Chapter 108 First day

Chapter 108 First day
I woke before dawn. The clock on my phone read 4:00 a.m., and I’d been staring at the ceiling ever since. Not because I needed to be up so early, but because every time I closed my eyes, I saw Judge Warren in her robes, perched high above me behind the bench.

Six months.

That’s what I’d been given. Six months to find stable housing. Six months to prove I could support Xavier. Six months to become the kind of person I should’ve been long before anyone ever asked me to look out for someone else.

My alarm buzzed at 5:30, breaking the silence. I killed it instantly. The house was still, wrapped in the hush of early morning. Ellie wouldn’t be up for another hour. Xavier was asleep. Even Lily was quiet... no one banging pots in the kitchen, no angry voices, no one watching my every move.

For once, I wasn’t up because of chaos. There was food in the kitchen. My wallet was where I left it. I wasn’t sneaking out, I was getting ready for my first real job.

Marrow Industries.

I should’ve felt proud. Mostly, I felt like I was going to be sick.

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, trying to convince myself I belonged in the reflection. Black slacks. White shirt. Shoes John bought me yesterday. And the tie... God, the tie. I’d spent ten minutes wrestling it, trying to remember how John had demonstrated. I looked like I’d lost a fight with a ribbon.

I pulled at the knot and made it worse. “Great,” I muttered to my reflection.

A knock at the door.

John leaned against the frame, already in his suit and tie, looking like he’d never had a nervous day in his life. He gave my tie a glance and smirked.

“You planning to wear it like that?” he asked.

“I was hoping nobody would notice,” I said.

“They’ll notice.” He stepped into the room. “Come here.”

I stood still as his hands worked, calm and practiced. He loosened my mangled knot, started from scratch. “Long end over the short. Underneath. Back across. Up through the center.” He tightened the knot, straightened my collar. “Not too tight.”

I looked again. For the first time, I almost looked normal. “How’d you learn that?” I asked.

“My father,” he said, and for a second, something in my chest tightened. He caught it and set his hands on my shoulders. “You’ll learn,”

I met his eyes in the mirror. “Learn what?”

“All of it.” He smiled. “The tie. The job. The people. How to walk into a room and trust you belong there.”

I looked down. “I’m not sure I do.”

He turned me to face him. “You do.” The words left no room for argument. “Frank and you have already met, so you don’t need to worry about him.”

I nodded.

“There’ll be a lot of other people, different departments, a lot of faces, most you won’t remember by lunchtime.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“It should be.” He straightened my collar again. “Nobody remembers everyone on their first day.”

I hesitated. “What if I screw something up?”

“You will,” John said, and I looked up, startled. He grinned. “Not anything catastrophic. Probably.”

“Probably?” I echoed.

He laughed. “Jaxon, you’re learning. You’re going to misunderstand things. You’re going to ask questions. You’ll need someone to show you more than once. That’s part of having a first day.”

He gave my shoulders a gentle squeeze. “But once it’s you, me, and Frank... it’ll go smoothly.”

I swallowed. “You really believe I can do this?”

He sobered. “I wouldn’t have offered you the position if I didn’t. And before you start thinking this is charity... it’s not.”

I looked away, but he’d already read my mind.

He let go and stepped back. “You’re starting at the bottom. You’ll be trained. You’ll be expected to work hard. Frank won’t go easy on you just because you’re dating my daughter. Honestly, he’ll probably be harder on you.”

“Fantastic,” I said, but I managed a smile.

“But he knows what he’s doing.” John handed me my suit jacket. “You’ll stay in the main building while training. Estimating is based there. Most of your work is with Frank, learning plans, bids, organizing project info, tracking costs.”

I shrugged into the jacket.

“Eventually, you’ll go into the field. Once you’re ready. Once Frank trusts you to look at a jobsite and actually understand what you’re seeing. Don’t rush that. Field experience matters. So does knowing what the hell you’re doing before you step onto an active site.”

“Got it.”

He looked me over once more and smiled. “You look good.”

I laughed, nerves rattling in my chest. “I look like I’m pretending to know what I’m doing.”

“That’s most adults,” John said, smiling. He opened the bedroom door wide. “Come on. Lily made breakfast.”

“Of course she did,” I said.

“And lunch.”

I stopped. “She packed me lunch?”

He glanced back. “You’re surprised?”

“A little.”

His smile faltered, just for a second, then came back. “Get used to it.”

Lily stood in the kitchen wearing her robe, her hair pulled into a loose bun.

She had clearly woken up early just for us.

A plate of eggs, toast, and bacon sat on the table.

Two travel mugs waited beside it.

A brown lunch bag had my name written across the front.

I stared at it longer than I meant to.

Lily noticed. "Turkey sandwich." She pointed at the bag. "Chips. Apple. Granola bar. And two cookies because Ellie would've stolen one if she'd been awake."

I smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She stepped closer and adjusted the same collar John had already fixed.

Apparently, no one believed I was capable of keeping my clothes straight for more than thirty seconds.

"Are you nervous?"

"Terrified."

"Good."

I looked between her and John. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

Lily smiled. "Because being nervous means you care."

She kissed my cheek. Then paused. Her eyes moved over my face. "Proud of you."

My throat tightened. I looked down at the table before either of them could see too much.

"Thanks."

John pulled out a chair. "Eat."

I sat.

For a few minutes, the kitchen remained quiet. Comfortable. The kind of quiet that didn't feel like something bad was about to happen.

Halfway through breakfast, footsteps shuffled in the hallway.

Xavier appeared in the doorway wearing dinosaur pajamas.

His hair stuck up in every direction.

He rubbed one eye. "Jax?"

"Hey, buddy."

His gaze moved over my suit. "Why are you dressed like a funeral?"

John choked on his coffee. Lily pressed her lips together.

I looked down at myself. "It's for work."

Xavier walked closer. "You have to dress like that every day?"

"Probably."

He frowned. "That sucks."

"It does a little."

He climbed into the chair beside me. Then reached up and touched my tie. "John did that."

I narrowed my eyes. "How do you know?"

"Because yours wouldn't look that good."

John burst out laughing.

"Traitor."

Xavier grinned. Then his expression became serious. "Are you coming back?"

I turned toward him completely. "Of course I'm coming back."