“My mama raised me right.”
She laughed and immediately relaxed. They chatted as they ate. About work, about his brothers, about Buddy. “He isn’t sure where he fits in my life anymore,” she said, thinking about the man who gave up everything for her.
“You intentionally shut him out. To protect him from your life, I’m sure. And while everyone understands that intellectually, you probably have to be intentional about bringing him back in now.” He pushed his empty plate aside and leaned forward on his arms. “I’ve done that to Jon without realizing it. He’s going through something. He’s dark. He’s drinking too much and angry too often. I found myself parenting him instead of supporting him and it affected our relationship. It took my dad saying something to me to make me realize it.”
She looked at him, at the worry clouding his eyes, at the lines of strain around his face. “I imagine it’s hard to go from boss to equal depending on the environment.”
“Even you had a hard time with me being the boss,” he remarked.
She ran her tongue over her teeth. “I think I might be over that now.”
“Yeah?” He reached out and took her hand. The move startled her, and she tensed up before she realized it. “Good.”
Intentionally relaxing, she pulled her hand away and stood, gathering his plate and hers. She took them to the kitchen and put them in the sink. When she turned around, she found him standing in the kitchen door.
“I’m going to leave now,” he said, his voice deep. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She clasped her hands in front of her and nervously wrung her fingers. “Oh, okay.” He turned and she followed him to the door. Before he opened it, he stopped and faced her. She was right on his heels and almost ran into him. He grabbed her shoulders to steady her and looked down at her.
“Thank you for catching and cooking dinner. I had an amazing time.”
Heart pounding, mouth dry, she smiled a tight smile and stared into his eyes. “Me, too,” she said. “Thanks for, uh, taking me up on it.”
When his hand cupped her cheek, she stopped breathing. Was he going to kiss her? Was Brad Dixon about to kiss her?
When he released her and opened the door, she felt a sudden sense of disappointment. In a nervous gesture, she licked her lips and watched him get into his truck. She raised a hand goodbye as he backed out of the driveway.
Only when she shut and locked the door did she realize she had come home with him and never checked the house.
Amazed, heart pounding, she grabbed her keys and cell phone and did a cursory check, but for once she didn’t feel surprised to find everything in order and nothing at all out of place.
Brad pulled into the parkinglot of the apartment building they would renovate. He had the keys in his pocket, so he grabbed his tablet and let himself into the office that he and Ken would call home for the next several months. He didn’t want to go home and think about how Valerie had tensed up when he touched her. He would rather just work, put it out of his mind.
The office had a main waiting area, two offices, and a bathroom. They would convert the waiting room into a living space and kitchenette. They had the couch, chairs, refrigerator, and appliances in storage from the last renovation job. Using his fingertip, he drew on his tablet and created rough plans for the space. The bathroom looked like a shower could fit in it if they got rid of the sink. They could use the kitchen sink. Each of the offices would serve as a bedroom. They had plenty of room for single beds and dressers, and each could have a sink and mirror installed.
He made notes, he wrote plans, he sent Ken three texts and adjusted plans based on the replies he received. He sent an email to one of the crew chiefs to have four laborers scheduled for tomorrow to move the furniture and appliances out of storage and bring them here.
Hours later, he found himself in Jon’s room, nursing a beer long gone warm.
“Do you think she’s afraid of you?” his brother asked.
Did he? He analyzed the question. “I think she’s aware of what a man can do to a woman, and she has to force herself not to expect it from me. But I don’t think it’s actual fear.” He set the half-empty beer down and stood, shoving his hands into the pockets of his shorts. “I wish I had stayed and asked her. Why did I leave?”
Jon put his empty beer bottle back into the cardboard carrier it came in. “You left because you don’t want her afraid of you and you couldn’t stand the thought. It’s understandable. But, dude, you’re going to have to confront it or else you’ll never ever get anywhere with her.”
Brad paced to the window and looked at his reflection in the light. How could he possibly address it? “I have this rage inside of me that wants to pull a Superman and fly around the world backwards, reset time. It’s like this energy that consumes me.”
Jon sighed. “Rage, huh. Yeah. I understand.” He stood and crossed the room so he stood in front of him. He leaned his back against the window frame and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You can’t, though. So how are you going to settle this rage? What’s the source? Tyrone, who hurt her? Valerie, who bucked everything we were raised to believe and moved in with a married man? Buddy who took her away from you when she was 15? You have to find it, backtrack until you get to where it starts, then you have to deal with it there. Until then, your soul is going to be unsettled, and you won’t be good for her.”
Brad studied his brother. They looked alike. Most people couldn’t tell them apart. To him, though, they had so many differences, he wondered how they even came from the same parents. “Where did such wisdom come to someone so young and attractive?”
Jon’s lips formed a thin line. “I can’t talk about it.” He walked up and slapped Brad on his shoulder. “I love you, man. I want to see you content and happy. If I can help, let me know.”
“Likewise, brother.”
Valerie sat at her desk,working the design program and observing the results on the two screens above her desk. She calibrated the program so she could see the colors the way she needed to see them, and worked through tile, wallpaper, paint, and fixture options to try to best reflect the needs and desires of the shopping mall project.
She’d received bids from local artists who wanted to do sculptures for the three central areas. In each of them, she added the lower bidders’ work samples so the owner could envision how they worked with the surrounding ambiance.
