“I’m listening.”
“Please don’t play games with Cerise. She’s too nice a girl for that to happen to. I know you say you love ranching, but hell, man, you’ve got enough money in the bank to buy this place, along with the four other ranches in the area several times over and still have change.” Mitch shifted his gaze over the top of the car before returning it to Brodie. “I don’t know if you’re just doing something because you’re bored or you really do want to do this for the rest of your life. But I think you need to let Cerise know exactly who you are. Especially after the other night at trivia when your fucking app was one of the questions.”
The shroud of tiredness was getting thick, and he was struggling to keep his focus, but he got what Mitch was trying to tell him. The fact that he and Cerise were getting serious meant the truth needed to come out. But he didn’t want it to, not yet. He still wanted to be simply Brodie to her, not Brodie the guy with plenty of money. “I get where you’re coming from. I’m glad she has people like you to look out for her.”
“Okay, good. Now that I’ve done what Nadia wanted me to do, I’ll let you get home and get some rest. I need to go home tomy fiancée too. It’s been too long since I held her. Take care.” He tapped the truck and walked away.
The yearning to be part of a partnership slammed into Brodie again as he watched Mitch hurry away, clearly wanting to get to Nadia sooner rather than later. It warmed him to know Cerise had been worried about him. They’d only known each other a short while, and normally he would consider a woman he’d dated a couple of times as being clingy, expecting him to text her. But with Cerise things were different. Everything felt different with her, and his volunteer duties could be dangerous. He could’ve taken the two minutes out of his time to let her know he was at work safely.
Putting the window up he set his truck into reverse and headed out of the ranch and toward his home. As much as he wanted to crash, he owed Cerise an apology in person. He’d shower and then head over to her place. Hopefully she wouldn’t slam the door in his face.
An hour later, takeout Chinese in one hand, he raised the other to knock on Cerise’s door. The shower had revived him more than he thought it would. Or maybe it was the anticipation of seeing Cerise again that gave him another jolt of energy.
He heard the pounding of what he guessed were Finn’s footsteps coming toward the door. A few seconds later he heard the lock turning and the door opened. “Brodie, what are you doing here?” Cerise’s face was cool and calm. If it wasn’t for the way her fingers gripped the door, he would’ve thought she didn’t care he was standing opposite her.
“Brodie! You’re here.” Finn, on the other hand, was jumping up and down in excitement.
“Hey buddy, good to see you.” He held up the plastic bag. “I bring Chinese food as a peace offering?”
“What if I don’t like Chinese?” Her eyebrows arched and he noticed she didn’t have any glitter on today. It was weird not seeing her sparkling.
“What are you saying? You love Chinese, Cerise.”
“Busted,” Brodie said with a small smile.
“Fine, the boy is right. I love Chinese. Come in.” she stepped to the side to allow him to enter.
He paused in front of her and rubbed his thumb against her cheek. “No glitter?”
“Not today.”
The bright light he was used to seeing in Cerise’s eyes was missing and he hated to think he was the cause of it, but he suspected he was.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get in touch with you to let you know that I was okay,” he said as she closed the door.
“It’s fine. You don’t need to let me know your every move. Come on, we better get this food plated before it goes cold.”
Okay, so it was going to take a bit more than food and a smile to get her to lose the frostiness in her demeanor. When they walked into the kitchen, Finn had already gotten some plates out, as well as some spoons, so they could serve the food.
“Wow, Finn, you’re organized. Thanks for getting everything set up.” Brodie held up his hand for a high five and the boy slapped his hand hard.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Cerise always asks me to get what we need out to serve dinner. I figured I’d do it before she asked me.”
Cerise walked over to Finn and gave him a huge hug. “Thank you, Finn. This is awesome.”
“Yeah, buddy. It’s always good to be a forward thinker. It will help you a lot when you grow up and get a job.”
Over the next few minutes they made their selections. On more than one occasion, he and Cerise reached for the samespoon. The little darts of electricity from the simple touches were blooming into a major electrical storm within him.
“Seeing as we’re having takeout, can we eat in the living room? Please, Cerise? Can it be a special thing that we do on Sundays before I have to go to school?”
Finn’s eagerness was infectious and he could see Cerise was wavering. Would sharing a memory from his childhood tip the scales?
“We used to eat in front of the TV when I was kid. Once a month, on a Sunday, it was takeout night. I know my mom loved that night. She got a break from cooking. We would even eat off paper plates, so we didn’t have too many dishes to do.”
“Oh, wow, that sounds great, doesn’t it Cerise?”
Her smile, while seeming genuine, didn’t reach her eyes. “It does and, of course, we can sit in front of the TV. Maybe next week we’ll do like Brodie’s family and eat off paper plates.”
