“Are things serious between the two of you?” Mom asks the moment the door closes behind Deanna.
“Serious enough,” I reply, rubbing Otis behind the ears.
“What does that mean?” She already sounds exasperated with me. Mom doesn’t like any games either.
“You’re meeting her, aren’t you?”
“Would I be meeting her had her mom not died recently? Because initially, you wanted me to spend Thanksgiving with her so she wouldn’t be alone.”
I sigh, the pressure in my head increasing. “Look, Mom, I like her, we’re dating, and you do get to meet her. What more do you need to know?”
“Nothing, I guess.” I don’t have to look at her to know she’s not satisfied with that answer. “You rest. I’m going to ransack your kitchen so I can make a grocery list.”
“Do you like her?” I ask before she can get too far away.
“I don’t know yet.”
Well, that isn’t an acceptable answer. Mom needs to like her. Well, she doesn’t have to, but I’d really like her to. The last thing Deanna needs is another mother figure to dislike her. I don’t need to worry about Mom treating her badly or making snide comments or anything like that, but it would be bad enough for me if Mom didn’t like her. They haven’t spent that much time together yet, so I just need to make sure they do and that it goes well.
I’ve never been cooped up in the house this long before. Not involuntarily at least. I feel more antsy today since I know the team is in Canada on their road trip. I haven’t left the house except two or three times. I doze off, but when I wake up, I discover my mom has left for the grocery store. When I walk Otis, I see that she took my second vehicle, which doesn’t get driven as much as my truck. This seems like the best opportunity to leave.
I scribble a note saying I’ll be back soon and head out. It’s not until I’m almost there that I realize I’m driving to EJ’s house. Maybe Bree won’t be fussy today. Maybe Raelynn won’t be freaked out that I’m showing up unannounced. I knock on the door and almost a minute passes before she opens the door with Bree on her hip.
Her eyes widen. “Brayden, right?”
“Yeah. Sorry to drop by like this, but I needed to get out of the house. Can I hang here for a while?”
“Um.” She glances over her shoulder at something. “Sure.”
“You can say no, you know. I just wanted to see Bree, but if you’re not comfortable or whatever...” I let my voice trail off, remembering that she said I could be intimidating, even though that was when I had a busted lip and a quickly blackening eye.
“No, that’s okay. Come in.” She steps aside and I walk over the threshold. That’s when I see that she was glancing over her shoulder at the little boy peering over the couch. I forgot she had a son.
“Hey, Jackson.”
His eyes widen in surprise that I know his name. I’m surprised myself that I remembered it.
“This is Mr. Brayden, Jackson. He’s friends with Mr. EJ.” Jackson turns around and resumes watching the cartoons on TV. “Sorry,” Raelynn apologizes. “He’s shy around new people. Did you want to hold her?”
“Yes, please.” I take Bree from her and move to sit in the living room.
“Do you mind if I catch up on some chores?”
“No, go ahead. I’ll find you if we need anything.”
“Thanks.” To Jackson, she says, “I’ll be in the kitchen, baby. Mr. Brayden plays hockey with Mr. EJ, so you’ll be fine.” That seems like such an odd thing to say to the kid, or maybe it’s not, because Jackson turns toward me at that.
He eyes me as Bree claps her hands to get my attention. I lay her on her back on my legs and play with her hands while her legs kick me in the stomach. She’s a giggling mess. I’m not even making funny noises like I normally do.
“Why are you not with Mr. EJ on his trip?” Jackson asks, his voice quiet.
I glance over at him. “I hurt my head in the last game.”
He gasps. “You’re Hayes! Number thirteen. You have a C on your jersey. Momma said she thought that means you’re the captain.”
“Yeah, that’s right. You like hockey?”
He shrugs.
“How old are you?”
He holds up his hand, all five fingers up. Back and forth we talk as I ask him if he’s in school and if he likes it. If he likes staying here, if he likes Bree, but Jackson brings it back to hockey. He mocks the movements of an official, wanting to know what it means. It’s like he’s obsessed and needs to know. The longer we talk as Bree falls asleep in my arms, the greater my headache becomes. It’s like the TV is three times louder than it actually is.
“How is it going in here?” Raelynn walks in, a kitchen towel over her shoulder.
“Is there a place I can lie down for a minute?”
Her eyes widen, but she nods. I follow her upstairs to the nursery to lay Bree down. “You can lie in here if you want.” She points at a twin bed. “But if you’d rather have a bigger bed, you can have your pick of Elias’s or Jackson’s, I guess.” Elias? It throws me off so much that for a moment I have no clue she’s talking about EJ.
“I’ll lie in here.” I don’t really feel comfortable taking EJ’s or Jackson’s bed. “I’ll be out of here soon.” Hopefully.
“Let me know if you need anything.”
I nod and she leaves the room, pulling the door until it’s almost closed. The bed is not nearly long enough, so my feet veer to hang off the side. There’s too much light in here, so I take the pillow and lay it over my head. Leaving the house was a stupid idea. I was basically relaxing. The only thing different here than at home is the TV was on and I was consistently talking to someone. I wasn’t lying down either. This whole concussion thing is such bullshit and I’m ready for it to be over with already.
“Brayden?” A hand is shaking my shoulder. “Brayden?” I lift the pillow from my face and wince because the light is now on in the room. What the fuck? “I’m sorry to wake you, but it’s getting kind of late and I thought you might want to wake up.”
It’s getting late? How late? I came over around four. “What time is it?”
“Eight-thirty.”
Fuck. Mom and Deanna both are probably worried. “I’m sorry.” I rub my head. Just the thought of driving makes my head hurt more. I stand with a sigh, but a rush of dizziness overwhelms me. I reach out to grab the wall and steady myself. Yeah, fuck this.
“Are you okay?” Raelynn asks.
“Yeah.” I pat my pockets until I find the one with my phone. There are a bunch of missed calls, but I wasn’t alerted to any of them because I’ve been keeping my phone on silent. Even having it on vibrate irks me. “I’m going to make a phone call.” Raelynn steps out to give me some privacy, taking a now awake Bree with her. I stare at the screen for a moment, rubbing my forehead. I need to call Deanna. It takes me a second too long to find the appropriate buttons and then to find Deanna’s name.
“Where the hell are you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Can you come pick me up? I don’t feel like driving home.”
“Where are you? Your mom was about to start calling hospitals because she was so worried.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m fucking fine. I’m at EJ’s house. You and Mom come get me, so you can drive my truck home.”
“Don’t get ill with me, Brayden,” she snaps, more irritated than I’ve ever heard her. “We’re on our way.” She hangs up before I can mumble a thanks.
I leave the room and go downstairs. Raelynn, Bree, and Jackson are watching the Rebels game on TV. Well, Bree is playing and pulling on Raelynn’s hair. “Someone’s coming to pick me up,” I tell her and she nods. I sit in the chair, leaning my head back and wishing they’d mute the TV. I keep an eye out for headlights. When I see them flash on the living room blinds, I stand. “Thanks, Raelynn. See you guys later.”
“Bye.”
The only thing I can tell about Deanna, thanks to the glaring headlights behind her, is that her arms are folded over her chest while she stands next to the driver’s door of my truck. I squint at her as I get closer and see her glare. Okay, so she’s not happy with me. She’ll get over it. I hold out my keys, almost wanting to smile when she snatches them from my fingers. I think I like her mad at me.
Mom backs out and then Deanna does, so Mom can follow us back. Deanna mutters under her breath.
“I don’t like driving trucks, yet here I am, driving one for my idiot of a whatever-you-are.”
“These things are too big for my comfort level and it’s your damn fault I’m driving one.”
“You couldn’t just tell someone where you were going.”
“You couldn’t ask your mom to drop you off.”
“You couldn’t change your phone to vibrate.”
“Your mom’s first impression of me needs to be me obviously concerned over her idiot of a son. Never cursed so much in my life.”
Finally, I can’t help but chuckle. “Will you stop it?”
“No. I didn’t want to be left alone with your mother, I don’t want to be driving this stupid-ass truck, and I didn’t want to come home and immediately be consumed with worry about you. The best thing you can do is leave me alone.”
What the fuck? Fine, I’ll leave her alone, though I don’t understand what the big deal is. When we get home, she walks Otis and then says she’s taking a shower. Mom pulls me into the kitchen to feed me the dinner she cooked.
“What’s wrong with her?” I ask.
Mom cuts her eyes over at me. She’s sitting at the table with me while I eat. “I didn’t raise a dummy, did I?”
“No, but what does that have to do with Deanna?”
Mom rests her hand over one of mine. “Son, she was more concerned about you than I was.” That’s interesting because Deanna made it sound like Mom was more worried with the whole ‘she’s about to call hospitals’ comment. “I thought the poor girl was going to have a panic attack when she came home and I told her you had left without a word as to where and hadn’t come home yet.”
“Yeah, but I was fine.”
Mom rolls her eyes. “Brayden, she was worried. Truly worried, and that seemed to scare her as much as being worried about you. She reminds me of you in a way.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Being scared of a relationship and to care for someone for whatever reason. She realized she cares for you a lot and doesn’t know what to do with that. You’re the idiot who hasn’t realized how much you care about her yet.”
I frown. “I know I care about Deanna.”
“Okay,” she says, but she doesn’t sound like she believes me. “Does she know it? You really worried her, Brayden, even though you didn’t mean to. I don’t know what her story is, but I bet you do. You might want to apologize and be sweet to her.”
I tuck that information away. “Does this mean you like her?”
“So far, yes, and I’m guessing by the fact that you’ve asked me twice today that she may just be the one to stick around long-term in your life.” She stands and pats my shoulder. “Don’t screw it up, Brayden.” She kisses the top of my head and heads upstairs for bed. She didn’t have to say so because anytime I get a kiss on the head, that means she’s about to turn in for the night.
I leave my dirty plate on the table because it’s not like it can’t wait until morning to be washed and head upstairs. I’m still tired. Otis lies curled up at the end of the bed when I walk into my room. Deanna sits on the edge, facing away from me, and brushes her hair. First, I get myself ready for bed. She’s underneath the covers when I return and climb in.
“Want to watch a movie?” I ask.
“No.”
“Plain old TV then?”
“No.”
“We can if you want.” I don’t even know why I’m trying at this point.
“It’s only going to bother you, so no; it’s fine.”
Oh. That’s why she doesn’t want to watch something? “Well, come here, darlin’.” She sighs, but she scoots over until I can wrap my arms around her. “I’m sorry for causing you to worry. I wanted to get out of the house, so I decided to go see Bree. After a while, I got a bad headache, so I laid down and fell asleep. Raelynn woke me up because it was so late. I didn’t think I would fall asleep or I would’ve turned my phone on vibrate.”
“I guess I forgive you,” she mumbles, her lips brushing against my collarbone.
I pinch her ass. “You guess?”
Her lips move into a smile. “Yep.” She lifts her head. “Are you really okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll take it extra easy tomorrow.”
“You better.” Deanna leans forward to kiss me softly just once. “I like your momma.”
I laugh. “You can’t kiss me and then talk about my mom, Deanna. Why do you like her?”
“She’s nice. She was really calm, even though we were both concerned over where you might be. She trusts you a lot more than I do, I guess. While we were waiting for you to call us, she made me eat and tell her more about myself. I just hope I didn’t say too much. Like, I told her about my parents and she asked how I came to own the shop, so I told her about that. She probably thinks you should dump me because I’m this wild child. Anytime a guy came into conversation, I always said he was a boyfriend even if he wasn’t. It was like she dosed dinner with truth serum or something and it was all I could do to tell her nearly everything.” She tucks her head under my chin. “I’m sure she’s not impressed.”
“Actually, she told me that she liked you, which is really good. I would’ve kicked her out if she said she didn’t.”
Deanna laughs. “No, you wouldn’t have. You’re not the type of man to choose a woman over your momma, not when she raised you on her own and was a good momma.”
“You’re right. But I would’ve been really disappointed in her if she didn’t like you. I don’t see how that’s possible anyway.”
She doesn’t say anything. In fact, she’s gotten quite still next to me. “Can I get something off my chest for a second?”
“Go ahead.” I don’t hesitate at all. Partly because I don’t want to and partly because I don’t want Deanna to second-guess herself.
“This thing between us? It scares the hell out of me. I feel so much. Even in the beginning when it was only sex, it seemed like there was just more. I don’t know what to do with all of this mess. Half the time I don’t know what we’re doing, if it’s more of the same, or if we’ve morphed into dating, or what. But it’s unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced. And all I can think about is how I can do nothing but make bad decisions and you don’t know if you could even commit to a relationship. What in the hell are we doing here, Brayden?”