“I know you don’t, because you’re not a pompous…son of a gun. But come on, man, at some point, stuff like that’s just part of the get-to-know-you process.”
Don’t know who gave Cliff the right to trample into my personal life. I mean, knowing me since kindergarten only goes so far.
My dirty scalp itches, and I reach up to scratch. “Look, I never intended to hide anything, and by the time I realized there was an omission I needed to rectify, it felt like a big deal. But I’ve tried, trust me, and every time I open my mouth, we get interrupted.”
He pats his hand over the pocket of his work shirt and makes a phony baloney coughing sound. “Lots of interruptions in that motel room, I imagine.”
Gripping the armrests, I glare. “Help yourself to the sludge in the break area next time, Roberts.”
He laughs, shamelessly unrepentant, and sips the rich Italian roast he doesn’t deserve.
I’ve said all I’m going to say about Saturday night, that’s for sure, but Cliff does in fact receive a special dispensation when it comes to irritating me. “Man, Sunday morning I started to tell her, and out walks her mom waving us to come inside for breakfast.”
“Did you stay and eat?”
I pick up the closest pen and tap it. “You know I’m not the guy to pass up a homecooked meal.”
“For freaking crying out loud, Knox, you don’t think that might have been a good time to work some info into the conversation?”
“I didn’t want to drop it on her in front of her mother.”
“It ain’t a bomb, Herd. Might even help your cause with the parentals.”
I stare up at the high window that’s not good for much, except in the summer months when I stuff an AC unit through it.
“Ohhh.”
I snap around. “Ohwhat?”
“That’s the problem, part two, isn’t it?”
Lunch debris litters the space in front of me. I pick up the wadded wax paper from the sandwich and transform it from a loose wad to a tight ball.
“This is about that bimbo in college. I get it now.”
Bimbois a bit too—no. Not too strong. I’m embarrassed I ever fell for Isabella even a little. What can I say? I was young, and she was model-perfect with a mesmerizing smile. The way herhair flowed down her back when she tilted her head in laughter? Well, I succumbed to her spell as much as any guy on campus.
The feeling was not mutual. Three times freshman year I asked her out, and I’ll never forgive my stupidity for it. One rejection should have been sufficient.
Three strikes and out is a good rule, generous even. But me? Idiot me rolled over like a lovesick puppy when, during sophomore year,sheaskedmefor a date.
A month later I learned the reason for her miraculous change of heart. Unnoticed in a stall, my buddy’s girlfriend overheard Isabella talking while she primped in a restaurant bathroom.“His daddy owns some big companyandhis own jet. Can you believe that? Oh my gosh, if I’d known when Knox asked me out the first time…”
I may be dumb, but I’m only occasionally a moron. I shook free of that woman’s claws but fast. I knew then and there I’d take vows and join the clergy before I ever settled for a life with a woman who wanted me for anything other thanme.
Funny, though. The joke would have been on her. Rand may be partial to flash, but in general, the Herds are the most down to earth people in the Midwest. The jet was a ten-year-old model Dad purchased so he could be home more for us kids, most especially for my football games because he was the ultimate sports dad, in all the best ways. It wasn’t a vanity purchase. That isn’t the Herd way. The darned thing is expensive to operate, though it does get dusted off increasingly lately as the business expands and Rand is partial to it. But no one is jetting off to Maui or the Greek Isles on fly-by-night whims.
Truth is, LHS—Lawrence Herd and Sons Construction—gained its name once both Rand and I graduated college and joined the company. Yes, Dad was generous in how he cut both of us into ownership positions, but to be clear,hebuilt the company. Not me, not Rand, although Rand has the fire in hisbelly that will keep LHS in growth mode for the foreseeable future. Dad has taken a step back. Mom and Dad aren’t old, but they’re beginning to think in terms of enjoying life.
Most of my upbringing was pretty middle class. Comfortable middle with some perks like great family vacations. LHS hadn’t hit the bigtime yet. The thing with Isabella caught me off guard because I’d never seen myself or my familythatway before. It wasn’t until I was a junior in high school and the company landed the contract for a ten-acre business complex that LHS turned the corner into becoming a major player in commercial construction in the state of Missouri. Today, we’ve worked in more than a dozen states, mostly in the Midwest and South.
Rand relished the doors our family’s growing wealth opened. Me, I determined there’d be no second round for that kind of nonsense when it came to women. With Becca, the money didn’t seem to be a factor. We were introduced by friends at church, and sparks flew. We had already dated a couple weeks before I mentioned my ownership stake with the company. Now, I wonder at her motives all along. Maybe she knew from the start and finagled the introduction.
And maybe I was her foot in the door with Rand.
Looking back, there were signs things weren’t right. She gravitated toward luxury and…flash. Yes, definitely Rand’s ballpark, hard as it is to acknowledge.
Honestly, I’m worried for my brother and what he’s getting himself into.
