Family Ties

Part 33

"Dad?" Raymond called opening the front door. He'd decided to check in on him since he had most of the afternoon free.

"Out here." He heard his father call from the garage. Walking through the connecting door, he stepped into the double garage that was now filled with wood and tools.

"Dad, what are you building out here?" He frowned looking at the tools in front of him.

"I'm building a boat. Well, Damon and I are building it together." He unrolled the schematics for Raymond to look at. "See? I've got a guy down the road who's done this before and is willing to help out."

"A boat. You and Damon? You're doing this to get out of family gatherings, aren't you?" He accused his dad, knowing how he and Damon would use any excuse to start one of their hair-brained ideas. For two highly intelligent men, they were children at heart, he thought smiling.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, we're only building a small fishing boat. It will be done by next week." He said shrugging his shoulders.

"You can lie to anyone else and get away with it Dad, but you can't lie to me. You trained me, remember?" He reminded his father with a broad smile. "You and Pops are planning something and this boat is your ticket out."

"Stop being so nosy. It's just two pals working on a project... Well, and maybe to get Gillie out of our hair." He admitted ruefully. "She's been on the warpath the past few weeks trying to derail our fishing trip."

I can't believe you're all afraid of her! It's one tiny woman." He laughed.

"I dare you to tell her that to her face." He pointed his finger at Raymond, before picking up a chisel. "Why are you here anyway? The bean is only due to visit next week, isn't it?"

"Okay, you got me there." He had to admit. Nobody in the family ever crossed Gillie in case they incur her wrath, which was always a tense experience.

"I've only come to see how you're doing." He said poking about the tools.

"It looks like you're avoiding something or someone, now you've come poking around in my garage." He leaned back against the workbench to look at Raymond. "I thought you and the doctor were hitting it off?"

"Great, you too!" He threw his hands in the air. He shouldn't be surprised really, there were very few secrets between them, so everybody got over-involved in each other's lives.

"So you don't like the doctor then?" He frowned, unsure of what was going on. He could barely keep up with the women that Gillie tried to set him up with, let alone the temperamental love life of his son.

"No, he's fine, a great guy, but I think we're meant to be friends, though."  Two great guys who wanted to date him, he thought in disbelief. Things like this never happened to him, he almost laughed. But the possibility of getting back together with Jackson had blocked everything else out of his mind. There was only one person who could get his goat and still be oblivious.

"So, what you're trying to say is that you like the CEO?" He got a call from Kelley earlier laying out the whole story. It seemed like she was hell-bent on bringing the two together, so to keep the peace, he agreed. How Damon got any peace with his rambunctious family around, was beyond him.

"They got to you too, didn't they?" He accused over his shoulder, as his father pushed him from behind out of the garage, grumbling about peace and quiet.

--

On the other side of the city, Jackson had his apron on, whistling and smiling as he waited on tables. Asuka sat and watched him for a while, shaking her head in disbelief. The restaurant seemed to be bursting at its seams as every table was occupied and a few people milled about outside waiting to get a table. Before having Jackson around was good for business, as everybody loved his good looks and sense of humour, but now that he was almost bursting with happiness, nearly singing as he worked, he had people streaming in.

If they wanted eye candy and a cheeky smile, then who was she to stop them? It did her bank balance no harm she thought, smiling.

"Hey, Jack." She called when he stopped to stock up the fridge. "Take a break already. You're making the rest of us look bad."

"Whatever you say, boss." He saluted her with a grin. Nothing could take the wind away from under him. He'd wanted to call Raymond the first night but didn't want to seem too desperate, so he waited a reasonable few days, only texting him once. But playing it cool and staying cool weren't the same thing.

If he had his way, things would be moving a lot faster than they currently were, but for now, he had to be content with the snail's pace at which things were going.

"Are you hiding out or making time fly by?" She poked him.

"Can't a guy help a friend out? Why does there always have to be an ulterior motive?" He looked hurt at the words.

"Oh stop making it as if I'm the bad guy. I haven't had an update on the Raymond saga, other than your last conversation went better than the others."

"It did, and to thank you for letting me work here, I've come up with a better plan for your shop!" He looked excitedly at her. "You're going to love it! I've been working on the idea since I first started here."

"No, I like the shop the way it is, so you can keep your franchise ideas." There was no way she was going to allow Jackson to commandeer her shop and turn it into one of his mega stores.

"Think about it." He said, untying the apron and handing it to her. "I think enough time has passed for me to go and see him now." His lopsided grin was back in place as he moved toward the door.