Dream

Chapter 16

It had been a few weeks since she had seen Zebadiah and she wasn't sure if he was keeping his distance on purpose or if he was busy with business matters. Somehow, she felt it was the latter because he didn't strike Lucy as the type that would shy away from an uncomfortable situation.

Thomas's baby girl came two weeks early in the middle of July. Lucy was pleased to hear the news, and Thomas had sent her a photo. She knew she wouldn't be welcomed to see the baby in person, and she tried her hardest not to be disappointed by it.

He had been gone for only a week and in that short time the LeClair project had turned into a nightmare. Thomas's assistant foreman, Steve, had taken over management of the site while Thomas spent some time at home with the new baby, and Steve had no interest in listening to the suggestions that Lucy had made to Thomas at the beginning of the project. He had decided that he was going to make his own mark and impress the big boss by speeding up the progress of the work and making sure that they were ahead of schedule. He didn't particularly care that corners were being cut either.

Lucy was between a rock and a hard place. She could call Thomas and tell him what was going on and in the process, alienate Hope more because she would see it as Lucy being jealous and unable to let Thomas spend time with her and the new baby. On the other hand, when Thomas returned and realized the many accidents that were occurring and the corners that had been cut he would be mad that she hadn't called to tell him

Lucy heard a loud crash and glass breaking on the floor above her and cringed at the words that she heard ringing around the house. The workmen had been in the study installing some of the HVAC duct work, and she had a feeling that they had broken the glass on the front of one of the enclosed bookcases. The glass was original to the house and irreplaceable.

Her instinct was to run up there and stop them and had she been anyone but herself she would have. She had already tried to intercede a few times to keep unnecessary mistakes from happening, but she had been told to shut her mouth and stay out of their way or she would find herself without a job. Lucy wasn't sure if Steve could fire her, but she figured if she at least kept an eye on things she could tell Thomas all that had been done incorrectly, and she knew for a fact some of the mistakes were costly.

There was another crash and more foul language as Lucy cringed.

"What the hell was that!" Zebadiah asked from the foyer. Lucy had finished with the drawing room and had moved across the hall to the dining room. The beautiful wainscoting had all been painted white many times and the thick paint was proving difficult to remove.

"My guess is it's the glass doors to the cabinets in your study," Lucy said in a clam voice as she looked over her shoulder. It was pouring rain outside and he hadn't taken the time with a rain coat or umbrella, and she couldn't help but enjoy that way his white dress shirt was plastered against his large shoulders and arms.

"And you're just sitting there, letting them break all of that historic glass?"

"I tired to stop them earlier, I was basically told to shut up or get out. I figured if I stayed I would at least know what they screwed up so that it could be fixed." She shrugged.

"And the site, it's a mess out there, there is litter and sawdust everywhere, and who moved the port-a-lets so that they're the first thing you see?"

The sound of air compressor and pneumatic nail gun  suddenly started up and Lucy cringed at the noise.

"Where is Thomas?" Zebadiah demanded as he started for the stairs.

"He's on vacation, his wife had the baby, he's only been gone a week," Lucy defended him, and Zebadiah turned around on the bottom step to look at her as she yelled over the noise. "He put Steve in charge."