Chapter 10 #2
“One more,” I muttered as I ran up the stairs to my room.
I took a moment away from Austin to catch my breath and catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror.
I was being ridiculous, I realized as I stared at the reflection of a man who was literally his father’s age.
Austin didn’t see me as anything but the old guy who was meant to drive him home.
There was no need for me to get worked up about our proximity, when the very reason he could stand so close to me was likely because he didn’t see me as anything but an old man.
I sat on my bed and took a cleansing breath, hoping my little inner pep talk was enough for me to head back down and into the fray. ”What type of phone do you have? Do you need anything?”
“Nah. Thank you,” he yelled back up to me. “I’ve got everything I need. I’ll get charged up in a minute. What should I pull out for coffee?”
Charged up, pull out. I needed to get my head out of the gutter.
I cleared my throat and stood, hovering over the railing.
“Oat milk is in the fridge. Sugar’s in the same cabinet as the beans if you need it.
None for me.” I realized I didn’t need to be shouting, as the wind had died down and my voice easily carried from the loft down to where Austin stood puttering around my kitchen.
I was probably coming off as awkward. With a sense of resolve and trepidation, I started down the steps but then remembered why I’d gone up in the first place, turning around to pull my phone charger from the nightstand. Not awkward at all.
I bounded down the stairs again with a confidence I did not feel, returning to the kitchen.
I plugged my phone in on the kitchen counter and turned to find Austin handing me a mugful of coffee. “Thank you. Very much.”
“You're very welcome.” At least this response was just a little flirty and teasing and not a full-on innuendo.
“Go get your phone on a charger. And any other electronics,” I suggested. The wind took that moment to rattle the windows again. “We may be watching tonight’s movie on a laptop.”
“On it,” Austin agreed with a nod.
The sun wasn’t even up yet, but I pulled out a griddle and supplies to make pancakes.
The fire was waning, so I put the griddle on to warm and headed that way, passing Austin as he sat on the couch, leaning down to straddle his backpack. When I stopped hearing sounds of movement behind me, I turned to catch him staring my way. He played it off.
“Let me help.” He headed toward me, and I was nervous about him being in my personal space again even though I had tried to convince myself it didn’t mean anything mere minutes earlier.
“I think I’ve got it. Relax. Drink your coffee.
” He watched me intently as he approached, but then he decided to agree.
He added a tablet and laptop to the items charging on the fireplace ledge and plugged his phone in on the kitchen counter as I added one more log and followed him to the kitchen, where he sat at the table, nursing his coffee while I forked bacon around the griddle and poured pancake batter.
“Snow’s gonna let up for a few hours, and the wind, but the next batch will be right behind it,” he said from behind the screen of his phone.
“When the sun comes up, I’ll unbury that stack of wood and collect some more.
If you’ve got work to do or whatever, I’ll stay out of your hair.
I’m charging up my earbuds, or I can read a book or whatever …
” His voice trailed off as he repeated the phrase.
“Technically, I’m on vacation,” I assured him. “Sure, I’ll check my emails and make sure everything’s running smoothly every day, but I had planned to spend today with your dad, so my schedule is clear. I can help with the firewood.”
We ate as the sun was coming up, and Austin got his first good look out the back windows, overlooking the valley and Mount Pheasant on the other side.
I caught the moment he first saw it. Without taking his eyes off the view, he put the phone down, picked up his mug of coffee, and moved toward the large window.
“Wow, Randall. This place really is amazing.”
“Yeah, the view was one of the factors that sold me on it.”
“Only one?”
I focused intently on my half-eaten plate. I could talk about the layout, or the two-and-a-half car garage, the stone fireplace, or the well-appointed outdoor area, with its own kitchen, TV, and fireplace. But for some reason, I went with the truth.
“I love how remote it is. There are a few other cabins down that main road we took last night, but all of them have long winding driveways like mine, and all of them are surrounded by trees or views like that one.”
He kept his back to me, looking out the window. My spine tingled, watching him from behind.
“After all those years of living with that flashy asshole in the photos, I can imagine you’d want some time to yourself.”
“I can do my job from anywhere, really. I need to visit the offices in New York or Boston occasionally, and it’s a bit of a trek.
But I plan it out, try to schedule all my meetings at once.
And honestly, none of them really require me to be there in person, but I humor the bosses every now and then. ”
There, hopefully I’d steered the conversation away from my propensity to be alone. He was the type of guy I wanted to tell things to, whether he was asleep or awake, and it just wasn’t appropriate.