Summer's Loss

Chapter 13

Abigail

The rest of the day flew by for Abigail.  After they had deemed themselves dry enough to get back in the truck, they headed to the other side of the valley to check another smaller creek that had been heavily blocked and required several hours of their attention to clear up.  By the time they got back to HQ she was exhausted.  They parked the truck and headed for Brice's office.  She walked behind him, watching as he said passing 'hellos' to coworkers as he went by. 

He was much more easy going now it seemed.  As if a tight muscle had come undone or some burden had just been let go.  The way he walked was easy and relaxed.  She followed him into his office and went straight for the closest chair to collapse in while he shut the door behind them.

"I already text your uncle, he said their ten minutes away."  She heard him say as he walked across the small room to his own worn down rolling chair.

"I take it back, take me back to YCC."  She teased, "we never did have as much work as you and I just did." She slouched down and let her aching leg stretch out.

"Oh come on, that was nothing!" She heard him laughing at her over exaggeration. "Just wait until we start clearing brush or helping with controlled burns or..."

"Enough!" Abigail broke through, "I get it, I don't want to hear anymore. All of that sounds miserable." She looked up and saw him laughing at her sarcastic outbreak. He had deep smile lines in his cheeks that framed his mouth when he laughed. She felt herself smiling as well.

"Besides, it's Friday. That means you made it through your first work week. You did good." He was still smiling as he said it.

"Oh yeah, huh." She hadn't even realized what day it was. How had a week passed by so fast? It has definitely been an interesting week, she noted to herself.

A knock at the door stole both of their attention. Her Uncle Tom stuck his head in and scanned the room then stopped when his eyes landed on his niece.

"Hey kiddo, ready to go?" He looked just as exhausted as she felt.

"Yes." She lifted her tired body out of its seat, "just let me grab my stuff." She walked to Brice's desk where he had set her lunch pack and the small purse she chose to leave in his office in the mornings. There was no point in taking it along with her in the truck.

"Alright, I'll meet you outside ok?"

"Ok" He ducked back into the hall and walked away. She hurriedly slung her bag over her shoulder so the strap lay across her chest somewhat like a satchel. She went to turn around and leave but was stopped abruptly.

"Wait." She froze in place at Brice's tone. She turned slowly to where he was now standing beside his cluttered desk. She hadn't seen him stand up, let alone get so close. "Today was good." He was stumbling for words she realized. "It was fun I mean. I'm happy you still wanted to work with me." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the wall. He did that a lot she realized. She wondered why.

"I'm happy you still wanted me." She placed a hand on his arm so he would looked at her. She smiled at him sincerely. His eyes took on an intensity she'd never seen before and her breath caught in her throat, faltering her smile. "I'll see you on Monday." She hadn't intended it to be a whisper but her words were quiet enough that only someone standing as close as he was could hear them.

He blinked twice then quickly walked to the door, holding it open for her. "See you Monday, Abigail." His eyes still held that demanding intensity that made her want to melt. She slipped past him and into the hall outside then hurried to where she knew her uncle was waiting for her.

~

Her weekend started off slow. She called her mom at night and took her uncles Labrador, Moose, for a long jog the many fields that littered the valley floor. She wasted a lot of time on her phone scrolling through Instagram and Twitter, texting friends back home and watching Netflix. It was when her Uncle made plans to meet up with some friends with work Saturday night that it finally began to look up. She had been surprised when he'd invited her.

"There's an Applebee's in town, you'd have fun. I feel bad just leaving you here." When he said 'in town' he'd meant the closest town to them which was probably forty-five minutes away across the Oregon border down a two lane highway.

"Yeah, I'll go." She said, happy to have something to do. Plus she needed something to eat other than her uncles microwave dinners or else she'd go crazy.

She changed out of her oversized Maui T-shirt and fuzzy shorts and into a pair of ripped Hollister skinny jeans and slipped on a fitted white t-shirt that she tucked into her jeans. She paired it with a dark leather belt and a pair of white converse. She'd been wearing her contacts all week and hadn't felt like putting them in all weekend and she didn't feel like putting them in now so she just plucked her glasses off of the bathroom counter and pulled her hair up into a pony tail. Her glasses were bigger with black frames that she always though made her eyes look bigger. She only wore them sometimes when she was too lazy to put in her contacts.

The drive to town was long and boring. They crossed the valley then followed the winding highway up and over one of the smallest hills on the northern side of the valley. They passed the 'Oregon Welcomes You!' sign and then just like that they were out of the valley. They listened to the radio and didn't really talk. It wasn't awkward, it was just how the two of them were together. She loved her uncle and knew that he loved her but he wasn't a big talker sometimes and she was ok with that.

It was 8:30pm when they parked in the Applebee's parking lot. There weren't many other cars there for a Saturday night.

"Looks like some of the other guys are already here." Her uncle pointed out to her. She scanned the parking lot but didn't recognize any of the cars, why would she? She didn't know anyone.

Inside her uncle saw someone he recognized sitting at the bar and waved at them. "Stay here, I'll be right back." He walked over to his friends and said something. They looked over at her then nodded their heads. They grabbed their drinks and relocated to a table outside of the bar area where she could sit since she wasn't twenty-one. Her uncle waved at her to come sit down. She made her way across the restaurant to her uncle but was stopped short before she could get there.

"Abigail?" A deep voice said in surprise from behind her. She whirled around to see a figure she'd recognize anywhere.

"Brice!" She exclaimed, "Hey!" She couldn't find any other words. She hadn't expected to see him outside of work. She didn't even think once that he might be one of the guys her uncle goes out with. It would make sense, she thought, they were obviously friends at work.

"You came with Tom?" He asked her. He had clearly been making his way to the same table as her.

"Yeah, he said he'd feel bad if he left me." She let out a short laugh.

"Sounds like him. I was wondering why the guys weren't at the bar like usual." He looked over her at the group standing behind her. "Let's go sit down?"

"Ok, yeah. Of course." She whipped around and headed back to her uncle.