Shoe Strings

remembered him
participating in a mock trial in high school, but this was different.   He was in his element in front of the
jury, questioning the witness with the confidence of an officer who’d just
uncovered the smoking gun.  
    And despite the judge who presided over the case, it was
Bryce who conducted the show.   The
tone of his voice, his demeanor, even his movements, seemed choreographed to
convey strength and believability to the jury.   Each and every one of them was riveted
in their seat, their attention fixed on Bryce as he led Clyde through the
series of events that ended with the collapse of his roof.   When Clyde had exhausted every detail
and Bryce said, “No more questions, Your Honor,” the judge slammed the gavel
and announced a ten-minute recess.  
    Kerri Ann had just started to get up from her chair,
questioning how smart it was to interrupt what seemed like an important
conversation between Bryce and Mr. Freeman, when she felt a tap on her arm.
    “Hey, Kerri Ann.”   Shelly Stanton moved down the row to where Kerri Ann sat.   “What are you doing here?”
    “I came to talk to Bryce.”   His head was still lowered and he was
pointing to a yellow pad on the table to the nodding approval of Mr.
Freeman.   “Looks like now’s not the
best time,” Kerri Ann admitted.   “What are you doing here?   Shouldn’t you be at the salon?”
    “We don’t open ‘til ten and I never miss an opportunity to
see Bryce in action.”   She let out a
breath and mockingly fanned her face.   “That man is fine.”
    It took Kerri Ann a moment to realize what Shelly was
saying.   “Bryce?”
    Shelly rolled her eyes.   “I swear, Kerri Ann, you must have pizza sauce in your eyes if you don’t
see what a catch that man is.   I’ve
thought about suing someone just so I can hire him as my counsel.”
    Kerri Ann swung her eyes back to Bryce, standing now and
talking amicably with the other attorney, someone she assumed Barber had hired
out of Asheville.   His hands were on
his hips, pushing his suit jacket back.   His long, tanned fingers clasped the Italian belt wrapped around the
waist that was still as lean as it was in high school when kids used to call
him string bean.   He wasn’t a string
bean any longer, not with the broad shoulders and significant muscle mass he’d
accumulated from…somewhere.  
    Bryce Jenson had left for college and returned a gorgeous,
hunk of a man.   Why the hell was he
still single?   Kerri Ann couldn’t
begin to imagine why some smart college girl hadn’t gobbled him up a long time
ago.   But one thing was for sure, if
she wasn’t good enough for Bryce, Shelly Stanton wasn’t good enough for him
either.
    “I gotta go, Shelly.   You should be heading that way if you don’t want to be late,” she said
and made for the exit.
    “I thought you had to talk to Bryce,” Shelly called after
her.
    “It can wait.”
    The wind that greeted her as she walked back to her car held
a faint chill, reminding her that winter might not be through with them just
yet.   It also reminded her of a fall
afternoon, fifteen years ago when she’d had a similar reaction to Bryce Jenson
as they shared push-up bars from the five and dime after school.  
    They’d laughed themselves silly over something and when
Kerri Ann dropped her head, she knocked her face right into the push-up.   When Bryce reached his hand over to wipe
away the glob of ice cream lodged on her cheek, his expression had changed from
laughter to focused and determined.   Like the look she’d just seen on his face in the courtroom.   Her reaction to him was eerily
familiar.   Way back when, her head
had buzzed, her stomach had dropped, and she’d wanted, with an intensity that
scared the shit out of her, for Bryce to use his mouth on the ice cream.   And because she’d wanted to lean in and
let him, she’d done just the opposite.   She’d run straight to Jesse and had sex with him behind the storage shed
at Cal’s place—and gotten pregnant with Ty.
    She’d run to Jesse all those years ago because her budding
attraction to Bryce had messed up the natural order of her life, the life she’d
envisioned for herself, her life with Jesse as the cherished daughter-in-law of
Cal and Ellie.  
    Kerri Ann needed the long ago memory of Bryce out of her
head now, right now, because it made her want all sorts of things she didn’t
have the right to even think about.  

 

 
    Chapter 5
    It