16. Chapter Sixteen
Chapter sixteen
B rennan
Come Tuesday morning, it was good to be back at work.
Not that I didn’t enjoy my weekend. I did.
Keegan’s friends had been nice, and no one had made me feel self-conscious at all.
I’d met a couple of nice people, and even learned about a couple of places around town I wanted to check out.
But still, I had plans for what I wanted to get done this week, and I was ready to get started.
“Morning,” I called, entering Ryder’s house.
“In the kitchen,” he called back. I went in to find him standing in front of the counter in a pair of sweatpants, and nothing else, setting up the coffee pot.
“I can do that if you need to get ready.”
“No, I’ve got it. I usually set it up the night before, but for some reason, I forgot last night. Damn three-day weekends mess my schedule up every time.”
“Mine, too. I get it.” I tried not to stare, but Ryder without a shirt on was distracting, to say the least. I remembered the way his body felt pressed against mine, and I had to resist the urge to go to him and touch him.
“Anyway,” I said, trying to center my thoughts on anything else.
“I have some chicken salad I made yesterday that I brought to have for lunch for a couple days. I can make you a sandwich if you want.”
“That would be great, but I hate to eat your food.”
“I really don’t mind. I can’t eat it all before it goes bad, and Keegan eats out for lunch every day, so he won’t eat any.”
“Okay, I’ll let it go for now. But I’ll figure something out.”
I opened his pantry and took out the bread, and started putting his lunch together while the coffee finished. I was putting the chicken salad on the bread when I felt his body behind mine. “What’s in that chicken salad?” he asked.
“Oh, it’s a curry chicken salad. It’s probably different from what you’re used to. I hope that’s okay.”
“Let me taste.” He leaned against me, reaching over to grab a fork, and then took a small bite out of the container. “Oh man, Brennan, that’s fantastic. What all is in there?”
I grinned at him over my shoulder. “You like it?”
“I really do.”
“It has chicken, of course, some mayonnaise, celery, apples, golden raisins, and then some curry powder and other spices. Oh, and almonds.”
“It’s really good. You’re going to spoil me with all these great lunches, and Desi is getting jealous. He said he’s going to have to up his lunch game.”
“Well, that’s Desi’s problem now, isn’t it.
” I finished packing his lunch while he went to get dressed.
Then I grabbed myself a cup of coffee and went into my office.
I had a small list of things I wanted to do before I started on the webpage, but I was really excited to get it done.
I didn’t know a lot about doing them, but video tutorials were my friend, and I was confident I could figure it out.
Ryder stuck his head in to let me know he was leaving, and I got to work. I answered a couple of calls, but for the most part, it was a quiet morning. I’d managed to watch one full video on how to update his webpage and played with it a little trying what I’d learned.
When I stopped to eat, I was feeling pretty good. That’s the only excuse I have for what I did next. Because if I weren’t feeling good, and thinking I was really making a difference in this job, I never would’ve called my mother to tell her about it.
I hadn’t mentioned it when I got it because I didn’t want to deal with the questions if it didn’t work out.
But I was feeling so good about things, and I wanted to share it with someone.
Plus, if I told her, she could pass it on to my dad, and maybe he’d be glad that I finally had a job and was doing well.
I got my lunch ready and went out on the patio to eat.
I dialed the phone, and as soon as it started to ring, I put it on speakerphone so I could use both hands to eat my sandwich.
“Hello, Brennan,” my mother answered.
“Hey, Mom. How are you?”
“I’m doing great. We’re going to Bonnie and Delbert’s for a couple of weeks so your dad can fish, and Bonnie and I can go mess around, maybe go shopping for some quilt fabric. How about you?”
“I’m good. I got a job.” I said.
“Really? Doing what?”
“I don’t know if I have a title necessarily, but it pays well. It’s for a home remodeling company. I answer the phone, do the invoices and stuff. Today I’m working on updating the company’s webpage.”
“Did you hear that, Ted?” my mom said, and I groaned. I had no idea my father was home. “Brennan got a job.”
“Yeah, I heard it,” my father said, his voice getting louder as he moved closer to the phone. “I heard every word. This is it, huh? All that money we paid for you to go to school just so you could be some guy’s secretary?”
“Dad—” I started.
“No, you listen to me. You need to come back home and let me talk to Archer or Flynn. I’m sure one of them could find a real job for you. One with opportunity for advancement. One where you can put that degree to work for you.”
“I like this job,” I insisted.
“I’m sure you do because you have no ambition. No drive. But you aren’t going to be twenty-four forever, and at some point, you have to man-up and start doing better for yourself.”
“I know, Dad.”
“No, you don’t know. If you knew, you’d understand that in the business world, it's all about who you know. And you don’t know anyone or have any connections down there.”
I put my sandwich down on my paper towel and started wrapping it back up because any appetite I had was gone. I don’t know why I’d been stupid enough to think that they would be happy for me. So what if the job I had was for a small company? That didn’t mean it wasn’t a good job.
“Dad, I’m not moving back home, and Mom, I need to go get back to work.
I’ll call you soon.” I hung up the phone and sighed.
There was nothing I was ever going to do that would be good enough for my father.
I knew that. But it was depressing for him to always have to point out how disappointed he was.
“You’re so much more than a secretary,” Ryder’s deep voice said from behind me, and I jumped and turned to look at him. “Besides,” he continued. “They prefer to be called administrative assistants these days.”
“They do,” I said with a little chuckle.
“Also, my mom is an administrative assistant,” he said. “And she works hard. There’s nothing wrong with being an administrative assistant.”
“Not for your mother, maybe. But my father would tell you it isn’t a job for me.”
“I disagree. I think you’re amazing at it. Although, I’d probably consider you more of an office manager than an administrative assistant. Though I’m not sure what the difference is.”
“It doesn’t matter if I’m good at it or not, as far as my father’s concerned, being an administrative assistant or even an office manager is a woman’s job, not a man’s.”
“Ahh, yeah, I have a friend who’s a nurse, and he runs into that a lot.”
“I bet,” I said, but then it hit me he was home in the middle of the day. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re working near by and I needed to pick up a few supplies. I figured I might as well pop in here and see if you wanted to eat lunch with me.”
I glanced down at my wrapped-up sandwich, but before I could protest, he sat down at the table across from me and motioned towards it.
“You need to eat. I don’t care what he said.
You’re doing a fabulous job. I couldn’t have asked for anyone any better.
” When I didn’t move, he gave me a look that basically said don’t fuck with me and growled, “Eat.”
I unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite. I’d never had anyone growl at me before, but it was effective, and no way was I going to argue.
By the time we were done, my mood had improved. Ryder hadn’t said anything else about the conversation he’d overheard, instead, he entertained me with stories of this customer’s little boy, who so desperately wanted to help them with the job they were doing.
“Okay, I need to get back to work. Desi is going to think I’m not coming back.”
“Thank you, Ryder.”
“What for?”
I shrugged. “For keeping me company, for making me feel better, and for saying I’m doing a good job.”
He rose from his seat and walked over to where I sat. Then he reached down and placed a finger under my chin, lifting my head. “You’re doing a great job, and I’m damn lucky to have found you. You hear me?”
I nodded my head and smiled up at him. His gaze drifted over my face pausing on my lips, and for a minute, I thought he was going to lean down and kiss me. But instead, he dropped my chin and stepped back. “I’m going to work. If you need anything, text me.”
I watched as he walked away and debated if I was relieved that he hadn’t kissed me or disappointed. Getting mixed up with my boss wasn’t the smartest thing I could do, but smart or not, I decided I was a lot more disappointed than I was relieved.