Brenna looked up as the bell above the door to Fairweather Bakery rang a few days later. A smile formed on her face as she saw Lynn enter, followed by Justin.

“What are you guys doing here?” she asked as they came over to the counter.

“Justin had a craving for a muffin and I thought we might as well come here and visit you,” Lynn said. “It’s not too busy in here today.”

“No. It’s also the middle of the day, though. It’s always slow at one o’clock.”

“Aren’t you off soon?” Justin asked.

“In an hour. What kind of muffin did you want?”

“Blueberry.”

She pulled one out from its tray and set it on a plate for him. “Lynn?”

“Oh, just a coffee, Hun.”

She filled up a cup of coffee and handed it to Lynn. “Oh, don’t worry about it,” she said when she saw Lynn pulling out her wallet. “It’s on the house.”

“Oh, well thank you,” Lynn said.

“Yeah, thanks, Bren,” Justin added.

“No problem. Are you going somewhere, Lynn? You’re all dressed up.”

“I have a meeting at two thirty in the city.”

“Oh.”

“Did you make these?” Justin asked, taking a bite of his muffin.

“Those? Um…yeah, I think so. I made that batch this morning.”

“They’re good.”

“Thanks.”

“Oh, hi, Lynn,” Catherine Fairweather said as she came out of the backroom. “I haven’t seen you for weeks. How have you been?”

Brenna turned to Justin as Lynn began to talk to Catherine. “What’re you doing today?”

He shrugged and took a large bite of his muffin. “I dunno. Wanna come over after you’re done work?”

“Okay.”

“You said you didn’t have to work tomorrow, right?”

“Right.”

“Cool. Then we can stay up late and watch movies or something.”

“Okay.”

“What’re these?” Justin asked, reaching to her side of the counter and picking up some brochures. “Are these yours?”

“Yeah.”

He flipped through them. “New York, Chicago, LA…What’re these for?”

She shrugged and grabbed a dishcloth to wipe the counter. “I was just looking at them. I eventually want to move out of this town, you know.”

“To a big city like this?” he asked, holding up the pamphlets.

“Yeah. I want a change. Even if it’s really drastic.”

“That would be crazy for you to move from here to like New York. It’s so different.”

“I know. It’s not like I’m moving right now. I’ll have to save up a lot of money. By time I move I’ll be older and more ready to live by myself.”

“You should move to LA then. We could live by each other.”

She rolled her eyes. “Somehow I doubt I would have enough money to live in the area you live in.”

“Okay, then we could be in the same city. I didn’t say we had to live next door to each other.”

She took the brochures from him and slipped them under the counter. “Well I still have years to make up my mind on where I want to live.”

“You’re gonna visit me in LA, right? I’d buy you the tickets and everything.”

“That’s a little generous of you.”

He shrugged. “Well we’re gonna keep in touch. Easier to do that if we see each other once in a while.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Are you ready to go, Justin?” Lynn asked, interrupting them.

“Yeah.” He ate the last of his muffin and slid the plate across the counter to Brenna. “You’ll come over after you’re off?”

“Yeah. Try to not be asleep when I get there like you usually are when you invite me over.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll work on that. Thanks, Bren.”

“No problem.”

“See you later, Hun,” Lynn said. “Thanks again for the coffee.”

“You’re welcome.” She watched them leave and then picked up the plate Justin had left and put it in the bin of dirty dishes.

“Well Justin sure looks different from the last time I saw him,” Catherine commented as she started up a new batch of coffee.

“Yeah,” Brenna replied. She looked out the front windows and saw Lynn’s car pulling out of the parking lot. “He’s still the exact same person though.”

* * *

“Hey, Mom!” Justin called as he went downstairs. “Do you have the phone?”

“I have it in the kitchen,” he heard her say.

He reached the main level of the house and turned the corner to go into the kitchen. “I thought I should probably call Johnny and have him start looking for a new PA for me.”

“Before you do that, I had a thought.”

“What?”

“What kind of person are you looking for to be your PA?”

“I don’t know. Someone like Trace. Johnny knows a lot of good people who could probably do a good job.”

“I have someone in mind.”

“Oh yeah? Who?”

“What about Brenna?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Brenna? Like my Brenna?”

Lynn smiled. “Sure. I think she would do a PA job really well. Plus you already know her.”

“But she wouldn’t know what to do. She’s never done anything like that before.”

“Neither had Trace. It’s not the hardest thing to pick up. I think she would be good at it.”

“Yeah, but she’s have to move out to LA with me. Like as soon as I got back she’d have to move.”

“As much as you two talk she’s had to have mentioned how she wants to move to a bigger city.”

“Yeah, but she’s always said she wants to do that later, not right now.”

“I think that’s more of a money issue than anything.”

Justin sat down at the table across from his mother. “You really think she’d want to do it?”

“I do.”

“And you think she’d be able to do it?”

“She’s a fast learner and she’s good with people.”

He ran a hand over his head. “Yeah, she is. And Trace could show her the ropes.” He sat quietly for a minute. “You know, Mom, that’s a really good idea. I know Brenna and we get along. It’d be cool to have her out there with me.”

“You should talk to her about it before getting Johnny to do any interviews. See what she thinks about it all.”

“Yeah. I think I’m gonna go over to her house now and see.”

“Now? It’s nine thirty in the morning.”

“She doesn’t work today and she’ll probably be up. I’m just gonna walk over.”

“You’re up to walking over there?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

He left the house a few minutes later and began the walk to Brenna’s house. The more he thought about it, the more excited he got. It would still suck with Trace not being his PA but if he could have another friend do the job, it wouldn’t be as bad. It would be fun to have Brenna as his PA.

He rang the doorbell at Brenna’s house and waited for a minute before ringing it again. It wasn’t until the fourth ring when he heard the sound of the front door being unlocked. He couldn’t stop the smile on his face when the door opened and he saw Brenna standing there, looking disheveled in a pair of sweat shorts and a t-shirt, her hair in a high ponytail. She squinted out at him and rubbed her eyes.

“It’s not even ten,” she mumbled.

“Were you still sleeping?” he asked, pushing his way into the house.

She stepped back. “What do you think.” She turned around and started towards the stairs. He followed.

“Aren’t you used to getting up early?” he asked, trailing his hand on the banister as he followed her downstairs.

She didn’t turn around. “Doesn’t mean I don’t like to sleep in when I have the chance.”

“Oh. Well I didn’t come over just to hang out. I wanted to ask you something.”

They reached her doorway and he went after her into the slightly dark room, only a small portion of light coming from the window. Brenna slid back into her bed and pulled the blankets over her.

“What’d you want to ask?” she mumbled, laying on her side facing him.

He sat down on her desk chair. “Kay, well I told you about Trace and how I have to find a new PA, right?”

She watched him through half open eyes. “Uh huh.”

“Mom suggested you”

“For what?”

“For my PA. And I think it’s a good idea. What d’you think?”

She squinted her eyes at him and was silent for a minute. “You want me to be your PA.”

“Yeah.”

“I wouldn’t know the first thing to do, Justin.”

“Me and Trace could teach you. It’s not that hard. And think about it. You’d be able to live in a big city like you want.”

“Where would I live?”

“With me. Just like Trace does.”

Brenna rolled onto her back and rubbed her eyes. “I’m pretty sure I’m not right for the job, Justin. You could get a million other people who would know what they’re doing and who are more experienced.”

“But I know you, Bren. A PA is someone I have to be around 24/7. I want it to be someone I know and like.”

“I don’t know, Justin.”

“Oh, come on. Don’t you think it would be fun? We’d get to hang out in LA all day long. And you get good pay as my PA. Ask Trace. He’ll tell you.”

She smiled a bit but then shook her head. “This is really something I’d have to think over, Justin. I can’t just decide now.”

“I kind of need a decision soon. Cause if you don’t want to do it, I’ll have to call my manager and get him to start looking for someone.”

She sighed and closed her eyes. “Give me a day or two.”

He frowned and leaned back. He had thought she’d be as excited about it as he was. He hadn’t been expecting her to not jump at the chance. “Sounds like you don’t want to do it.”

“I need time to think. You can’t expect me to make a big life changing decision in two minutes. I need to think and talk to my mom about it.”

“Yeah, I guess,” he mumbled.

She sighed. “I’ll let you know by tomorrow, okay?”

“Fine.”

She turned on her side again and closed her eyes. After a few minutes of silence, she opened them. “So I take it you’re just going to stay here then.”

He shrugged and smiled a bit. “I’ll just wait until you’re ready to get up.”

She groaned and threw the covers off her as she sat up. “You’re such a pest.”

He smiled wider and got up, grasping her hands to pull her up. “But you still love me. Reason #1 to be my PA.”

“Reason #1?”

“I’ve got a million reasons. I’m just gonna keep telling you them till you agree.”

She rolled her eyes. “Nothing like having something to look forward to.”

* * *

Later that night, Brenna went upstairs to the living room where she found her mother reading a book in the living room. She went into the room and dropped onto the couch across from her.

“Hey, Mom, can I talk to you about something?”

Elizabeth put her book down on her lap. “Sure, Brenna.”

“Okay, well you know Trace Ayala, right? He’s Justin’s personal assistant but he’s like gonna be going to school or something so he can’t do the PA thing anymore. And today Justin came over and says he wants me to be his new PA.”

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. “Really?”

“Yeah. I was surprised too. But he was all excited about it and now he’s like begging me to do it.”

“Would that involve you moving to Los Angeles?”

“Yeah. I tried to tell him that I wouldn’t know the first thing to do as a PA but he kept saying Trace would teach me everything. And he needs an answer really soon.”

“Do you want to do it?”

“I don’t know. It sounds like it would be fun and I’d get to live in a big city and everything but I mean, I’m not a PA. I work fulltime at a bakery. I dunno. What do you think I should do?”

Elizabeth leaned back in her armchair and was quiet for a minute. “I think it would be a good experience.”’

“You do?”

She nodded. “It would be good life experience. And you want to leave Shelby Forest. You’ve said that before. Here’s a way for you to do it.”

“But I wouldn’t know what to do.”

“It sound like Justin thinks you’d be able to pick it up. If he didn’t think you could do it, I’m sure he wouldn’t have asked.”

Brenna nodded and leaned forward, placing her elbows on her knees and propping her chin in her hands. “If I moved to LA then you’d be here all alone.”

Elizabeth was silent for a minute. “I suppose I would be,” she said finally. “But really, Brenna, no one’s expecting you to live here forever. I knew this day would come.”

“I guess.”

“So do you think you’ll take the job?”

Brenna leaned back in the couch and stared up at the ceiling. “I don’t know. I still got a lot of thinking to do.”