the last guy that he would’ve asked to do this. The man stood a good foot and a half taller than her. His chocolate brown head was covered with a wet towel to keep some of the sun away. He looked like he should be on the football field and not a construction site. His charismatic ways and smile rounded out the package to get the ladies to drop their drawers.