I looked up when there was a knock on my door. Briggs stood there with a chair that matched the one already in my office. I smiled. “Where did you find that?”

“Buried under the old lobby chairs in storage. Tim asked me to go through that stuff and make a list of everything so he could sell it.” He brought the chair in and set it next to the other one. “I thought you could use the set.”

“I could. Thank you so much. Try it out.” I motioned for him to sit down. “How’s everything going? We don’t talk much since I hired Dallas. Is she working out okay?”

He blushed. “She’s fine.”

I smiled. “She is fine, isn’t she? I happen to know she’s single.”

Tim had been worried about them getting along too well, but they were both too shy to make any moves. I didn’t see any problems with them dating. They were young and needed to learn how to deal with the opposite sex. Although, I wasn’t sure what I’d learned with my experience other than the fact love sucked.

“Yeah, she’s mentioned that.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“She has?” I leaned on my elbow on the desk and smiled. “Why don’t you ask her out? Just have dinner or go to a movie. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy.”

“I’ve tried, but she’s usually busy.”

“You’ve asked her out?”

“No, I asked her what her plans are and she’s always busy.”

I nodded. “You should ask her. Sometimes women like to say they are busier than they really are so you don’t think they sit at home and do nothing.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“Because, if you think we’re available, you might not be interested anymore.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand women.”

Hank walked in and patted him on the shoulder. “Neither will I, Briggs. Neither will I.” He smiled at me. “It’s a good thing I won’t ever have to.”

I looked at Briggs as he stood. “Thanks for the chair. Remember what I said, okay? And come talk to me anytime.”

Hank offered his support, too. “For what it’s worth, you can talk to me, too. You know I’m here for you for anything.”

Briggs nodded at both of us before he left. Hank turned and looked at both chairs. “I like it.” He moved the chairs to face each other and proceeded to stretch out as if he had a footrest.

I laughed. “Is that comfortable?”

“Not as comfortable as home, but it’ll do.” He looked at me. “So, you’ve been avoiding me.”

“I have not.” I turned back to the computer.

“There you go again. We both know I’m going to keep bugging you until you tell me what happened on that trip.”

“It wasn’t a trip. You make it sound like a vacation.”

“It doesn’t matter what it was.” He stood and moved the chairs back to where they were supposed to be. “Talk to me, April. I know something happened. Did you sleep with him?”

Tim walked in and tossed a file onto my desk. “It isn’t any of your business, but no, she did not sleep with me.”

Hank stood and faced Tim. “Did you try to sleep with her?”

Tim looked at me, but I looked to the computer. I didn’t want any part of that conversation. I wasn’t sure how to describe what happened between us, but Tim didn’t want me that night.

“I would be concerned if I was in your position, Hank, but as I’ve said we didn’t sleep together. If it makes you feel better, we didn’t even kiss.” He didn’t wait for any other comments and walked out.

Hank turned back to me. “Is that true? Something happened. You won’t even look at me.”

“The only action I got was from myself in the shower. He overheard it.” I kept my face toward the computer, but glanced at Hank for his reaction. He didn’t laugh like I thought he would.

“So, you know he overheard, but he didn’t try to join you?”

“No, he didn’t.” I put my elbows on the desk and put my face in my hands. “He just wanted to play with me. He didn’t want anything but games.”

I put my hands down and looked at him. “He told me he knew how I got myself off and asked if I wanted him to show me. He was about to before my phone rang.”

“Do you think he would’ve gone through with it if you didn’t have that interruption?”

I shrugged.

“Wait, was this when I called you?” He sat back and smiled when I nodded my head. “I think he would’ve gone through with it.”

* * *

I closed my eyes when the phone rang. Dallas was on break, so I had to answer it. What I wanted to do was finish the work on the report in front of me. “Michaels Rehab, this is April. How may I help you?”

“I have been trying to get in touch with you for days. What is going on?” My mother didn’t sound pleased.

“Ma, I told you I have a lot of work to do to make sure we keep our certifications. I can’t mess this up.”

“You’ve been working nonstop for days. You can spare a few minutes with your mother.”

I told her I was working last weekend instead of going with Tim to his family. I didn’t need any more guilt added on to what I already felt because I hadn’t been home as much as she wanted me to be.

“Okay, Ma. You’re right.” I sat back against the chair and settled in for a full conversation with my mother. “How are you and Dad?”

“Everyone is fine, but I still haven’t received your RSVP for Cynthia’s reception.”

“That’s over a month away. Why do you need to know about it now?”

“Because these things take time. We have to have a head count.”

“Fine.” I resisted the urge to sigh. “Put me down for plus one.”

“Of course, you’re plus one, honey. That’s Tim.”

“Well, I was actually thinking about bringing Hank. You like him.”

“You mean as well as Tim or instead of.”

“Instead of.” It was my chance to come clean, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t disappoint her. “You know since Brody left we haven’t been able to take much time away. He needs to stay behind for the center.”

“You need to hire more help. Why can’t Hank stay behind for you two?”

That was a good question. “The other line is ringing. Just put me down with a guest, and I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”

I didn’t give her a chance to respond before I hung up. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I hated lying to my mother, but I felt stuck. Hank would help me tell her or at least help me deal with her after I told her.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to center myself before I went back to work. When I opened them, I saw a crotch standing in front of my desk. I didn’t need to look up to know who the crotch belonged to. Covered in jeans or completely naked, I’d know Tim anywhere. I went back to work.

“Rough day?”

“I just got off the phone with my mother.” I still wouldn’t look at him.

“Ah, I see.” He tossed a pad of paper onto my desk. “I had Briggs inventory everything in that back storage room and organize it a little better than it was. Is there anything on that list you want to keep? I’m going to have him take photos and put it all up online.”

I continued to work and ignored the list. “I’ll have to look at it later.”

“The list is right there. It will only take a second to go through it.”

I sighed and looked at him. “I have to look at the stuff itself. I can’t go by names on a list. I need to see it to know what it is, but I can tell you I don’t want those uncomfortable ugly ass old lobby chairs. Start with those. They should’ve been sold years ago.”

“I don’t want to do this in pieces. Just look at the fucking list so I can tell him to get started.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m working on a report that I really need to finish. I will look at it later.”

He sat down. “Fine. I’ll wait.”

“I don’t know how long it’s going to take to finish this.”

“Take your time.” He propped his feet up onto the desk.

“Fine!” I stood and grabbed the list. “Let’s go. You want this done and it’s all about you.”

He grabbed the list from me as he stepped out in front and smiled. “Yes, it is. It’s about time you caught on to that.”

Dallas had just walked in from break. “Is something wrong?”

I softened my face a little and squeezed her arm as I walked by. “Men are jerks, but it doesn’t have to ruin our day. Remember that and you’ll be fine. We’re checking out the storage area. I’ll be right back.”

Her focus jumped from Tim and me a few times before she went and sat at her desk. “Okay.”

Tim waited until we got to the hall. “Why did you insinuate I was a jerk?”

“I said all men. I didn’t leave anyone out.”

“What about Hank?”

I was getting concerned with his fascination with Hank. I didn’t suspect he was into men, but he sure brought him up a lot. It would also explain things why we couldn’t work things out. “What about him?”

“Is he a jerk, too?”

“He has a penis, so that would mean yes. He’s just more aware of it.”

“I’ll take your word on the penis.” He opened the door to let me through. “But, I bet mine is bigger.”

I walked through the door and turned to look at him. “Did you just ask me about his penis size?”

“No, I said mine was bigger.” He looked me up and down. “And don’t correct me if I’m wrong.” He walked past me and went to the items we were there to look at.

I stayed where I was for a second to process this new theory. It made sense, but why hadn’t I picked up any clues before that? I supposed being with someone like Brody your entire life scared you off of being true to yourself. What was I supposed do with this?

“You ask me an awful lot of questions about Hank.” I turned back to him and wanted some answers.

He shrugged. “You know him better than I do.”

“Do you want to get to know him?”

He scoffed. “No, not really.”

Was that more denial, or did he not like Hank? I was so confused. He did stop touching me as soon as Hank’s call came through in that hotel. I dropped my arms to my sides and shook my head. I couldn’t think about any of that. I had a report to get back to. “Look, this is a sea of ugly. How did you like this?”

I walked behind the chairs and looked everything over. There wasn’t anything we needed to keep. I picked out a few broken things that should’ve been put in the dumpster and not tossed onto the storage pile, but the rest had been replaced with newer and more reliable items.

“All of it can go.” I turned to Tim. “We shouldn’t have kept any of this stuff back here.” I heard a noise and looked at the area I keep my supplies. “What was that?”

“Probably a rat.” He started to stack the lobby chairs how he wanted to show them pictured.

“Well, if it is, be prepared to get it. I need stuff while we’re back here.” I walked over to the supplies, hoping there wasn’t a rat.