Page 8 of Something New

I remembered the boy and his Nana and thought this man must be related to them.

"It looks like you got a little sun," he said gesturing to his own jaw. He was so handsome that the gesture was distracting and I didn't hear what he said.

"I’m sorry, what?"

"I think you might have been sleeping in the sun a little bit." He glanced at me reluctantly and used his hand to touch the side of his own jaw.

"Oh," I said, when I realized that my face hurt to touch. "That sucks." I stared at the rock as I touched my face all over. It was painful. "I wasn't in the sun when I fell asleep," I said, despondently.

I didn't dare take off my oversized sunglasses because I knew there would be a lighter mark where they had been. He was so good-looking that I instinctually played it cool even though the upper and lower thirds of my face must've been noticeably red. I hated my brothers for letting me sleep in the sun.

"That's why I wanted to wake you up," he said.

"I'm glad you did. Thank you."

"I had been talking to your brothers, but I originally came out here to talk to you."

"Really? Why?"

"My son. You met my little boy."

"Oh, the boy was yours?" I asked.

"Yes. He… we are about to head home, and he told me about you a few different times… he was saying that… " He trailed off and glanced around suspiciously. He leaned in and stared at me like he was concerned. He spoke quietly when he continued. "Your brothers seem like okay guys. I met them, and they gave me a completely different take on the story. But my son was saying he met you, and he mentioned several times how your brothers were mad at you. It seemed like he was kind of worried about you, and I just wanted to come out here and make sure you're okay and didn't need one of us to intervene… somehow."

"Aw, with my brothers? That's so sweet. The little boy was worried about me? No, tell him thank you, but my brothers were probably justified in being mad at me."

"Good. Ethan kept talking about you. It seemed like he was worried, so I wanted to come out here before we left."

"That's really very nice of you. And of him. Of both of you."

"We came out here earlier. My sisters were out here, and we were all talking. None of us even knew you were here until we came right up on the firepit. You scared us, actually. My sister screamed, and we had a whole big conversation about it, and you didn’t budge."

"Yeah, I'm obviously exhausted."

"Seeing you sleeping on the ground combined with the fact that my son seemed to be worried about you… I just wanted to come back. I'm glad to know you're not in danger."

"Your son was really sweet. I like that kid."

"Me too," he said.

"Thank you for waking me up."

"I mentioned it to my mom also, and she agreed that it was a good idea to come check on you. I'm glad I did, with how the sun had shifted. Do you need a ride home or anything? My truck is pretty full, but we can squeeze you in for a few minutes if you live near here."

"I don't live close by. I live in Raleigh."

"Oh, I live in Raleigh, too. Do you need a ride back? I think we could probably make it work."

"No, thank you. That's really nice of you. I want to take you up on it really bad. I wish I could. I'm kind of at my brother's mercy with getting my car fixed. They have a couple of friends who own a body shop. Unfortunately for me, they probably want me to sit here and fry for a little bit right now. Not because they're abusing me, just because they're mad at me."

"Maybe you could wait in the shade."

"I'm planning on it," I said.

He stood up to leave.

"What did my brothers tell you?" I asked.

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