Page 23 of Rescue
Chapter 12
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Miles
“Think fast!” Bryant says before he lobs a cold beer at me from the cooler where he’s grabbing one for himself. I catch it with my bad hand, and it causes a sharp pain to shoot through my wrist. I wince, but I’m used to it. The pain has been with me long enough that I expect it now. Honestly, I deserve more.
“Thanks, man.” I crack it open and take a long pull. It’s cold and goes down smoothly after my long day in the rental booth. One of our college students was too hungover to come in this morning and we didn’t have anyone else to cover him, so I got up and came in. It really wasn’t so bad. I managed to get some inventory work done back there and make sure everything was looking good before we head into the winter.
It also happened to give me the in with Penelope that I’ve been looking for. I’ve been trying to find a reason to talk to her since that night in the parking lot, but every time I’m in the cafe it’s packed. It’s always been busy, but since she’s been running the place the line is practically out the door, which means we haven’t had a chance to say anything other than a passing “Good Morning”.
“Dude! Earth to Miles! Where you at?” I’m startled out of my thoughts. I guess I must have missed something.
“What was that?”
“Who you got for tomorrow? The Rams or the Niners?” Bryant and Brody are in a heated football discussion. Football has never been my favorite sport, but the twins love it so I pay attention. Not much else to do in a small town anyways.
“Eh, probably the 49ers if I had to guess. They’re having a really great season from what I’ve heard,” I say as though I know what I’m talking about. Really I just listen to ESPN sometimes while I’m working. You’d be surprised how effective that can be.
“Dude, you can’t just parrot what ESPN says, you gotta think for yourself,” Brody says busting my bubble. Maybe it’s less effective than I thought.
“I don’t know why you guys ask what I think anyways. It’s not like it’s going to settle the debate.”
“Come on, would it kill you to care about football?” Bryant has never understood my apathy for the sport. It’s not all sports, and it’s not like I won’t watch the game with them, I just don’t care as much as they do. It drives them crazy that I won’t be a part of their fantasy football league.
“Listen, you know football has never really been my thing. If it doesn’t happen in the snow or the water, I don’t really care. If there was a fantasy team for the X Games, I’d be all over it.”
“That would be sweet! I don’t know how we could make it happen, but let me think about it.” Brody is the brains of the family, hands down. That dude knows his stuff. A lot of people think that he’s just a quiet homebody, but he knows way more than he lets on. He’s an observer and his brain is like a trap. He remembers everything. It's intimidating, to be honest, but once you get to know him it becomes your favorite thing about him. He’s always got an interesting fact or story to tell about this or that.
Bryant, his twin, is the opposite. He’s anything but an intellectual. He prefers to spend his time watching sports and chasing ladies. Not that I can blame him, he’s a great looking guy and is still pretty young. “Dude, let’s do it!” he says from the grill.
It’s pretty chilly out tonight but that’s not stopping us from hanging out on their back porch and having a few beers. We grew up in these mountains, and this weather is in our blood. They've got quite the setup out here on their back deck. They had Mason and some of the guys from the fire house come out one weekend to help build this wrap around covered deck. Then they installed a tv out here so they can watch whatever game is on while they hang out and they just added a top-of-the-line grill. It’s surprisingly really nice for the two guys who seem like they’ve still got one foot in the frat house. They're not THAT bad, but still, their house is controlled chaos.
“Man, you guys really know how to relax. This porch is awesome.” I lean back in my chair and kick my legs out in front of me. This is probably the most relaxed I’ve been in weeks. It’s not like all my problems are solved, but at least I know that Penny is interested in me, even if it’s only a little. She agreed to go out with me, right? I let out a huge sigh and settle into the chair.
“What’s got you so chill tonight?” Brody asks. Remember when I said he was observant? Not always a great thing if I’m honest.
“A guy can’t kick back and relax?”
Brody arches an eyebrow in question and then Bryant starts in on me. “Really dude? You’ve been so high strung for weeks. I can’t remember the last time you came to hang with us.” Apparently I’ve been bad enough that even Bryant has noticed.
“Oh, come on, it hasn’t really been that long,” I say, but now that I think about it, I know he’s right.
“It’s been weeks. I know you’re upset about your meeting with the Callahans. That much has been clear. But it seems like there's something else getting to you.” There’s Brody with the intuition.
“Listen guys, I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, just tell us why you’re in such a good mood,” Bryant says as he artfully flips the burgers he’s grilling.
“Well, if you really want to know, I’ve got a date tomorrow night.”
“No, shit? It’s been since . . .” Brody doesn’t get to finish his sentence before Bryant hits him with an empty beer can. “Hey!” If looks could kill Bryant would be dead right now.
Brody hangs his head a little and looks down at the deck. “Sorry Miles.”
“No, man, it’s cool. It has been a while. You’re right.” I leave it at that since I really don’t want to bring up my past right now. I barely made it through asking her out.
“So who’s the lucky lady? Anyone we know?” I know I can always trust Bryant to lighten up the mood.
