Let Me Fly (14 page)

“Bryn, get your ass in here,” Mitch yelled after she finished putting the rep in his place, securing a 20% discount on their entire order.

Bryn grabbed her yellow notepad and pen, ready to take notes. Knowing that he was calling her in to his office for a butt reaming, she decided that she should play dumb, admitting to nothing. Mitch was a softy under all that tattooed muscle and bald head, making it easy for him to forgive her shortcomings. Not that she wasn’t good at her job, in fact she was a master with numbers. Sometimes, however, her mouth would get the best of her, and Mitch would give her his most patronizing look as he called her in to his office.

This time, his face with hardened with pure anger. “Shut the door, Bryn.”

Slowly turning around to close the door behind her, Mitch continued, “Now, sit, kid.”

Obediently, she walked around to the bar stools sitting next to his desk. She hopped up on one as he stared at her. Sensing his foul mood, Bryn decided it would be best to not aggravate him with her smart mouth right now.

“Do you want to tell me what’s wrong with you today?” He started marking off his fingers as he gave her the list of her mistakes, “You aren’t appropriately dressed, you spilled coffee all over the kitchen, you called the shop manager a prick, and now you were just daydreaming at your fucking desk as the phone rang.” Bryn looked down at the floor, trying to keep her tears to herself. Mitch had given her a full-time office manager job, when there were plenty of other more qualified applicants. She owed him a lot, and felt bad that she was royally screwing up today.

Compassion softened his face as he continued, “You okay, kid? Is it your mom?”

Bryn shook her head back and forth, still staring at her shoes. “No, it’s nothing like that. I’m just preoccupied today.”

Mitch cut right to the chase, “Is it this doctor guy that placed the huge special order with Corey this morning? He could get a much better deal on all that fancy shit in Madison, but he was adamant about buying it here. Said he really liked the staff here, and I doubt he’s into Corey as much as he would be into you.”

Bryn’s smile completely covered her face, making Mitch bark out an obnoxious laugh. “Well, that answers that, I guess. Keep your private life outside the shop, Bryn. Pull your head out of your ass and let’s get back to work. Let’s run through the numbers for the ride to Sturgis in August. Did you make reservations for 5 rooms? You sharin’ a room with Corey, or are you getting a room by yourself?”

Bryn thought about how much had changed since the last time she had talked with Mitch about going to Sturgis. Maybe she wouldn’t be going with the shop anymore. Bryn had always been invited to ride along with the guys, even before she had started working at the shop. Now she had high hopes that she would have a boyfriend to ride with instead. Things were going so well, she was even considering getting her own bike and maybe Charlie could help her to become a skilled driver, too. The possibilities were making her giddy.

Bryn hopped off the stool, walking over to his desk. She flipped the pages of her notes backwards to find the pages for the Sturgis ride. “I reserved 5 rooms, two adjoining. I don’t know if I will be staying with you guys anymore. Can I get back to you on that?”

Mitch put his large hand over hers, squeezing her fingers. It was no secret that Corey had been giving her riding lessons. Mitch even knew that Bryn had panic attacks, but to his credit he never asked why.

“Don’t give up on ridin’, Bryn. You’ll get it. Marley would love it if you would ride in the chase car with her. Otherwise, you can ride back warmer with me on my Streetglide. Marley has even slept in it when we ride; the plush back is so comfortable.”

“I plan on going, no matter what. I just might have alternate arrangements is all.”

Mitch squeezed her hand again, before letting go to slap his hands on the desk. “Good, glad that’s settled. We only have a little over a month left before we leave. Please check with the guys to see if they need anything special ordered. I want to take a few custom pieces along to showcase the talent we have here in old Wisconsin. I don’t want to wait until the last minute on some of this shit.”

“Got it, boss. Anything else?”

“Yes, no more fuckin’ day dreaming about the doctor. It is almost the end of the month and we need to get statements out this week. And go home over lunch and get some decent shoes on! I don’t need OSHA in here harping on me about my ditzy office staff and their lack of shoe protection.”

Bryn laughed as she walked out of her office, playfully slapping her own butt cheek. “Lesson learned. I promise to be good, Mitch.”

He yelled after her, “Ya right, Bryn. I’ll believe that when I see it.” She could hear his loud sigh as she slipped back into her chair.

Bryn looked at the clock on her desk, as she pulled up the weekly order list from the shop. It would be a quick and easy project to keep her mind occupied before lunch time. She was already counting down the seconds until she could at least text Charlie.

It was almost one o’clock in the morning and Bryn was wide awake, staring at the ceiling of her bedroom. Glancing at the screen of her phone, her heart sank at the empty screen. Giving up, she rolled over in her bed, pulling the covers up tight under her chin. She sighed as she closed her eyes, willing her body to go to sleep. Bryn jumped as the phone vibrated on her chest, feeling as if mere seconds had passed. She pressed the button on her phone, making the screen lit up. 3:30 am. A text message from Charlie was displayed under the time, “Hope u r asleep Thinking about u”

Bryn decided it best not to send him back a message right now. Not wanting to appear desperate was her first concern, but her second was that maybe he had a few minutes to get some sleep, and she didn’t want to take that away from him.

Bryn couldn’t imagine how hard Charlie’s job was. When she screwed up at work, parts weren’t ordered, or checks weren’t mailed on time. When Charlie screwed up at work, someone could die. There was a huge difference between their careers. Amulet wasn’t a metropolis with daily shootings and gang violence, but yet it was large enough to have a steady flow of patients in the ER department.

Thoughts of Charlie lying alone on a hard cot, trying to sleep made her heart ache. It was hard to deny how much she cared about Charlie. Love was a strong contender, but she wasn’t ready to admit that to anyone, yet. Her emotions were starting to get the better of her when her phone vibrated again. “Missing my favorite pillow”

Delicious thoughts of Charlie wrapped around her in the middle of the night swirled around in her brain, jump starting her imagination. Coupled with her overwhelming feelings, Bryn gave up on sleeping. She sat up in bed, calling his phone. He answered on the first ring.

“I didn’t mean to wake you, kitten. I’m sorry.”

Bryn’s heart warmed at the sound of his voice, “No, I am having a hard time sleeping anyway. You okay?”

There was a long pause before Charlie answered, “Shit day, and this week is going to really suck. We are down a doctor and I haven’t even had supper yet. I am too fucking tired, though, so I came to crash. But I promised I would text you when I could.”

Bryn felt bad for adding more stress onto Charlie’s shoulders. Sighing, she answered “Don’t worry about it, Charlie. I would rather that you took care of yourself, than send me a stupid text message. You focus on being a doctor for the week, and I promise I will be waiting for you on Saturday morning.”

Charlie yawned as he answered, “Have your suitcase packed. I want to be on the road by nine in the morning. We have to make a pit stop in Madison to pick up the keys to my Land Rover before they close at noon.”

Bryn giggled, “You really did pitch all your keys into the lake, didn’t you, hottie?”

Charlie’s voice had quieted, sounding more than half asleep now, “Anything for you, Bryn.”

Bryn closed her eyes, reveling in her happiness. Charlie was the sweetest, kindest man on the planet.
And he’s mine
, she thought. “Good night, Charlie. I will see you on Saturday.”

“Good night, gorgeous.”

B
ryn rubbed her eyes, stretching out behind her desk at the shop. It was almost six o’clock on Friday night, and she was dog-tired. She decided that she needed to throw herself into work to keep her mind occupied, she was working eleven hours a day at the office. Mitch had given her free range over the summer sales floor, and she was frantically doing research on the best sellers, statistics on the riders in Wisconsin and market trends to bring in something edgy that would pull buyers from the larger cities. Bryn was stoked when Mitch had approved her buying three new bikes to showcase, including a new Softtail Slim with a matte black finish.

Satisfied with her progress, Bryn shut her computer down, ready to head for home. She knew that Charlie would be getting home late tonight, and would need some serious sleep tonight before they left tomorrow. Locking up the shop, she walked out to Corey’s old two seater pick-up. Corey needed to leave work right at five o’clock today, opting to leave her with his pick-up for wheels instead. He was going to spend the weekend in River Falls with his college friends. Sensing that he was happy Bryn had someone else to watch over her, she all but pushed him out the door at closing time. Feeling like a heel for monopolizing Corey’s time all these years was not something she wanted to deal with right now.

Bryn decided that she would take some snacks out to Charlie’s cabin to leave by the front door. He would be home late, and all the restaurants would be closed. Remembering that he told her he was too tired to eat, she decided that a good girlfriend would make sure that he had something healthy to munch on. She stopped at the grocery store, buying a cheap foam cooler, apples, string cheese, bottled water, and some ice to keep it cold. Throwing some pretzels and peanuts for herself to leave at his cabin, she smiled as she thought about sneaking down to his kitchen in the middle of the night, naked, to grab a snack.

Bryn made the drive to his cabin, coasting into his driveway. She was surprised to see the lights on in the kitchen. She almost squealed when she thought that Charlie was already home.
I will just say “hi” and drop off the food. I won’t get too close, otherwise I might tackle him to the ground if I get a good look at his body.

Bryn’s elation fell as she pulled the truck in front of the garage. Two sets of dark tire tracks marked the outside of the garage stall where Charlie kept his Harley.
He can’t be home, he only has his bike
.

Walking up to the front door of his cabin, Bryn walked right past the picture window on the opposite side of the kitchen. Standing at the sink, chopping something into a colander, stood a leggy, raven-haired woman, wearing only one of Charlie’s white t-shirts. When she turned to the side to reach for something, Bryn could see that she wasn’t wearing a bra, and her well-endowed assets were stretching the cotton material. She stood at the sink, slowly swaying back and forth to inaudible music. Her nails were perfectly manicured, and the make-up on her face was flawless. Bryn’s self-esteem plummeted as she looked at the perfect female body standing there.

Bryn could feel her neck muscles bunch as Charlie’s betrayal traipsed around in the kitchen, making supper. He had been too tired to talk to her all week because when he wasn’t at the hospital, he had this bitch at home to keep him company. She could easily be his girlfriend, or maybe even his wife. Bryn’s stomach lurched when she thought about Charlie being married. Her mind started to race, her heart was thumping wildly in her chest, and her hands were shaking.
I’m such a moron
!
He never cared about me at all, I was just a piece of ass!

Tears started to fall as she dropped the cooler on the ground, the foam splitting and the contents spilling all over the front step. She slipped on the ice as it cascaded around her feet, scrambling to get back to her truck. Yanking her door open, she barely made it into the truck before the whore made it outside to see what the noise was.

Bryn’s window was rolled down, making it hard to ignore the woman when she called to her. “Can I help you?”