Chapter 12: Brooks
The drive to Sonoma was worth it, if only to watch her peek around the corner at me with jealousy flashing in her eyes. Like the little barista was any kind of competition.
Rubbing my beard absentmindedly, I wonder if Olive will feel the need to oversee the dining room again anytime soon. All signs point to no. At least I got a smile out of her. That’s progress, right? Sighing, I slide my laptop back into my bag and finish my coffee. I have to get back to Napa to meet up with Dan, one of my site managers. I watch for any sign of Olive as I walk to my car, but she stays in the kitchen, out of sight.
Things are fine in Napa, but for the first time I can remember, my heart isn’t in my work. I’m distracted and I can tell I’m annoying the hell out of Dan. By the end of the day, he looks like he wants to strangle me.
“What the fuck is up with you today, man?” he asks, slapping a hand on my shoulder as we head out.
“I’m fine,” I mutter.
“Bullshit, my dude. Your head wasn’t here for five minutes today. You almost shot yourself in the foot with a nail gun, you started painting the wall the wrong damn color, and I caught you staring into space twice. I don’t know what’s up with you, but you better get your head straight before you come back on one of my sites.”
I can’t help smiling inward at his warning. He’s a good guy, and he’s right. I nearly nailed my foot to the floorboards today, but that doesn’t mean I can let him give me a hard time. He wasn’t any better when he met his wife a couple years back. She had his head spinning so hard that he tiled an entire bathroom with the wrong damn tile. He was lucky as hell the client liked it better than her original pick.
“You realize I’m your boss, right? Like, you understand who cuts your checks and assigns your crew the jobs?” Dan just grins at me. I shake my head at him. “I’ll be fine. I just need to sort some shit out.”
The real problem is that I don’t know how to get Olive off my mind, especially heading into a job where I’ll be near her almost every day. Close enough to smell the vanilla scent that drifts off her skin…
I catch myself spacing out again. Dan is already halfway to his car laughing at me and shaking his head. “Sort that shit out quick, man,” he calls over his shoulder.
Growling to myself, I run my hands through my hair. I’m so damn irritated. At Dan. At Olive. Mostly at myself. I know I was callous and I hurt her feelings. Worst of all, I’m not sure how to fix it because she won’t even talk to me.
I don’t know what to do.
I’ve never felt this way about a woman before. I’ve dated a few, but it was nothing serious. We never really clicked. So even though it was easy with those women, it was unsatisfying.
Maybe it’s part of the reason I like Olive so much. Nothing about her is easy. But if I could earn her affection, I know she’d be worth it. The pull I feel towards her doesn’t go one way. I could see it in her eyes too. I just need to get her to forgive me, to show her I’m not the guy she thinks I am.
She’s just so damn skittish. The only solution I can see is patience. Scrubbing my hand over my beard I groan. I'm usually a patient man, methodical to a fault, but Olive makes me feel out of control. Patient is the last damn thing I want to be.