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Brenden
The line rings for the third time, and I start to question if she changed her mind, but it stops mid-ring.
“Hello?” Her velvet voice catches me off guard, rendering me speechless for a moment. “Brenden?”
“Yep, this is much better.” I lie back on the pillows, trying to convince my racing pulse to calm down.
“So, what is it you want to know about me?”
“Anything and everything. But why don’t we start with something simple and easy like what you do for a living?”
There’s a rustling sound in the background as she sighs into the phone, and my mind wanders to places it shouldn’t. “That’s boring and not much of a distraction, but all right. I work for an office products company.”
“Like Staples?”
“No, not like Staples,” she scoffs. “We sell products in bulk directly to businesses, schools, etcetera.”
“So, it’s like that show The Office then?” The stress of my day fades away as her laughter fills the line. This is what I needed. She’s what I needed.
“I suppose it’s a little like that, except I’m pretty sure they only sold paper. Plus, my co-workers aren’t nearly as funny or interesting. What do you do for a living, Mr. Scott?”
There’s no chance I’m going to talk about my job right now. I don’t even want to think about it. Besides, the first thing people always want to know when I tell them I’m a counselor is why I chose my career. That isn’t something I want to talk about either.
“I work for the state as part of the school system, but that’s boring. And my job is the reason I’m looking for a distraction right now. So tell me something else about yourself.”
Her soft chuckle puts a smile on my face. “That doesn’t seem fair, but I’ll go with it for now. Let’s see…my favorite color is green. I’m obsessed with 80’s movies—Valley Girl is one of my all-time favorites. I’m a total book nerd. I believe music is food for the soul. I’m a dog person. Though, to my kids’ dismay, we don’t currently have one. I’ve lived in middle Tennessee my entire life, outside of the time I lived in Knoxville while I attended college at UTK. And I have one sibling, who you’ve met. How’s that?”
She sucks in a long breath to make up for the air she lost during her information dump, and I laugh. It’s much more than I expected her to tell me. On the surface, it may seem like unimportant information, but she shared some of the little things about herself that makes her Lizzy.
“Wow. I’d say that’s a pretty good start. So 80’s movies, huh? I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of Valley Girl. Were you even around in the 80’s?” I tease.
“That doesn’t matter. It isn’t necessary to have lived in the 80’s to appreciate the awesomeness of their movies.”
She’s so adorable it’s almost absurd.
“Tell me more about your thoughts on music. What kind of music do you listen to? I can’t say it’s ever had the same kind of therapeutic effect on me.”
“You probably think I’m nuts,” she scoffs. “Even more so than you already did.”
“No,” I huff, shaking my head. “Not crazy; passionate.”
She goes quiet, and I picture her with a shy smile on her face, fidgeting with her hair. “Only about the things I like. Don’t you have anything you feel passionate about?”
“Do beautiful women count?” I quip.
“No,” she grumbles. “Anyway, I don’t believe for a second there isn’t more to Brenden Scott than that. Tell me something about the real you.”
A sense of pride swells in my chest. It’s good to know she doesn’t think of me as a shallow playboy. I’m not even sure Allison and Jon believe that some days.
“Okay, well…” I start, “I have a master’s degree from MT. I’ve also lived in Tennessee my entire life. I’m an only child, but I consider Jon and Allison family. What else…I played football in high school.”
“I can’t picture you as some high school football jock,” she taunts.
“Hey, just because I played football doesn’t mean I was some walking, talking stereotype,” I protest.
I don’t tell her how playing was simply another way to stay out of my house.
“It kept me focused and disciplined,” I add. “Besides, you can’t judge a person by who they were in high school. What were you like in high school? I bet you were you one of those smart academic kids who never got in trouble and always kept to themselves.”
