Page 17 of Just Say When

“You know, the delightfully quirky side character who shows up in a male protagonist’s story for the sole purpose of making him interesting. And I’ll tell you right now, I’m too old for that shit. There’s no such thing as a manic pixie dreamwoman.” She poked my shoulder again. “And do you know why?”

I barely knew what the fuck we were talking about, much less the why of it all. I shook my head.

“Because theydie, Brax. They die young so the boy can become a man with depth and an interesting back story. You’ll just have to find some other way to grow a personality. I’m not dying.”

She laughed like there was anything funny about her fuckingdying, when there sure as hell was not. Fifteen years after the day she almost had, and I still hadn’t fully recovered. I doubted I ever would.

I grabbed her wrist before she could assault meagain. “Damn right, you’re not. Don’t even fucking joke about that.”

Her laughter caught in her throat and she stared at me with wide eyes. Then she blinked and her expression twisted into something angry. She wrenched her wrist from my grasp. “Don’t pretend you care,” she spat.

She stalked off, her spine rigid with rage, and I was glad because it kept me from telling her the truth. I had never pretended to care. The only thing I had ever pretended with Essie was that I didn’t.

“What are you doing?”James asked.

I looked up from my paper plate, piled high with food. A hamburger with all the fixins’, buttery corn on the cob, and a heap of watermelon salad. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“I already know whatIthink you’re doing.” She threw a short, muscular leg over the picnic table bench, straddling it to face me. “Ithink you’ve forgotten how to communicate like an adult, so you’ve reverted to kindergarten antics to get a girl’s attention. What I want to know is whatyouthink you’re doing.”

That was the problem with James. She didn’t miss a damn thing. My brother apparently liked that about her.I did, too. Mostly. Right now, it wasn’t my favorite trait of hers.

“I think I’m eating a burger,” I deadpanned. I took a large bite to prove my point.

“I’m talking about you and Essie,” she clarified, like I didn’t know. “You literally pulled her hair.”

“Well,” I said, after swallowing my food, “in my defense, it was shiny.”

She rolled her big brown eyes at me. “Mature.”

I thought that was the end of it, but I could feel her eyes on me while I steadily ignored her in favor of shoveling delicious food into my mouth. She was thinking things, I fucking knew it. That was how James was. Curious, thoughtful, patient. Again, mostly attributes I considered positive, until this very moment.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I wiped my mouth with a napkin and gave her my full attention. “Say it,” I commanded.

She didn’t hesitate. “Essie is my friend, but besides that, we have a professional relationship. She’s an apprentice here at Lodestar Ranch. I’m her mentor. That is a huge responsibility, one I take very seriously.”

James paused like she was waiting for me to respond. I waved a hand at her to get on with it.

“At the same time, I also have a relationship with you that is both personal and professional,” James continued. “On the personal side, you’re Adam’s brother,and also—I hope—my friend. On a professional level, your dad is my boss. And now you’ve hired me to train Pirate.”

“What’s your point, James?” I asked.

She leaned forward. “My point is that none of this matters until it does, and then it matters a whole lot. If Essie has a problem with you, then I have a problem, too, because we’re all tangled up together, personally and professionally. So I’m asking you, are you going to make this a problem for me?”

Her words sank in and I wrinkled my forehead. “You think I’d ever ask you to fire Essie or take Pirate’s training and care away from her? Hell, no. Jesus, James. I’m not that guy.”

She blinked, pulling back in surprise. Then she snorted. “You sweet summer child. No.” She patted my hand. “And it wouldn’t matter even if you did. Essie has so much potential and, as I said, I take my position as her mentor very seriously. What I’m saying is that if you’re harassing my apprentice, you’re not welcome here. Training Pirate is the opportunity of a lifetime, but it’s one I’ll pass on if you can’t behave yourself.”

“You’d fire me as a client?” I demanded incredulously. “You can’t fire me. I’m the owner’s son.”

“Not only would I fire you, I’d leave it to you to tell your dad why.”

I winced, picturing his reaction. He had known Essiesince kindergarten. Hell, when her dad bailed on our middle school’s father-daughter dance, my dad was the one who had escorted her, since he didn’t have a daughter of his own. He’d straight up kill me if he thought I was treating Essie with anything less than the respect she deserved.

“Damn, James. You play dirty.” I tipped my beer can at her. “Can’t say that I don’t admire that about you.” Beneath those freckles and big cow eyes of hers was a spine of steel. She was the perfect mentor for Essie in a business that tended to be rough on women.

“Of course you do.” She flashed me a cheeky grin. “But you didn’t answer the question. Do we have a problem?”

“Did Essiesaywe have a problem?” I countered.

---