Josh rubbed the back of his head awkwardly as he tried to keep a conversation flowing with Alexis. Looking to his side he saw someone else approaching however. She was a tall young looking woman with long blonde hair. Josh stifled for a moment until he realized who she was. Excusing himself, Josh left the construction site and worked his way over to her.
"Mrs. Morebucks! This is a surprise! How are you and your husband?" Josh asked politely as he went to shake the attractive woman's hand. Smiling she looked around the construction site.
"Please Josh, You can call me Rebecca." She said with a friendly smile to which Josh nodded in approval. "Freddy wanted to see the progress, but he had to fly out this morning for business. I was planning on staying in town for a few days however, so I thought I'd drop by."
"Oh, well as you can see everything is going very smoothly! Thanks to you and your husband the park is nearly doubling in size!" Josh said with an enthusiastic smile.
"That's wonderful to hear!" She said tiling his head slightly as she looked at a few new rides and tubes being placed within the park. "But there was another reason why I wanted to stop and talk to you."
Josh looked at her, a little worried. Hoping there wasn't a problem Josh simply smiled and responded, "Sure, anything you need to talk about!"
Turning to the side and holding her hands, Rebecca looked at the ground. "It's about my son actually."
Josh looked at her confused. If she had a son he couldn't imagine him being very old. Josh tried to keep smiling however, hoping he didn't have to get involved with some little kid somehow. Rebecca however, kept staring at the ground and continued her story.
"My husband and I were high school sweethearts. We actually got married when we were only 19. As his business started to take off, it was about the time our son was born." Rebecca continued as Josh tried to comprehend the story. "That was 21 years ago."
Josh looked at the woman dumbstruck. She was the same age as Mr. Morebucks? He couldn't believe this woman was in her 40s, let alone has a son in his 20s! Shaking his head Josh tried to keep focused as Rebecca finished her story.
"We were lucky, my husband started work in real estate back when the housing market crashed. Somehow we made it through and built up a company. We knew what it was like to have nothing. But not our Clifford." She said, looking as if she was going to cry. Turning her head to look at Josh she tried to hold back her tears while she continued. "He goes to school around here. We even have an estate where he stays while he's at school. He's a freshmen at one of the universities..."
Josh put a hand on his chin for a second while she said that. "A freshmen? Did he start late?"
Rebecca simply shook her head as she looked back down at the ground. "No. He's been a freshmen for 3 years."
Josh's eyes widened. He couldn't believe a school would keep someone like that for so long. Figuring the family must have a good amount of influence however, Josh figured it was best not to pry.
"He has no motivation. He doesn't understand the value of a dollar. He thinks he can just get by in life with good looks and his father's money." She said with a shaky voice, obviously very distressed about it. "But then we met you! We were so impressed by your staff. All very handsome young men, but all so very motivated and respectful of you. A few of your employees remind me of Clifford, actually.
Josh blushed as he rubbed his neck. Sure some of the guys were slackers, but he knew they all respected him on some level. Rebecca smiled as she looked at Josh's red face as she continued. "Freddy and I were hoping since the park was being expanded, maybe you could hire him?"
Josh looked at the woman, shocked at the request. "Oh, yeah it's true we are hiring a lot of new staff. Does your son need the job? Especially if school is a problem..."
Rebecca simply shook her head. "We both agree a job would good for him. Even if he doesn't need the money, he needs to learn to work. Not only that but he needs to learn to respect others. Finally, he struggles in school because he wastes all his free time. If he had an actual schedule we think he might try just hard enough to pass."
Josh shook his head. He wasn't exactly ecstatic about getting some guy with no experience or motivation to start working at his park, but his hands were a little tied. "I'll do whatever I can to help."
Rebecca practically leap forward as she grabbed Josh's hands, thanking him. Josh smiled, but he knew there was sure to be rough times ahead. "Thank you so much! Oh, I have to have you meet him as soon as possible! He went skim boarding on the beach nearby while I was out."
Josh was caught off guard when suddenly he found himself being drug off by Rebecca to the boardwalk, making their way to one of the nearby beaches.
- - -
Rebecca and Josh made their way to the beach and the pair looked out across the sandy surface for a few seconds before Rebecca pointed out a guy in the distance, skim boarding along the water. Rebecca waved and called out his name embarrassingly loud as the man noticed and shook his head as he grabbed his board and walked over. Josh watched as Clifford came into a view, much to Josh's awe. The man looked to be taller than his father by a slight amount. Josh guessed he must've been at least 6'4". He has dirty blonde short hair and rich looking hazel eyes. His body looked extremely well trained, as it was covered in lean strong looking muscles. His dirty blonde hair even peeked up from his shorts in a short treasure trail. Looking at his face however, Josh couldn't believe how good looking he was. He has strong looking features and a cut jawline. Josh swallowed nervously as he realized what Rebecca meant by "Getting by in life with good looks."
Rebecca smiled as her attractive son brushed a little water out of his hair as he made his way over to them. "Clifford, honey, I'd like you to meet someone."
Clifford's face suddenly turned to a scowl as he looked at his mother. "Don't call me Clifford, mom."
"Oh right! He hates being called by his full name. He like's being called Cliff because it sounds tougher, right hun?" Rebecca said, acting like a quintessential embarrassing parent.
Cliff simply turned his head and crossed his arms. "Tsk."
"Anyway, hun. I want you to meet Josh. He's the owner of the park your father just invested in." Rebecca said happily as she ignored her son's attitude.
Cliff looked over at Josh and raised an eyebrow. "I think of heard of that place. Shrunk and Swim or whatever?"
"Shrink and Swim, but yeah close enough." Josh tried to say politely at the handsome man.
"Sure." Cliff said flatly as he lowered his arms off his impressive chest. "Why am I meeting you?"
Rebecca looked at her son seriously for a second while she prepared to drop the bomb on him. "Because honey. You're going to be working there."
Cliff turned his back on his mother and walked away. "No."
Josh simply blinked as the huge man walked off, not even giving his own mother the time of day. Rebecca simply sighed as her son stormed off. "I knew he'd do that. But don't worry. We are going to have a good talk when we get home. I'll have Freddy call you."
Rebecca excused herself, thanking Josh once more as they finally parted ways. Walking back to the park, Josh shook his head. "Geez that guy seemed awful..."
Worried this guy might actually end up at his park against his will, Josh couldn't help but cringe at the thought. Back at the park, Josh saw that the construction crew had already packed up for the day. Noticing that the park was in fact closed up, Josh thought it might be an opportune moment to get inside and looked at the park, as well as sneak into his office. Heading to the shrinking machine out front, Josh shrunk himself down and entered the park.
Looking around Josh noticed the park looked in pretty good shape. Everything that was supposed to be in place was there, and even some of the new rides looked to be nearly operational. Smiling at the swiftness of the work, Josh made his way into his office to sit back and file a few papers while the day was still young.
- - -
A few hours went by and Josh sat back in his chair. It really was a full day after all, and he was glad to get some work done even though he didn't expect to be able to. Josh's bliss was short lived however as his phone in his pocket started to buzz. Pulling it out and looking at the lit screen, Josh saw Mr. Morebucks's name come up on the caller id. Swallowing nervously, Josh answered the phone.
"Hello, this is Josh." Josh answered as he heard the familiar gruff sounding voice reply to him.
"Josh, it's Freddy. Sorry it took so long to get back to you. My wife told me you met Clifford." Mr. Morebucks replied quickly.
"Mr. Morebucks! Yeah, we talked for awhile and she told me all about Cliff. Does this mean you ended up talking to him?" Josh asked nervous to know the answer.
"We had a great family talk over skype, believe me." Mr. Morebucks said sarcastically. "But yes, in the end I convinced him that he has to get a job."
Josh frowned as he thought about the unruly rich boy coming to work at his park, bug figuring it was the right thing to do, Josh replied with a happy tone. "That's great! Hopefully I can work with him and he can learn about the working world."
"I'm counting on you." Mr. Morebucks said seriously much to Josh's excitement. "But one thing I need you to do is give me periodic updates, alright?"
"Alright." Josh said simply, unsure why he needed to keep tabs on his son.
"Thank you, by the way I told him to head over..."
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