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This one is alllll plot progression. No steamy bits this time around. Don't worry, it'll happen next time!
Wayne's Journal 20 February 2018, Tuesday 620PM Martha's Building
Saul and I gave notice today. We both gave almost a month. Tammy was floored... and there were some tears, but she was thankful for the amount of time we gave her. I know she and the clinics will be fine.
But this really ratchets up the pressure. I'm scheduled to take my ACE test next week in Redding. So much rides on this now. I mean, I COULD man the front desk at the gym and not be a trainer. But ... no. I couldn't even live with that. I've got to pass this test, and get the certification. And that's all there is to it. Really.
I know I'll get it. My brain just conjures worst case scenarios ... you know, for fun apparently. :-s
Anyway, we're now at the building. Martha has had the key since 9 AM. She, Daniel and Matt have all been here since then. Grayson, Anna and Davis showed up a few minutes ago. Saul is bringing over a crock pot filled with chili that Martha left bubbling on the kitchen counter this morning.
I can see that a lot of preliminary work for the construction has already happened. Matt is wasting no time! There's already a pile of debris building up in the middle of the main room.
Laura and the kids are back at the house, and I'm supposed to go check up on them soon. But I wanted to stop in and let Daniel and Martha know I'm behind them, and lend a little mental support.
Okay, time to head to the house. I need to discuss more wedding stuff with Laura. I can't believe I'm gonna be married in less than a month! :-D
Till next time.
Daniel 22 February 2018, Thursday 1120 AM Martha's Building
It's really happening now.
Matt has subcontracted with a number of locals. And Grayson has stepped up like nobody's business. He grossly undersold his ability with a hammer, and Matt has him heading up any framing work that needs to happen. The way it works is Martha pays Matt to get the work done, any way he sees fit. Matt hires out the guys he needs to do the job, does what he can himself, and pays the guys he hires from the money Martha pays him. That includes Grayson.
Yesterday there were six of them - five guys and a woman named Francis. But right now there are just the five men on his crew. It doesn't sound like a lot, but Matt is working very efficiently and very fast with them. They're all experienced, and they all work hard.
Though ... one of them I wonder about. His name is Eddie. He's a big guy - 6'4", and close to 250 lbs. Slabs of muscle from hard work and what looks to be a hard life. I watched yesterday throughout the day as he eyed Martha, and the woman on the crew.
Then today the lady on the team didn't show for work. All the guys said she quit. Didn't know or didn't say why. Eddie has an opinion though. "Couldn't handle the work." He smiles, the expression unpleasant. "This ain't work for a woman."
I immediately feel a surge of anger but I control it. "Well, that woman has been in the business for a decade - a couple of years longer than you if I remember correctly. And ultimately a woman is paying your check. Keep your outdated opinions to yourself. Otherwise you won't be here tomorrow." I stare him down and his smile slips.
Eddie slowly works his jaw. He stares back, then he finally nods. "Sure."
The whole crew saw the exchange between us, as did Matt. We share a glance and he nods slightly at me. I know Matt has my back on this. Yeah, officially he's the crew's boss, but I can't let bigotry fly around me. Eddie is just lucky Martha didn't hear him.
The crew gets back to work. I turn on a radio, and we get into a sort of rhythm. I feel the tension from earlier melt away, and I happily watch as progress visibly begins to happen on the space. I help here and there as a runner and doing what I can to assist. There's a surprising amount to do for unskilled labor on a job site like this, and my fears about being useless disappear in the first half hour.
A few hours pass. Davis plans to come by around 2PM. He had a partial shift at Healthsport today, and he wanted to hang out with Grayson - even if that meant he'd be put to work. Davis arrives and walks up to him. The thin man is busy ripping old sheetrock off the wall, but must have felt Davis behind him. He turns and gives Davis a big grin. "Hey!" He hugged him quickly. The action is chaste, but is pretty unmistakable. Everyone in the room knows these guys were together.
A few of the crew wear frowns, but they are more confused than upset. It lasts only briefly and they return back to work. But not Eddie. The big man throws down his hammer. "Fucking serious?"
Everyone stops and looks at him. Eddie points at Grayson. "We've got a faggot on the crew?" I honestly expect to see Grayson cower, but that's not what happens. He actually took a step forward and his eyes narrow.
Martha definitely heard that. She was upstairs and she tore around the railing on her way down. But Matt beat her to Eddie.
Matt stepped up and I was right behind him. "You. Get out. You're done."
Eddie glared down at him. "What, you're a faggot too?" The big man folded his arms across his chest and stared down at Matt. "Figures."
Matt steps up, almost toe to toe. "Get. Out. NOW." I have never seen him so angry.
The rest of the crew look on, and Eddie glances around at them. "Y'all are just gonna stand there, knowing what you're workin' with?" They all stare at him, stony faced.
Martha was now right beside Matt. "You heard him." She looks at Eddie, her eyes hard. "Get out of my building."
Eddie sneers. "A Mexican bitch who's playing at business, and faggots." He looks around the room, utter distaste on his face. "This is everything wrong with this country."
I am seconds away from doing something I'll probably regret when Eddie turns to go. "I hope you fucks get what you deserve." He looks over his shoulder at us. "Pretty sure you will." He starts to walk away.
We watch him go, and Grayson follows after to ensure he leaves the property. The thin man returns with a nod a minute later.
Matt blows out a breath. "Wow. I'm sorry." He shakes his head. "I'm going to contact his crew boss. Let him know about our experience with Eddie."
Martha nods. "Not your fault. No way for you to know." She looks around at the remaining four. "If anybody feels like Eddie does about gays, Mexicans, or women, just go." She waits, and the four look at one another, but nobody moves to leave. Martha looks satisfied. "Okay, now that that's settled, anybody have Francis' number? I have a feeling she'd come back now that the bigot is gone."
Half an hour later Francis is back. Martha and Matt speak briefly to her, and sure enough their suspicions were correct. She left because of comments from Eddie.
"I'm paying you for all day." Matt says to Francis. That brings a smile to the woman's face. "Sorry about the trouble. Let me know if you get any more from anybody."
The mood definitely brightens over the next couple of hours. By now it's 5PM, quitting time for the crew. Matt thanks them all for their work, and one of the guys says he'll ask a buddy of his to join the crew. Now that we're a man down that's welcome. "So long as he's not an ass." Matt says. "You saw how we deal with those." The fellow laughs, and assures Matt his friend is a decent guy.
We lock up the building. Martha double checks to ensure everything valuable is locked away inside. She walks to the car, and gets into the passenger seat with a sigh. Matt has already climbed into the back. Davis and Grayson are headed home, and depart with a wave.
I start the drive to the house and look over at Martha. "You all right?"
She nods. "Yeah. Glad the bad apple is gone."
I blow out a breath. "No kidding."
Matt pipes up. "I'm really sorry Martha. Gonna be more careful in the future with the subcontractors. Speaking of which, soon as the new guy gets here tomorrow I'm gonna chat with him and make sure he doesn't have a problem we should know about."
Martha looks back at him and smiles. "Okay. Thanks Matt. And don't worry about it. No harm done."
We ride back home and enter to smell something delicious. Martha had started the crock pot when she left this morning, and now the pork simmering in green sauce smells pretty amazing. Saul and Wayne had gotten home not long ago, and prep the rest of the meal, along with Laura who is pitching in by making a salad.
Soon we're all at the kitchen table, since it's hard for the kids to sit at the higher kitchen island. Invariably the conversation turns toward how the day went. Martha chimes in when Laura asks.
"Everything went well. We had to cut loose a subcontractor today, but other than that it's great." I know Martha is intentionally underplaying the tension on the job site with Eddie. Pretty obvious she doesn't want anybody to worry. Martha smiles at Matt. "Matt's got a handle on it all." She nods at him. "Glad you're here."
Laura grins, and radiates pride in her husband. Matt blushes and nods. "Well, thanks Martha." He picks up his fork. "But you keep feeding me like this, and I might drag out the work a little." He winks at her and Martha shakes her head with a smile.
I look over and Wayne sits there, watching the banter, then he glances at the kids and his sister as they oooo' and ahhh' over the food. His eyes hold both a fondness, and pain. He gets up. "Excuse me a minute. Be right back."
I watch him disappear down the hall. I wait a moment, then I stand. "I'll be back too." I follow him, and I pass the bathroom only to see him standing at the sink with his head down. I double back and poke my head in.
"Hey." I say and he jumps a little.
"Ah ... you scared me." He wipes at his face. "Sorry." He turns back to the sink, and looks in the mirror at me. "Just ... I'm gonna miss them."
I step up behind him and put my arms around his waist. "I know." I kiss the back of his neck and he sighs. "I know you realize this, but they'll be back for the wedding in less than a month."
He laughs. "Yeah. I know." Another sigh. "I know I'm being silly. But ... I don't want them to go at all. I wish they lived here."
"Your sister and Matt have their own lives." I nuzzle his neck and he shivered a little. "But ... yeah, it has been nice having them here." I smile against his skin. "Maybe someday." The wheels also began to turn in my mind ... but I will never even hint as to what I am thinking without knowing for sure if it would work for everyone.
Wayne nods. "Yeah. I know." He inhaled and let out a breath. "Okay. Let's finish dinner."
I walk with him back out to the table and we sit down. Though it's a little noisier than we're used to, conversation is nice. And I find that I agree with Wayne - it really will be a bummer when they leave.
But ... maybe they won't have to stay gone.
We'll see.
Wayne's Journal 02 March 2018, Friday 710 AM Our Place
I took today off work so I can help with the renovations in the building. I'm a bit stunned at how fast it is all coming together. Matt thinks it's going to be finished in another couple of weeks!
Daniel and Davis are in the home office right now, going over their list of equipment they need to purchase for the gym. It's an impressive list, and now I realize why opening a gym costs so damn much. The equipment and machines are expensive!
Speaking of costs ... Davis also threw in another $30,000. Apparently Grayson talked to Randy's uncle about what happened with his nephew. The guy convinced Grayson to submit the police reports to the bank. Essentially, it proves Grayson was being coerced through threat of force and that he was being robbed by Randy.
After some legal action, the courts awarded that money Randy had accumulated in his account to Grayson. After he pre-paid rent for two years on my house, Grayson gave Davis the rest for his portion of the gym. Davis was floored, and refused at first. But Grayson persisted. "Hey. Think of it as a no interest loan." He smiled at Davis. "It'll get a few more machines, or maybe that sauna you wanted." Begrudgingly Davis accepted. Though he had an agreement drawn up to repay the money back to Grayson.
That boosts Davis' stake in the gym up to 30%. At that point, he could make a living off of the business easily if it was even moderately successful. And the guys were doing everything they could to ensure that happened.
Daniel still had clients, forums, and routines that occupy his time. And he suddenly found himself in real demand after Dr. Fadyaev's article became widely distributed. His time at the building site was curtailed because of this, but he was still there at least an hour a day. He also plugged the upcoming opening of the gym to all of this clients. They were almost universally excited to hear about the planned combined fitness center.
Matt misses Laura and the kids. They left back on 25 February, five days ago. I miss them too. :-( Luckily he is staying really busy with the job, but I can tell he's hurting. I can hear it when he Skypes with them in his bedroom, and I admit, I lay there listening so I can hear their voices too.
Martha and Saul are both doing great. I thought the building project would put a strain on them, but instead it seems to have tightened their bond. Saul picks up cooking at the house in the evenings after he comes home from work, so Martha can be on site at the building. And she is opening up more and more to him. I kidded with Saul about it last night before the crew got back from the building.
"So, when's the day Saul? And, we're invited, right?" I grinned at him as he scrubbed a plate in the sink.
Instead of denying or saying it wasn't happening, he looked at me, and a smile slowly spread on his face. He shrugged, and continued washing the plate.
Goddamned tease!
Oh yeah! I'm now officially an ACE Certified Personal Trainer! I took the exam, passed and yesterday I received the hard copy certification in the mail! That's a load off my mind, to be sure. Daniel wanted to throw a party to celebrate, but I put a stop to that. We've got too much going on for it right now, and it'd be stressful to try and put on a party right now. We can do that later. The biggest gift I could ever receive is going to happen in a couple of weeks anyway, when I marry Daniel!
Ah, Daniel and Davis are done. We're headed over to the site to join Martha the subcontractors and Matt.
Till next time!
Daniel 02 March 2018, Friday 900 AM Martha's Building
After I spoke to Davis at the house my next stop was Martha. We got to the building this morning and I immediately went to find her. She is upstairs, and I pull her into one of the newly finished side rooms.
"Martha, I have a question. And feel free to say no."
She cocks her head at me. "Okay, go ahead."
I took a breath and got right to it. "If he wanted it ... would you be willing to go in with Davis and I, and hire Matt for maintenance work around the building, on the machines, and other sundry stuff?" I continued. "There's also a huge need for people who can repair gym equipment in the county. He could fill any gaps in his pay with that. I know he's able to do it already. He's fixed a couple of my machines at home. Right now specialized folks from the manufacturer have to be called in, and they're expensive as hell. This would probably pay for itself, at least for Davis and I."
I realize that I've been talking non-stop and I make myself be quiet. I want this to work for Wayne. But first I need to get Martha's approval. I really am prepared to hear no, and I'll respect that.
She frowns, thinking. "Is that what he wants? He wants to live here?"
Matt has already said to me that if he could get a good job here, he'd seriously consider moving. He also said that Laura talks about moving back often. I didn't say a thing to Wayne, because I don't want to get his hopes up.
I tell all of this to Martha and her lips twitch into a smile. "A guy with his experience could earn $75,000 a year, even here in Humboldt County." She looks at me, thinking. "Tell you what ... you two pay â..." of his salary, each, and I'll pick up the other â...". Since most of the work will sit with your guys' portion of the building I think that's fair." She holds out her hand. "Deal?"
I have to talk to Davis about it, but I think he'll go for it. I smile and shake her hand. "Deal!" I blow out a breath. "Okay. I'm gonna go speak to Davis, then to Matt." I grin at her. "Thanks Martha."
She waves me away. "It's a good idea. Particularly for you guys. But then again, I'm only paying $25K a year for the services of the best handyman/maintenance guy in the world. Pretty good deal." She looks around. "A place this big, and this old, there's always ALWAYS going to be something to do!"
I laugh. She's right about that!
I go downstairs and find Davis who is helping Grayson with some plywood sheeting. I pull him away for a moment and go over the numbers. Davis takes out his phone and does a quick calculation. He knows how much it costs to have the repair guys come out to Healthsport, and he agrees on the spot to the $25,000 he'd owe for his portion of Matt's wage.
"Based on how often stuff breaks or needs maintenance, and how much it costs each time for them to come out ... yeah, he'll pay his own salary in ... 7 months." He nods, satisfied and puts away the phone. "And that's just for the machines alone, not counting anything else he might do. Hell yeah. Great deal."
I walk away from him, and find Matt who is talking with one of his subcontractors. I wait and he notices me standing nearby.
"Hey Daniel." He steps over. "You need me? What's up?"
I smile. "So, I have a question, and something of an offer for you."
His face instantly changed, and I could tell he was curious. "Yeah? Like what?"
I led him over to a corner and I went over our offer. $75,000 salary from us, and he would be able to contract out to repair gym equipment locally as well if he needed additional income. He stares at me.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. We're serious." I put a hand on his shoulder. "I know it's not as much as you'd earn in San Diego, but ..."
He shook his head. "No, but with the contract work here and there it'd be equal to what I earn now on average every year. Maybe more." He blows out a breath and his eyes flick to mine. "I need to call Laura. See what she thinks."
I squeeze his shoulder a bit. "Thanks for thinking about it."
He grins and nods to me. "Yeah, I'll let you know what she says!" His smile fades and he frowns, a little emotional. "Hey ... thanks. I really appreciate this." He shakes his head. "When I first met you, I never imagined ..." He stops and takes a breath, and I know he's trying to keep it together.
I pat his shoulder. "Don't mention it Matt." I smile. "Call your wife."
He grins and nods. Matt steps away, and he pulls out his phone.
Of course, I hover close enough to hear his side of the conversation. As soon as Matt asks what Laura thinks he has to hold the phone away from his ear, and I hear her screaming "YESSSS!" over the phone from a few paces away.
Matt smiles and gives me a thumbs up.
"Hey." I interrupt him for a moment. "Don't tell Wayne, okay? Tell Laura I wanna let him know. I'll do it soon, so she doesn't have to keep it bottled up long." Matt relayed the message and he nods to me.
I pat his back and off I go.
Wayne is upstairs with Saul. The two of them are working on what is destined to be Saul's space for a yoga studio. It's big, open, and they are tag-teaming the flooring - the nice, bamboo snap-together stuff. Looks like they're almost finished. The space is bright from a bank of windows on the southern wall. Wow, it's looking really good.
"Hey guys."
They look up. "Hey Daniel." Saul wipes his forehead with his sleeve. We all have dust and/or paint on us, and currently Saul is sporting more than his share of both. "You come up to help out?" Saul motions at the flooring.
"Actually, I came to steal Wayne a minute." I crook my finger at Wayne, and he gets up off the floor with a smile.
"Hey." He walks over, leans in and kisses me. "What's up Mr. Ison?" He looks into my eyes and I almost forget why I came upstairs.
I concentrate on my task. "Well, I wanted to let you know ..." I can't help the grin that is plastered on my face, "that your sister and Matt are going to move here."
He stares for a moment. "Wha ... what? But how?"
I tell him about our job offer, Matt's acceptance, and Laura's approval for the move.
He blinks and shakes his head. "Oh my god." He frowns and despite himself he starts to cry. "My family is coming home." He throws his arms about me. "You helped bring my family home."
I feel his tears fall on my neck, and I smile as I hold him. Saul heard our exchange, and he looks at me, then nods with approval.
"I'm only a part of it. Davis and Martha are helping too." I say to him as he clings to me.
He shakes his head. "I know this started with you." He leans back so he can look at me. He's still crying, but he doesn't care. He bites his lip. "You're so good to everyone Daniel." He pulls me back into a hug. "God, I love you so much."
I stand and hold him. I feel so complete, and so satisfied when I make him happy. That's all I want to do.
He really does fulfil me in a way I can't express, or replace with anyone or anything. Wayne often tells me he's so lucky to have found me. Though, I can't help but feel privileged that I get to love this man.
I'm glad he allows that. Because I really don't have a choice in the matter.
I love Wayne Hawkins. And I will forever.