This unexpectedly gave Mickey and me the whole day to be together.
But it was me who suggested we do it at my place and we do it naked.
I did not have to twist Mickey’s arm.
“Freaky, like we’re floating,” he muttered, his hand sliding soothingly up and down my side through the warm water.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” I asked.
“That Cameron guy knew what he was doin’,” he replied.
He did, which caused me some dejection because everything was pointing to the hopeful, marvelous fact that we were going to have a future together.
But that meant I’d lose Cliff Blue and I loved Cliff Blue.
However, I loved Mickey more than my house so I’d let it go.
“Thanks for trying with my girl,” Mickey said in my ear, his hand gliding through the water along my belly then back to curve again at my side.
“I’m not surprised she didn’t open up upon me sharing an interest in her makeup usage and bare her soul to me. It’ll take time. It’s just a bummer I started my work right when she was going back to her mom.”
“Maybe Rhiannon’ll get in there.”
“Maybe she will.”
And I hoped she would. If Rhiannon was pulling herself together, three adults who loved Aisling and were looking after her were far better than one, that one being a father who loved her but he was also a guy who was uncertain what he was doing.
“Got somethin’ to talk to you about,” Mickey announced.
I stared out at the day, which didn’t know whether to be gray or sunny so it treated us to both at thirty to forty-five minute intervals (at that moment, it was gray).
He sounded serious. Relaxed but serious.
And I didn’t know what could come from Mickey Donovan when he was relaxed but serious.
Realizing I hadn’t said anything, I invited, “Go for it.”
“Last week, Mom and Dad called,” he told me.
This was not a huge revelation. He spoke of his parents often. They had a great relationship. They doted on their grandchildren. Even from far away, they liked to be in the know about their son and his kids, but they weren’t intrusive. However, they did contact Mickey regularly, always when he had his kids and in the evenings so they had a chance to talk to everyone.
“Okay,” I prompted, wondering if he’d told them about me and hoping he had, he’d shared it was serious and going somewhere and now they wanted to come up and meet me.
Then I didn’t hope that because that meant me meeting them and Mickey was so close to them, I’d need to make a good impression. And even if they were also rolling in it, I worried that the heiress next door might not go over too great.
“Told Dad about my plans,” Mickey said into my thoughts.
“Your plans?” I asked.
“Quittin’ Ralph, goin’ into business for myself.”
“Oh,” I mumbled.
“He’s excited about it.”
I smiled at the view. “He would be. It’s exciting.”
“He wants to invest.”
I twisted my neck to look up at him and Mickey adjusted so he could look down at me.
“Really?” I asked.
“Yep,” he answered.
“I…that…” I shook my head slightly. “What do you think of that?”
“Dad lived here near on his whole life too, that bein’ ‘near on’ only because he moved to Florida. Still knows practically the whole town. Him and Mom are friendly, they come back, see people, while they’re gone, they stay in touch. They know Ralph’s reputation and not just from me bitchin’ about workin’ for him for the last fifteen years.”
“Okay,” I said when he stopped talking.
“What I’m sayin’ is, he’s heard folks complaining about Ralph too. He thinks, if I go into business, I’ll hit faster than I thought I would.”
“That’s great,” I remarked.
“He’s also still a member of the Club. He knows he can get them to entertain a bid from me but he thinks he could even get them to consider me as the contractor for that whole project. Their golf course development.”
I felt elated.
Then I deflated.
“I hesitate to mention this, but Boston Stone is also a member of that Club,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, babe, but that Club is about a lot of things and legacy is a big one. They might be racist and Stone’s family may have been in Magdalene awhile, but the Donovans have lived in this town for six generations.”
“That didn’t stop him from getting whatever he presented to the town council signed,” I noted.
“I seriously doubt he shared that whatever-that-was was about him losin’ out against me for you. If he did, they would have laughed in his face.”
This was likely correct.
Mickey kept going, “Not sure I could start out by takin’ on a huge project like that. But I figure I could do some sub-contracting. Roofs on those houses at least. Maybe other shit. You know it wouldn’t be hard for me to put together a crew. If I quit Ralph sooner rather than later, get a few jobs, start to establish a reputation, that could happen.”
I began to get excited again.
“That would be wonderful,” I shared quietly and he grinned.
“Yeah, it would.”
“Are you…okay with taking your dad’s money?” I asked carefully.
“As an investor, yeah,” he replied. “He started by sayin’ he’d give me the rest of my inheritance early, cash flat out that he says is mine. Said he wouldn’t mind seein’ me do something with it, enjoy it while he was still alive. To me, it felt like a handout so I refused. An investment, he has a stake in the company, we arrange it so I can buy him out when I can afford it, that might work.”
I twisted so I was facing him more fully. “What does this mean?”
“Means I got the cake in the bank to quit and get going. You filed the papers. And thank you for that, baby,” he finished softly, giving me a sweet, easy grin.
“You’re welcome, Mickey.” I gave him what I hoped was a sweet, easy grin back, knowing he didn’t have to thank me. I’d go to the end of the earth for him.
His arms squeezed before he continued, “We got the insurance stuff mostly sorted. Just need the company officially founded, decide on which insurance we’re going with. Get letterhead. Business cards. Payroll software. Employee handbook. Get the word out for hires. Line up jobs. Pull together my crew. It’s a lot of work but if I can quit and see to it with cake in the bank to cover my family, that shit’d go a lot faster.”