by Kris Bryant
“Do you mind if I sit here?” A very leggy brunette points to the concrete block next to me and I smile at her.
“Have a seat.” I nervously move my legs back and forth in the water. I’ve been out of practice too long to play it cool.
“I’m Mindy.” She’s tan and lovely and I couldn’t care less.
“Tris.”
“How do you know Hunter and James?” she asks.
“I work with Hunter at OU. How do you know them?” I ask.
“I’m James’ little sister’s best friend.” She laughs as I process the relationship. “So do you chase tornadoes, too?”
“Yes. We actually just finished up this season.”
“That’s so cool. How many tornadoes did you see?” Suddenly, she sounds like a frat boy and I lose interest.
“A couple dozen or so. It was pretty active at the beginning, but pretty quiet the last six weeks.”
“Probably global warming,” Mindy says. Why does everybody say that?
“What is it that you do?” I know I need to pretend to engage with her. Otherwise, Hunter will be annoying later.
“I’m a reporter for Channel 14 news. Just on the weekends, though.”
“That’s interesting.” I’m somewhat impressed. We’re quiet for a moment. I sip my beer.
“So are you dating anyone?” she asks. I shake my head no.
“What about you?” I ask just to keep the conversation going.
“My girlfriend and I are taking a break. I guess that makes her my ex-girlfriend,” she says.
“How long ago?”
“It’s been about three months.” I nod. “It’s hard being single during the summer. That’s when all of the fun stuff happens.” I smile at that. I couldn’t care less about this party, but for fear of Hunter admitting me somewhere, I promised myself that I would show up and converse with people. Pool parties are supposed to be fun.
“Yeah, it’s been a few months since my last date, too,” I say.
“What happened?” she asks. “If it’s not too personal.” Of course it is, but I play along.
“Like most relationships, the trust factor failed,” I say. She smiles sadly at me. She knows what that’s like.
“Well, let’s toast to having fun today and forgetting about the past. At least for one day.” She tilts her beer at me and I clink it. That actually sounds like a good idea. I know that if I drink too much, Hunter will let me crash on her couch. Maddox is sitting over in the shade next to the food. I trust Hunter to take care of him, too.
“Do you have your bathing suit on?” Mindy asks. She lifts up my shirt playfully. I push her hands away.
“No, I’m not much of a swimmer.”
“Well, how are we going to challenge anybody here to chicken if you don’t have your bathing suit?” she says. I’m wondering if she’s going to be on my shoulders or if I’m going to be on hers. She’s tall, but lithe and I’m average with muscle. Hmm. Suddenly, I’m wishing I had my bikini with me.
“I’m sure Hunter has something I can borrow,” I say. The idea is starting to grow on me.
“Hey, Hunter,” Mindy yells. Hunter looks at us and a slow smile creeps over her face. I glare at her. She winks back. “Do you have a bathing suit for Tris here?” She points down at me like Hunter isn’t going to know who I am.
“As a matter of fact, I do. C’mon, Tris.” She motions me to follow her.
I hand Mindy my beer and jump up. “I’ll be right back.” I smile at her and try not to skip over to Hunter.
“So, what’s going on over there?” she asks as we walk over to her apartment.
“Nothing. Just talking. She has your favorite job in the world,” I say. She rolls her eyes at me. Apparently, she knows all about Mindy. “What’s her story?”
“You know as much as I do. Pretty, single, smart. Well, sort of smart,” she says. I laugh. “She’s smart. I wouldn’t invite anybody who wasn’t. I know you.”
“She’s friendly. And she wants me to be her partner in chicken,” I say.
“When was the last time you played chicken?” she asks.
“I’m pretty sure it was grade school.” We slip into her apartment and she digs around until she finds a dark blue one piece suit that will work. I put my shorts on and we head back to the pool. Mindy is still there holding our beers.
“Did you find us any challengers?” I ask. She smiles at me. It’s a nice, sweet smile.
“I wanted to make sure you would find something to wear first,” she says. “Blue’s a good color on you.” She’s looking at me appreciatively and I actually don’t mind. Mindy is an attractive woman. Very attractive. Her bikini is tastefully revealing and she’s not afraid to show off her body. I’ve decided she’s going to be on my shoulders.
“I’m going to round up more beers and you’re going to find us some suckers,” I say. She laughs and slides into the pool. I grab a few more beers. We aren’t supposed to have glass bottles near the pool so I find a few cans instead.
“We have our first victims,” Mindy says. She points at James and Allison, one of the women in his band. Thankfully, James is not very scrappy so our chances are good. I put our cans down, slip off my shorts and dive in. I surface right in front of Mindy.
“Climb on,” I say. I duck under and feel her legs hook over my shoulders. I ease her up and am surprised by how light she is. I hold her thighs tightly against my shoulders as she finds her balance. I can feel the heat between her legs against my neck. It’s sexy.
I walk us over to our challengers and the girls start wrestling. James and I smile at each other because we both know how sexy this is. I’m holding on to Mindy and she’s doing a great job of pushing Allison around until they plop backward giving us our victory. I lower Mindy into the water and she slides off of me. She hugs me as soon as I resurface. I smile and it feels good. I can’t remember the last time I smiled so much. Actually I do, but I don’t want to think about Kate right now.
“That was great,” Mindy says. She still has her arm draped around my shoulders, the hug never quite ending. “Let’s get some food to go with our beers.” We climb out of the pool and grab a few plates of food. Maddox crawls out from underneath the table and Mindy screams.
“What the hell?” I say. Maddox slinks back under the table, his ears flat against his head. I reach under and pet him until he slowly crawls back out and leans up against my legs. “This is Maddox. He’s my baby and completely harmless.” By the look on Mindy’s face, I can tell she is not convinced.
“Why is he scarred?” she asks. She looks repulsed and now I’m no longer interested.
“He had a bad puppyhood. He’s very sweet and he wouldn’t hurt you, I promise.”
Mindy looks at us warily. “I’m going to find us a place to sit down.” She backs away from us slowly.
“It’s okay, boy. She just doesn’t know you yet.” I’m sad for Maddox. I can tell his feelings are hurt and I try to make him feel better with a quick loving session. He shakes it off and wags his tail after several kisses and cracker treats. We walk over to where Mindy is sitting.
“I’m sorry about that. I just haven’t had a lot of luck with dogs. I got bit by one when I was little and I guess I haven’t gotten over it,” Mindy says. I understand her hesitancy and I don’t push her to get to know Maddox. He curls up under my chair looking guiltily at Mindy. She does her best to ignore him.
“It’s okay. He’s a perfect dog, really. He’s never hurt anybody before. Maddox is my best friend, other than Hunter.” Mindy doesn’t look amused. I don’t push it. Kate was all over him the first time she met him. She trusted him and loved him the minute she saw him. She didn’t scream. I sigh. Mindy isn’t Kate and I shouldn’t compare the two. I’m not being fair to Mindy. “Do you have any pets at all?” I ask. She shakes her head.
“I don’t have time for pets. My job keeps me pretty busy and it’s not fair to them. Is Maddox your only pet?” I can tell she’s trying, but she’s definite
ly not an animal lover. That’s a problem.
“Yes. One day I won’t be gone every spring chasing storms. I’ll be home more and then I’ll have more pets.” She nods at me, completely not interested. Time to change the subject. “So, what do you like to do when you aren’t working so hard?”
“I like to go out, have a good time with friends. It seems like I’m always on the go, really,” she says. We’re completely opposite. Other than physical attraction, we’ve got zip. Now I need to make a decision. I can walk away or have a good time tonight. I’m guessing that Mindy won’t care either way. She offers to get us another beer, but I’ve already made my decision.
“Well, actually, I have to be somewhere else tonight, but thanks for the offer. Speaking of which…” That’s my cue to leave and her cue to know that this isn’t going any further.
“Thanks for being my partner today, Tristan. I had a good time,” Mindy says. She smiles at me.
“It was fun. Thanks for getting me out of my funk. Have fun here. These bashes are usually pretty wild.” She stands when I do and gives me another hug. It’s nice feeling her body against mine, but not enough to make me stay. I wave goodbye. Maddox and I head over to Hunter.
“Are you leaving?” Hunter asks. Concern is etched on her face.
“Hey, I lasted a few hours, right? And I did have fun. I’ll talk to you soon.” Maddox and I climb into the Jeep and we head home. That was a lot of socializing for both of us. It was nice to get out and feel a spark with a woman again, but now I just want to snuggle with Maddox and make him feel special.
Chapter Nineteen
“What’re you doing?” Hunter pokes her head into my office without knocking, scaring the shit out of me. I throw a pen at her.
“Christ, why can’t you knock like everybody else?” I’m already pissy.
“Chill. What’s going on?” She sits down in the guest chair and acts as if I’m not in a foul mood. She’s been extremely considerate toward me since we ended our season. Thankfully, she hasn’t mentioned Kate since we returned.
“They finally posted the grant and I’m reading some back up. It’s weird because there are several chunks missing,” I say.
“Chunks?” Hunter asks.
“Yeah, like complete sections. Important sections. This all seems weird if you ask me,” I say.
“Always the conspiracy theorist,” Hunter says.
“I just don’t like losing.” But it’s more than that. I don’t like losing grants or my heart. “I’ve asked Bob Garner to send me the missing pages. They’re required to make all of the backup public. He said he would look into it and get it to me sometime this week. I just don’t like the way this whole thing went down.”
“Have you heard anything else from any others?” Hunter asks. I’ve kept her in the loop on the different grants and government scholarships I’ve applied for and we’ve celebrated all the ones that have come in, from one hundred dollars to one thousand.
“Not this week, but there are still a few I’m waiting on,” I say. Hunter knows it’s not nearly enough for next season, but it should be enough to at least get us there. “This just sucks. I’m really sorry, Hunter.”
“Stop it. What’s done is done. If there’s anything you need help with, I’m your girl,” she says.
“Thanks, but now it’s just a matter of waiting. There’s nothing else out there. We have a few fall fundraisers coming up this semester, but I don’t know how much that will bring in. Do you know how much I hate waiting?” She smiles at me. We both hate waiting. It’s amazing we are good at our jobs. Most of the time we are driving and waiting.
❖
It takes Bob a week to send me the missing pages. I find it interesting that he’s mailed them to me instead of e-mailing them. That would have been a lot quicker and easier. It’s not until I read through all of the pages that I realize the reason for so much secrecy. One name stands out. I almost missed it, but I’m rather sensitive to the name at the moment and my eyes find it and hold until my brain reads all the words before and after it. Ben Brighten.
“Are you kidding me?” I say. Nobody is around to hear me, but I can’t help but vocalize my disbelief. I dial Hunter.
“What up, dawg?” she asks. She’s so professional.
“You need to come to my office. It’s urgent. You’re not going to believe what I found out.” I hear the click of the phone and I know she’s on her way. Drama always gets Hunter moving. She’s sitting in my guest chair with the door closed within thirty seconds. I hand her the piece of paper after I highlight the name.
“No way,” she says.
I nod at her. “Yep. Daddy helped get the grant.”
“Nobody has that much power, do they?” Apparently, there is more to Ben Brighten than we realized. I was just kidding when I told her he’s probably had people killed. Now, I’m not so sure. He at least has muscles big enough to put the squeeze on some important military people. No wonder Bob didn’t want to e-mail me the pages. Somebody doesn’t want this information to get out. I’m surprised nobody else has questioned it. I know that I’ve been e-mailed by other universities when I was awarded the grant who had tons of questions for me. Nobody has said or posted a word about this. It’s all so weird.
“Well, there’s one way to find out,” Hunter says. I shake my head no. I’m not calling Kate. I’ve found peace in my miserably lonely state and so far it’s working for me.
“I’m just going to work harder and prod people more to give us money, that’s all.” I know we are at the bottom of the barrel. Maybe I need to head out and visit people face to face. It’s harder to say no when I’m right there in front of them.
“Good luck with that,” Hunter says. “I still can’t believe this. We should talk to Bob and ask if we can help him find his balls.” She’s so eloquent.
“It’s probably not Bob’s fault. I’m sure somebody put the squeeze on him. Bob’s in our corner.” I say that with not a lot of conviction. I just don’t know anymore.
“Well, at least we know who we have to fight next year,” Hunter says. “I don’t know that we can, but at least we know.” She gets up and heads out of my office. “Don’t worry. I’ll ask my mom to invite some of her rich, snobby friends to the fundraiser in October. Maybe one of them will write a check.” She gives me an encouraging smile and leaves my office. I’m still stunned. I feel worse than I did when I first found out. That wound is open again, but this time I’ve pushed out most of the emotions. Most, but not all.
Chapter Twenty
The first day of classes is always the worst. It’s hot, the students are unsettled because they already miss summer after only one day, and I’m wearing a suit and heels. I can’t remember the last time I wore makeup. Well, actually, I can but I don’t want to think about it. It was that magical night in Lawrence, Kansas when Kate and I had our fantastic all night date. I frown at my memory, upset with the entire situation. I wish I could completely forget the last three months of my life. I turn to the board and write Tristan Stark, Meteorology 101. The murmurs of the students eventually quiet and I face a silent classroom. There are approximately one hundred and twenty students in this class, but I know I will lose about half of them by December. Unless you really love weather, this class tends to lean toward the boring side, especially when I’m required to follow the textbook. Whenever I see my students secretly pull out their phones to text or play games, I spice things up by showing them my videos or photos. That usually keeps their interest the rest of the class. I can’t wait until I can teach the upperclassmen. Then, it seems like it will be worth it, but that won’t happen for another year.
“Good morning, class. I’m Tristan Stark. Welcome to Meteorology 101. If this isn’t your class, then get out.” The class chuckles a bit and we settle in for the next fifty minutes. I start off with the basics. What weather is, how it affects us, why it’s good, why it’s bad. I try to keep it light because I don’t want to lose them on the first day. I give them the
first two chapters to read before the next class and excuse them a few minutes early. I breathe a sigh of relief when they rise and leave the room.
The first day is hard for me, too. I have to get used to being around people again. I spent the summer moping in my house. My only visitors were Hunter and her boyfriend. They managed to get me to go out a few times, but only because I could tell Hunter was truly worried about me and I didn’t want any type of intervention. She knows how to get in touch with my family and isn’t afraid to do so. The last thing I need is for my mother to visit.
“You did a good job of keeping their interest on the first day. Not too many professors can say that.”
My hand falters as I reach for my papers. I know that voice. I close my eyes. I settle my heart and tuck it back into my chest where it belongs so that I don’t choke on it in my throat. I don’t want to turn around. I don’t want to open myself up again. Steeling myself against the onslaught of emotions, I face Kate. She is even more beautiful than I remember. I stare at her until it becomes uncomfortable. At least for me. She doesn’t seem affected by it. A huge part of me wants to fall into her arms and weep that she is fine. The last time I saw her, she was bruised, swollen, and broken. Even pissed at her, I still prayed that she would be okay. From the looks of it, she is okay. Her face is smooth, her arm isn’t in a cast. She is lovely. Her lips are almost curved, her eyes searching my face for some sort of sign if she can smile or not. I take a deep breath before I say anything.