Chapter 12 Best Date
BEST DATE
“Oh my God,” Kenzie said, swinging the bat and smashing the bottles on the table. “I should have done this before.”
She lifted it over her head and slammed it down onto the vase, the sharp crash of shattering glass ringing through the room. For someone who despised violence, the burst of destruction was disturbingly, almost shamefully, satisfying.
“Give me that bat,” Nelson said.
“Sweet, I want to pick up things and throw them.”
She handed him the bat, trying not to stare at his body as he picked up a glass and tossed it in the air, then swung to send it smashing into the corner away from her.
They both looked silly in their goggles, the overalls they had to put on over their clothes, and the helmets on their heads.
Silly or not, this was the best date she’d ever had.
She had no idea there was so much pent-up frustration in her body.
Anger at her parents’ reaction to her accidental nuptials.
Exhaustion over her classwork and finals coming up.
Stress over the next steps in her life.
Then the last one... sexual frustration for a man who she’d just met but was now tied to.
It’d be smart if they both went on their way, but he didn’t seem to want that to happen.
She wouldn’t be the one to tie them together. The last thing she needed was anyone to accuse her of doing it for his wealth.
But he was pursuing her and, as much as she should fight it off, she was slowly losing that battle.
His showing up to surprise her today wasn’t helping.
She grabbed a plate and flung it across the room just like a Frisbee.
Yep, needed to do it again.
When she had the last one in her hand, she offered it to Nelson, who took it and did the same thing.
They burst into laughter, picked up sledgehammers and went to town on the tire in the room.
Her body was getting one hell of a workout and she hoped all her worries would exit.
An hour later, her body was drained and her soul was light.
“I needed that,” he said.
“Not as much as me. I’m so worn out but in the best way. I’ve never let go like that. I should have done it before.”
“I’ve done it a few times,” he said.
“I’m sure you’ve done a lot of things I haven’t. Is that what you do when you’re stressed? I’ve never asked those things.”
“I work out,” he said. Her eyes dropped to his biceps in his fitted light green T-shirt. They flexed and she was positive he’d done it on purpose.
“I don’t have the time. I wish I did. I do some yoga in my room for twenty minutes a day. It’s more about cleansing my mind than exercise, but whatever works.”
“If I haven’t said it before, you’ve got a nice body on you.”
“Why, thank you. Right back at you.”
He turned his head in his rental car and smirked at her.
“If working out doesn’t do it, I find a few people to get a drink with. I’m not always around that many to do it.”
“You know people when you’re on the road because you’re working with them?”
“I am,” he said. “But it’s a fine line to balance on. Years ago I might have said screw it and gotten drunk, partied, done a bunch of stupid shit I shouldn’t repeat. When I acted that way, I didn’t get the respect or the responsibility I was hoping for.”
“So you had to grow up for your brother to give you a shot?”
“The shortened version, yeah. What about you? You’ve got to be filled with stress. Not just in college but before. Don’t take this as an insult, but I get the impression that you’re not that close with your parents.”
She sighed. “I’m close to them in terms of respect, not in a warm, loving type of way. It’s just not their thing. I can’t be what they want, or even do what they want. Most decisions I make they disapprove of and it drives us further apart.”
“So not just our spontaneous wedding?”
A quick laugh escaped. “No. That is just another layer in the growing pile of our differences. I don’t go to church nor necessarily believe the way they care for.
Do I think there is a God? Sure. Do I need to attend Sunday mass and follow the Bible’s teachings to the letter? No. They don’t agree with that though.”
Which was why the prospect of their only child divorcing was driving a bigger wedge in her relationship with her father, who hadn’t spoken to her since she was there last Sunday.
“What else is there with them?”
“My decision was to go to law school. My parents wanted a big family to help run the farm. They got me and that was it. It’s not a life I want or ever did, but I did my part as was expected and kept my complaints to a minimum.”
Whining only caused more fights.
“I might have been a complainer when I was younger,” he said sheepishly.
“I bet you were.”
“I would have thought your parents would be happy that you wanted to further your career.”
“I did too, but they’ve always had a thing about debt.
I got a lot of aid because of our financial situation, but I still owe more than my parents can wrap their heads around.
Money has always been this shadow hanging over us.
The farm’s mortgage is long gone, but the bills keep coming, and making ends meet is a constant struggle.
My father hated that my mother had to work, but she didn’t have a choice. At least in her eyes.”
“Everyone has their pride. Including you.”
She narrowed one eye at him when he turned to look at her again.
“Yes. I do. My father’s pride is enormous, but that’s between them and their marriage.”
“Not ours,” he said, laughing.
She wasn’t sure what to make of that comment. “I bet your pride is just as great if not bigger.”
“Oh, it is,” he said, winking.
“So there’s that. They accepted I was going to college, but it kills them the debt I’ve got, even though it’s mine. Trust me, it kills me too, but I’m looking at the bigger picture. The long game.”
“That’s the only way to do it. It’s an investment in your future. Speaking of futures. What is your plan after graduation?”
“Get a job,” she said. “I need it.”
“Sorry. I’ll back up. What kind of law are you looking to practice after you pass the bar?”
“Oh. I think business or corporate law. I don’t do well on mock juries.
For some reason no one takes me seriously enough when I argue a point.
Maybe I’m not strong enough with my facts or my words.
I think the biggest thing for me is I’m going to struggle to stand up for someone who I might not morally support.
That’s where I’m not as convincing at the mock trials. I don’t feel it myself either.”
He burst out laughing. “Then going into law might not have been the best decision.”
“I know. It’s ironic. That’s why I’m thinking business or corporate.
My short-term plan is to take one week off once I graduate.
I know I need to work, but I need a week to decompress more than anything.
We’ve got things to take care of too. I’ve got to study for the bar and because I’m looking long term, it’s better to focus on that than trying to exhaust myself finding a full-time job I might hate or move from and can just continue working where I am and picking up hours. It’s only a few months.”
“Do you want to stay in Utah?” he asked.
Kenzie turned to look at him. They’d just pulled into the parking lot of Liberty Park. “It had been the plan, why?”
“Just gathering information,” he said.
What was she going to say? He couldn’t move here and she didn’t have enough money to go anywhere else.
She wouldn’t bring it up and have him think he was bound to her or risk fighting with him trying to buy her off again.
For now, she had to move forward with her plans... but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to be a tiny bit open minded to possibilities.