The Fighter Within. B. Cochrane Clark
stacks that were piled on his desk.
“Sure thing, Jackson. I’ll grab us some coffee. It looks like it’s going to be a long day. Oh, by the way, welcome back.”
*****
Sydney stared at her computer screen, exhausted from the weekend with her sister. Never in her life would she have thought a little sister shopping trip could wear her out so much. Tessa had insisted on going into Missoula to the new bridal shop, which turned into going to four different bridal shops, three different bakeries, and she couldn’t even count how many florists.
By the end of Saturday, Tessa had narrowed the dress selection down to five, and settled on a beautiful three-tiered vanilla almond cake with the best cream cheese frosting Sydney had ever tasted. It was to be decorated in a bright white frosting with scarlet red roses and forest-green ivy swirling around it. To top the cake, she picked out a bride putting shackles on her groom’s ankles. Sydney chuckled to herself at her baby sister’s feisty spitfire sense of humor.
The flowers, on the other hand, seemed like a hopeless task. Tess knew she wanted roses to go with her cake. Other than that, yeah, she had no clue, but she needed to figure it out quick since there were only five weeks left until D-Day. Tess made Sydney agree to go back Friday to make a final decision on the dress so that there was time to have alterations done if needed. This whole wedding thing with her baby sister was going to suck every ounce of energy she had out of her. Luckily for Tess, she loved her dearly and would do anything for her. But stocking up on energy drinks, that she shouldn’t have, and coffee was going to be a must.
“Did you get that permit pulled for the house out on Monrow?” Bill Riley, Sydney’s father and boss, asked Sydney as he came to stand in front of her desk, snapping her back to reality.
“I did, and I’m meeting the inspector out at the job site on Wednesday with the crew to dig the test holes. The builders are faunching at the bit to get started. As soon as we have our portion done, they can get their permits and get started.”
“And what did the inspector say about the job up Willow Road?”
“Passed. We’ve already finished it up, and it’s billed out.”
“Oh, and don’t forget the inspection set up for tomorrow at—”
“Dad!” she hollered, interrupting him, “I’ve got this! I can handle it. If you want me to take this company over, you need to trust me to do my job. I’ve been working with you since I was a little girl, I think I know what needs done. If by chance I do not know how to handle or do something, I will come to you and ask for your help.”
“Okay, okay, I was just checking. I know you can do it, or I wouldn’t have put you in charge. I’m just out of things to do since you are doing most all the work I would be doing.”
“I know you are, but here’s an idea. I’m doing this so that you have more time to do things you want to do at work and more things at home. So why don’t you go and do them, like not in this office, out there in the wide-open spaces,” Sydney said, pointing at the door she hoped he would use to get out of her hair. She loved her dad very much, but it was hard enough with her own mind wandering, she didn’t need any more. Especially from a man who was just bored and didn’t know what to do with his spare time.
“Fine, I will leave you alone. I’m sure your mother has a list a mile long she’s wanting done. I could go see if she needs help. Or maybe I will just peek in on the crew and see if they need anything.” Bill chuckled as he headed out the door.
Turning back to her computer, Sydney started on the stack of paperwork that had piled up while she was helping the crews the week before. Yuck. Office work was not her favorite part of the job, but unfortunately, it was a necessary part of it. She had worked in the office some in high school as an after-school job and then again after she started college. She was just thankful that now she was able to also get out into the field and on the jobs. Running the whole business meant she needed to know all parts of it. Knowing the logistics of what needed to be done and actually doing the work were two different things. She had definitely learned a lot more since she had started going into the field. At first, Sydney got a shit ton of flak from the guys on the crew for being a woman. She quickly remedied that by kicking ass on the jobs and with all the equipment. Perks of having a father who would let you tag along and drive the equipment from a very young age.
Looking up at the clock, Sydney was surprised to see it was well after 4:00 p.m. “Wow, today went quick. I guess that’s a bonus for letting my crap pile up,” Sydney mumbled to herself. Shutting down her system, she cleared off her desk and neatly piled the small stack of work she was not able to complete but was sure, unless she got bombarded, that she could finish up tomorrow.
As she left her office, she ran smack into Ethan Callen. At six foot five and about two hundred and fifty pounds of mostly muscle, it was like running into a brick wall. “Holy shit, Ethan! Where the hell did you come from?” Sydney snapped at him. A little more hostile than she meant, but at this point in her life, surprises were not high up on her list of likes. In fact, she absolutely hated them.
“Whoa, you ran into me, sweet cheeks. What’s your hurry anyway? Have a hot date?” Ethan probed as he eyed Sydney top to bottom and back up. It made Sydney gag inside, something she could not let him see. She was not weak enough to give him the satisfaction of that.
“No, I don’t have a hot date, I’m just getting out of here because I have been here since seven. That’s long enough today. So, if you’ll excuse me, I will see you later,” Sydney managed to choke out without it sounding like she was going to puke on his mud-covered boots.
Pressing her way past him, Sydney thought she was in the clear to bolt when his hand grabbed hold of her forearm, whipping around and smack up against him. “How about you finally let me take you out, then? I promise it will be a night you won’t forget.” Ethan grinned with pride and an ego the size of Canada thinking there was no way she would deny him. Well, at least not again.
“I’m sorry, Ethan, I am not going out with you. I don’t date anyone from work. For that matter, I don’t have time for any man, nor do I want to make time.” Sydney tried to contain her panic and fury; after all, she did have to work with him, but if he did not take his sweaty mitt off her in about two seconds, she was going to have a come apart and he would be picking his Gigantor ass up off the ground. Pulling her arm from his grip, he let her arm slide free.
“Too bad for you, I would be the best you ever had.” A sly and cocky grin crept onto his face as he turned and headed down the hallway and out the back door.
Heading down the hall in the opposite direction, Sydney passed through the front office, said goodnight to the secretary who stayed until six, and wished her a good evening while trying her hardest to look composed while she hurried out the door and to her truck, a 1995 Ford her and her dad had spent countless hours rebuilding and fixing up for her. It was her first truck and was supposed to get her through high school, except she loved it so much there was no way on God’s green earth she would give it up for anything. It was nothing fancy, but with a cherry-red paint job, booming stereo, and four-wheel drive, it was all she needed. Climbing in quickly, she locked her doors as soon as she got her butt in the seat and the door closed. Even though Helena wasn’t huge, it was bigger than she liked and with a lot more traffic; she couldn’t wait to get out of the city and back home to her cabin. As she pulled out of her parking spot and into the thick of it, Sydney screamed at the top of her lungs, with anger and fear. “Why do I let pigs like that bother me?”
Cranking up the radio, she tried to lose herself in the music. She’d had a pretty good day up until that very last minute; she needed to let it go. Letting a couple minutes of shit out of a good day ruin the entire thing was not how she was raised, and she would be damned if she let him have that much control.
After making her way through the city and up and over MacDonald pass, she let the mountains and countryside start to take away her anger. Turning up the mountain road that led to her cabin, she had cooled down some and couldn’t wait to see her pup, who always had a way of making her feel better. As