Out of The Blue

Chapter 24

"Wow, this is awesome, Bowen."

"I know, right?" he replied enthusiastically. "Scout's being a good dog and hasn't eaten any of the pieces yet, and I just have a few pages left to go before it's finished."

"Well," Ryan said as he came down the stairs, and I turned back to look at him, "I see Bowen's shown you his masterpiece."

"He sure did," I said, and shot a glance back at Bowen to see a proud, toothy grin on his lips.

Ryan chuckled. "I bought that set for him yesterday, hoping that it'd keep him occupied while I was in Boston for training camp, but as soon as he saw it, he got a bit of a head start."

"I'd say it's a little more than a bit," I mused.

"And you'd be right about that." He nudged my hip with his own. "But enough about Bowen. What about you? How was work, and the interview you had?"

"It was good, not too busy. We interviewed a new guy to town—Eric—and I'll be calling him tomorrow to offer him a position at the store."

"That's great."

"Yeah," I agreed before trailing off, thinking of what had happened after work. I glanced between Ryan and Bowen, seeing that the latter had returned his attention fully to his Lego set, and chewed nervously on my bottom lip. "Actually, would we be able to talk outside real quick?"

I figured, better to get my thoughts out in the open sooner rather than later.

Ryan's head tilted with curiosity as one of his eyebrows quirked upward. "Oh, yeah, sure," he said, telling Bowen to stay put and keep an eye on Scout before leading me out to the back porch. As the back door closed behind us both, giving us some privacy, he asked, "What did you want to talk about?"

​​Crossing my arms across my chest, I looked out to the backyard, avoiding eye contact as I said, "I went to my dad's after work, and ended up chatting with him for a while." I paused for a moment, and when I finally did turn to meet his gaze, I saw understanding seeping in. "Why didn't you mention that you'd told my dad about my plan to leave the store?"

"Ah, well you see—" He cleared his throat as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "That was a mistake."

"A mistake?" I repeated. "How did you accidentally blurt all of that out?"

"Honestly, I wasn't even thinking. It didn't occur to me that you wouldn't have told him about it, so when he said he was worried about you working long hours and having the weight of the world on your shoulders while June was out sick, I happened to say something like 'well hopefully when she hires a few more staff she'll be able to step away.'" He sighed. "That's all I said, I swear, but he kind of put two and two together and realized I didn't just mean temporarily."

"And you didn't think to warn me about it?" I asked. I could feel my frustration brewing, though in that moment, my question still came out relatively calmly. "I would've rather you had told me that happened than walk into what seemed like an ambush at my father's place this afternoon."

"I'm sorry," he said, softly and genuinely apologetic. "I meant to tell you as soon as I saw you after it happened, but you were exhausted—out like a light pretty much after dinner—and dealing with the store. I swear I would've mentioned it after Bowen went to bed tonight, but your dad clearly beat me to the punch."

A punch was accurate, because that's exactly what hearing my dad ask me about it had felt like. A well-timed punch to the stomach that caused your breath to catch.

"I just... I don't get why you would've thought I'd told my dad. I had a hard enough time telling you, and then Mara, and then June. I told you I wanted to take this next step alone."