The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots (25 page)

He didn’t respond immediately, but when she allowed her body to float into his lap, he shuddered. His arms came around her, drawing her to him. Her point had been made and she should have pulled away in that instant but somehow the threads of her plan unravelled when one of his hands came up out of the water to cradle her face. She felt like the most precious thing in the world. Safe and warm in his arms.

Maybe there was something to be said for his overprotective nature because after that she let him take over, not daring to question the moment. She just wanted to be there in it, because in a minute it would all be over.

In fact, it was far less than that as a rough and wholly unwelcome voice forced them to break apart.

‘What the –?!’

Dan’s arms stayed protectively around her as they both turned their heads to see Mike’s stunned countenance. Her arch nemesis stood on the threshold of their little paradise, slowly but surely sucking the joy from its sphere. His beady little eyes narrowed and his gaping mouth closed and turned up in the corners, as his expression slowly changed from shock to smug enjoyment of things to come.

Lena’s heart dropped.

Mike had finally found the ammunition he’d been looking for.

Mike told everybody.

Or at least, everybody seemed to know. Lena figured that gossip as hot as that could probably move through the ether under its own steam. To say that the air cooled around her was an understatement. If she thought her welcome had been frosty when she’d first arrived, it was nothing compared to this.

It was like being the town leper. None of the men came within a few feet of her, for fear that someone else might think they’d taken her side. The sexual harassment she’d derailed with her calendar picture and through her good work and management was back – and taking a spiteful turn; not the too-enthusiastic wave, the whistle or the offer of a good time, but the head-to-foot appraisal and the behind-the-hand remark just loud enough for her to hear.

‘I wonder what Bulldog’s getting tonight.’

‘She must love a whipping in bed, that one.’

It was degrading and just a little scary, to say the least. Even Leg and Radar weren’t impressed.

‘Why him, Madame E? Of all people why’d you have to choose him? Isn’t anyone on our team good enough for you?’

They didn’t wait for her excuses or answers to their questions before leaving her side. Not that she had any.
What do you say to that?

By rights she shouldn’t have to say anything at all. It wasn’t the Dark Ages and she wasn’t the property of some nasty feudal clan. But living on a remote site didn’t help men find their inner twenty-first-century enlightenment. The work was too gruelling, the isolation too unhealthy and the camaraderie too hard won. She knew that the rivalry with TCN was part of how these men got through their weeks away from home. She had been naive to think they’d put it aside for her.

If it hadn’t been for Sharon, she didn’t know what she would have done. Her friend was a tiny window of light in a dank cellar.

Not that Sharon approved. The expression on her face when she told her that Mike had seen them in the spa had said it all. It was the look a long-suffering teacher might give a wayward student.

‘I knew you shouldn’t have gone!’

Dan wasn’t faring much better. Maybe even worse. Sharon told Lena that the Barnes crews yelled things at him across the wharf. Nothing he could get them for: just embarrassing double entendre. ‘Hey, Bulldog, we hear you got some of our engineers doing overtime!’

His own people were far angrier. Sharon had seen some guy come storming out of Dan’s office yelling, ‘Because of you they think we owe them something!’ Fighting between the two companies increased. Dan’s men grew pickier. They said that Barnes Inc wasn’t going to be cut any slack just because one of their engineers was sleeping with the boss. Of course, this accusation incensed the boys; there were even a few fist fights.

The fact that absolutely no one was sleeping with anyone didn’t seem to matter. Lena and Dan had decided to stay away from each other. As soon as Mike had slinked smugly out of their little alcove, Lena had known there was no other way.

When she’d met Dan’s gaze, the water still bubbling around them, this time reminding her more of a pot boiling over than a secluded thermal pool, it was the first time she’d actually been able to read his mind. He was thinking exactly what she was.

It was over.

His hands dropped from her waist and with a ragged sigh he brushed a strand of wet hair behind her ear.

‘We’re in for a rough month.’

‘Dan, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to –’

‘No,’ he interrupted her. The hand at her ear curled into a fist and fell. ‘It’s the same as in my donga. I think it’s clear we –’ he broke off, but swallowed and went on, ‘we want the same thing. I wanted to kiss you . . . touch you . . .’

She pressed a palm to his chest, seeing building heat smoothing over the regret in his eyes. She wanted to capture this moment in the spa and hold it for a little longer. Maybe he knew what she was doing because he shook his head and said, ‘You know what we have to do.’ He caught her hand. ‘I don’t know how to protect you from what’s to come, Lena.’

‘Are we back to protection again?’ she muttered wryly.

‘If the men see us together, it’ll only provoke them further,’ he said softly.

‘I know.’ She pulled her hand away and put some distance between them. ‘I get it. It’s finished. We’re done.’

He frowned at her as she sank into the bubbles on the other side of the spa. It was almost a goodbye, though without the relief of actual separation. As the silence lengthened, Lena tried to smile at him – lighten the mood.

‘It’s okay, Dan, really. Besides, I actually only have one week left on site. Then I’m on R and R again.’

‘Really?’ he frowned. ‘What day are you flying out?’

‘Next Sunday.’ Her brows lifted. ‘You don’t seem relieved about that.’

‘I’m flying out to Perth the same day.’ He groaned. ‘The men are going to think we planned this – that we’re getting away together or something.’

She bit her lip. He was probably right. ‘I thought you said there was nothing for you in Perth. What’s happened?’

His frown deepened. ‘My summons date has come round. I have to be in court Monday.’

‘
Oh.
’

No wonder he looked fed up. The demons he’d been running from had finally caught up with him and now on top of that he’d have Mike’s malicious mouth to deal with.

‘Dan, I’m sorry.’

He shook his head. ‘There’s nothing we can do about it now. We’ll just have to wear it.’

And they did. When it was discovered that she and Dan were not only flying out the same day but on the same plane, the wrong conclusion was reached in very short order. It seemed like the proof the men had been waiting for.

As the days rolled up to their departure, the teasing intensified. Lena was dying to call Dan and ask him how he was holding up. The reports Sharon gave her were sketchy at best. Bulldog had never been one to show emotion and that didn’t look like changing soon.

So she stuck to the only thing that made sense.

Work.

The truss installation was actually going really well: Mike hadn’t managed to stuff it up for her yet. The system of the two skid frames working side by side was proving to be a good method. The only problem was it was time-consuming. While the two skid frames were installing a truss, they weren’t available to continue the headstock installation – and there was still a heap of them to go. And the added delays due to the drop in workplace morale had put Carl into a terrible mood.

‘What the fuck are you doing to me, Lena?’

‘Carl, I –’

‘And don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m fuckin’ talkin’ about.’

She lifted her chin. ‘I wouldn’t insult your intelligence.’

‘Well, at least we can cut through the bullshit,’ he grunted. ‘Break up with him.’

Lena gaped at him, too shocked to deny any involvement. Could he do that? He was her boss, but not of her personal life. He must have seen some of her feelings in her face because he sat forwards, a mulish look about his mouth.

‘I’m not telling you as your boss. I’m telling you as a friend; it’s for your own good.’

‘Even as my friend, Carl,’ she told him indignantly, ‘you don’t have that right.’

He sighed, lacing his fingers on the desk. ‘Look, I ain’t saying Bulldog’s a bad guy. The man’s a fuckin’ perfectionist but he hasn’t got a mean streak. This thing you’ve got going with him though has really fucked the men in the head and I don’t want to guess at what they might do to teach you, but more likely Bulldog, a lesson for this. I would be fuckin’ shocked if Bulldog doesn’t get a few more unwelcome surprises this week.’

He wasn’t wrong about that.

Lena heard through the grapevine that the petrol in Dan’s ute mysteriously evaporated the next day just before he had to go to Karratha for a meeting. That same evening, someone hung a pair of lacy knickers on the doorknob of his donga. The matching bra was attached to the radio aerial of his ute the next morning, which luckily this time still had its petrol. No one knew whether the culprits were from Barnes Inc or TCN, but either way the pranks provided a bit of common ground between them. On Wednesday there wasn’t that much trouble in the yard.

The project schedule still had big problems though. Harry was really worried. They were falling behind again. Carl called a brainstorming meeting between Lena, Harry, Fish and Gavin first thing Thursday morning. Fish tumbled in ten minutes late
in a hopelessly crinkled Barnes Inc shirt that smelled strangely of sausage rolls.

‘Sorry I’m late,’ he said jovially. ‘My shirt needed a few more minutes in the microwave.’

Lena blinked. ‘Microwave? As in the kitchen microwave?’

‘Forgot to put my washing in the dryer last night,’ he said by way of clarification. ‘So had to wear a wet shirt to work this morning.’

‘He was out late fishing,’ Gavin added as if that made the world of difference to his explanation.

‘You see.’ Carl stabbed the tabletop with his forefinger. ‘This is the kind of shit that’s putting us behind. Not being organised; waiting for equipment; being tied up with one task and letting other areas go.’ He looked at Lena and she knew he was talking about her headstocks. ‘We need to cut that out.’

‘But how?’ Gavin complained, his voice typically whiny. ‘How can we do two things at once? And yeah, sometimes we’re waiting on our equipment to finish up somewhere so we can move it on to the next place, but more times than not, the men are still painting or welding or waiting for the guys in the yard to float another pile out to us. The equipment, like the barge crane for instance, is just sitting there idle waiting for them.’

‘That’s true for me too,’ Lena piped up. ‘The guys who operate the cradles are always scratching around for something to do while the skids are moving. Typically, that’s half a day.’

The cradles were like baskets that sat inside the conveyor when it wasn’t moving. They held stuff like paint and welding gear and moved along behind the skids. After a truss was installed, it needed to be welded to the one behind and the join area touched up with paint. This was when this equipment came into play.

‘Well, our problem is the bloody ships,’ Fish spoke up. ‘Every time one of those docks, we can’t use the shiploader.’

The five-storey-high shiploader crane was always out of action as soon as a ship rocked up: its normal job was to load
iron ore into the bellies of the ships, not help them extend the wharf. Barnes Inc used it to pick up and slot in their big deck pieces. This was the support system for the road that went on top of Gavin’s freshly driven piles – Fish’s job.

‘Okay, so what are we fuckin’ doing about it?’ Carl wanted to know.

Gavin shrugged and then flicked his chin at Lena. ‘Get Lena to talk to Bulldog about it. She might be able to swing us an extension.’ And then he grinned. ‘Pardon the pun.’

Lena gasped. That was mean, even for Gavin. Hurt and anger fought for dominance, the tug of war momentarily rendering her speechless.

‘Pull yer fuckin’ head in, Gavin,’ Carl growled. ‘Apologise to Lena.’

‘I didn’t mean it offensively,’ Gavin protested in his usual pig-ignorant fashion. ‘Just thought, if she’s got some sort of influence over the bastard, I say we use it. What have we got to lose?’

Lena writhed in fury. The guy was practically saying he was happy to prostitute her out for the sake of the project! White-hot rage pushed her hurt feelings aside. Her chair scraped loudly on the vinyl floor as she rose sharply to her feet. ‘How
dare
you?’

‘Lena, fuckin’ sit down,’ Carl said. ‘And, Gavin, apologise now. I’m sick of your fuckin’ antics around the women on this job. Consider this your last warning.’

But she didn’t sit down and Gavin didn’t apologise.

‘Not that it’s any of your business,’ she swept them all with a wave of her hand, ‘but there is currently nothing going on between Bulldog and me.’ She eyeballed each one of them individually. ‘Nothing. And I have no more influence over him when it comes to this job than any of you do. Never had.’

‘Gavin,’ Carl prompted again warningly.

‘Fine.’ Gavin looked down sulkily. ‘I apologise. But it’s not like anyone’s got a better idea.’

Lena lifted her chin. ‘As a matter of fact I do. A perfectly ethical, logical one. Unlike you, Gavin, I know how to use my brain.’

No one took offence to this except Gavin. The other three looked up at her hopefully, especially Carl. ‘Well, don’t just keep us in fuckin’ suspense. What the fuck is it?’

Lena had actually been half bluffing to prove a point. She didn’t have a whole idea, maybe just half of one. She really needed to think it through properly before it’d be ready for discussion. Heat infused her cheeks as they all continued to stare at her expectantly. When Gavin’s expression turned into a smirk, she decided to explain her thought process, hoping a complete plan would flow through by the time she finished talking.

‘I’ve kinda been thinking about this for a while. This job is like a board game. Forwards two places, back four places, skip a turn. All of us are playing with one playing piece. What if we had access to everybody else’s as well?’

‘What are you talking about?’ Gavin shook his head impatiently.

‘Well,’ she said slowly. ‘When the barge is idle, why can’t it help me out with the trusses? There’s nothing stopping it floating down my end of the jetty and the boys using your huge crane to install trusses while the skids are moving or installing headstocks.’