Imperfect & Scarred

“Thank God, I finally found you,” a man shouts.

My eyes widen at the stranger rushing through the restaurant. Looking around for who he’s talking to, I blink up at him in shock and confusion when he stops at my table, palms coming to rest on it while he tries to catch his breath.

“It’s Dad,” he pants. “He got rushed to the emergency room. Mom’s been trying to call your phone.”

As I open my mouth to tell him I have absolutely no idea who he is, let alone his mom and dad, he winks at me, giving a little nod towards my date. I realize this man, this damn angel, is trying to save me from the absolute worst date I’ve ever been on. And that’s saying a lot given the streak of them I’ve had lately. But this one is surpassing them all.

As if the fact that…what’s his name again? I don’t even care. As if the fact that he’d reached over and taken food off of my plate without even asking when the appetizers arrived hadn’t been bad enough, he’d then chewed that food so loudly, I couldn’t stop myself from cringing with each bite. But neither my cringing or scowl of disgust had dissuaded him from then picking that food right back out of his teeth. And just because life hates me, not with a toothpick, but the nail on his pinky finger.

I had already decided I was never, ever going to see him again after tonight, but when he stuck that damn pinky nail in his teeth for the fourth time, I knew I had to go. And I had to go right now. But the waiter wasn’t exactly cooperating in my attempts to flee, pointedly ignoring me trying to flag him down for the last five minutes. But now, here’s a perfect stranger, come to whisk me away from this horrible date. I quickly begin to play along.

“I turned my phone off before I came on my date.” I motion towards teeth picker across from me.

“Well we have to hurry. Dad’s about to have surgery.”

“I’m sorry,” I say as I stand, already pulling my purse strap onto my shoulder. “I have to go.”

“What about your half of the check?” he sputters.

I almost drop this façade just to tell him about himself, but decide making a quick escape is more important.

“I’m sure you’ll be okay,” I shout over my shoulder as I’m led by my hand towards the entrance.

It’s not until we’ve passed the restaurant windows that he releases my hand and turns around to face me.

“I’m sorry if I was out of line, but I couldn’t watch you suffer another moment. If you’d cringed any harder, I think your shoulders might’ve permanently stayed up by your ears.” He chuckles.

“Thank you.” I sigh. “That was the absolute worst. Worst. If you weren’t a complete stranger, I would kiss you for saving me.”

“I’m Damir.” He extends his hand.

“Mariah.”

As I shake his hand, I notice what my brother says makes me the ultimate weirdo, his hands. They’re my favorite part on a man, or rather, what I like most about a man. Their texture, their roughness, and Damir has that in spades. The callouses at the top of his palm, on the fingers that rest against the skin of my forearm, make me hold his hand longer than what might be considered appropriate. But he doesn’t seem to mind, smiling at me when my eyes move to his face.

“Well it seems you’re free for the night, so would you like to get a cup of coffee,” he asks, gesturing towards the café a little down the street.

“Make it tea, and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Tea it is.” He grins, and we begin to walk towards the café.

He opens the door for me and pulls out a chair at a table before asking for my order. While he walks to the counter, I text my real-life brother to let him know his life is forfeit when I see him. I can’t believe he set me up with that asshole, and I will make sure he never hears the end of it.

Damir brings back my chamomile tea, and I pour loads of honey into it before allowing it to cool down for a while. I watch him put some milk and sugar into his coffee before taking a sip and relaxing back in his chair.

“Can I ask what you were doing at the restaurant tonight?” I inquire.

“A business meeting,” he states. “Just signing some contracts to seal a very long and hard earned deal.”

“And what do you do?”

“I own a construction company.”

“Ah.” I nod. “That explains the hands.”

His eyebrows raise. “The hands?”

I duck my head and chuckle. “Your hands are rough, you can tell you work with them.”

“Is that not something you like?”

“That is something I love,” I blurt out before I think better of it.

His mouth pulls to one side in a sexy as hell smirk. “Good to know.”

When he takes another sip, I let my eyes wander. They drift down to his broad shoulders under a black button up shirt, then lower to the dark jeans covering his long legs that lead to black boots. My eyes travel back up his body to his face, his dark brown skin, and warm brown eyes that are staring right back at me when I meet them.

I clear my throat at being caught checking him out and finally start drinking my tea.

“I have to know how the heck you ended up at the restaurant with that guy,” he says when I set my mug back down.

“My soon to be dead brother. They work together, and he said this would break my recent long streak of bad dates. Clearly my brother is the biggest liar on the face of this earth.”

He laughs. “I have to believe your brother was pranking you or something.”

“Now that I think about it, I did recently cut the bottom of the pockets on all his jeans, so that’s very possible.”

“And you did that because?”

My eyes narrow. “He switched my mayonnaise with Miracle Whip. Have you ever tasted Miracle Whip?”

He shakes his head.

“The taste is what nightmares are made of. Trust me. I had to get him back.”

“Can I safely assume this…pranking war has been going on for a while?”

“Since we were teenagers. Just for the record, I’m winning.”

“Uh, based on that date I just saw, I would say he’s winning…by a landslide,” he says with a laugh.

My mouth drops open. “Two bad dates in one night.” I chuckle.

“Oh, this most definitely is not a date. You will know when I take you on a date.”

“And how exactly would I know that?” I arch a brow.

“Because we will be somewhere much nicer, and you will be smiling the whole night.”

“Well then show me.”

“Show you?”

“Show me what an oh so magical date with Damir is like.”

His smile is instant. “You got it.”

When we leave the café, Damir walks me back to the restaurant parking lot. I half expect teeth picker to be standing by my car, still waiting for my portion of the check.

“Thank you,” I say as we reach my car. “For saving me, and for the tea.”

“It was truly my pleasure. I got to lock in a contract and play a knight in shining armor for a beautiful woman in one night. Can’t ask for much more than that.”

I chuckle. “Well you may need to also escort me to my brother’s funeral for this prank, so keep your schedule open.”

“Dare I ask how you plan on getting him back?”

“I haven’t figured it out quite yet, but it will be epic. He’s just taken this prank war to a whole nother level.”

“Poor guy.”

“Oh, don’t pity him. Not after who he just set me up with.”

He laughs. “Very true. In that case, make him pay.”

“I will. You can bet on that.”

“So, how does tomorrow sound, for our date?”

I grin. “Can’t wait to see me again?”

“Honestly, I don’t want to.”

My grin turns into a smile. “I like that. Tomorrow works fine for me.”

We exchange numbers before Damir opens my door for me. It shouldn’t feel this heavy to say goodbye to someone I’ve known for less than a few hours, but I find myself looking up at him, wishing this night wasn’t ending yet.

“See you tomorrow then,” he says.

“Tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“Night.”

I pull away, looking at him watch me leave in my mirror. Once I’m home, the first thing I do is take my phone out and call my brother. He’s already laughing when he answers.

“You bastard,” I seethe.

“That I am, but it’s my mom’s fault, not mine.” He chuckles. “What? You didn’t enjoy your date?”

“You know damn well I didn’t, you asshole. That was beyond a prank. That was just torture.”

“Did he pick his teeth?”

I cringe again just thinking about it. “Yup, with his nail.”

“His nail? Oh, you got the classy version. Usually he’ll use a piece of paper, shit, he’ll use your piece of paper.”

“This was low Liam, even for you. Lucky for you, I was saved.”

“Saved?”

“This guy came in and pretended he was my brother, coming to find me because we had a family emergency. I left with him as your nasty ass coworker asked me to pay half the check.”

He laughs. “This is some of my best work. But, who was the guy?”

“Name’s Damir. We went to a café after. I have an actual date with him planned.”

“Well la de da. Maybe you can finally break the streak with him.”

“You’re one to talk. When’s the last time you even went on a date?”

“Hmm… Don’t remember. But I did do what people do after a date, a few days…”

“Eww,” I shake my head to dislodge those words from my mind. “I definitely don’t need to know that. Anyway, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I am going to sleep and forgetting tonight, well most of tonight, happened.”

“Night, little sister,” he says, the same name he’s called me as long as I can remember.

“Night, big brother.”

“Hey Dad,” I say, answering the phone as I pull up to the work site.

“How did it go? Contracts signed?” My dad asks.

“Signed. The project is mine.”

“I knew it. I told you you’d get it, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but you can never really be sure until those signatures are on the dotted lines. I was up against people who’ve had much more experience and years in the business than me.”

“But they didn’t have the Lewis charm.”

I laugh while getting out of the car. “Ah yes. How could I have forgotten about that? I’m sure that’s why the developer picked me.”

“Hey, it got me your mother, so it must be something magical.”

“Or it could just be that she figured she should marry the guy who worshiped the ground she walked on.”

“Well yeah, that too. But that charm is what allowed me to get close enough to worship her.”

I wave at a few of the men who are already getting prepared for the day as I walk to my trailer. When I see Stanley, I stop short, arching an impressed brow at him. He just chuckles and waves me off as I continue past him.

“I uh… Might need some of that Lewis charm to work in my favor tonight.”

“For?”

“So last night, I stayed at the restaurant after the developer left. A few tables over was this beautiful, and Dad, I mean beautiful woman. She was obviously on a date, so I started to look away, but then I saw her cringe. And when I say cringe, I mean, she looked like she was considering crawling out of her skin to get away from this guy. After watching for another few minutes just to make sure I was reading the situation right—”

“Wait, wait. Are you about to tell me you went over to her table and swept her right out from under this guy’s nose?” He barks out a laugh. “Now that is the beginning of an epic love story.”

“Can I even finish before you start calling it a love story?” I chuckle.

“Sorry, sorry. Go ahead.”

I pause. “Well, yeah, you kinda told what happened already. We went to a café after and talked some, and we’re going on a date tonight.”

“Oh, just wait until I tell your mother.”

“Dad, don’t. She’ll be asking me every single detail about Mariah before I even get to take her out and find out myself.”

He laughs. “I can’t disagree with you on that one. Mariah, that’s her name?”

“Yeah.”

“Where are you thinking of taking her?”

“Dinner, for sure. I’m just not sure where yet.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?”

“I have this little thing called a job I’m at.” Just then, the door to the trailer opens behind me. I look over my shoulder and hold a finger up at Stanley. “Speaking of which, I gotta go. Talk to you later.”

“Make sure you get her flowers,” my dad hurries to shout.

“Got it. Bye Dad.”

“Bye.”

I put my phone on the desk as Stanley sits in the chair near the window.

“I guess better late than never, huh?” I ask, leaning against the edge of my desk.

“I told you I’d make it to work on time one day. I just never said when.” He grins.

I cross my arms, trying to hide my frustration. Stanley is one of the most promising employees I have, but he can’t realize it because he’s too busy straddling the line between who he used to be and who he needs to become.

“When are you going to start taking things seriously, Stan? You pick up anything I teach you faster than anyone else here, have ideas on how to make things easier that I’ve never even considered, and have all the qualities to be a leader at this site. And yet, you insist on acting like some knucklehead. Slacking off, showing up late. You know you can be better, but you won’t let yourself.”

“Aww come on, Damir. I’m just trying to enjoy my life. You know how it is.”

“Yeah, I do. Which is exactly why I’m telling you to grow the hell up. Before you end up enjoying the inside of a prison, or being much too dead to enjoy life at all.”

His mouth gets tight, because whether he wants to admit it or not, he knows I’m right. I know the type of life he’s enjoying all too well. Living it had ended with me behind bars one too many times, and still dealing with the consequences years later. I had my parents to pull me away from it. I know Stanley doesn’t have anyone like that.

That’s the reason why, even though he’s been late every single day we’ve been at this site, I don’t have it in me to fire him. Not when I know exactly where he’ll run back to. The same places and people that had landed him on probation and part of my outreach program to begin with. I give what advice I can each day, trying to steer him in the right direction without being overbearing. But if the exasperated look Stanley is giving me is any indication, I’m missing my mark on the overbearing part.

I decide to try a different approach. “Listen, we start a new project next week, and I’d like to give you more responsibility on that job.”

He grins. “So, you got the project then?”

“I did. And it’s my biggest yet, so can I count on you to step up and help me out? I’ve got some younger guys coming in through the outreach program, and I’d like you to work with them, show them the ropes so I can dedicate my time to making sure everything goes smoothly. This project, and the opportunities it could open for my business, mean a lot to me.”

He’s silent for a moment, and in that silence I can hear his swallow, full of nerves. “Yeah. I can… I can help you out.”

Help me out. This kid. I chuckle while picking up my hard hat off of the desk. “Alright, let’s wrap everything up here and get ready for a new job. A job I am just sure you’re going to be on time for, right?”

He smiles. “Well, given how much you need me, I figure I should maybe even get to work a little early.”

I clutch my chest. “Whoa, whoa. Don’t give me a heart attack.”

“Well, you are pretty old, so…”

“Old?” I exclaim. “Wow. But this old man beats you at basketball every time, so what does that say about you?”

“Last time was a fluke.”

“And the five times before that?”

“I had to let you win so you wouldn’t fire me.”

I bark out a laugh. “Right, right.”

We walk out of my trailer and head towards where everyone else is waiting, smiles on their faces because there’s not any actual work to do today. Just a walk through.

“Alright guys. You know the drill. We’re checking to make sure everything is up to par. We’ll split up, six of us to an apartment building. Stan, you’re with me.”

He nods as people pair off with each other. I put on my hard hat, even though I technically don’t need it now that the project is finished. But I certainly don’t need a cop showing up and seeing me without one. And with how much cops seem to love bothering me at work, one showing up wasn’t a long shot. I glance back at Stanley at the thought, once again wanting to point out to him what I mean when I tell him about his actions having long lasting consequences. I hadn’t been in any type of trouble since I was eighteen, and yet I was still dealing with the ramifications of what a younger, much dumber me had done.

We walk into the building on the right, and my mind shifts to business. I inspect every aspect of the building entryway while Stanley goes into the apartment on the left with two guys. Another three go into the apartment on the right. I join Stanley after being satisfied that the entryway will surely pass inspection.

As we go through the apartments on each floor, making sure this project is done the way I expect it to be, I can’t help but think of the next project. It’s more than three times the size of this development. Bigger, grander than anything I’ve ever done. Doubt begins to creep in. Can I do it? Should the project have gone to someone with more experience, a bigger crew, someone who won’t have cops hounding his every footstep while he’s on site?

Shaking my head, I dislodge those thoughts. I learned long ago that letting others dictate who I am could only lead to me losing myself. My parents had helped me find my way again. Mr. Roberts, the man who’d accepted me into his outreach program, much like the one I run now, had helped me realize my hands could be used for more than mischief and mayhem. That they could help me build a life instead of tearing mine down.

Stanley laughs in the corner of the room with another employee, and I look over at him, wondering if it's possible for me to make a difference in his life the way Mr. Roberts had made in mine. If I can get him to see his potential. If I can make him see that there’s more for him than all he’s ever known. I hope so.