"Keith, come give your mama a hand, won't you?" I heard my mom call from the porch. She was inside making dinner while my dad and I had literally just finished with the horses' hooves. We'd been out here for a while so I was glad I was done. It was sweaty work, too.
"Go on before she gets impatient," my dad shooed me off. "I'll finish cleaning this up," I trudged myself inside. Cooking was not my forte, but whatever.
"Just wash up first, I need some potatoes peeled while I work on the meat." she seasoned whatever was sitting in the pan and I went over to the sink in a huff. I had been here since I got out of work at 3:30, now it was almost 7 and I was exhausted. "You know we appreciate you helpin',"
"I know, Ma," I yawned. "I've just been tired. The new project starts tomorrow,"
"Are you anxious?" I shook my head as a first response.
"'Course he's not anxious, Lucy. This's what we raised him for, hard work." My dad patted me on the back and sat down at the table. I gave a half-smile, acknowledging what he said, but in all honesty, I was way more nervous than I let on.
A lot, a lot, was riding on this job and I just wanted it to go well. On top of that, Leo and I were getting closer, more serious. We were seeing each other every other day and talking more than I had ever talked to anyone. I really, really enjoyed my time with him, but I was worried about the future and how it would affect my career. I liked Leo, a little too much, but I also liked my job.
"It'll be alright. You're a smart boy, Keith. You're going to do a good job,"
"Thank you, Ma," she nodded, kissed me on the cheek, and we finished making dinner.
--
"Hey, Keith, good morning," I heard from the doorway. It was a coworker of mine, Daniel. He was a good guy and I had come to consider him a friend. He was fun and a good worker.
"Morning," I greeted him. I was going over the plan for the job and making a few notes on how I wanted things to go. I got here early to do it, but Leo came by to see me before his classes so I was sidetracked.
"Ready for this?"
"Yeah, it'll be fine, I think," I rolled the plan back up and stood to finally greet Dan the proper way.
"I think so, too. You're already a great supervisor!" Daniel walked me out of the room. "Plus, you know how to delegate and follow through with it. Don't stress so much about it." Daniel's words reassured me much more than he could have thought. He was right, anyway. I had been doing this job for years now and knew what I was doing. I took a deep breath and smiled, here we go.
"Alright, can I have everyone come over to me for a second?" I called out. Everyone stood in front of me with their hard hats and clothes dirty from the day before. Around us stood a field that had just begun to be cleared and machinery that looked like giants. The project was luxury condos, so it was long.
"As you guys know, I am going to head this project and see it through to completion. Nothing is really changing, honestly, I just want everyone to continue to check in with me and stay on task. We have water where the admin office is, and I'll be here all day if there are questions." My voice boomed, carried so far the birds down the road could hear my instructions.
With that, though, I let everyone get to work. I wasn't above physical labor, in fact, I loved doing it, so I found myself helping with some bush clearing for a couple of hours and some ground leveling for a few more before I took my break. By then, though, it was almost 5 and I would have to start clean-up. Still, I couldn't help but call Leo. He was done with classes for the day so I was excited to talk to him.
Me: Hey, you okay for a call?
Within moments I saw Leo's smiling face pop onto my screen, a selfie he had taken the other day and inserted in after a small fit he had over my phone being so boring.
"Hi!" he yelled into the phone.
"Hello, how are you?" I looked down with a smile, like an idiot.
"I'm good! How is the first day with the project?"
"It's going well so far. We just broke ground, that's all,"
"Hmm, don't know what that means, but good job!" I chuckled.
"You're a cute one,"
"I know," I could envision his tongue being stuck out then his face slowly forming into a smile. "How is your day so far?"
"It's good. Do you want to get some dinner? We can talk about everything then!" I asked. He nodded and confirmed to meet up around 6:30. The rest of the shift went swiftly and smoothly. All of my guys were punctual with the end of clean-up and I finished whatever paperwork I needed to on time, too. Things went well on the first day.
"Are you ready to go?" Daniel said from the door. He stood there with a sweaty smile. "I wanted to walk out with you and talk!"
"Oh, yeah, I'm ready. You didn't have to wait, though," I chuckled nervously. Dan intimidated me sometimes because of how friendly he actually was. It was a comforting thing of his, but for some reason, it made me really anxious.
"That's alright! Did you like how it went today?" We began walking to our cars which weren't parked too far away.
"Yeah, I really appreciated your words this morning, too. Thanks," I smiled at him. Dan gave me a thumbs up and stopped at his car. He placed his stuff in his truck and walked back around to where I stood.
"I'm always here for you! As I said, you're a good supervisor. Well, the boss now, I guess. I'll see you tomorrow!" Daniel gave me a couple of pats on the shoulder and left me. I walked back to my own car and drove home to change. When I pulled into my parking spot, though, I saw Leo's car. I smiled but noticed his head was down and he looked like he was crying.
"Leo?!" I yelled. I got out of my car hastily. I didn't know what was wrong and wanted to know immediately. I felt like I had to do something. I ran up to his window and knocked softly, trying not to scare him. It didn't work and he jumped a little before turning to me. "Leo, what happened?" I asked. He got out of the car and practically jumped into my arms.
"K-Keith," he hiccupped. Leo tried to say more, but he was a wreck. He was bawling, shaking, and it sounded like he couldn't breathe. I didn't think he needed to even try to speak at this point. I lifted him, wrapped his legs around my back, and brought him inside. I was surprised at my actions, as this was a really intimate position, but I felt like I needed to take care of Leo. I was beginning to feel sick to my stomach just hearing him like this.
When I finally got inside, I brought him right to my bed and got a towel to wipe his eyes. I wasn't sure what happened, I don't even know when he started crying. I just knew that I needed to do something. So, I laid next to him. Almost immediately, Leo clung to me and placed his head on my chest. I rubbed his back, pushing my hand under his shirt and pulling him closer to me. He was so warm and smooth, soft, too.
"Breathe," I whispered. "You'll be okay," I kissed the top of Leo's head and he let out a shaky, deep breath. I continued to hold him and waited for him to finish. It took some time, I was beginning to get tired, but finally, he stopped and I heard his breath steady. He had fallen asleep for sure, right on top of me, too. I didn't mind, so long as he was okay.