Page 27 of Truth

He continued to look at me as if searching for something. I knew I’d have to tell him what had been bothering me, but I didn’t want to say anything in front of Dr. Cooper. He already didn’t like me much. I didn’t want to give him any more reasons to think Stephan shouldn’t be with me.

After a long pause, Stephan nodded and then turned to address his uncle. “Everything’s fine. Did you need something?”

“I was going to grab lunch before heading back to the office this afternoon, and wanted to know if you two would like to join me.”

“Thank you for the offer, but we’ve already got plans for this afternoon,” Stephan said, continuing to rub his hands up and down my back.

The two exchanged a few more words, but I wasn’t paying attention to them. All I wanted was for Dr. Cooper to leave already so Stephan and I could be together.

Chapter Nine

Stephan

The only thing on my mind was getting Brianna out of my office so we could talk. Even though she said she was okay, I knew something was on her mind. One thing I’d learned about her over the last two months was that emotional worries tended to do more damage to her than physical ones. Whatever this was, she needed to talk about it. Doing so here, however, wasn’t a good idea.

My uncle following me out of the meeting and finding me holding a crying Brianna in my office only complicated things further. I was beginning to think Richard had some sort of radar where she and I were concerned. It wasn’t helping his opinion of the situation, nor was it helping Brianna’s comfort level with him.

As quickly as I could, I gathered Brianna’s things back into her bag and got us out of there. Jamie waved good-bye to Brianna as we stepped onto the elevator, and while Brianna responded, she seemed reluctant. It made me wonder if something had happened between the two. Jamie had been my assistant since I’d taken over The Coleman Foundation. She was efficient and reliable. I’d never had a problem with her. However, Brianna’s response to her had changed. Something had happened.

“What would you like for lunch, Brianna?”

She looked up at me, her blue eyes wide.

I waited. What we had for lunch wasn’t all that important to me. It had to be portable, that was all.

Her lips pressed together hard, and she glanced down. She was thinking.

“Cheeseburger?”

In all the time Brianna had been with me, I realized we’d only ever indulged in a simple burger once, when I’d taken her to the zoo. That seemed like a lifetime ago. So much had changed. In college, I’d practically lived on cheeseburgers. They were fast, could be eaten on the run and, as long as you bought it at a decent place, tasted good.

“Cheeseburgers it is,” I said, helping her into the car.

We drove to a restaurant near Minnehaha Park. I’d heard they had good burgers. It was time I found out what all the fuss was about.

It was almost noon, and the restaurant was busy. Brianna held tight to my hand as we entered, and I pulled her close to my side. A man greeted us and handed me a menu to look over. They had a whole page of different types of burgers. Everything from a simple cheeseburger with all the usual toppings, to something they called a Garbage Burger with an egg on it.

“They have a lot to choose from, Brianna. What kind of cheeseburger would you like?”

She pointed to the classic cheeseburger at the top of the page. I had no idea if she’d even read the rest, but if that was what she wanted, then that was what she would get. I went for something a little more adventurous, a chipotle burger with jalapenos.

With our orders in, we walked over to the long bench along the wall and waited. Brianna kept looking around at all the people. I knew she was nervous, but she was going to have to get used to being around people to some degree. At least this way I knew she was safe. I had no idea if she’d be ready to go to school in the fall, but I wanted her to try. She needed to have some independence, some schooling she could use out in the world, even if she never used it.

About fifteen minutes later, the man approached us again, this time carrying two bags. Brianna cringed and stepped closer to me. I gave her fingers a squeeze before releasing my hold on her and taking the bags from the restaurant employee. She stayed glued to my side, rigid, until the man walked back behind the host podium.

“Number?” I leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“F-four.”

Shifting the bags to one hand, I made her look at me. “Only four?”

She pressed her lips together and nodded.

I pulled her into my arms briefly, and kissed her. “Let’s go before our food gets cold.”

The ride to the park was quiet. Brianna looked out the window. It was a beautiful day, and there were quite a few people out enjoying it. I knew the park wouldn’t be any different.

I made sure to park as close to where we were going as possible. Thankfully, there were parking areas inside the park itself, not just on the perimeter. Brianna was still unpredictable around people, and if we needed to leave quickly, I didn’t want to have to walk three blocks to reach the car.

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