Dance or Die (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 3) (15 page)

Using the four vehicles, Tess and her crew packed up all their gear, chainsaws, lunches, several five-gallon containers of green tea, and headed down the road to the flat section of the woods where the park maintenance road would be cut.

Sam, her lumber guy, was already there.

“You’re early,” she chided.

He nodded. “My crew will be here in two hours. Thought you might like some assistance cutting your trees.”

“Actually, I’m planning to teach three of my crew how to cut the smaller ones, but if you want to dress them after they’re down while my crew clears the bramble, that will be great.”

His head tilted to the side. “You know, I’m not just good at flying helicopters. I can cut.”

She patted his back. “You are great at flying a helicopter, possibly the best in the world, but I need my crew to do this, because two hours from now, you’ll need to work with your crew.”

He smiled. “Damn, look at you! All grown up and running the show. Helen would be so proud of you.”

Before his words could cause her grief over mentioning Grams, a warmth spread in her chest, reminding her that Grams was still with her.

Tess had all the guys listen to her half-hour lecture on the three types of cutting they would use on trees two foot in diameter and less. She would handle any larger than that. Finally, she reviewed safety procedures. “Safety is more important than speed. Because we finished the fence five days early, we are ahead of schedule, so let’s stay smart and safe.”

Since the men couldn’t stand in the fall zone, they split and watched Malcolm, Ben, and Tony down their trees one by one.

She appreciated that each used her techniques instead of trying something they already knew. Tess had the guys applaud their first effort. On the middle trees, she had them do a cut that allowed for greater precision in the fall. She wasn’t happy with their cuts first time and had them move across and try again. When those landed much better, she high-fived the men.

“All right, let’s get these trees dressed.” She pointed to the west side. “Put three-foot sections over there so people driving by won’t mistake it for free firewood. Put bramble over there for future use.” She pointed to the east side.

Sam joined the crew in dressing the trees. By the time his crew arrived, all nine trees were ready. Twenty minutes later, they were stacked on the truck and the next line of trees was downed.

With the assistance of Sam’s crew, they cut a full mile into the woods by the end of the day.

When they arrived home, Dan and Sheriff Cobbs had a giant barbecue going in the front yard. The men cheered and applauded their thoughtfulness.

Tess was so touched she almost burst into tears. Her guys had worked so hard all day and instead of having to come home and cook their meal, Dan and the sheriff had prepared them a banquet.

With help.

She noticed young people in white aprons running about with platters of food, placing them on folding tables lining the front parking area.

She hugged Dan and Cobbs, wiping away a tear. “You guys are great! What did I do to deserve any of you?”

“Believe me,” Cobbs said. “Not a man here doesn’t think you’re the cat’s pajamas.”

Once everyone was seated, she publicly thanked Dan, Sheriff Cobbs, and their young workers for cooking such a wonderful meal. The men cheered loudly.

“And for my superb grounds crew. You worked side by side an experienced lumber crew today and, in my opinion, you outperformed them.”

Now they cheered and high-fived each other.

“And by mid-day, my three cutters were dropping trees with the precision of twenty-year professionals.” Malcolm, Ben, and Tony stood and took a bow.

“Let’s eat. I’m starving.”

Tess sat between Dan and Cobbs. Malcolm sat across from her. “Now this is fun,” she declared.

“Yeah, and no one needs to be the designated driver,” Tony, seated beside Malcolm added.

It was then she noticed most of the men were drinking beer. She leaned over to Cobbs. “Will you make sure they remain clear-headed for tomorrow?”

He nodded.

Satisfied, she stood and explained she had to go take a test.

With a chorus of “Don’t go… Forget the test… Cobbs will write you a note,” she hurried downstairs to her room. By the time she activated the camera and opened the email, she was fifteen minutes late.

“I’m so sorry for being late. Today, my grounds crew did their best work ever, and they are normally fantastic. When we arrived back to the cabin, the sheriff and my security chief had a barbecue going. As their boss, I had to stay and eat.”

She sighed. “Still, that is no excuse. So despite my late start, I will end my test at seven.”

A picture appeared on the right corner of her computer. An elderly lady with frameless glasses stared at her. “That won’t be necessary. Truth is, I just arrived myself and when you weren’t on, I wrote Sean a rather scathing email, which I will now rescind. You have until 7:20 to complete your test.”

“Thank you.” Man everyone was nice to her today. “Are you the person I’ve been talking to during all my tests?”

She smiled. “No. But I’ve heard you are most amusing. However, since this test is on grammar and punctuation, I don’t expect you’ll have a great deal to say. Now get to your test.”

The lady disappeared from her screen.

She opened the test and quoted the rules she knew by heart. She finished the test in a half-hour. “Grams was a stickler about grammar and punctuation. I studied from the Chicago Manual of Style. Hope that’s okay. I know the rules aren’t cut in stone and there are differences of opinions on certain issues.”

The picture of the woman reappeared in the corner. “I thought as much. I realized that when you quoted certain rules. Grading to that manual, you answered every item correct.”

“Should I learn from a different manual?” she asked.

“No, you’re fine. Have a nice night, Tess.”

The picture disappeared. Ten minutes later, Sean called her.

“Sorry about being late for my test,” she said at once.

“Not a problem this time. Mildred was also late and must have liked your apology. She also likes your knowledge of grammar and punctuation. Said you knew it better than her teaching assistants. However, don’t be late for any more of the exams. I’ve called in a lot of favors to get you tested on these subjects.”

“It won’t happen again,” she promised. “However, let me say, I’m really impressed with the level of education your undergrads receive. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ll be able to teach your graduate students anything.”

He chuckled. “Let me decide that.”

“Okay, but you might want to check my tests first. I didn’t finish the last two before the grammar test.”

“We’ll discuss that later. Just be on time for this week’s exams.”

“I will.”

“How’s the fencing coming along?”

She proudly declared it done and told him about her crew’s great job, clearing nearly a hundred trees. She explained how she’d taught three of the men to cut precision drops and by noon, they could drop a tree on a dime.

“Thank you, that’s very helpful.”

“How?”

“I’ll discuss that later.”

“Okay. I hadn’t realized it was the professor watching me take the test. Should I not talk about how I choose my answers?”

“Do exactly what you’ve been doing. Not only has it impressed them, but it makes them like you.”

“Oh, okay then.” At Wisconsin all the professors hated her, so she was more than willing to charm her future professors.

By the end of the week, Tess had taken tests for math, geology, plant identification, and bug identification. The latter had proved difficult because many of the bugs weren’t common to Iowa. One bug had her very confused. It had hooks on its feet like one local bug, but the wings looked a great deal like another.

“I’m going to go with the feet and declare it part of the Sphingidae family since this is a structural similarity versus the color and wing pattern, which is an easier evolution and may exist solely so it can either blend in with the Coleopetera beetle for either protection or predation. I’m not sure since I’ve never met this bug before.”

When she finished the test, she sighed heavily. “I don’t think I did very well on this test. However, I look forward to your class because a healthy and balanced insect environment is essential for my woods. In the six years I’ve managed these woods, only once did I have to use chemicals to save my trees from the lace bug and only in one section where over a million appeared overnight. In that case, I decided pesticide was my best choice before the bugs could migrate.”

She sighed. “Probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. But that was special circumstances where someone released twenty containers of lace bugs on my trees. Normally, the ladybugs keep them in check.” She chuckled. “But then you’d know that. Well, thank you for the challenging and interesting test.”

***

By the end of the week, the maintenance road was cleared all the way to the mounds. They had cut the trees close enough to the ground that it was possible just to lay the gravel over the top, but eventually, the cut trees would collapse and have to be filled with more gravel. However, if she pulled up the roots, the disturbance of the fragile soil would probably cause constant erosion problems and washouts.

She called Sean, explained her choices and asked his opinion. Instead of answering her, he decided to come see for himself.

The next day, Tom and Sean arrived and were presently staring at the low cut tree stumps.

She knelt down and touched a stump. “I’m thinking it’s better to lay a bed of gravel over this than to tear out all these roots. Right now they are holding this soil firm. If we pull up the roots, the soil won’t be firmly packed anymore.”

“But when it rots, you’ll have potholes similar to the potholes that used to exist on the road to your house,” Tom warned.

“Actually, that road was cut by the state and they pulled the trees out, which is why it’s prone to severe washouts. The soil beneath the gravel was disturbed.”

He looked to Sean.

Sean asked for a shovel and dug a hole near the edge. After examining the soil, he looked up. “I think this should be left alone. Tess isn’t kidding when she says it’s fragile. Lower down, it’s basically slippery black sand.” He squeezed a handful and then widened his palm. The black substance poured from his hand. “The only reason we aren’t sinking into this stuff is because it’s had two hundred thousand years to settle, and these trees secure the shallow soil on top of it, so it’s not exposed to the elements.” He looked at Tess. “I now understand why your road is so bad.”

“It’s actually the best I’ve ever seen it,” Tess replied. She looked at Tom. “If we just lay gravel so walkers who insist upon walking on the road don’t trip, I think the road will require far less maintenance and we won’t have severe erosion issues. If we do have a pothole, we can fix it at once with additional gravel. However, I’m guessing these stumps will last fifty years. More if I coat their tops with a preservative.”

“That could contaminate the soil,” Sean objected.

“Only if we spill, which my crew won’t do.”

Remembering how the governor freaked out on cost before, she added, “And since someone is still counting costs, this will be about three hundred thousand dollars cheaper.”

Tom sighed and looked back at Sean. “So you’re siding with Tess on this?”

“Emphatically on not pulling these trees out. Not as strong about coating the tops with preservatives, although the contamination would be inconsequential if the preservative doesn’t run off the side. With a normal grounds crew, there’d be no chance of that not happening, but—”

“My crew will do it right.”

Sean smiled and shrugged.

Tom chuckled. “All right. Leave the stumps and preserve their tops.”

“Thank you.” She then laughed. “I can’t believe you came all the way here just to let me do what I want.”

“Actually, we needed to talk with you about something else.” He stared up toward the cabin. “Is your crew still in the cabin?”

“At ten? Not a chance. We start work at dawn. Sam’s delivering lumber today, so we’re building the observation towers so people can watch the archeological dig.”

Tom’s brow furrowed. “You haven’t talked to Steel, then?”

“No, but why should I? It’s in the plan.”

“Let’s go to your cabin and discuss some things.”

Tess frowned. “Should I stop the boys from building the booths?”

“Is there any chance of damaging the site?”

“No. The observation booths are out of the area Steel wishes to excavate. He selected the spots.”

His brow creased.

“Has Steel changed his mind about the observation booths? They’ll be a great draw for the park.”

“They would. And I’ll have a great deal of explaining to the governor if we don’t have them.”

“But Steel doesn’t want them now?”

Tom sighed. “Let’s discuss this after Sean delivers his news.”

She turned to him, now convinced she’d failed all her tests.

“Good news,” he promised.

She gripped his arm. “Thank you for telling me. Otherwise, I might have burst into tears before we made it up the hill.”

As they drove up the road, Sean gave her one bit of good news. “You so impressed Charlie with your assessment of some insect that he’s intending to challenge the current categorization of said insect and wants your participation.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because he thinks you’re a natural biologist.”

“Did you tell him I’m building a state park?”

“Yes, but he thinks that’s a waste of your talents.”

“Talents? I just made a guess on the insect’s name based on which body part would be harder to evolve. That’s not talent, that’s just logic.”

Sean sighed. “Well, he thinks you’re brilliant.”

“I hope you told him I wasn’t and my focus is forestry.”

“Actually, I told him you were my brilliant find and to go discover his own.”

She didn’t believe he said any such thing, but she smiled and thanked him.

“Don’t I get any credit?” Tom asked.

Sean and Tess both answered. Sean saying ‘no’ and Tess saying ‘yes’.

They all laughed. Upon arriving at the cabin, she led them into the bottom floor.

“Nice,” Sean said as he stared out at the woods. “Any chance I can stay here when I check up on my students?”

“There’s eighteen of us now, but I could try to squeeze you in.”

He turned around and smiled. “I’d like that. So let’s sit down and give you some good news.”

“Did I past my entrance tests?” she asked.

He chuckled. “First of all, they weren’t entrance exams. They were final exams for all required courses to get your undergrad and graduate degree. And you not only passed, but you passed with flying colors.”

She stared at him. “I passed my graduate exams?”

“That’s right.” He pulled out a small cardboard tube and handed it to her. “Inside is your undergrad and graduate degree from U of M.”

She yelped and hugged Sean and then Tom. “I have my master’s degree!”

Tom placed his hands on her shoulders. “Yes, which means you’re in charge of these woods now.”

She nodded happily but sobered as she realized why he was not happy. Steel was his friend.

She settled and met his sad gaze. “This means I can no longer avoid dealing with Steel.”

“That’s correct. You have to decide if the two of you can work together or if I need to find another archeologist. However, be forewarned, most of the good ones won’t want to answer to a woman.”

Tess sighed. “Well, before we discuss finding a replacement, let me try to work with Steel. We had always planned to control our own parts. I don’t see why that has to change.”

“But it has changed,” Tom insisted, refusing to let her be happy for one moment. “Steel is returning to work tomorrow. I want to have a meeting with the two of you first thing in the morning. I appreciate that you are willing to work with Steel, but the man you knew—that I knew—is not the man who is going to show up tomorrow. I need to know if you can work with and help the changed Steel.”

“Help?”

“He’s clearly behind plan, but he has yet to provide me with an update.”

“That’s because he doesn’t know how. I’ll talk with him and then update his plans.”

“You can try, but he’s still very angry.”

“What did you do?” Sean asked.

“He didn’t like my plan B to save his life. I never used it, but he considered the fact I could think of such a plan as a betrayal.”

Sean looked concerned.

“If you two would like lunch, I’ll tell you what happened from my view.”

Tom sighed. “I would love to stay, but I can’t. I have to give an update to the governor. He’s been fretting over your lack of qualifications even while he’s been thrilled that you’ve come in early for every deadline.”

Sean rubbed his neck and grinned. “I’d like lunch if you can get me down the hill later on.”

Tess gave him a shoulder hug. “After all you’ve done for me? Of course!”

Once they saw Tom off, Sean followed her inside, sitting at the counter as she cooked lunch and relayed all the sad details of her short history with Steel.

“You still love him?”

She placed his grilled chicken sandwich onto a plate and slid it across the counter, then carried hers around to sit next to him. “This is going to sound terribly pathetic, but I think I loved him because he was the first guy near my age who had similar interests and was nice to me. Either that, or I love everyone, but my heart swells with happiness for my grounds crew, Dan, Sheriff Cobbs, Tom…” She was going to add him but didn’t want to embarrass him.

“Anyone else?” he asked.

She sighed. “Don’t freak out, but you’re on that list now, as well.”

He smiled from ear-to-ear for a moment, then sobered. “I have to be honest. I don’t think Steel will take second chair.”

“Back before he hated me, he didn’t have a problem with it.”

“Yes, but back then he probably thought it would be six years before you became the boss.”

She nodded.
Or never if she got sent to prison over the ring he had given her.

Sean’s hand settled on her arm. “I did some checking. His old university agreed to hire him back in four years if he stayed out of trouble.”

“Oh…”

His hand moved to her back and rubbed it in small circles. “He’s a player, Tess. Not just of women, but of friends as well.”

“Are you speaking personally?”

He nodded. “I studied in England for my PhD. We were friends until he stole my girlfriend. Their relationship lasted only a week, which was typical for him. Given how little he valued women, you’d think he could use a little control and leave the one I loved alone.”

“Sorry.”

Sean shrugged. “You are lucky to be rid of him. And when he becomes an ass tomorrow morning, don’t hesitate to toss him. I’m pretty sure any top archeologists will be glad to work for you. Unlike others, you’ll let them do their work.”

“I should hope so.”

“A lot of bosses won’t, even if they haven’t a clue.”

“Well, I’ll keep that in mind if we can’t come to some agreement. Now, when is your flight back?”

“Eight this evening.”

“I need to go check on my crew. They may have questions on my schematics.”

“May I come as well?”

“Of course.”

Malcolm waited for her on the platform at the bottom of the hill.

“Problem?” she asked.

He grinned. “Depends upon your answer to my question. Did you want four or six-inch wood screws for attaching the two by fours to the base?”

“Six would be better—” She’d been about to tell him she was okay if he’d used four-inch screws, but his smile told her he’d chosen six.

“I think Dan has a question, too, but I don’t know what’s bothering him.”

They met Dan at the fence line. She thanked Malcolm and sent him on up. “Problem?”

“Not sure,” he replied. “Maybe. Exactly how are people supposed to get from outside of this fence to the observation booth?”

She groaned. “How’d we miss that?”

“It’s my miss, not yours,” Dan stated. “Want to hear the solutions I can think of?”

She smiled happily. “Yes, please.”

The tension left his face. “We could have a smaller cage that leads them to the observation platform.”

“If it connected to the fence, wouldn’t it electrocute anyone who touches it?” Tess asked.

“There would have to be a small space with insulation to prevent sparking.”

She sighed. “I don’t really want to put additional ugly fencing in here.” She stared up at the trees. “What if we hung a tree bridge that starts at that beauty?” She pointed to a massive tree just outside the wood barrier. “Crosses the fence and goes to that one?”

“The insurance on it will cost you a fortune,” Sean warned.

“But people would love it,” she insisted.

Dan stared at the tree. “I rather like this idea.”

She patted his back. “Well, think on it, and we’ll discuss it tonight.”

She then led Sean up to the observation platform being built.

“Tess, I don’t think Tom will agree to a suspension bridge,” Sean warned.

“It’s better than having them walk up this hill.”

Sean stared at her as if he thought she’d lost her mind. “You think climbing a tree is safer?”

She laughed. “I thought we’d build a circular ramp up the tree. That way it's handicapped accessible. Hopefully, Dan will investigate how others make their swings safe.”

Sean shook his head but said no more.

***

After dinner with Malcolm and Dan, Tess said she was driving Sean to the airport, and Dan insisted on joining them.

Sean frowned. “That really isn’t necessary.”

Dan shrugged and went upstairs.

“Any chance he took the hint?” Sean whispered in her ear.

She laughed and patted his arm. “Nope.”

When they were alone in the hall, he pulled her to a halt and eased her against the wall. “Since you’ve graduated and are no longer considered a student, I would like to confess I am very attracted to you.”