I'm always the one who gets stuck working holidays, I told myself as I thought out loud. Since I was single again it beat staying home and doing nothing. Or going to my buddies' houses for fourth of July barbecues that last forever and having their wives fixing me up with every friend they have ever had. I was so involved in talking to myself that I didn't notice someone standing on the deck of the condo I was working on. "You're not the only one." I looked up to see Barb, the realtor in charge of selling the complex, standing behind me. "I'm sorry, I didn't notice you there. Just talking to myself," I said .
"I sold one of the units up the road. Can you help my get the for sale sign out of the yard?"
"Sure, lead the way," I said as I followed her across the street.
"I always have to do this by myself," she commented as we got into her SUV. "And I'm not dressed for digging in the yard." As she turned around to look behind us to back out of the drive, I noticed she was very well dressed at that. She looked like the very picture of a woman who meant business. Nothing too sexy, but just a hint of it all the same. I started to blush a little as she caught me noticing her. Not that I hadn't noticed her several times in the past couple of months. We seemed to work a lot of the same crappy hours.
"Hey work before fun," she teased smiling at me, and up the road we went. Fifteen minutes later I was washing up in the laundry of a 3-bedroom townhouse that I had bricked out months earlier.
"Did you ever get to see one of these finished?" she asked.
"No, I only lay the brick . Somebody else gets the inside work."