My phone dings on my nightstand. I grab it and see Anthony’s name and a message.
Let’s hit some bags after I’m done fishing.
I’m not surprised he’s already at the lake. It’s his Saturday morning ritual. I respond, telling him I have to go to my parents’ house first. My mom needs a reconciliation of all the work I did this week so she can start the billing. Normally I do that on Friday nights, but last night I wasn’t in the mood.
I’m not much in the mood now, either, but it has to be done. At least today I’ll be able to slam my fists into some bags and break apart the tension that has my body and mind in knots.
Knowing I have something to look forward to forces me from bed. I get ready slowly, enjoying not having to be somewhere at a specific time. I drink coffee on my back porch, wearing only my jeans, while the sun spills onto me and warms my skin. As hard as I try not to think about Brynn, my thoughts wander to her.
What does someone like her do on the weekend? Not only is she new in town, but she’s reclusive. It’s not like I could go to Chambers, the best bar on Main Street, tonight and find her there. She wouldn’t go shoot pool, she wouldn’t go to a movie, she wouldn’t go…anywhere. I can’t picture her feeling comfortable in any of those places.
I shake my head, hoping to push Brynn and her blue eyes from my mind. She’s certainly not thinking about me. I need to stop thinking about her.
* * *
When I get to my parents’house my mom is already at her desk, waiting for me. She leans back in her new, ergonomic desk chair when she sees me.
I sink down onto an old folding chair she keeps in the corner. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hay is for horses!” She chuckles at her terrible joke.
I shake my head and try again. “Hello, Mom.”
She grins. “Better.”
“Where’s Dad?” I lift an ankle over the opposite knee and pull out my phone. I need to access the log I keep in my notes app to remember where I was and how long. Sometimes all the homes blend together.Except for this week, when Brynn was with me. I was hyper-aware of every step I took, every breath, every glance, every everything.
My mom frowns at the ceiling, to where their bedroom is on the second floor. “He’s lying down.”
“Everything okay?”
“He didn’t sleep well, and neither did I, as a consequence.” She lets out a heavy breath and shrugs. “Oh well. Gotta keep on moving, right?”
I smile. My mom hates complaining. I think she was a saint in a different life.
“Mary called me and told me about Brynn.” She grins impishly. “She said Brynn seemed like a little more than anemployee, and that she’s so pretty it’s hard not to stare. She also said that you had no problem staring at her.”
Never mind. She’s not a saint. She’s nosy, and so is her best friend.
I keep my gaze on my phone and act like what I’m doing is important. “I’ll be sure to appropriately thank Mary the next time I see her,” I say calmly to my screen.
“Oh, please.” Mom waves her hand. It catches my attention and I glance away from my phone. “Don’t be so touchy,” she admonishes. “Brynn’s beautiful, so what? You can still do your job.”
When I don’t say anything, she narrows her eyes at me and leans forward. “Right? You can do your job? Brynn won’t be a distraction to you?”
I stare at her for another moment, drawing it out, and then palm my forehead with a dull smack. “I just forgot I didn’t do half my work this week because Brynn blinked and I was captivated.”
Mom gives me a dirty look, searching her desk for something to throw at me. A balled up napkin is all she has that won’t cause real physical damage, so she tosses it. It bounces off my knee and lands on the ground. I grab it off the floor and shoot it into the wastebasket beside her desk.
“Mom, I’ll be fine. Trust me. Brynn has less interest in me than she does one of the pine trees in her backyard.”
She gives me a disbelieving look.
“I promise,” I add, thinking of the way she practically leaped from my truck when I dropped her off yesterday afternoon, after we were done for the day.
“Well, now I want to know why she doesn’t like you. She would be lucky to have you, and I’m not just saying that because I’m biased. You’re handsome, loyal, talented, responsible…”
I let her go on for fifteen more seconds. After the week I had with Brynn, I need an ego boost. Although considering the source, I’ll have to discount fifty percent of what she said due to motherly preference.
