I roll my eyes so I don’t have to stare at that sexy as hell smile and sit down at the bench opposite him, wincing as I pop up on the stool with a little too much force.
His smile has disappeared, and he is in the freezer retrieving the ice pack.
Holding it up to me, he asks.“Another day?”
“Yeah.It’s not so much the bruise, but the surrounding area.”
“You could have a bone contusion.”
Taking the ice pack from him as I shake my head, “It is getting better.I could get down the stairs okay just then.I sat too aggressively.That’s it.”
I place the ice pack against my thigh and let the cold seep through me.Koby moves my plate in front of me along with my coffee mug, but stays eating on the other side of the kitchen island.
“Brax should be here in about an hour.”
“Need to go through anything before he gets here?”
“We covered everything yesterday.I didn’t have any ideas overnight.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Fair point.”
Knocking erupts, and Koby heads to the door.I hear Brax’s voice once Koby opens the door and greets him.
By the time I have shimmed myself off the stool, and faced the front of the house, Koby reenters with Brax behind him.He is the epitome ofdon’t judge a book by its cover.His hair is always a buzz cut.Broad shoulders with tattoos that snake up from his sculpted arms and wrap around his neck.Clear glasses and a full trimmed beard.He looks rough.But appearances aren’t always what they seem.
“Rayna!I’m so sorry for barging in early, love.”He approaches me and scoops me into a hug.“I knew you’d understand, but I wanted to get this started so I could head and see Mum.”
“Brax, don’t be silly.Of course.I’m sorry.I didn’t realise you landed already.How are you?”
“Okay?Maybe?I’ll feel better once I see Mum.I wanted to stay longer with Louie, but the carers were concerned.”
“Don’t you worry about it.Let’s go sit down and get started.”I motion him over to the dining table and realise I left my laptop upstairs.
Turning to head upstairs, Koby is already in front of me.
“I’ll get the laptop.Just sit down and put that ice pack back on your leg.”
“Thanks,” I say, and he is up and back down the stairs in no time.Handing me my laptop and setting my eggs and coffee mug at my new position on the table.
Brax accepts a coffee offer and sits next to me, extracting his own laptop from his backpack, wasting no time giving me some rundowns from the season.Nothing outrageous and things he and Louie have been keeping me abreast of through the season.He finishes his wrap-up, and he looks drained already.Time for me to float the idea of job sharing.
“Brax, this is great.You have done a tremendous job this season, as you do every season.Next year, I want to run something by you.Ideally, I would like to offer you some special carers leave.It’s open throughout the entire season including testing months.Whatever time you need.”
“I don’t know if I can do that…” He trails off, considering.Running a hand over his head.
“My other thought was you could job-share with someone.So you can rely on them to carry out what you have planned, and then you know the team is covered, but especially you are supported.”
“Have you approached anyone yet?”
“We haven’t.We have some ideas of who we would like to approach, but we wanted to see how you felt about it first.”
“Sorry.We?You and Louie?”
“Koby and I.We’ve thought of some mechanics from Ghostly Flux who would be good fits for both filling in for Jack and Adrian, but also people as support for you.Infraction32 mechanics are still recovering from the previous year’s losses in crew taking new roles.Louie has someone in mind for Jack or Adrian’s cover, but we still need to train up someone within the team to be near your level and provide the support.Which is why I have asked Koby to help out.”
Brax lifts his glasses and rubs his eyes.Sighing loudly.“Rayna, you’re honestly the best boss.”Putting his glasses back on, he places his hands on the table on either side of his laptop.“I don’t know what to say.I’m really floored.Could we plan for the job-share, and see how I go before the start of the season?”
