Page 28 of To Save Him

 

 

 

Chapter Nine

 

ON SUNDAY, BRANDON came home from work late in the afternoon with a couple of paving stones.  “Kim, I wondered which kind you’d like in the backyard.”

I smiled.  That was so thoughtful.  Aside from being mowed and weeded, my poor acreage behind the house had been neglected for years.  Brandon had taken my offer quite seriously; in exchange for food, shelter, and a sense of family, he was trying to help me care for and maintain my house and property.  “Why don’t we see which looks better?”

We walked out the back door onto the patio, and I wondered how much we would be able to see in the fading light.  Spring had barely arrived and so we were struggling with the sun working against us, dipping over the mountains, out of sight until the next day.  Both pavers were attractive.  One was a rust color while the other looked to be a dark gray, more likely to blend into the soil.

When we got to the tiny patch of lawn left back there, Brandon placed each one on top so I could see the way they contrasted with the emerging green.  “What do you think?”

“I don’t know.  I think I kind of like the reddish one.  What about you?”

“Yeah.  It looks good.”  He stood, carrying the pavers back to the patio, setting them down again.  “I get a discount at my job, so I’ll buy some of these once I get my first paycheck.”

“I can buy them, Brandon.”

When he didn’t respond to my statement, I tried to figure out if he was ignoring me or if his mind was moving too quickly.  “Do you want more grass back here?  In all the spotty areas?  It would help keep out the weeds.”  He nodded toward the area of yard where little plants were starting to pop up again.

“Oh…  I think grass might be nice.  And maybe I could plant some annuals again.”  I hadn’t felt a desire to plant flowers in a long time, but if the yard was cleaned up, flowers would be a beautiful addition.

Brandon nodded, surveying the landscape once more.  I expected another comment about the yard, but instead he said, “How long have Annabel and Liam been dating?”

I thought the question was odd and part of me wanted to ask why he wanted to know, but I was caught so off guard, I just answered it without thinking twice.  This young man had quickly melded into our family, and I didn’t feel uncomfortable giving him an answer.  “I’m not sure.  Close to a year, I think.  It’s been a while.  He’s her second serious boyfriend.”

Brandon nodded, touching the ruddy paver again.  “Do you like the shape of this one?”

It was six-sided whereas the gray one was circular.  I didn’t have much of an opinion, but he seemed to want to know.  “Yes, it’s fine.”

“Does he always talk to her like that?”

I could barely keep up with the way Brandon was flitting back and forth from one topic to the next, like a bee trying to decide which flower had the sweetest nectar.  I wasn’t a Liam fan, but he hadn’t seemed particularly bad.  A little cocky, perhaps, but I myself had had a penchant for boys like that in my youth.  Annabel was a smart girl, so I had to let her make her own decisions.  So long as he wasn’t beating her or forcing her to do things she didn’t want to do, I had to respect her choices.  “Like what?”

“Demeaning.  Bossy.  Disrespectful.”

“You think so?”

I couldn’t see Brandon’s face while he fiddled with the paving stone again, moving it from one spot in the yard to another.  “He wouldn’t let her speak for herself.  I’d say that was disrespectful, wouldn’t you?”

That might have been, but why was Brandon so preoccupied with it if that was the case?  I’d noticed both men bristling at each other during the picnic conversation and even the rest of that afternoon, but I’d thought it a closed matter.  They hadn’t come to blows—hadn’t even spoken to each other the rest of the time—so I figured it was over with.  Had Brandon been thinking it over ever since?

And, if so,why?

“I don’t know, Brandon.  They’re pretty young…”

It was at that moment that it dawned on me thatso was Brandon.  He was—at the most—in his late twenties, closer in age to my daughter than to me.

That revelation felt like a tidal wave.

Could it be that Brandon wasjealous?

I sensed then that I needed to tread cautiously.  If this young man was interested in my daughter, I had a whole lot more to worry about than her bossy boyfriend.  And I felt like I needed to hold my cards close to my chest.  I couldn’t let him know what I suspected.

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