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“How can I apologize when she won’t answer the damn phone?”
“I know,” Liam agreed with a shake of his head. “Pilgrim is huge, it would be impossible to find her in this vast metropolis.”
He wasn’t wrong, but I had my reasons. Mostly those reasons were that I was a coward and I didn’t want to face Brenna’s wrath in person because I was such a monumental prick to her when she was only trying to help. “Mariana isn’t talking to me either.”
Miles laughs. “Women stick together, my friend. Shannon wants to cut your man parts off, if that makes you feel any better.”
“How is that supposed to make me feel better?”
He shrugged. “It’s not just your kid who’s pissed at you, I guess.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t help at all, but thanks Miles.” I let out a frustrated sigh and sat back in my chair. “I was just scared and I completely overreacted, and Brenna was the closest target.”
“But then you went too far,” Liam reminded me as if I needed the damn reminder.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “You guys suck at making me feel better.”
“You’re lucky I’m here at all. Olive told me to kick you in the nuts,” Liam said with a smile. “I haven’t completely ruled it out. Yet.”
“Thanks.”
“Anytime.” Liam flashed a menacing smile as he smacked his hands together. “So, what are you gonna do, just sit here and bitch about it all day?”
Liam was right in his own gruff way. “No. Hell no.” I stood and started to pace the length of my office to get my thoughts together. “No,” I said again and stopped to stare at my friends. “I have to go.”
“Finally found his balls,” Liam said with a loud, boisterous laugh. “Good luck.”
“Yeah, thanks,” I grumbled and made my way to my car and into Pilgrim. I found an open parking spot which I took as a good sign, at least until I arrived at Brenna’s salon. The place fell silent and I didn’t know if it was because a man had invaded their sacred space, or if everyone knew what a prick I’d been to their favorite salon owner. “Is Brenna here?”
“Nope. She’s not here.” The dark haired woman who answered me I had hair clip in her mouth and several more stuck to her smock, and worse, she seemed completely uninterested in helping me.
“Do you know where she is or when she’ll be back?” I was desperate for any kind of information on Brenna. Three days was too long go to without her smile, without her laugh and her quirky country sayings.
“Yes I know where she is and no, I don’t know when she’ll be back.” The woman turned back to the customer in her chair and sighed. “Have a good day.”
After spending years in the military, I knew a dismissal when I heard one. “Thanks.” For nothing.
“You betcha!”
The sound of more than a dozen women laughing carried me out of the salon, feeling annoyed and dejected. It didn’t matter if they knew what I’d said to Brenna, all that mattered was that she wanted away from me bad enough that she was hiding from me.
Hiding.
From me.
Instead of going back to the office, I made my way home, hoping that I could at least fix things with Mariana. “Mari!”
“She’s in her room.” The older woman, Rosie, I hired to watch Mariana after school flashed a soft, sympathetic smile.
Of course she was, because she spent every waking minute in her room since I brought her home from the hospital. “Isn’t she too young to be acting like a teenager already?”
Rosie laughed. “They’re always too young, Grant.” She gave my shoulder a sympathetic pat and then shuffled towards the door. “Be patient with her.”
“I will be. Thank you, Rosie.”
“See you tomorrow,” she sang and closed the door behind her with a soft click.
“Mari, I brought ingredients for nachos!” There was a long silence and I thought she would leave me hanging again, but a full minute later, her small footsteps sounded on the stairs.
“Nachos?”
“Yep.” I turned with a wide smile at her quiet voice. “I got beef and beans and corn, avocados, cheesy tortilla chips, sour cream. Pretty much I got all the fixings so we can make them however we want them.”
Mariana gave the ingredients a bored onceover and shrugged. “Okay.”
It wasn’t the exuberance I was used to, but it was progress and I accepted it. We worked together in silence until the table was laden with all the ingredients necessary for nachos. “This is quite a spread, don’t you think?”
“It’s a lotta stuff.” Her words were meant to be nonchalant but the way her eyes widened in lowkey giddiness told me I hadn’t lost her completely. Not yet.
“Ready to eat?”
“Yes!” Mariana climbed into her chair and got busy piling a little bit of everything on top of her nachos until the pile was taller than her. “Yum.”
