On The Rocks

I knew the business well enough. I’d been riding in this old truck to construction sites with him since I was old enough to walk. By the time I was fourteen, I was working every summer with my dad, laying sheetrock, pouring concrete, and learning custom carpentry from him. It never seemed odd to me… being a girl and doing a man’s job. I was a natural at it, and there wasn’t anything I couldn’t build or repair as long as it had a nail, screw, or joint holding it together.

I’ve struggled the last three years, barely making ends meet. At first, I thought everything would be okay. Most of my dad’s work was on the commercial side, and some of his repeat customers didn’t have a qualm with hiring me whenever they had new projects. They had seen my work over the years and felt I was trustworthy. However, I wasn’t succeeding very well in landing new business. No doubt… the fact that I’m female and only twenty-three years old is a limiting factor. And it doesn’t seem to make a damn bit of difference that I have my general contractor’s license and can do the same quality work as others. I’m constantly struggling uphill to prove myself day in and day out.

Yes, there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t consider closing down Ward Construction and heading back to school to finish my degree in early childhood education. While being a teacher was my first love and passion, I have an equal passion for building things. I’m just not convinced that I can be very good at it in the long run.

A horn honks beside me, and I turn my head to look out the window. Alyssa is sitting there in her own Ford truck, although it’s a tad bit newer than mine is. She shoots me a lopsided grin and a cutsie wave. I return her smile and get out of my vehicle.

Alyssa greets me with a strong hug, which says a lot because she’s the tiniest thing. Barely topping five foot, she’s waif-like and delicate. She wears her light brown hair in a super-short pixie cut that makes her large brown eyes pop against her fair skin. She’s classically beautiful, sinfully rich, and the most down-to-earth, unassuming person you will ever meet in your life.

It doesn’t matter that she inherited millions upon her twenty-first birthday, compliments of her being pharmaceutical royalty. Her grandfather founded a small drug company in the fifties that now has a position securely on the Fortune 500.

Alyssa spent her summers on the Outer Banks with her socialite mother, while her absentee father stayed in New York perpetuating the family’s billions. She preferred to spend her nights over at my house or Casey’s, and shunned the designer clothes and fancy sports cars her parents bought her. She also shunned their desire for her to attend an Ivy League school, instead shocking the family by enrolling at UNC with Casey and me.

Out of the three of us, she was the only one to graduate. Casey and I both dropped out. But rather than taking a seat on the family throne, she once again thumbed her nose and moved to Nags Head permanently, where she promptly put her inheritance to work by opening the islands’ only no-kill animal shelter, simply called The Haven. She funds it entirely and works tirelessly helping homeless and abused animals have a second chance at life.

Alyssa has a halo permanently mounted over her head, and I only hope God remembers I try to live up to her impossible goodness when I’m knocking on Heaven’s door.

“Ready for the big day?” she asks as she loops her arm through mine, and we walk through the front door of the restaurant.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I tell her, immediately spotting Casey at our regular table as soon as we enter.

I slide into the booth next to Casey. We fist bump, and then wiggle our fingers at each other. It’s our thing… ever since we were six years old. Alyssa sits opposite of us and pours herself a cup of coffee from the waiting carafe and empty mug sitting before her. Our waitress, Babs McAlvee, a permanent fixture here since we were kids, shoots us a wave and yells, “I’ll have your grub up in a flash.”

Yes, we come here so much… that the order was pretty much put in for us as soon as we arrived, no questions needed to be asked as to what we wanted.

I pause to rake my gaze over Casey.

“You look different today,” I muse. “What could it be?”