But then he’d come back…
“You did too much, didn’t you?” he asked.
I smiled. “I’m not sure if you’re familiar with what I do all day, but it isn’t all that physical. I spend a lot of time sitting in a chair.”
“Tell me about what you do,” he suggested.
The fifteen-minute drive to his house, I told him everything about what I did, starting with milking snakes, and ending with the more scientific side of it.
Throughout the entire explanation, he kept silent, nodding along at the appropriate times to let me know that he was indeed listening.
“I’ve got to say,” he said when I was done. “I never would’ve expected a chick to want anything to do with snakes. My sister would’ve straight up died if she even thought about having to hold a snake.”
“I can’t say that I was all that hyped about it,” I admitted. “When I started there, it was because my best friend’s stepfather got me the job. I was pretty desperate for anything at the time, and this one paid really good. For obvious reasons,” I rolled my eyes. “But it’s fun. And with my background in animal science, I slotted right into the scientific side of it. I didn’t realize I would be the one actually milking the snakes, though.”
“That wasn’t discussed in your interview?”
“I didn’t have an interview.” I laughed. “Best friend’s stepdad, remember? He would’ve given me the job whether I was qualified or not. But it works out that I was qualified. I do, however, think that the snake handling part of the job was actually something that was written into Stacy’s job description. I think that he’s afraid of snakes, so he just handed that job off to me.”
Before he could add much to the conversation other than what he had, he pulled into a driveway just north of Sawtooth and my heart skipped a beat.
Of course he would live here.
I stiffened, and he noticed the change in my demeanor almost instantly.
“What?”
I hesitated, wondering whether I should bother telling him what I was truly thinking.
“Nothing,” I lied, thinking that maybe this was something he didn’t necessarily need to know.
He eyed me suspiciously, but didn’t press me on it.
Which was good, because if he had I would’ve broken and shared with him just how much I disliked his home.
He wouldn’t have any clue how many bad memories were centered here.
I may have been young when I lived here, but I sure the fuck didn’t forget.
He got out of the truck, and I remained where I was, thinking it would be best to stay put.
But he had other ideas, and rounded his truck and pulled open my door.
“I’ll just wait…”
He didn’t wait for me to finish and unbuckled my seat belt for me.
I inhaled deeply, and the scent of pine and clean laundry invaded my senses.
“I…”
“Will come in because I’m not leaving you out in my truck while I get dressed,” he said as he all but lifted me out of the truck.
I winced, my body freezing up for a long moment as he placed his hand directly on a bruise.
“Shit, sorry,” he said as he put me down. “I forgot that you were sore from yesterday.”
“S’okay.” I smiled, trying to ease the worry I could see in his face. “Just really sore today.”
