AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Gimme a minute.”
I finish off the juice and lean back. Though I let my eyes rove over the ruffly white edges of the surf in the distance, in my mind, I’m picturing her…
Hazel Thorpe.
Her wavy hair, her pink-tinted cheeks, and that Audrey-Hepburn-style bikini.
“This is so messed up,” I mutter. “I mean, we had actual chemistry. I’ve never felt it like that before. That strong. But… she’s Hazel Thorpe. The most uppity, pesky, pretentious Sales Lead on the team. She’s passive-aggressive, and condescending, and snobbish.”
“You can’t know all that about her. You only met her in person yesterday.”
“Sure, but I’ve worked with her for ten months, ever since I started with the company.”
“So, you know her only through writing. Messages.”
“Yeah, and her writing—her messages—piss me off. She’s annoying. I think I must have been out of my mind yesterday.”
I stretch my arms up and rest them behind my head. I study the water again, and this time, when a vision of her pouty lips threatens to take the palace of the rolling surf, I manage to push it away.
“It’s this place,” I mutter. “It’s too picturesque, you know? It’s easy to forget real life here. Get lost in all the otherworldliness of it.”
Brett crosses one leg over the other. He always reminds me of our dad when he sits like this. He cradles his cup and takes a long sip. “Here’s what I think. You ready?”
“Been ready for a while now, dude. You’re taking your sweet time, as usual.”
He chuckles. “You need to learn patience.”
I wag my foot. My legs bounce. A restless feeling surges.
If it wasn’t my brother I was talking to, I’d probably give up and walk away. But he is my brother.
And I want to know his take on what I’ve done. “Fine,” I say, “Yeah, patience.”
“Okay, so you’re so sure you can’t stand this woman because of how it is to work with her. Most of that is probably all in your head. It’s impossible to really get to know a person through work emails. It’s way too easy to conjure up narratives and create a story about a person that’s just not true. I think you should use this week to give her a chance.”
My foot wags faster.
The restless feeling develops into full-blown anxiety.
I’m pretty good at channeling anxiety on the rare occasions that it comes up. My go-to tool is my dirt bike.
I load it on my truck and take it to a trailhead. I pile on my gear, get on the thing, and rip around for a good few hours. When I’m in my helmet, looking at rusty red sandstone zipping past me at forty miles per hour, my world is all good. I’m too focused on the ride to let anything else get in.
But my bike is thousands of miles away. So are the red rocks of Moab.
I lower my foot and let my knee bounce.
“You always give good advice,” I say. “But… I don’t know… your inner counselor might be on vacation, too, man. That sounds like a really poor plan.”
“What, because you’re scared?” He sips his coffee again, letting that sink in.
He knows he’s pushing my buttons. He’s doing it anyway.
I grit my teeth.
He goes on. “Scared that kiss was too good? Scared the chemistry was too intense? Scared you might like her a little too much?”
That’s it.
