Page 10 of Tommy

I couldn’t decide if it was adorable, or patronizing.

5. TOMMY

Seeing the inside of the main cabin wasn’t something I thought would happen, considering all the stuff I’d learned about Hardin. He had strict rules on having shoes off at the door, coats on hooks, and I even witnessed him take his Stetson hat off. He had a thick head of jet hair and slithers of silver slicked back.

I felt like I was on a ride at an amusement park, hands and feet had to stay inside at all times and not to veer of the track. He had a stack of old books, the type I would’ve seen in my grandma’s upstairs bathroom, they all had that off-white cream coloring to them and swirling fonts.

One of his dogs went ahead and followed closely behind him, while the other was laid on its bed, barely looking up to even register I was walking through the house.

“You live alone?” I asked as I sat at the dining table with a cloth lining the length of it.

“I do, but this isn’t my house,” he said. “This place belongs to the owners. A sweet older couple who own businesses and such in California. They bring their employees here on retreats, so it’s big.”

“Too big for one person.”

He hummed. “I only get it to myself for one month out of the year. And it’s nice.” He turned to the stove and placed a pan over it.

I knew I was ruining his plans, and he was very obvious about it. “I actually got you something.” I fished a hand into my pocket. “Wait. Oh. It’s at the cabin.”

“You don’t have to give me anything,”

“It’s just a—” And the moment I was about to say it, I saw the refrigerator door covered in those same magnets I’d bought one of for him. “Oh.”

He caught my eyeline and smiled. “You should keep it,” he said. “A keepsake. I usually offer the ones right off the fridge to guests, so you can happily take another.”

It was embarrassing, even June had told me not to do it, but it didn’t even cross my mind that he would’ve had an entire collection of them already. “I’ll get you something else,” I said. “It’s the least I can do for you sacrificing your time.”

“Please, you don’t have to do that,” he said.

After a little back and forth, he wasn’t going to accept anything. The soup had warmed, he made two bowls up, providing freshly warmed bread rolls, and salted butter.

“I made the bread rolls and butter myself,” he said. “Help yourself.”

“Do you saygraceor anything?” I didn’t want to offend him any further than ignoring any customs he might’ve had.

He shook his head. “I know some people will, but if you want to thank anyone, you can thank me.”

“Of course, I was gonna, thank you for offering it to me.”

He kept me on my toes, almost like treading around glass not to say the wrong thing to him. But at least while I was worried about that, I wasn’t beating myself up over not getting any illustrations or storylines written.

“Listen,” he said, tucking a napkin into the collar of his shirt. “I might be a lot of things. I’m not egotistical, you don’t have to thank me, I have a bit of a dry sense of humor, obviously.”

“Then I take my thanks back,” I giggled, copying the motion of tucking the napkin into my t-shirt neckline. “But I am grateful.” I spooned soup to my lips and blew on it. The first mouthful was spicy, I sucked air in immediately to cool my tongue. “It’s a little—oo—um—hot.”

“If you think that’s hot, you’ll have to wait to try my chili.”

For someone who was reminding me about how he liked to be alone, he was already inviting me for another meal. “I like spice, it caught me off guars because it’s supposed to be a tomato soup.”

Hardin shrugged. “It’s surface level spice.” He sucked on a spoonful of soup and smacked a hand down on the table. I nearly jumped out of my seat. “Damn, that’s good.”

“It is nice.” I grabbed at a bread roll, still warm. I pulled it apart to see the steam.

“Put a little butter on that and it’ll melt in like a dream,” he said. “I’ll give you a couple to take back with you as well.”

The food was amazing, and took away some of the impending choice paralysis I was about to go through considering I didn’t have the faintest idea of what I was going to make for myself, and I highly doubt there were pizza delivery services to the area, or that my phone would even work to schedule it.

I also noticed that Hardin had a view of my cabin, while only in the distance, there my cabin was from the view of the window. At least that meant I’d have a view of this place too, and could even potentially get a jump on the day and show him I was prepared.

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