Baby For The Mountain Man

Noticing my presence, he sat up, opened his eyes, and fixed his gaze pointedly at me. The seconds in which we simply stared at each other lasted for what felt like an eternity.

Slowly, Tobias stood from the chair, his eyes narrowed at me. “Well?” he said. “You got something to tell me?”

I swallowed, my mind spinning as I remained frozen on the spot.

Had Joanna actually told him, and if so, why? Why on earth would she tell her crazy brother about our night together? Didn’t she know how dangerous that would be for the both of us?

With shaky hands, I set down my briefcase and cleared my throat, trying to think of what to say, but I had no idea how to explain myself. I knew that sleeping with Joanna was wrong, but in the heat of the moment, I hadn’t been able to stop myself. It was unfortunate that my desire for her had completely clouded my ability to visualize what would happen when Tobias found out; had I possessed such foresight, I wouldn’t have landed in such a predicament, and I wouldn’t have been standing there, shaking in my shoes. “Tobias, I can explain,” I said, outright lying.

“I’m not interested in explanations. I just want you to tell me the damned numbers have been sorted out.”

I paused. “The numbers…” I said.

“Yes,” Tobias said, agitated. “I was asleep before Joanna even came back last night, so I know she was out late with you. I figured you guys must have finished up. Please tell me you finished. We don’t have time to drag this out anymore, man.”

I rubbed the back of my head and let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

The numbers. Tobias still thought Joanna and I had been working on the project.

He didn’t know…

Relief almost made me want to laugh, but I held my composure. “Well,” I said, “Joanna is smart enough to figure it out eventually. Just give us a little longer and we’ll get it done, I swear.”

“Fuck. You honestly mean to tell me that in all that time, you guys still aren’t finished?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Well, you know how your sister gets. She’s a perfectionist. She wants to make sure everything is just right.”

“Yeah, well we don’t have enough time for her anal-retentive ways right now,” Tobias said.

“Hey, be easy on her. She’s new here, remember?”

Tobias raised his eyebrows, making me worry that he’d heard something foretelling in my voice. I averted my gaze, picked up my briefcase, and headed to my desk.

“Be easy on her?” Tobias said and then suddenly laughed. “Boy, how times have changed. I used to have to tell you that all the time when she was a kid. Now, all of a sudden, you’re the one with all the patience.”

I forced a laugh. “Whatever, man,” I said, still not meeting his gaze. “What are you doing in my office, anyway?”

Tobias stretched. “Hiding out and trying to take a nap,” he said, stifling a yawn. “Nobody ever seems to come in here and bother you, huh?”

“No one except you.”

He laughed. “Well, I guess I need to officially get some work done. See you in a bit.”

“Yep,” I said, settling down behind my desk.

I watched as Tobias left my office and closed the door behind him. Despite him still not knowing what had transpired between me and his sister, I still felt shaken. One of the things that had always made Tobias feel like the brother I never had was the fact that we’d always been so comfortable with each other. Yet now, considering how I felt about his sister, I worried that comfort had been irreparably compromised.

An old memory began to resurface from when he and I were in high school. Although Joanna had been such a nerd as a kid, she had still been pretty in her own way; I simply hadn’t been able to see it back then. Nevertheless, other boys did.

Other boys like Tony Bass, for instance.

I recalled one day when Tobias and I had been walking through the school cafeteria during our lunch hour, and accidentally heard Tony Bass talking to a group of his friends.

“But what is she—a freshman?” a friend of his had asked.

“She won’t be for long,” Tony had responded.

“What’s her name again?”