Jamie's New Hire

"You know," Adam said as he tried to figure out how to disassemble
the lawn mower Jamie had brought into the shop. "I've bought you
drinks twice now." He laughed at his own half-assed joke as Jamie just
shook his head.

Jamie didn't give Adam the satisfaction of a reply. He was left
with a task just as problematic as trying to figure out the lawn
mower. He stared at the giant wok on his work bench, not sure how to
go about removing the handles from the dome. While Jamie contemplated
his problem, Adam turned to his tool box and grabbed his bright yellow
cordless drill. After fitting the proper bit, he began removing every
screw he could find, hoping that eventually the motor and the case
would part company. As each screw was released, Adam casually tossed
it aside, scattering Jamie's shop floor without so much as a second
though.

"Damnit, Adam," Jamie sighed when he noticed what the younger man
was doing. "You're like the Tasmanian devil or something."

"Huh?" Adam turned around to see Jamie picking up the scattered
screws from the floor. "Oh. Sorry, Jamie." Adam quickly hopped down
from his seat to help pick up the mess he had made. As he plucked up
the screws from the cold floor, his cell phone began to ring. He
pulled the small phone from his pocket and stared at the screen.

"I'm sure that if you actually answered it once in a while, she
wouldn't call as much," Jamie suggested.

Adam sighed, not wanting to admit that Jamie was probably right. Of
course he was right. Jamie never seemed to be wrong about anything.
Heaving a light sigh, Adam quickly walked out of the room to the empty
shop to answer the call.

"What now?" Jamie could hear him say just before he locked himself
back in the machine room.

Shaking his head, Jamie put the rogue screws on the work bench and
sat down to figure out how to remove the handles from the wok. He
sighed lightly, and looked down at the small pile of screws, drawing
inspiration from the mess he had just cleaned up. Not sure why he
thought it was a good idea, he decided to tear a page out of Adam's
book, and pulled a large mallet from the younger man's tool box. He
held the wok down onto the table and positioned it so the handle just
barely poked over the edge of the work bench. Quickly, he set up his
swing, training his hand to come down in just the right place before
winding his arm back. He threw the mallet into the small piece of bent
metal, and found himself surprised when the large chunk of rubber
didn't bounce back and smash his already bruised nose.

The handle had been completely wrenched out of the metal dome, and
had fallen to the floor. Sharp ridges poked out of the smooth metal
dome where thick wire had once been riveted into place, but that was
nothing an angle grinder and a buffer couldn't fix. Amazed at how
easily the handle had come off, Jamie rotated the wok and positioned
the opposite handle over the edge of the bench. Again, he trained his
hand on the swing before forcing the added metal from its place. It
fell to the concrete with a light clinking sound, and bounced around
for a brief moment. Again, the sharp ridges had formed around the
small holes, but Jamie could fix that in under five minutes.

As he picked up the handles, he realized that they hadn't been
misshapen at all in the removal process. Always one to save a few
pennies, Jamie sat them aside so he could store them away in a box
somewhere on the wall when he was done for the day. Knowing the
lawnmower would never come apart while Adam presumably argued with who
could only be his ex, Jamie picked up the cordless drill and began
removing screws. As he tried a more logical approach to separating the
case from the motor by actually checking to see which screws were
attached to what, he heard the machine room door slam shut. A few
moments later, Adam stalked into the workshop area that they had
designated their robot room and threw himself down onto one of the
stools that lined the workbench. Sighing heavily, he slammed his
elbows onto the table and cradled his head in his hands.

"Uhhh," was all Jamie could muster in response to the sudden change
in mood.

Adam waved his hand in the air and shook his head. "Give me a
minute. I'll be fine," he said unconvincingly.

"Everything alright?" Jamie asked, trying to relieve some of the
awkwardness that had just swallowed the room.

Adam scoffed and shook his head. "No," he admitted, looking up from
the woodgrain of the bench. "This haven't been right for a while."

Jamie stood motionless, still holding the drill in his hand. He put
the drill down on the table and tried to make himself move closer to
Adam, but his feet refused to comply. People at the shop had gone
through breakups before, but none of them ever involved kids or
lawyers, and always happened when Jamie could lock himself in his
office and let someone else deal with it. Not after hours when no one
else was in the shop. He'd spent much of his life avoiding people, and
had done a damn good job of it until...


Until he hired Adam.


Not sure what he was supposed to do, he awkwardly reached out and
lightly put his hand on the younger man's shoulder. Was this how
people really acted? They did it in the movies, so some people must
actually do it. Either way, Adam didn't seem to notice.

"She's my ex," he said, not talking to himself, but not talking to
Jamie either. "I guess she's just doing what exes do. I... I just need
a fucking break. I need..."

He knew what he needed, but he couldn't make himself finish the
sentence. He needed to get laid. The last chick he'd been with proved
to be a horrid experience of a one-night-stand. Definitely not ready
for another relationship, and hating the emptiness he felt when he
woke up alone the morning after mediocre sex, he'd lost his only good
release for tension.

He inhaled sharply through his nose trying to fight back tears and
the unexplainable runny nose that always seemed to make an
embarrassing situation even worse. Trying to be comforting, Jamie
gently squeezed Adam's shoulder. He reacted this time, nodding slightly.

"Things were fine," Adam said, spilling his guts to someone he
barely knew. But it was better than pouring out one's heart to a
bartender somewhere, he reasoned. "Things were fucking great. And
then... I don't know what the hell happened."

Jamie regretted suggesting that Adam answer his phone for once. He
had no idea how bad the situation really was and made a bad call, and
as a result, he got to witness the emotional roller coaster that was
Adam first hand.

"People get through these things," Jamie said, again going off of the
movies for how he was supposed to react. He couldn't very well just
stand there and say nothing, could he? Not entirely sure if it was the
right thing to do, he began to gently rub his hand back and forth
across Adam's back.

Adam scoffed again. "Yeah," he said. He inhaled through his nose
again, and nodded his head. Something about Jamie's cookie-cutter
lines seemed to have some effect on the younger man.

Not sure what else to say, he stood behind Adam, gently moving his
hand back and forth against the worn cotton shirt. Despite the
sickeningly awkward present situation, something about trying to
comfort the young man felt oddly right. Jamie wasn't sure if it was
that, or just the sudden realization that Adam was actually an adult,
and not just some over-grown freshman, but Jamie felt his hand move
from Adam's shoulder down to his chest. Almost at once, Adam's entire
body tensed up as he jumped up from his seat.

"No," he said, shaking his head. He held up his hand, wanting to say
more, but unable to find his words. "Just... no." Quickly, he snatched
his tool box up from the work bench and rushed for the door. "I have
to pick up my kids from the sitter," he spat out as he quickly exited
the room.

Jamie stood alone in the shop, totally dismayed with himself. He
could have kicked himself for making a move on a confirmed breeder.
The wonderment with himself quickly faded, replaced with the very real
possibility that Adam might try to have him charged with sexual
harassment. It was a stupid thing to do, and as Jamie thought about
his careful planning, and how it would all crumble in an instant, he
could hear the blood rushing in his ears. Why the fuck had he done
that? Growling to himself, he quickly put away the lawnmower and wok
in a closet, and took the tools Adam had left behind up to his office.
He hadn't taken the day's inventory or done any of the final
paperwork, but for the first time since he took control of the shop,
he didn't care. He flipped off the light and made his way out to his
truck in the parking lot. He needed a drink.