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She shook her head. “No, I just excel at STEM.”
I eyed her, but she was studying the rawhide bones. She had to be downplaying her intelligence because it wasn’t every day someone could do complicated math in her head. I couldn’t imagine her knowledge being limited to only STEM–science, technology, engineering, and math–as she said.
She grabbed a smaller sized bone with knots on the ends and held it up for me to approve. I nodded, and she bent down to give it to Scout. After a quick lick of his lips, he took it and pranced down the aisle with it in his mouth, head up. He was fucking proud of that bone.
“You grew up here in Hunter Valley?” I asked, following, pushing the cart which now had the dog food, a collar, and doggie shampoo.
“Yes.”
“Where did you go to college?” I found a set of stainless-steel food and water bowls and added them to the quickly growing pile.
“You didn’t see it in my personnel file?”
She threw that out there to test me. To see how much info I’d dug up on her, if I’d been talking about her to HR.
I could’ve. I considered it, but whatever was in her paperwork didn’t give me a picture I was getting now, here in the pet store.
“That’s not the Bridget I want to know,” I said.
“Oh,” she replied, looking a little contrite. Her wariness was still showing, and it only pissed me off. If she’d only have read my email by now, I’d have eased her mind.
Maybe. Hopefully.
“I went to MIT.”
I couldn’t help but look surprised. “Wow. Impressive.”
She glanced at me, then away. “What else do you think he needs?” The he she was talking about wasn’t me, but Scout. I needed her, only too eager to be tossed scraps of her smiles and kisses. She couldn’t see that through her own insecurities.
I had to fix that. I told her I would, but it seemed it was going to take time. Didn’t she know she was dragging me around, the six foot plus guy, by the fucking balls?
I stopped walking and she turned back. I needed her to know how I saw her.
“Baby, why do you do that?” I asked.
A frown marred her brow as she cocked her head, met my eyes. “What?”
“Lessen your value.”
“I’m not… That’s–”
“You’re a math genius,” I said, cutting off anything she might say negatively about herself. “Probably an all-around one. You went to MIT. That’s something to be proud of. Hell, I’m proud of you.”
Her cheeks flushed and she looked down. Scuffed her sneaker across the floor. “Don’t be. Trust me.” Her voice was soft. Small, like she was trying to make herself that size.
“Why the hell not?” I asked, suddenly frustrated and a little angry. Why shouldn’t I be impressed with her?
She sighed and glanced away. “It doesn’t matter.”
I waited for her to say more, to explain, but she didn’t. When she finally looked up at me, she smiled, but it was totally fake.
“What else does Scout need?” she asked again. “A dog bed. He definitely needs a bed.”
She spun on her heel and left me in the aisle. Confused. And more intent than ever.
I was going to figure out what was going on, like Scout with his bone. I wasn’t giving Bridget up and I needed to move things along.
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