Page 11 of All I Want Is Love
“Yes, he is hilarious,” I say.
Aspen almost drops his plate, staring at me like I have lost my mind, while Soren just laughs. “Your brother has better humor than you do,” he teases.
“Clearly, I need to mentor him better,” Aspen says.
Soren just chuckles.
“So, what did you do?” Aspen wants to know.
I hold my breath, not sure what to answer. Half of the morning I spent with a panic attack. Soren beats me to an answer, though. “We went for a walk, then got hungry.”
“Don’t you have work?”
“I am going in later today,” Soren says with a certain tone in his voice. Aspen looks at him for a moment but doesn’t enquire further. Instead, he shovels ham & eggs onto his plate and sits down with us.
“What’s your plan for today?” Soren asks him.
“The usual,” Aspen says. “We are approaching the end of the year, so there is tons of paperwork to do. Finances; taxes.”
“Ugh, don’t get me started,” Soren sighs. “It’s your first year with full-time employees. Tell me if you need help.”
Aspen turns to me. “Soren is a pro at that type of stuff. Actually, he is good at almost anything aside from jokes.”
I smile. His silly jokes make him more endearing and approachable.
“It’s not that difficult. I just have more routine,” Soren says. “I have had employees for a couple of years now, so I know what to do. And my jokesarehilarious. You just don’t have Leo’s subtle sense of humor.”
“Subtle?” Aspen mimics. “Why don’t skeletons fight?Dramatic pause, everyone.They don’t have guts.That’s the one you told me yesterday. How is that funny?”
I can’t help it, I just have to laugh. Maybe I am borderline hysterical by how I switch moods, and maybe Aspen and Soren think I am losing it, but seeing how a serious and handsome man like Soren isn’t embarrassed to own up to his jokes is so cathartic. I wish I could be more like him. Be myself.
Just that I don’t even know what that means. Maybe I had an identity once, but it got lost, and now I am struggling to even figure out what I want, let alone who I am.
“Do you need help with anything?” I ask Aspen. The thought of having to spend a whole day by myself with nothing to do sends me into a frenzy – and not the good type of it.
“We talked about it yesterday,” Aspen says. “I don’t want you to work yet.”
He says he doesn’t want me to work while we both know I shouldn’t, courtesy of my doctor. I appreciate it, I really do. Aspen didn’t tell anyone, not even his closest friends, my darkest secrets, giving me the chance to start anew here without anyone knowing my background or my history. I can tell them on my own terms eventually.
Yet, the thought of being completely useless sends me into a new bout of panic.
“Robin could do with some help,” Soren says. He has been watching me closely; I just hope my face didn’t give away too much.
Aspen looks at him reproachfully, but Soren just wordlessly returns his gaze. They have this silent stare-down, one that makes it feel like they have an entire conversation without words.
“What’s Robin doing today?” I push.
“He is driving to East Sunhaven,” Soren answers. Again, he and Aspen exchange a gaze, this time bordering more towards a glare.
“The lame town?”
At that, both Aspen and Soren burst out into laughter.
“Yes, thelametown,” Soren chuckles. “I see, Robin has corrupted you. They will love you here in West Sunhaven with that attitude. This town is weirdly competitive.”
“But you work in both?”
“I work in the whole area,” he explains. “We are just two vets here, and we have established a system that one of us is always available.”
