Hearts of Steel by Nancy Loyan

Author:Nancy Loyan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, contemporary
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2012-10-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Rebuilding the melt shop at Peterson’s main plant was to take longer than expected. Quade was already behind on a job that he had just begun. He was hoping that today’s meeting would settle some major issues so he could plan a schedule to visit the other plants. He felt strangely out of place standing in his old office dressed in a glen-plaid suit and calfskin loafers. Randy had the blueprints for the new melt shop spread out over his desk. They were reviewing changes prior to a meeting with the structural engineer and architect. Randy kept making faces and inspecting Quade’s “executive” attire. For the first time, Quade felt uncomfortable in his old office and in the Pittsburgh plant.

“That should do it,” Quade remarked with relief after they marked a set of changes on the blueprint. He hoped these were the final changes.

“About time.” Randy sighed.

Randy perched on the corner of his desk surveying Quade.

“So tell me, good buddy, how does it feel hitting the big time?” Randy asked.

“What are you saying?” Quade stroked his chin while meeting his friend’s gaze.

“You know … how does it feel having a big office at corporate, an executive position, serious money, perks, and a boss who has the hots for you?” Randy asked, scratching his head.

“Jesse?”

“This must be pretty serious when Ms. Peterson is now called Jesse.” Randy chuckled.

“She’s the boss … and … a … friend,” Quade stammered. He didn’t know what to call her.

“Hey, you should’ve seen her when the melt shop blew. She was a basket case and it wasn’t because of the plant. Her only concern was you,” Randy explained.

“Really?” Quade remembered how seeing Jesse’s face after the crisis had given him a new lease on life.

“Earth to Quade,” Randy mused. “I also heard that you both had a first date.”

“Where do you hear these things?”

“Peterson’s like a small town and I have good ears,” Randy joked.

“For your information, it wasn’t a date. We just went out for Chinese.” Quade became defensive. It wasn’t a date, he had assured himself.

“I guess that depends on what you want to call it.”

Quade sighed. “Randy, we’ve been friends for years. You know that there can be no one else after … Emily.”

“And why the hell not?”

“You don’t understand. You have a wife and two children.”

“I do understand, Quade. Emily is dead. Rest in peace. You’re not. You’re not yet forty. You have a long life ahead, too long to spend alone.”

• • •

The conversation with Randy this morning didn’t help. Quade had to admit that he had been thinking a great deal about Jessica lately. Why, then, was it so difficult letting go of Emily? After the melt shop explosion, he thought of her as a distant memory. Yet, when he was with Jesse guilt set in as if he were cheating on her. Emily was dead and she wasn’t coming back. As Randy admonished, he was still young enough and did have a life to lead. Randy was right.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.