Page 13 of Building Courage

He grinned. “Just kidding. You have to wait for the file to find that out.”

She laughed. “You’re a good friend, but sometimes, you’re an ass.”

He laughed.

Through the adjoining wall, a door slammed hard.

Martin’s laughter died. “That’s probably Tate. I’ll go see if he’s hungry.”

Brynn rose to take her bowl to the sink. “It was delicious, Martin. Thanks for feeding me.”

“You’re welcome.”

Recently, Tate seemed to be in a constant manic mood. Anxiety tightened her stomach again. As she walked Martin to the door, she said, “I’ll give some thought to what you said about my moving on, Martin, but I want you to think about everything I’ve shared in the past, too.”

He turned to face her, his expression shuttered. “Have a good evening, Brynn.”

When he closed the door behind him, she leaned against it and sighed. The romantic future she saw for Martin looked as painful as the one she’d left behind. He wouldn’t listen to her any more than she had listened to her friends. It would take that one moment when his eyes were finally open to lead him to end things.

People had to make their own mistakes. She just hoped his wouldn’t lead to what her own had.

Her phone rang, and she wandered back to the desk and picked it up. It was Natalie, and she was more than tempted to ignore the call, but the woman was relentless. She drew a deep breath and answered the phone.

Natalie dove right in as she always did. “Hey, I just wanted to touch base with you.”

“Yes.” She wasn’t going to make it easy for her. This overstepping her bounds had to stop.

“How did the shoot go?” Natalie asked.

“It went well.”

“Good. Did you and Tucker make contact?”

“Yes.”

“How did it go?”

Brynn couldn’t resist stringing Natalie along. “I told him I’d meet with him on Sunday to discuss the lessons. I needed some time to cool down.”

Natalie fell silent for several seconds. “Look, Brynn. I know I messed up by rushing things. I should’ve called you as soon as I spoke to Tucker. I got hung up putting out a couple of fires. When you called me, I knew I’d messed up. But you have to put some of this distrust behind you. It’s been three years.”

She’d heard enough. It was one thing for Martin, someone who cared about her as a human being, to say it, but for Natalie to say it because Brynn’s issues were standing in the way of what the magazine editor needed or wanted… Rage rolled through her, sending a rush of blood into her ears. Brynn pushed the button, ending the call, set the phone on the desk, and went into the bedroom.

The phone began to ring while she undressed and got in the shower. She stood under the spray for a few minutes before soaping her skin and washing her hair. By the time she stepped out of the shower, the mirror over the sink was fogged with steam. She wrapped a towel around her hair and used another to dry off.

She slipped into the robe hanging on the back of the bathroom door and spent some time drying her hair.

When she finished, she needed a cup of tea. She sauntered into the living room and retrieved her coffee cup from the kitchen table and her phone from atop the desk. Natalie had left a message. Brynn decided she needed to sip the tea and relax before listening to it.

She settled on the couch and breathed in, slowly calming herself. She pushed the button on the message Natalie had left.

“All right, I know I stepped over a boundary, Brynn. I won’t do it again.” There was suppressed anger in her tone. Or was it frustration? “After you and Tucker meet and you talk about the lessons, I need you to call me and let me know if you’re really interested in making the Australia trip. Otherwise, I’ll have to contact someone else.”

Brynn thought about that for a moment. She wanted to go on the trip—really wanted to go. But not at the expense of having Natalie constantly pulling her strings. She worked for the woman. Their relationship was rooted in a business partnership, not a friendship. Natalie needed to stay out of her personal business.

She didn’t need the woman’s advice. She’d moved twenty-nine hundred miles away from her parents because they had been as relentless as the press, even while she’d struggled to recover. They’d been devastated at her physical condition, but they had expected her to bounce back as soon as the physical injuries had healed. And when she hadn’t…They’d treated her like she was an embarrassment and somehow defective.

She set aside her empty teacup even as she pushed away the thoughts that threatened to drag her into a pit of pain and anger. She’d fought free of all that three years ago. Her two-year cross-country trip had been her salvation. She’d made the right choice.

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