Free Melting Point by Terry Towers Page B

of inspection goodies, and proceeded to do a couple more tests to verify his visual diagnosis.
    Once done he stood next to her, eyeing it a final time. She had noticed several of the men, including Brian and Trent, were now standing within earshot of her and the inspector. Unlike her, they weren't even attempting to pretend not to listen in.
    The o nly thing she hated worse than inspections were inspections with an audience.
    The inspector turned to Faith, nodded and stated flatly, "Perfection, if I have ever seen it. Have a good weekend." Without waiting for a response the inspector walked away from her, heading toward the next welder on his list.
    She knew it was a terrific job so the verdict wasn't a shock to her. However, even after working as a welder for close to ten years now, she still felt good when she was told she’d done a job well. With a smile on her face, she picked up her equipment and headed toward the direction of the parking lot.
    As she passed by Brian she heard him talking with the other men who were now standing in a circle with him. She tried to tune out their conversation but one part filtered through loud and clear, "...course he said it was perfection, she has a pussy, doesn't she?"
    Faith fought the urge to turn back and confront Brian. Instead, she continued to walk briskly, increasing her speed slightly.
    Don’t confront him, don’t give him the satisfaction , she coached herself. I know the truth and that’s all that matters.
    She just wanted out of there for the day, and now !
    "Faith, wait." As she brushed past Trent, he attempted to stop her, taking hold of her upper arm.
    She pulled her arm from his grasp without so much as turning or offering the courtesy of looking in his direction. "I'll see you Monday."
    Without another word to anyone she exited the job site.
     
    ****
     
    Trent watched as Faith marched off the job site and headed for her navy half-ton. She was upset and looking over at his older brother grouped up with a number of his buddies, Trent had a pretty good idea why.
    "Asshole," he muttered under his breath as he stormed over to Brian.
    "Trent. Glad you’re here, I wanted to introduce you to a few of the guys." Brian smiled warmly at his brother as he motioned for Trent to join the group.
    "What did you say to her , Brian?" He wasn’t in the mood to beat around the bush with Brian and couldn’t care less about his idiot buddies. Having grown up with Brian, he knew without meeting the men that if they were friends of his brother’s, then they were not people he had any interest in knowing.
    "Who?" Brian asked , frowning.
    "Do you really need to be such an ass hole all the time, Brian?" Folding his arms across his chest Trent waited for his older brother's response.
    Brian snapped his fingers and his face lit up. "Oh, you mean what I said about Faith?"
    "Ya h. What exactly did you say?" He had a pretty good idea, but still wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth.
    "I don't know, something about the inspector passing he r work because she's got a cunt," Brian replied in a nonchalant manner. A couple of the men in the group snickered. Trent shot them all a dirty look.
    "I didn't mean anything by it. We were just kidding. Messing around. She didn't even hear me." He waved a hand in Trent's direction, dismissing the subject from his mind. "Let me introduce you to some of the guys."
    "Why are you such a dick?" Trent cut him off before he could get to the first introduction.
    "What is the problem now?" As far as Brian was concerned the issue was buried.
    With a shake of his head Trent turned and strode off toward the park ing lot. He'd had enough of Brian for one day. He knew he should never have taken a job working with his brother. Their whole lives they had never gotten along, why would it change now?
     
    ****
     
    Faith had barely made it through the front door of her apartment when the telephone started ringing. Sprinting through the kitchen, still wearing her