Page 46 of Crossing the Brooklyn Briggs
“See, you’re already failing,” he says and presses his thumb between my eyebrows, smoothing out my frown. “Relax. I’m going to finish the yard and take a shower, and then you’re going to tell me what you want for breakfast. If you don’t tell me with confidence, I won’t make anything.”
“I can have cereal.”
He groans. “That’s the one place I’ll put my foot down. You need to take care of yourself and eat better than that sugar crap for every meal.”
This take-charge attitude isn’t helping the weird attraction I’ve developed toward this man over the last couple of days, but I remind myself that he doesn’t want to date me. Or anyone. No matter how he reacts to me touching him, there’s no chance of things moving from a tentative friendship to anything beyond.
Which is good. Dating Jordan Torres would only complicate my already complicated life, and with Houston coming back at the end of the week and spending a couple of months at home before spring training, I can’t make things weird for him. I can’t risk ruining his relationship with his best friend when something goes wrong, as it always does.
But I can do what Jordan says. I’ll take command of the day if that’s what he wants.
“French toast would be great,” I say, though I’m not sure I hit the level of confidence he’s hoping for. “And then I have to finish grading.”
He smiles his devastating smile. “Great. Do you need help getting back inside?”
Though I haven’t been putting much weight on it, my ankle throbs as if it’s reminding me that I twisted it. “Oh, I can—”
Jordan clears his throat. I don’t know how he can read my thoughts, but he can.
I sigh. “Yes, please.”
And when he scoops me up and I get up close and personal with his slightly sweaty face, my own face burns with heat. I never thought sweat could be attractive, but Jordan tends to defy all expectations with whatever he does.
“Thanks,” I breathe as he heads down the stairs.
“Anytime, Queens.”
I’m pretty sure he means it.
Chapter Fifteen
Jordan
October 14
Boring as it was, Ilet Brooklyn decide to spend all of Sunday inside. She did have plenty of work to do, which she apparently couldn’t concentrate well enough to do on Saturday, so I couldn’t argue against her choice. Besides, I meant it when I told her I would follow her lead, even if I could see how difficult it was for her to make decisions that involved me. At least she’s trying, if only to appease me.
I’m still reeling from what she told me about her last boyfriend, even though it’s Monday morning and I’m in the middle of taking a hedge trimmer to a dinosaur-shaped topiary and should probably be concentrating so I don’t accidentally take off its head or something. Though we didn’t once bring up the subject again, I’ve been stuck on one little detail she didn’t tell me.
She didn’t say who broke up with whom, which has me pretty convinced that it was him. If James broke up with her when she lost her job, that makes him just as horrible as the company that fired her because that would have done nothing to help her self-esteem. She would have taken his rejection as a statement that she wasn’t worth keeping around.
What kind of guy could date Brooklyn Briggs and not know she’s the best thing to ever happen to him? This James guy sounds like a turd dipped in hot sauce and I want to sit him down and revisit every failure he’s had in his life, starting with how he treated Brooklyn by letting her go. It’s no wonder she’s lost the spunk I’ve always loved about her when her life has been nothing but jerks tearing her down, whether or not they did it intentionally.
I would do anything to see her spark return. I can only imagine how great a weekend would be with that version of Brooklyn. The one who always made me slightly nervous because she was so out of my league.
“Yo, Torres!”
I freeze right as my trimmer digs into the dino’s belly.Skewered. Cursing, I turn off the trimmer and take a step back before I do any more visible damage.
Behind me, Rick laughs and folds his arms. He’s my top guy, a landscaper I stole from the Red-tails stadium when I started my company, which makes his laughter extra frustrating. He trusted me enough to leave a stable job to work with me, and now I’m over here murdering leafy dinosaurs.
“Something on your mind?” he says when I take off my hearing protection. He nods to the slice in the topiary.
Everything. Everything’s on my mind. It’s not just Brooklyn, who agreed to talk to Mark today and be assertive in their conversation.
I sigh, fluffing the belly branches to try to hide my mistake. “Mom’s having a down day.” My dad even took the day off to take her in to see her doctor, which means it’s more serious than Mom wants me to know. He rarely leaves work.
Grimacing, Rick pats me on the shoulder. “Sorry, man. That’s hard.”
