Page 18 of Man Candy

“Great. A large with mushrooms and sausage and a Greek salad,” Dex requested.

My cell rang as Otis entered the order into the point of service system. I pulled it from my purse. I held up the screen so Dex could see it was Bridget. One call I couldn’t ignore.

“Make that two larges and box it to go,” I heard Dex tell Otis as I answered the call.

7

LINDY

* * *

Mav and Bridget were sitting on the stoop of Dex’s house when we walked up with our carry out order. I only ended our call at the pizza place less than ten minutes earlier–or whatever it was to walk back to Dex’s house–so they must have been close by. My guess, checking out our house which was less than a mile away.

Bridget popped to her feet and came over, giving me a fierce hug. Scout, Mav’s dog that he adopted from the local shelter after the pet parade on the Fourth of July, joined her. His little nose bumped my bare calf and his tail wagged so hard the back half of his short body wiggled.

She had on a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a green tank top. Her hair was up in a sloppy bun. If I looked like that, it meant I was cleaning behind the furnace in the basement. For Bridget, it was her usual look. One Mav didn’t seem to mind.

Over her shoulder I watched Mav rise to his full lumberjack-sized height. Dex was a big guy, but Mav was bigger. He eyed me with a look that was all, are you okay? without saying a word. I offered him a small smile as I had the air squeezed from my lungs.

His gaze shifted to Bridget, and it was clear he was worried about her. It wasn’t every day a house was damaged like ours had been. Fire, maybe. Too much snow and the roof collapsed under the weight, definitely. But a fallen tree in Montana? A very rare occurrence.

“When I heard what happened, I freaked,” Bridget said, letting me go but not stepping back. “What if you’d been inside?”

“I wasn’t,” I reassured, reaching down and giving Scout a pet. His tongue hung out of his mouth, and he smiled up at me. Or it looked like he did. “I was at the store getting groceries and Mr. VanMeyer those brownies he likes.”

She sighed. “You were lucky then.”

I didn’t want to tell her I was working at the kitchen table, right where the tree came through, before I left.

“We drove by the house and I can’t believe it. Well, I can with the things Mr. VanMeyer does. What was he thinking?” She ran a hand over her hair and blew out a breath. “I mean there’s only one outcome with the physics behind where he cut the tree. Falling right on our house.”

I was sure she studied what he’d done as well as the damage.

“Take pictures,” I said. “Share them with your science class this fall. That’ll grab their attention more than anything else will.”

She rolled her eyes, then pushed her glasses up. I’d been telling her since eleventh grade to get contacts, but she always refused. “Physics isn’t that boring.”

Yes, it so was.

“Besides, I only turned in my application,” she continued. “Who knows if I’ll get the job.”

Mallory had been pushing Bridget to apply for a long-term substitute position at the high school teaching physics. She consistently downplayed her interest in it, but I secretly believed she was excited about the opportunity. She’d be really good at it and the kids would respond to her well, especially if she shared pics of our personal Physics-in-Action lesson.

The school district would have to tell her soon since school started in about six weeks. In the meantime, she was working with Mav on the James Inn project where they met.

“You’re redirecting, Lind. Why didn’t you call and tell me what happened?”

I was totally redirecting but unfortunately, she was too smart for her own good. Or not ten any longer.

I let out a sigh, because really, I needed to. That’s what Aspen, my yoga teacher, would have me do. Breathe.

“I was dealing with the fire department and the insurance company and there was no reason for you to have to deal with any of that.”

She gave me a look. The same one I saw every time I told her something she didn’t like. Which, when she was thirteen, was everything out of my mouth. “So you were just going to hide the fact that our house got taken out by a tree to protect me?”

“Bridge–”

“Um, yeah, you should have called. It’s my house, too. I can deal with the insurance company for you.” She pushed her glasses up her nose. “My boss will give me all the time I need to help out.”

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