Baby For The Mountain Man

Not to mention there was the ever-present issue of Tobias’s potential reaction…

A few days had passed since my last night with Joanna. I was just about to pack up and clock out for the day when Tobias knocked on my office door, announcing his presence.

“Yeah?” I said, turning around. Like always these days, a tightness formed in my chest at the sight of him. Every time he approached me, or merely looked me in the eyes, I braced myself, afraid that he was about to confront me about Joanna. It was like walking on eggshells and hoping the whole time that Tobias, the one person in the world who probably knew me better than anyone, wouldn’t notice. I knew it was only a matter of time, though; Tobias was too intuitive, especially when it came to me and Joanna, to remain in the dark for much longer. We simply wouldn’t be able to keep this under wraps with Tobias constantly lurking around.

“What are you doing tonight?” he asked, stepping into my office with his hands in his pockets.

I stared, wondering if this was a trick question of some sort. I glanced down to the way he held his hands in his pants pockets, wondering if he was forming fists, ready to punch my lights out in a moment’s notice.

“Um…nothing,” I said.

Tobias nodded. “Cool. Why don’t you come over to my place for a drink?”

Again, I delayed my response, watching him car

efully. Was there a chance he wanted to get me and Joanna in the same spot so that he could confront us both at the same time?

I suddenly felt like I was fourteen years old again—that time when my parents finally figured out that I’d been late coming home from school because I’d been sneaking around with a girl. Tobias wasn’t my parent but ironically, I felt even more nervous now than I had back then.

“Any special occasion I don’t know about?” I asked, feeling my palms growing sweaty.

Tobias shook his head. “Nope,” he said, and then turned around to leave. I could hear him whistling as he headed down the hall.

I swore to myself, feeling certain that I had wound up in some kind of trap. And considering that I had failed to give him a clear answer, I saw no way of escaping. Tobias would be expecting me to show up since I hadn’t said otherwise. And if I had to face Joanna right in front him, who knew what would happen.

I stood there, contemplating whether I should tell Tobias that I couldn’t make it. I would need a believable excuse though, and my mind was already drawing a blank. Ultimately, however, I realized that being afraid to hang out with my best friend would do nothing but make me look even more suspicious, if he wasn’t feeling suspicious of me already.

With a sigh, I turned off the lights to my office, deciding that I would stop by my apartment first, drop off my briefcase, change clothes, and then head to Tobias’s place, praying that the evening wouldn’t conclude in the end of the best friendship I’d ever known.

CHAPTER 13

Anderson

“Why are you just standing around like that, man? Sit down. Make yourself at home. Stop acting weird,” Tobias said as I stood in his dining room, presumably looking like a deer caught in headlights.

I gave a wry laugh and headed for the dining room table.

“Dude, I’m not serving you dinner,” Tobias said.

“Oh… Right. Yeah,” I said, and then headed to the living room to sit on the couch instead.

“How are things going with those numbers?” Tobias called out from somewhere in the kitchen.

I opened my mouth, meaning to respond, but instead got choked and started coughing.

“Hell, forget it,” Tobias said, returning with a case of beer. “I don’t even want to think about that right now. Don’t know why I even brought it up.”

He handed me a beer and I took it, not meeting his eyes. I then found myself glancing around against my will, subconsciously waiting to see if Joanna would suddenly pop up.

Tobias flopped down on the couch across from me and popped his beer open. “I don’t know about you,” he said, “but this week has been kicking my ass.”

Again, I forced a laugh. “Yeah, it’s been busy, that’s for sure,” I said, opening the beer he’d handed to me.

“Here’s to hoping the weekend goes by slowly,” Tobias said, raising his beer in the air as if in a toast.

“Right,” I said, doing the same with mine. I took a long slow sip as a stretch of silence spread between me and Tobias.

“I don’t know…” Tobias said suddenly. “You’ve been acting weird lately, but it doesn’t seem to be stress. Has this week really been tough on you? What’s really going on?”