I Call Him Brady (7 page)

T
he look on Embers’ face was enough to make me want to punch her ex. Whatever transpired between the two of them in her bedroom didn’t have shit to do with a busted vent. That much was pretty evident from the way she kept swallowing hard and avoiding my gaze like she was afraid of what I might see.

             
Then, to add to my suspicions, May dragged her straight back into the bedroom as soon as Austin was gone.

“What the hell happened? Wait. Is that our truck?” May flew to the window.

              “He’s taking it for the weekend. Maybe longer. I don’t know.” I sank down onto the bed and let my head fall into my hands. I felt numb and empty. Drained. I hated that after everything, Austin could still make me feel that way anytime he chose. “Is my head fucking with me or do I hear two cars driving off?”

             
“Your head is fine. The Camaro’s leaving as well.” May was still sitting on the windowsill shooting daggers out at Austin as he disappeared in our food truck.

             
I stood up and came to stand beside her, suddenly curious. “Who’s driving it?”

             
“Some blonde bitch with fake tits.”

             
“How do you know they’re fake?”

             
She pointed down at our driveway. “Because I had a clear shot into her window and they didn’t even twitch when she hit the dip.”

             
I felt my face relax a bit at last. I even managed a half smile. “Thanks, I needed that.”

             
Without looking at me, May reached down and took my hand. She squeezed it tight and didn’t let go for several minutes. This was our thing. We’d been doing it since we were kids. If one of us was lacking in something that the other had, be it strength or courage, or happy thoughts, we would link our hands and make a transfer. Somehow, what had started out as a childish game, had become our way of coping as we got older.

             
Through every heartbreak, every disappointment, every terrifying moment one had experienced, the other had seen her through it. When May had been too afraid to get involved with Marshall because of all the obstacles between them, I had held her hand and shared my courage. And when after everything, I had found out that Austin was cheating on me from day one, and thought the pain of that would break me, May had been the one to send me strength. Maybe it was a twin thing. Or maybe it was something as simple as love.

             
When I was ready, I let go and we slowly meandered away from the window.

             
“Since we now officially have the weekend off…what do you want to do?”

             
Damn, I must have been uber-pathetic to turn May into half-glass full mode. “Well, there’s the art walk. We could start with that.”

             
“Oh right. I forgot that was today. Somehow this morning already feels like a million years ago.” Standing behind me, she placed her hands on my back and shoved me forward. “Let’s do this then. This day is already taking way too effing long.”

             
I took one step through the door and stopped again. May, who was following way too close behind, ran right into me. I heard her inhale like she was about to go off on me, but nothing came out. Likely she had seen the same thing I had.

             
Brady and Jessa were seated at the kitchen table together participating in her favorite pastime - a tea party. The thing was, Jessa was very particular about these events. Proper dress was always required. And so, there sat Brady in his pink boa and tiara, with a multitude of sparkly hair pins placed randomly in his short hair and a giant plastic diamond placed about halfway down his pinky.

If keeping up with her dress code hadn’t been enough, he was now sipping imaginary tea from a small purple tea cup the size of his thumb and sampling from the assembled fake pastries Jessa had provided, all the while making all the appropriate commentary one would expect to hear at such a delightful gathering.

              “That asshole,” I heard May mutter under her breath. I nodded, while my heart filled with a strange sensation so intense I thought it might burst. It was painful and yet, I didn’t want it to stop.

             
“You two look like you’re having fun,” I said.

             
Unaware of our presence until then, Brady looked over at me and grinned. “Have you been to one of these? I’m telling you, your daughter knows how to throw a party!”

             
She giggled, her face buried behind her hands. Her eyes were twinkling with sheer delight and all I wanted to do was scoop her up into my arms and kiss her over and over. No matter what life had drained me of, Jessa had poured it back into my soul time and again.

              By the time we finally made it to the art walk it was nearly over. It didn’t stop us from wandering in and out of the small stores that lined the street leading down to the ocean. With Brady decked out in a baseball cap and shades, he blended in pretty well with the crowd of tourists and city people who had come out for the festivities just as we had.

             
I noticed Brady was doing an unusual amount of shopping, loading up on a variety of board shorts and t-shirts, all of which were over-priced and screamed of out-of-towner.

             
“You know if you really want to spend a fortune on a T-shirt that will make you stand out among the locals like a fish in the desert, I can take you down to Disney World. They have a huge selection there.”

             
He shrugged and opened one of his bags to glance at his most recent purchase. “I’m on vacation. I need souvenirs.”

             
May coughed. “Bullshit”

             
I watched as the two exchanged a loaded glance. “What?”

             
Brady’s head dropped backward in surrender. “Fine. If you must know, I didn’t bring any clothes on this trip.” He turned to May. “There, I said it. You happy now?”

             
“Yeah.” She nodded repeatedly, her mouth slowly inching its way into a smile. “Yeah, I am.”

             
“Wait, then what was in the bag?”

             
“Condoms. Lots and lots and
lots
of condoms.” May wasn’t even trying to hide her amusement at this point.

             
Suddenly it all made sense. “Those are Marshall’s pants aren’t they? You know how long this has been driving me crazy! I mean, I totally recognized them because of the stupid tiny knots he insists on tying in all the little drawstrings, but I couldn’t figure out why you would be wearing them! Do you know he goes commando, like, always?”

             
Disgust flashed on his face as he went after May. “Is that true?”

             
“Relax. He hardly ever puts pants back into the drawer after he’s worn them.”

             
We left shortly after. Brady had a sudden urgent need to take a shower and it couldn’t be put off.

We had been promising Jessa a trip to our favorite ice cream shop all day, so after our outing had been unexpectedly cut short, May volunteered to take a ride over there with her. At first I thought she was still under the impression that I needed more time to defrag and regroup after my unpleasant encounter with the ex, but then she winked at me when she was walking out the door and I realized she had a completely ulterior motive.

Finding myself suddenly sitting on my couch alone, my mind began to wander. I began to revisit that moment in the elevator, only this time around, I made a few changes. For starters, I left Jessa with Margo for the morning, leaving me standing there alone as Brady came bustling through the doors. In my fantasy, he wasted no time ending his call the second he saw me. The past was in the past and I was clearly his future. Something he murmured as he stepped closer to me, so close in fact that I could feel his breath on my skin. The warmth of it sent a tingling sensation all the way down my spine.

I closed my eyes as I imagined him leaning in to kiss me, my lips open with anticipation.

“What are you doing?” The sound of his voice ripped me from my daydreams and brought me back to reality with an unpleasant whack.

“Hm?” That was about all I could put together. Attempting to form actual words would likely have proven to be disastrous.

“Were you sleeping? Your eyes were closed, but your mouth was moving.”

“Huh.” I was working my way up to conversation one syllable at a time.

Brady’s expression remained in a state of confusion. “Did you take something?”

The question came so far out of left field for me, it snapped me right out of my state of humiliation. “Like what?”

“Oh, good. You can still talk.” He plopped down beside me and placed his hand on my knee as though it were completely normal, and for the first time I realized just how long it had been since I’d been touched.

I had been fine with being single. I had Jessa and May, and a guy just seemed unnecessary.  Or at least that’s what I had told myself. A lie that became easier to believe the more time went by. Now, as I felt the weight of his hand resting on my leg, felt his body heat coming out of his palm and into my skin, I couldn’t believe I’d ever bought into that crap.

As images of my elevator do-over flashed in my mind, I heard Brady’s voice calling me back.

“I’ve been meaning to ask…what’s up with this?” He was tugging at a patch of dried paint right below the knee of my pants. “I noticed most of your wardrobe has this issue. Is this a new fad or something? Or do you just buy all your clothes from a painter’s second hand store?”

I laughed. “Is there such a thing? Because I would totally shop there.”

“Seriously, I need to understand this. Who wears painting clothes when they’re not painting?”

I shrugged. “I guess I do.”

“But why?” He was bordering on exasperation.

I took a deep breath in and let it out as though it would help propel me onward as I pushed myself up from the couch. “Come on.” I headed for my room.

“Where are we going?”

“China.” I pointed at the door straight in front of me. “My bedroom, where do you think?”

“Your bedroom. Hey, do I need to go grab my bag for this?”

I turned around and made a face. “
Ew, no!”

His expression fell into a dramatic frown. “That was harsh. You could have just said, no thank you.”

“Okay, no thank you. I do not want to have sex with you after your penis was in the Marshall penis zone. That would be like having sex with him too, and he’s practically my brother-in-law.”

I could see his jaw clenching with bitterness. “There is no proof that we ever shared a penis zone, and more importantly – I have showered since. Quite thoroughly I might add.”

“Oh, well in that case, yeah, let’s totally do it.”

His face lit up in pleasant surprise. “Really?”

“No.”