“Thanks for stopping by,Nathan.” The way Riley says ‘Nathan’ reminds me of my second grade teacher who constantly called me up to the front for being ‘too much of a class clown’.
It’s weird. Riley is younger than me, but she keeps reminding me of my past female authority figures.
“Don’t you have practice?” she asks pointedly.
“It’s training, but yes, I do.” I check my watch. “What time do you close today?”
Riley’s mouth remains pinned shut.
“At five,” Jimmy offers helpfully.
I give him a nod of thanks and then tell Riley, “I’m not sure how long training will go, but I’ll try to make it back around then.”
“Why?” It sounds more like an accusation than a question.
“We have more to discuss.”
“Really, Nathan,” she says tersely, “we don’t need to talk about this anymore. Consider the air cleared. Consider the hatchet buried.” She makes a downward slashing motion and I get the sense that the hatchet is being buried alright… in my skull. “Go live in peace.”
I make my way to the door. Not because I want to but because the only thing left for Riley to do is take the broom and yell ‘shoo, shoo!’
“See you at five,” I say, stopping at the door with a backward wave. “Shrimp.”
I hear a clattering sound.
It’s the broom slamming into the wall near my head.
Laughter bubbles in my chest as I step into the sunshine.
Riley Carter’s big brother.
Yeah, I think I’ll be good at that.
Chapter Nine
RILEY
My ego is bruised.
Nat apologized for being attracted to me, which drudges up long-buried feelings of rejection.
The men I dated in the aviation maintenance industry were a little too condescending. They had this way of talking down to me, like I was a baby splashing around in a pool.
I had equal trouble dating men outside of the trade. I was always pretty enough to hit on… until they found out I fixed planes for a living. Then all of a sudden, they couldn’t get over me being a ‘tomboy’.
I know Nat isn’t like those guys, but it hurts.
Especially because, deep inside, there’s still a part of me that yearns to be recognized by him. Thankfully, he kills that little sliver of longing really early on in our conversation.
‘I’m her brother.’
Pfft.
That bozo.
If anything today just proved how far I’ve come. Talking to him as an adult today, it suddenly hit me that Nat doesn’tcare about me as a person. He was standing in front of me, apologizing for the misunderstanding, not because ofmebut because I’m Chris’s little sister.
That’s it.
