Page 25 of Caught Running
Jake was silent for a moment, watching Brandon closely. He wanted to ask why Brandon had ended his schooling because of that, but he knew better. “I’m sorry,” he offered finally.
Brandon nodded. “I had to come home to handle things, and I ran into Tom Berry. He came to the visitation. He talked me into trying a year teaching, just to get my head on straight. I never went back to school.”
“But you enjoy it, right?” Jake asked softly.
“Oh yeah,” Brandon answered, brightening a little and meeting Jake’s eyes. “I found out that my rapport with patients translated really well into teaching students. I really do like it.” He tilted his head, wistful. “Just a missed opportunity, you know?”
“Just a different road,” Jake offered, something he had told himself many times before.
Brandon’s smile grew. “You say that like a man who knows.”
“Pfft,” Jake responded with a small smile. “I enjoy what I do. I just hurt while doing it,” he joked.
Chuckling, Brandon thought about the equipment he’d packed away in his closet. “I really can help with that, you know. If you’re not already seeing someone for regular ultrasound and therapy.”
“Therapy,” Jake huffed with a small smile. “I haven’t been seeing anyone, no,” he laughed softly with a shake of his head. “They frown on alcohol therapy.”
“Yeah, well, I understand where they’re coming from,” Brandon poked a little. Then he hesitantly added, “If you’re not doing anything tomorrow, I could bring some stuff over. See if it makes a difference.” The urge to help was undeniable.
Jake hesitated a moment as he looked up. “Stuff?” he echoed dubiously.
Brandon snorted at the uncertain look on Jake’s face as he pushed away his empty plate. “Ultrasound machine, Biofreeze, heat wraps,” he said, brows raised like Jake should know what he was talking about.
“Ah,” Jake responded with distaste. “Ultrasound machine. With the clear gunk that freezes your balls off when they put it on you,” he clarified with a nod. “Great,” he laughed wryly.
Brandon’s answer was a sharp bark of laughter. “Funny guy. You want to try a pain-free Sunday afternoon or not?”
“Why, you bringing weed with your ultrasound machine?” Jake asked teasingly. He had little to no faith in the abilities of therapy to ease pain. He never had. That was probably why it had never worked for him.
The tone of Jake’s voice made Brandon think. “You don’t think it’ll work. It didn’t work in the past, did it?”
“Nope,” Jake answered with a smirk. “I’m what they call a ‘difficult’ patient.”
Brandon rolled his eyes obviously. “That’snota news flash. Will you let me try?”
“If that’ll make you happy, darlin’,” Jake drawled without thinking.
“My heart’s set on it, babe,” Brandon retorted right back, inwardly amazed at how easy it was to talk to Jake. Brandon hadn’t spoken about his parents in years, but when Jake asked, it had just come out.
Jake chuckled and glanced up at Brandon with a smirk before going back to finishing his breakfast. A comfortable silence was beginning to settle but Jake didn’t want silence. He searched for something else to say, but came up empty.
Brandon fidgeted a little on the stool. He thought of several things he could be doing—grading papers, reading the doctoral guidelines—hmmm, hadn’t mentioned that to Jake—planning for next week, but none of those things would involve his host.Again, rude. “Do you have plans? I could take you back to your truck at the school and get out of your hair,” he offered hesitantly. He didn’t want to leave, even though he knew he should.
Jake took the last bite of his eggs and placed his fork down, his chest twisting a little at the proposal. It became more and more apparent as they spent more time together that Brandon didn’t enjoy it quite as much as Jake did. He shrugged as he chewed. “I mean, all I have to do is go over the stats from last night, decide on today’s starting lineup,” he answered finally. “I just have to be at the field about noon to get it ready, so I was going to do that as the boys warmed up. Actually I was just gonna sit and stare at the wall for a few hours this morning,” he admitted with a flush.
Screwing up his courage, Brandon asked, “So you don’t mind if I stick around? I thought if you had something going on I would go do some grading in my classroom, but frankly, I’m sick to death of seeing those four walls,” he muttered. “Not to mention, you’re a hell of a lot better company than James.”
“James?” Jake asked curiously, keeping his mind as blank as possible so as not to have to deal with the novel emotions assaulting him this morning.
Brandon smiled, amusement shining in his eyes. “The anatomy skeleton. The kids named him James after Boney James, the jazz musician.”
Jake stared at the man for a moment and then laughed softly. “I don’t even know who Boney James is, but okay,” he snickered as he leaned on his elbows and grinned. For some reason the fact that Brandon wanted to stick around, or didn’t mind doing so, anyway, put Jake in an incredibly good mood.
The science teacher just shook his head. “Did my backpack make it inside?” he asked, standing from the stool and gathering his dishes.
“Yeah, I dumped it at the door,” Jake answered sheepishly. “You said you’ve got grading to do?”
“When don’t I have grading to do?” Brandon asked drolly. “Not too bad, though. Only two blocks, no essays,” he said, rinsing off the plate in the sink. “If I get it out of the way I won’t have to deal with it tomorrow,” he added.