Just Like That

17. "six months"

Grayson Reid Jansen

"—Alright. My work here is done, good job, Grayson." Chandler said to me. We took a step back and admired the groundwork we did for my project.

"I gotta say, I'm proud of what you've done, son." He looked over his shoulder at me and grinned.

"Eh. I still have a long way to go." And at my rate, it was looking to be around six months.

"Still, I'm proud of you, son — I mean, boss." When Chandler corrected himself, he put his hand on my shoulder and we laughed it off. It was even weirder, him calling me "son" now that he knew about Brea and I.

The two of wandered around the site, just talking.

"So when you gonna tell Brea about Angie?" I asked Chandler about his girlfriend. They've been together for a whole year but Chandler said he wasn't ready for anything serious which meant not telling his daughter about her.

His eyes squinted and mouth turned up. "I don't know if I should."

"Now, weren't you just mad at her for keeping secrets and lying to you?"

"It's different, I'm her father." My head shook. Chandler hung his and chuckled. "It doesn't work like that, huh?" To answer his question I just shook my head again.

"I suppose you're right, it is time. Soon, I promise. Thanks for always keeping me in check, Gray. I'll have to tell your parents you're doing alright."

"Please, don't tell them anything. Christ, they're past the point of caring about me, it's an obsession now."

"I know what you mean, but they just want you happy."

"Trust me, I am."

"Does my daughter have anything to do with that?"

"No offense, chief, but I don't know if you wanna know that information."

"Please, spare me the details about you having sex with my daughter. Just, is she worth it?"

"She's worth it, sir. Just complicated, is all - stubborn and difficult."

"Yup, that's my daughter. She doesn't make anything easy. Poor thing, she's distraught over that Kaign boy. Fucker." Chandler spat.

I squinted my eyes from the sun, too. "Wait, she's still upset about that?" It shocked me because Brea didn't ever linger on something especially anything a guy would do to her. It made me wonder if she was ever that upset over me.

Chandler nodded with a scowling look on his face. "She'll get over it soon. I hope."

"Yeah, me too."

Something didn't sit right with me. I didn't like the fact that Brea was actually losing sleep over the likes of Kaign. He was gay, there was no changing that. In fact, I knew all along, how didn't she? I wonder how she stayed in a relationship with him for over a year? It just makes you question if she's over him, and if she wasn't then I couldn't continue whatever it is we had going on.

"Welp. I'm off to this other project. You got this."

"I got this." I reassured myself.