16. Brynn
brYNN
Mom’s office light was still on at six-thirty.
I turned back down the hallway the way I always did when she was still there.
The door was open about eight inches. I raised my hand to knock and stopped.
Colton was in the chair across from her desk.
Not the stiff first-day chair, sprawled back a little, forearms on his knees, clipboard on the edge of the desk between them.
Mom had her reading glasses on and her laptop open and she was nodding.
Not the polite nod she gave people in meetings.
The real one. The one where her pen started moving on its own because her brain was already three steps ahead.
“The fourth line has no identity,” Colton was saying. “They’re playing scared. No one’s told them what their job actually is so they’re trying to do everything and doing none of it well.”
Mom pulled her glasses down her nose. “What do you need from me?”
“Nothing yet. Just wanted you to know it’s on my list.”
She pushed her glasses back up. “I appreciate that.”
“You’re not used to coaches keeping you informed.”
She looked at him over the rims. “No.”
“You will be.”
The corner of Mom’s mouth moved. Just barely. The thing that happened in the neighborhood of a smile in someone who had stopped expecting to do that.
I knocked on the door frame.
They both looked up.
“Hey.” I kept my voice easy. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt. I’m heading out.” I looked at Mom. “Don’t stay too late.”
“I never stay too late.”
I let that one go. I looked at Colton. He looked back.
“You guys good?” I asked.
“We’re good,” Mom said.
I nodded. Looked between them one more time. Mom with her laptop and her reading glasses and that almost-smile. Colton in the chair, relaxed, giving her his full attention.
“Okay.” I gripped my bag strap. “I’ll leave you to it.”
I pulled the door mostly closed and walked down the hallway and out through the front doors and into the parking lot.
Got in my car.
The lobby windows were still lit up. Two shapes visible through the glass, still talking.
I started the car.
Turned it off.
Why the fuck is this bothering me? Isn’t this what I wanted?
I started it again and drove to The Hideout.
I changed into my Hideout shirt in the bathroom and went behind the bar and got to work, and for a while that was enough.
The Friday crowd was loud and the orders came fast and I didn’t have to think about anything except which tap and which glass and whether Mikey needed his usual or something stronger.
The team came in at eight. Colton came in last.
He found the stool at the end of the bar and I put a dark brew in front of him without being asked and moved on before he could say anything. I wasn’t ready to deal with the thoughts running through my head yet, and him sitting in front of me just made them worse.
Around nine a woman I didn’t know slid into the empty stool beside him. She leaned in when she talked. Touched his arm when she laughed. Did it twice.
I put down the glass I was holding a little harder than I meant to.
He shifted on the stool. Away from her. Answered whatever she said in about four words and turned back to his drink.
She touched his arm again.
I turned around and restocked the garnish tray. It didn’t need restocking. I did it anyway, moving the lemon slices around until they looked exactly the same as they had before I touched them.
When I turned back around she was gone.
He was looking at me.
I picked up my rag and wiped down the bar in front of him.
“You left early,” he said.
“I had a shift.”
“Before that.”
I kept wiping. “You and Mom looked busy.”
“We were talking about the fourth line.”
“Sounds important.”
“Brynn.”
I looked up.
He held my eyes in that way he had where he wasn’t going to be the one to look away first.
“I’m working,” I said.
He held on for another beat. Then he picked up his drink.
I moved down the bar.
At eleven he put cash on the bar and stood. Too much, same as always. He pulled his jacket on and looked at me one more time across the length of the bar.
“Good night,” he said.
“Good night, Coach.”
He left.
I wiped down the bar where he’d been sitting. Then I wiped it again. Then I rearranged the garnish tray for a second time. What the fuck was wrong with me?
Mikey caught my eye from the end of the bar. Raised an eyebrow.
“I’m fine,” I lied.
He held up both hands and went back to his book.
I pulled out my phone. Opened Dani’s contact and started to type. I told her about seeing mom and Colton together and about the woman at the bar. As I finished typing, I shook my head and deleted it. I knew exactly what Dani would say, and I didn’t needs to hear her tell me that she told me so.
I picked up my rag and went back to work and didn’t think about the way Mom’s mouth had almost smiled or the way some stranger’s hand on his arm had made me want to break a glass.
I didn’t think about any of it.
I finished up my shift and headed out to my car in the parking lot. To my surprise, a familiar frame was standing by it.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as I got closer to him.
“I couldn’t bring myself to leave without talking to you.”
“What is there to talk about Coach?”
He let out a long sigh. “Brynn you need to cut this act.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I tried to move around him to get to my car, but he stepped in front of me.
“You know exactly what I mean Brynn.” I looked down to my feet but he gripped my chin in between his callused fingers and raised my gaze back to his.
I swallowed thickly as he tilted his head. “Come have a drink with me.”
My lips parted a few times like a fish out of water before I finally found my voice. “Me?”
“Is there anyone else in this parking lot?”
“I don’t know?”
He chuckled, and the sound poured over me like melted butter over those Texas Roadhouse rolls.
Man, now I wanted Texas Roadhouse. “I mean, it’s late and you probably have a meeting early tomorrow with Mom.”
“I don’t.”
I snickered. “Mom always throws meetings at the—”
He gripped my chin a bit tighter and stepped forward. “I’m not interested in your mother.”
I blushed furiously. “Ah.”
His hand finally fell away from my chin, but not before tucking a rogue curl behind my ear. “She’s not my type. You, however, are.”
I didn’t miss how his thumb trailed along my cheek after inching that strand of hair behind my ear.
I tilted my head slightly into his touch. I felt the warmth of his hand on my face and I saw him smile.
What the hell am I doing? I quickly stepped back.
“I can’t today. It’s late and Mom is expecting me back at home.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Ok. How about having lunch with me tomorrow then?”
I looked at his handsome face. Lunch was safer. It was in the daytime. I wouldn’t make stupid decisions at lunchtime. I nodded. “Lunch works.”
He tilted his head, as if studying me. Did he not believe me? “Tomorrow, then.”
I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my face. “Tomorrow, it is. Noon?”
I found myself getting lost in his brooding stare. “Uh huh.”
He grinned as he took a small step closer to me, closing the distance between us. “I’ll pick you up at your place.”
I drew in a silent breath. “How about I pick us something up? I can bring something in to your office.”
Then he did something I didn’t expect. Something I didn’t see coming. Something that made my heart leap so heavily against my chest that I thought it tried to break free.
He leaned down from his precipice and kissed my forehead.
“Oh,” I whispered softly.
He chuckled against my skin before raising back up. “See you tomorrow at noon.”
He strode past me, the heavy wind of his body ruffling my loose hair that I’d thrown up into a clip. A lopsided smile crossed my face as he lumbered out into the hallway, his footsteps heavy and dark as they receded.
The warmth of his lips still sizzled against my forehead.
I stood there for a solid minute after he left.
What the hell did I just agree to?