“No problem. You go get this job for us, okay? You got this. I know it.”

“I know.” This time it was Trevor who winked at Blake. He would do this. He would land this job, and they would keep Rock Solid afloat. They would thrive and Trevor would stay clean. He’d make everything up to them, and maybe even deserve the second chance he’d been given.

***

Simon Malone opened and closed his right hand over and over again. It was stiff, though it always was now. He didn’t have all the feeling in it that he should, though he had more than he used to.

It wasn’t enough. The stiffness, the lack of feeling, the lack of control wouldn’t work for him. Couldn’t be a very good surgeon if your hand didn’t work properly. He couldn’t be a surgeon at all, not anymore. Still, Simon opened and closed his hand as though the simple exercise would suddenly change things. As though the feeling would suddenly come back, and the shaking wouldn’t be a problem. Like he would be the man he used to be, the decorated cardio-thoracic surgeon with the magic hands.

Before he could start his day too pissy, Simon pushed out of his kitchen chair and went to fill up his glass of orange juice. If he didn’t do something to take his mind off his lack of career, there would be no coming back from his bad mood. He’d bite the head off of the construction worker when he arrived, which would screw up his plans for today of figuring out who could help him remodel the house the way he wanted. It gave him something to do, planning this remodel, and it wasn’t like he could do the work himself.

Who was he kidding, though? Simon was a miserable bastard, and regardless of getting his mind off his hand, he’d be an asshole to whoever came to the door.

He poured his drink and stood in the kitchen, gulping it down in quick swallows.

Once it was finished, Simon washed the glass. As he set it on the rack to dry, the doorbell rang.

Finally.

He glanced at his watch and then went to the door. “You’re late.” Five minutes, but still.

“I’m sorry about that. It’s been a while since I’ve come out this way. The driveway is a little overgrown and I missed it.” The brown-haired man ran a hand through his hair before holding it out to Simon. He had a tattoo from elbow to wrist on his right arm—a skull and something else. Simon would never understand that, marking your body that way. He had a dark brown beard that matched his hair. It wasn’t thick, just a few days worth of growth, neatly trimmed, and damned if he didn’t have a stud in his bottom lip. Ridiculous. “I’m Trevor Dixon from Rock Solid Construction. I appreciate you giving us a chance to come out here and see what you need done. I think you’ll find we’re the right people for the job.”

Simon couldn’t tell if the man was simply that confident or if he just wanted to come off that way.

They shook hands, and Simon immediately had the most ridiculous thought...  Can he feel it? Can he tell my hand is fucked up just from touching it?

Simon pulled back. It was a crazy thing to think. He knew that. And in most activities, he was fine. Yeah, there was pain, but he could handle that. Every day activities and repairing hearts were two different things.

“If you’ll follow me. The work needs to be done on the main house.” Simon stepped out of the guesthouse and closed the door. “I want a pretty hefty remodel. The upstairs especially. I need a wall knocked out between two of the upstairs rooms to make one. One of the rooms will become a library, so I’ll need shelves on all the walls—”

“A library?” Trevor asked. Simon sensed interest in the construction worker’s voice.

“Yes,” was his only reply. He wanted a medical library. Eventually, he would write a book on the heart.

They made their way to the house. Simon showed the other man around, giving him ideas of everything he wanted done. Walls knocked down here, new walls there. He wanted the layout of the downstairs slightly changed.

Trevor, Simon thought his name was, asked questions here and there. He wrote down close to everything that Simon said.

“Great. This sounds like it’s going to be a beauty when we’re done with it.” Trevor winked at Simon and he realized the man was playing him. He wanted Simon to think he was confident so that Simon would give them the job. He wasn’t stupid, though. Rock Solid wasn’t the only place he called.

“The timeframe might be pushing it a little bit. We’ll need permits. We’ll also have to look into a few contractors we work with on electrical, but I can give you more specifics after I sit down with my co-owner. We’ll draw up some plans and get a quote going for you—shit!”