“Some little shit stole my travel mug, one of those nice ones, the stainless steel kind. I paid a fortune for that thing! You doing okay?”
“No.” I tell her about the truck, and I finish with, “I’m not sure how a whole semi tractor-trailer rig disappears, but it seems that it has.”
“That’s really weird.”
“No shit. So are we … Can you come to the club tonight?”
There’s a deep sigh. “No. I can’t. Thought I’d be able to, but … no.”
“Oh.” I was sure I’d see her tonight. “Could you maybe do dinner or―”
“Ehhh …”
“I’m sorry. I guess that was a little forward of me,” I mumble. What are the rules here? I have no idea.
“Oh, no. It’s not that. Hmmm. Maybe I can manage that. Would have to be somewhere pretty quick because I’ve got to get back here.”
“Big test tomorrow?”
“No. I’ve got … I’ll explain. You need to know. So maybe five thirty? Is that too early for you?”
“No, no. It’s fine. Quick. Like a buffet?”
“That would be good.”
“There’s a Chinese buffet on Rivermont.”
“That’s a little far from my place. How far is that from you?”
“I’m coming from the store, so you tell me where you want me to meet you.”
“Oh! Okay. Um, I live over close to that big discount store on Briarhurst.”
“I know where that is. There’s a steakhouse with a good buffet over there.”
“Diggie’s. I know the place. Five thirty at Diggie’s?”
I can’t help but smile. “Sounds good. See you there.”
Five o’clock can’t come soon enough, and I head out the door at the top of the hour and jump in my car. It only takes me ten minutes to get there, and I don’t see her car in the lot, so I just go inside, put our names on the list, and wait.
The door opens at five fifteen on the dot and I’m taken aback. She’s wearing a pair of gray slacks, a turquoise and gray top, and pearls. Her hair is up in a ponytail, and she’s got this wholesome look about her that takes me by surprise. “Hi,” she whispers when she walks up and presses her lips to my cheek.
“Hi.” Without thinking, I slip my arm around the back of her waist. When I realize what I’ve done, I wonder what her reaction will be, but she kind of leans into my side, so I guess it’s all right.
It takes them five minutes to get us a table. “I’m sure you’re having the buffet, right?” I ask her.
“Yes.” I can tell she’s in a hurry because she’s fidgeting.
“Tell me what you want to drink and I’ll wait for the server. You go on and get your food,” I say and point to the buffet.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. Go.” There’s a smile on her lips as she scurries across the room, grabs a plate, and starts filling it up. By the time she gets back, our drinks are on the table, so I go grab a plate, fill it, and come back. “This place has great ribs. Shame they only have them on Sunday afternoon.”
“We’ll have to come back sometime for those. I love ribs,” she says around a mouthful of salad.
“You’re really in a hurry. I’m sorry. Maybe we shouldn’t have …”
“No, no. It’s okay. There’s something I think you should know.”
“Okay.”
Something’s bothering her a lot, but I can’t figure out what it could possibly be that would leave her with such a serious expression on her face. “You’ve never asked me how old I am.”
“I was always taught not to ask a lady her age, plus it doesn’t really matter to me,” I announce, and I mean it. Doesn’t matter one little bit.
“I’m forty-six.”
“So?”
“So, I have a son who’s twenty-five.”
I nod. “Okay.”
A full minute of silence passes, not a single bite taken by either of us, when she finally says, “He has cerebral palsy.”
I’m not sure what kind of reaction is appropriate, so I just say, “I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, he functions quite well. It’s just that …” She stops, staring at the tabletop, and I can tell she’s afraid to go on.
“Danielle?” When her eyes meet mine, I smile. “It’s just that what?”
“It’s just that … Four years ago, he got involved with this … woman,” she says and practically spits the word. “He’s not stupid. Matter of fact, he was a high school honor grad and was on the dean’s list in college. Graduated summa cum laude.” Wow―he really is smart. “He knew better, but they had sex and he didn’t use protection.” I’m sure she’s going to tell me he has AIDS or something when she says, “I’ve got a three-year-old granddaughter.”
“Did you think that would bother me?”
“No. It’s just that Caleb lives with me. And when his … Hell, she’s not even his ex. When his baby mama leaves Hazel with him, I have to be there. And she’s going to leave Hazel with him tonight. So I’ve got to be home.” I nod. “I’m sorry. If you want to forget about this because―”
“Stop. I know you told me not to interrupt you, but I’m going to. Doesn’t make one bit of difference to me, Danielle. He’s your son. She’s your granddaughter. If I’m going to be involved with you, I have to accept that. And I accept that. Matter of fact, I have no kids, so that actually appeals to me, being with somebody who has kids and grandkids.”
Wide-eyed, she whispers, “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“Yes. I don’t make it a habit to lie. I really mean that.”
“Wow.” She sits there for a few seconds, and I can tell she’s really shocked. “This has caused me problems with other … men.”
“Won’t cause a problem with this man. You know what the difference is?” She shakes her head. “It’s because I am a man. I’m not some little kid who’s only looking to get his rocks off. If I’m in this with you, I’m all in. I mean that. This isn’t a game to me. It’s real life, and real life is complicated and messy. But it’s also beautiful and wonderful and joyful if your path is the right one.”
Her eyes redden and she mumbles, “Excuse me,” but when she tries to stand, I grab her hand and pull her back down into the chair.
“No. You’ve seen me tear up. If you need to cry, cry. I won’t run and I won’t criticize. I’d say you’ve had a rough time of all this, and if I can help and be there for you, I will. I will if you’ll let me.”
A fat crystal tear rolls down her cheek and my heart breaks for her. “It’s been really hard. His cerebral palsy wasn’t caused by anything natural―it was the doctor’s fault. We sued him and the hospital and got a huge settlement. It’s what I use to hire people to help him with things he can’t do for himself, things I can’t help him with because they’re too personal or I’m not big and strong enough. His dad hasn’t been with us since he was four and I’ve raised him alone since then. He lived in a group home while he was in college, but they lost their funding and he had to move back home. It’s been hard.” She fights a shuddering sob when she repeats, “It’s been really hard.”
“Look,” I tell her as she wipes the tear away with the back of her hand, “I know we don’t know each other very well, but we both committed to getting to know each other last night, and if there’s anything I can do to help you, I will. I’ll make that commitment to you right now.”
She purses her lips inward in a tiny smile. “Thank you, Brandt. You have no idea how much that means to me.”
“You’re welcome. Now eat. You’re going to need the food for energy if you’re going to chase a three year old around the house for the next few hours!”
“So true!” she says and sniffles as she smiles.
It doesn’t take us long to finish eating and when we leave, I pay for dinner and leave a generous tip. “I could pay for mine,” she says.
“No. It’s a service I’m willing to perform for you, so I’m glad to do it.”
We
stop beside her car, still holding hands like we have all the way across the parking lot. “You are such a gentleman, Brandt Lawson. It’s refreshing.”
“And you’re such a demanding mistress, Danielle … Wait. I don’t know your last name.”
“That’s because I don’t usually tell submissives my name. But you’re not my usual kind of submissive. It’s O’Leary.”
“Irish lass, huh?”
“Yes. My grandfather was first generation in this country.”
“Um-hmm. Dark eyes, dark hair, creamy skin. I should’ve guessed.” My finger under her chin tips her head back and I kiss her gently. “Beautiful Irish lass,” I whisper as my thumb strokes her cheek.
“I hope you’ll have some patience with me. This might be hard to work out sometimes,” she says quietly.
“I’ve got all the patience it takes. I’ve got three brothers, and one of them can be a total asshole, so I learned patience the hard way.”
“I’ve met Boone and it’s not him. And Blake’s a sweetheart, so it must be Brock.”
“Bingo,” I say and laugh.
“I’d like to meet Brock sometime,” she says and kisses me back.
“I’m sure we can work that out. I’d like to meet your son and granddaughter sometime,” I counter and kiss her again.
“I’m sure we can work something out there too. Okay, gotta go. I’ll talk to you later. What time do you usually go to bed?”
“Whatever time you want me to, mistress,” I say and wink.
“I’ll give you a call as soon as Kaitlyn picks Hazel up.”
“Sounds good. Bye, beautiful,” I tell her as she slips behind the wheel.
“Bye, handsome. Talk to you soon.” I stand there and watch her leave, and she tosses me a little wave as the car pulls out onto the street.
An adult son and a granddaughter. I never would’ve guessed. That’s going to make things a lot more complicated. But you know …
I have a feeling she’s going to be worth it.
At about nine thirty my phone rings. “Hey, beautiful,” I say without even looking at the screen.
“Well, hello to you too, gorgeous,” Boone’s singsongs and my face starts to burn. “I take it you were expecting a call from someone else.”
The only way I can try to salvage this is to be a smartass. “No. I always answer your calls that way, remember?”
His voice is pure pithy sarcasm. “Oh, right. It’s Brock who calls me butt-ugly. Thought I should call and tell you―they found our truck.”
“Yeah?”
“At the bottom of the Santa Fe River.”
“Holy shit! The driver?”
“Dead. Drowned. Trapped in the cab. Looks like he ran off the bridge approach in the middle of the night and nobody noticed. River level dropped a little today and the top of the trailer was visible. That’s how they found it.”
“Shit. That’s horrible.”
“Yeah. The trucking firm is taking care of everything, and their insurance will cover the losses, but that means unless there’s some miracle, we’ll have no kayaks for the grand opening.”
“Let me see what I can come up with in the morning. It seems to me that we’d be better off pulling them from other stores than to have a grand opening without any. My logic anyway.”
“You’re probably right. See what you come up with and we’ll go from there, but I thought you’d want to―”
The phone is beeping. “Um, gotta take this,” I say to interrupt him.
Boone snickers. “Oh, yeah, don’t mind me. Talk to beautiful there. See you in the morning.”
I hit END & ACCEPT and say, “Hello?”
“Hi. You sound kind of busy.”
“No. I just got some bad news.”
“Oh? Something you can share?”
I spend the next five minutes telling her what’s happened. “And tomorrow morning I’m going to try to … Hell, I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’m going to try to do something.”
“I hope your brother pays you well. You sure earn your salary.”
“He does. Get your granddaughter back with her mother?”
A deep sigh filters through the phone. “Yeah, but I’m exhausted. Little ones take a lot out of you.”
“So I’ve heard. I mean, my brothers all have kids. They’re busy little things.”
“Boy, are they ever. She’s into everything.” She pauses for a few seconds before she says, “So I’ve got some papers to grade and some reading to do, but I wanted to talk to you for a minute and tell you goodnight.”
“I’m glad you called. Go do whatever you need to and thanks for calling me. I was looking forward to hearing your voice.”
“And I yours. Night, Brandt.”
“Goodnight, mistress. Um, Danielle,” I say with a laugh.
“Bye.”
The phone goes silent and I sit there, holding it in my hand. For some reason, I’m now more confident than ever that we can make this work.
* * *
“How many do you have on hand? The computer says you have eight.”
“We do.”
“Okay. We need two of them. Will that be okay?”
“Yeah. Should be. Are there more coming soon?”
“I hope so.” I write down a 2 next to San Diego.
Next call is to San Francisco. Their store only has three, and they really don’t want to give up any. San Antonio has twelve, so I manage to get six of those. I call Galveston and get one, then Mobile, where I get four. My last call is to Birmingham. I know what their online inventory says, but I also know there are more in the warehouse. It is, after all, our hub.
“Lawson’s of Alabama, corporate division. This is Andrew. How may I direct your call?”
“Andy, this is Brandt. Is Brock handy?”
“Yeah. He can be. Hang on.”
He puts me on hold and in a couple of minutes, a voice says, “Hey, squirrely, what’s up?” He’s always called me that and it pisses me off to no end.
“I need kayaks.”
“So I hear.”
“Your inventory says you have eight.”
“How many do you need?”
“Seven.”
“You can’t have seven of our kayaks.”
“No, but I can have seven of the ones you have in the warehouse.”
“I don’t have seven kayaks in the warehouse.”
I just roll my eyes. Why does Brock act like he’s the smartest person in the world and everybody else is stupid? “You’re right. You don’t. You have twenty-six.”
“What makes you say I have twenty-six?”
“Let me remind you that I’m the logistics officer for this corporation. I see everything―all the bills of lading, all the invoices, all the shipping manifests, all the―”
“Fine, fine. I have twenty-six. You need seven?”
“Yes.”
“And how do you plan to get them there?”
“You’re going to rent a large truck. You’re going to get your seven, go through Mobile and pick up four more plus Blake, then stop and pick up one in Galveston, then―”
“Ho-Ho-Hold up! What the fuck, dude? You really think we’re going to get in a truck and―”
“No, I know you’re going to get in a truck and do this. This is what Boone wants, and you’re going to do what Boone wants.”
“Then fucking have Boone call me and tell me this,” Brock snarls. God, I want to punch him.
“Oh, you want me to have Boone call you? Okay, I’ll have Boone call you. I’ll do that. You’ll hear from him in just a little while, I’m sure.” After hitting END and stewing for a few seconds, I pick up the desk phone, punch a couple of buttons, and call out over the sound system, “Boone Lawson to the logistics office, please―Boone Lawson to the logistics office.”
Five minutes later I have the distinct pleasure of listening to Boone bitching Brock out royally for not doing what I asked. I hear him say, “Yes, and he’s the logistics officer, B
rock. If he tells you he needs you to do this, he needs you to do this. I was doing something else and I had to come up here and call you because you wouldn’t do what you were asked. Right. Okay, well you too. Have Blake call me when you pick him up. At least he can follow instructions without having to be spanked.” Then I hear him laugh. “Little sumbitch hung up on me!” he calls out from the other room.
“Not surprising. Biggest seven year old I ever met.”
Boone leans up against the door jamb and grins. “Okay, so do you want to tell me about beautiful?”
My face practically catches fire. “Not particularly.”
“Come on, Brandt. Out with it. I want to know who she is and where you met her. How you know her. How long you’ve known her. I didn’t know you were even seeing anybody. Is this why you haven’t wanted to go to the club with Melina and me?”
Perfect. He just gave me an excuse. “Yeah. That’s why.”
“Well, that makes sense. You should bring her sometime, see if she’s into it.”
Oh, she’s into it. I know she’s into it. Just not the way you think. I don’t dare attempt to say a word or I’ll explode. I’ll also probably blurt out everything because I’ve never been able to lie worth a shit. “I’ll talk to her about it.” That’s the best I can do, and it’s six words that feel like they’re most likely about seven words too long for my own safety.
“Okay. And I’d love to meet her.”
“All in good time, okay?”
“Sure. I’m just glad you’re getting out. I was getting a little worried about you there for a while.”
“Well, then, thanks for the vote of confidence,” I mutter.
“I didn’t mean it like … Never mind. I’ve got to get back downstairs. That guy is the president of the university and he wants to outfit his entire family. I think that deserves some personal attention. If Brock gives you any more trouble, let me know.”
“Will do. Thanks. Sorry it took getting you involved.”
He laughs as he heads down the stairs. “Hey―Brock. Say no more.” The door at the bottom of the stairs bangs shut and he’s gone.
I just duck my head and go back to work when I hear my text notification go off, so I grab my phone and take a look. Can you come tonight?
Blissfully Hers: Bliss Series, Book Seven Page 6