I kind of heard him, but I was in a daze.
“LUKE!” he shouted less than a foot from my face.
“WHAT?” I barked back.
He nodded in Emmy’s direction, and I pulled back when I saw her take a step away, clearly thinking I was barking at her.
“I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning. I deserved that.” She said quietly.
“No, that wasn't meant for you. It was meant for numbnuts,” I pointed at Ryan who had the nerve to smirk at me. I still wanted to hit him. That must be a record for the first twenty minutes of our day.
“It's okay.” She shrugged.
“It really isn't. I should be the one apologizing. I’ll try to pay more attention to your schedule. I forget that everyone doesn’t sleep like Ryan. He sleeps like a log.”
“It's fine. I'll get used to it. But right now, I’m going to get some breakfast. I’ll just take a nap when you two are finished out here.” She smiled and then looked to Ryan. “I'll see you later, Ryan.” She turned and walked away. I watched her as she made her way over to the railing, picked up her coffee cup, and walked into her house. I whipped my body around, laser-focused on Ryan.
“You just can't help yourself, can you?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about nor what you may be implying.” Ryan squinted up at me.
“Why would you bring her over here?”
“Dude, I just went to say hi, and she asked if I thought she should apologize for yelling at you. I told her to do what she felt she needed to do.”
“I didn't need an apology. I just wanted to get a workout in before you have to be at work, and now we’ve lost twenty minutes.”
“What crawled up your ass and died? Don't be an asshat. We’re just going through the motions at this point, chill.”
“I need to have a good showing, as do you,” I pointed out.
“Look, I know this is impo
rtant, and you want to win it all, but the title isn't as important to me. Me? I’ve found what I need in that wood shop in town. I want to compete cause you're my man, but I'm not doing it to follow in my father's footsteps like you.”
“So you're saying you don't want to compete anymore?”
“No, I'm saying that win or lose, I do it for the competition of it and to have fun. If we win awesome, but if not, that's okay too.”
“I know, and you also know that this will probably be the last year I do this. My furniture is taking off, and I have to have time to make real money. The competition money is good, but we spend most of it traveling. It doesn't pay the bills. This is my last chance.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here. But you don’t need to worry about the bills, dude. You'll always have a job at the mill. Dad has already talked about retiring, and I'll need your help.”
“If you need me, you know I’m there. No questions asked. Now, stop screwin’ around and help me practice.” I shoved him out of the way, and we set up to get a few runs in.
***
A couple of hours later, we wrapped up, and I went in the house for a shower. The water beat down on my skin for what seemed like minutes, but when it started to turn cold, I turned it off and stood there, head down arms steadying myself, thoughts running rampant.
My life had always been on track; at least, I’d always thought so. While my mom wanted me to find a girl and settle down, my own goals and a parade of crazy women I’d never even consider a long-term relationship with kept that from happening. Stepping out of the shower, I dried off as I walked to my room and then flopped on the bed with the towel around my waist. I looked over my head at the wall that separated my room from Emmy’s and thought about the woman on the other side of it.
Chapter Ten
Emerson
I laid in bed and thought about Luke, wondering why I couldn’t seem to stop myself from being so hard on him. I picked up my phone to call Rachel; if anyone could figure me out and make me stop being ridiculous over something, it was her. I tapped on the phone until it was ringing on the other end.
“Ummm, it’s Tuesday morning at...” she paused. “Seven thirty your time. Everything okay? You’re not exactly a morning person,” her chipper voice sang through the phone.