A Nuisance

“I’ll make a list and bring it to you.”

“No need.” She rejected seeing him. “You’ll be busy.”

“Carrie.”

“Yes?”

Quite serious and deliberately vulnerable, he told her, “I’d like you to be my guest for this. Would you?”

“I’m very busy.”

“Please.”

There was a long silence. He resisted any of the crowding questions that he sweat over, like: Were she and Pepper sleeping together? Was she totally finished with Stefan Szyszko? Could she bring herself to be with him even just one or two days? He wanted her filmed with him, if the film crew did that.

She said, “I suppose.”

“You photograph so well, you’ll be the star.”

“Why Stefan Szyszko, you’re a gentleman!”

“I’m sure as hell trying.” And his breath caught in his chest over his own unexpected words. What was he saying?

She waited then said, “Call me when the schedule is solid.”

“Why don’t I pick you up now and we can figure where it’s best for the plane to land and take off?”

She laughed low and very amused.

Since he was dead serious, he wasn’t aware of anything except that she hadn’t hung up on him, yet.

Carrie’s voice said in his ear, “Now, how will we know something like that?”

And his tricky mind supplied, “We can figure how the wind blows and how we can get the takeoffs and landings with the car lot in the background.”

“Smart. Ask the pilot.”

Unhappily, his stupid tongue then demanded, “What were you doing in church with Pepper Hodges?”

Just like that, she replied, “I was so surprised to see you there that I was a total blank.”

His voice went low and velvety. “So you knew I was there.”

“The other people all looked like good churchgoers...then there was you. You tend to stand out in any crowd, but you are a sore thumb in a church.”

He was offended. “Why?”

“You look like what most women are praying about.”

“To get me?”

And her voice was soft and gentle. “To get away from you.” And she quietly hung up.

Thoughtfully serious, Stefan laid his phone gently in its cradle. He was sober and pensive. She wanted to get away from him. Why?

So he went into a period of grief. He was being shunned. He forgot all about having discarded her...so recently. He only knew she felt he was unsuitable and therefore a man for a woman to escape. His opinion of himself wavered.

His mother recognized his conduct. She was kind and gentle with her youngest. His brothers were roughnecks and laughed at him, but the fact he didn’t notice their abrasive humor caused them to ask their parents, “What’s eatin’ the shrimp?”

Their father replied, “Let up on him.”

And their mother said, “Leave him alone.”

So his brothers knew it was something serious. They made inquiries about his car business and learned he was doing great. They discussed his health and it was okay. So it had to be a woman, but they couldn’t figure out which one. He’d discarded the strawberry blonde.

They took him hunting, and scoffed at him and needled him and razed him so that he would feel loved.

And in case the problem was a reluctant woman, they mentioned that they envied him for being single and loose.... They told about all the times they’d been turned down, and they made it hilarious.

It was a great time. Then without shooting a rifle but with the beer gone, they went home. The brothers felt they’d been indispensable. Stefan would be okay, since he knew he had four brothers and they backed him.

Stefan hadn’t really noticed.

* * *

The time came when Pat Vernon, the producer from the San Antonio TV station, came to Blink to plot the flight. The television crew came along. They invaded Stefan’s house as if it was their own. And they groused at the cameraperson, who was a slender brunette woman. She didn’t budge from wanting a bedroom to herself. Selfish. They had all been unselfishly willing to share. She was just another stubborn woman.

That gave Stefan a perfect excuse to call Carrie and ask, “We have a woman cameraperson here—” He allowed that to soak in. “She insists on sleeping alone, using all of one of the bedrooms. Would you be kind enough to get her out of our hair?”

Stefan was that unkind because he wanted Carrie to understand he couldn’t be lured by another woman. While he recognized his motive, he didn’t examine it at all.

“Tell her to come on over.”

“Well, she doesn’t have a car.”

“I’ll come fetch her,” Carrie volunteered. “She can use mine.”

“What’ll you do?”

“Pepper has a sp—”

And Stefan’s speech tromped on anything Pepper might be able to do. Stefan said in a hurry, “You can have one of the spare cars.” And he was exuberant! She’d be driving one of his cars! His smile spread over his face.

But Carrie mentioned logically, “Just lend a Jeep to the woman.”

Stefan was appalled. “Uh. She can’t drive a Jeep.”

“I thought you said even a little child can drive one.”