Page 49 of 20% Stud 80% Muffin
I looked around at my enormous roommates. Ginger can’t stay here. Then I pictured her sitting with Tino and Sannit playing cards in the corner, owning the table. What was I talking about? She’d love the shit out of staying here.
“My best friend is visiting in two turns of the moon, and she’s bringing my dogs.”
Sully grinned so big I feared he might swallow a bug. “She’ll be on the same shuttle as my family.”
“Your puppy doojies are coming here?” JayJay tested out the words, and as I’d expected, it was hilarious.
“That’s right. You’ll love them.” I squeezed into my bottom bunk and scrolled through documents on my tablet. “JayJay, let’s rearrange the schedule. We’re moving Sully’s dwelling up in the queue. Both crews will begin work on his build first sun tomorrow.”
Sully cheered, and his thick fist bumped me on the shoulder. The friendly gesture would’ve had me on my ass a few months ago. Maybe having traces of Lornian DNA was good for something, after all.
“You got it, boss man,” JayJay said.
“Now, I need two volunteers to come with me to the mayor’s tomorrow.” The happy vibe faded as Tino and Sannit trudged forward. “We’re putting in a pool and doing it smiling because my puppies are staying in Yurstille.”
Stay… Could I stay here? Leave everything behind? Sell my grandmother’s house?
My stomach soured at the possibility of selling my grandmother’s home on Earth. Nope, not happening. Ginger could live there forever. But a construction company of my own on Earth…that dream seemed to hold a little less weight.
Eventually, I fell asleep compiling a list that had me drooling on my pillow. Cured meats from the deli down the road, dill pickles, dill pickle chips, dill pickle popcorn seasoning, popcorn, chocolate chip cookies, garlic… Would the mayor give his permission to bring chicks, garden seeds and tree seedlings on board? And holy crow did I need some new clothes.
Covered in pink mud, the mayor barked out instructions to Tino, Sannit and me from his plush chair in the cool shade. “Make it a little wider. Makir’s pool is twice the size.” Sweat dripped from my forehead while ice rattled in the glass Mayor Yurst sipped from.
His nonstop changes turned my smile brittle. The rest of the week had dragged on in the same way. Even the Rock Dwellers, whose optimistic outlook on life could be nauseatingly sweet, had lost some of their natural sugar.
“One more time, boss man, one more time…” Sannit’s low voice grumbled when Mayor Yurst had left us for his lunch break. “If he asks me one more time to be careful around his silly statue, it might end up in the pool. What kind of self-important blanting fool has a statue made of himself?”
I chuckled. The mayor was a first-class idiot.
“Bish. Boss man, you aren’t buying the story that he happened to be awarded it for his ‘exemplary service?’” Tino’s deep rumble turned to a high-pitched warble remarkably similar to the mayor’s. “Are you?”
I snorted as I tapped down the last paving stone around the pool. “Not a chance. He intentionally had that atrocity made. It’s better looking than he is.”
In exchange for the pool, an outdoor washroom and a guest house, I had the all clear for my dogs and enough storage space on the next shuttle to accommodate my every whim. Unsurprisingly, the mayor didn’t care about me bringing in foreign organic matter from off-planet, as long as he could look out over his pool from a lounge chair and admire his statue.
“Fuck, you guys are hard workers.” I slapped the pink mud off my overalls, astonished at what we’d accomplished in four long days. “And have I mentioned patient?”
“Bish, boss man.” Tino’s gray cheeks purpled. “It’s nothing special.”
I’d had countless crews over the years and knew good workers when I found them. Rock Dwellers were nothing shy of solid gold.
“Sannit, com the other crews and let’s get out of here before Yurst returns and asks us to do anything else. First round’s on me.”
The small cantina was shoulder room only. The Rock Dwellers took up most of the space along the communal table. A lively tune filled the air where an enforcer played an instrument similar to a guitar in the corner. The holes where windows should have been had sticks in place to prop up their salvaged tin covers. Colored lanterns dangled from the rafters, and the aroma of grilled mantu sizzling outside wafted through on the evening’s light breeze.
“Boss man, thank you for the generous gift of timber and lamar. TeyTey and the younglings will love it. We’ve never lived anywhere of this caliber before.” Sully’s eyes were glassy as he polished off the mug of orzfoam before him.
“If I can build the mayor a pool house, I can throw in a few extras for one of my guys.” I bumped my knee with his. “I’ll be at the Rowtees’ tomorrow, but I want to see the lazy river you designed. Oh, and I set aside some plants for you at the nursery.”
“We’ll have you over for dinner every night when my TeyTey arrives.” Sully’s grin resembled a deranged comic book character’s, even though he had about as much malice in him as a lamb.
“You can bring Makir, too.”
What? Why would I bring Makir?
“If TeyTey can make something besides graneth puffs and mantu, count me in,” I replied good-naturedly, ignoring the bit about Makir.
My mind drifted as I unwound with my crew. Engineers on Earth would go crazy exploiting the geothermal power that showed up in pockets around town. The awe on Makir’s face when’d he realized his floors, even the hovery’s, wereheated by geothermal power had made me all soft and gooey inside. The tether pulled, luring me with the desire to be closer to him.
