Brenna was looking over a stack of papers when her phone rang. Lifting her eyes, she reached across the desk and picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Kate. How’s the first day going?”
Brenna sighed slightly and looked around the office-her office. “It’s alright. A little overwhelming.”
“You’ll get used to it. Hey, did you have time to go for lunch? I’m not busy so I thought I could stop by and we could go get something.”
“Yeah, that would be great. I need to get out of here for a while.”
“Are you wishing you hadn’t gone back?”
“No but it’s just really foreign. And I don’t know what I’m doing yet.”
“Just give it a few days, I guess.”
“Yeah.”
“So when are you free? It’s already twelve.”
“Whenever. I don’t have a car here though. Justin drove me this morning.”
“I’m really close to WEG. I’ll just stop by and we can go.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
“Okay. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Hanging up the phone, Brenna leaned back in her chair and stared up at the ceiling. It had been an intense morning with everyone introducing themselves and with her trying to learn everything again. Johnny had been really helpful and he had gotten another girl in the office, Audrey, to help her learn the ropes. From what she had gathered, she did anything and everything. She had been under the impression that as a PA she’d be kind of like a secretary but she was slowly learning that was far from reality.
She had only been off the phone with Kate for five minutes when there was a knock on the door and Kate poked her head in.
“Hey. Ready to go?”
Brenna stood up and grabbed her purse. “Yeah.” She followed Kate through the office and outside.
“So are you going to make it to the end of the day?” Kate asked as they got into the car. “You look a little stressed out.”
“Yeah, I am a bit. It’s just a lot to learn.”
“You’ll pick it up eventually. I’m sure everyone’s going to be really understanding too. Where did you want to go for lunch?”
“I don’t care. Somewhere where I can get some light food.”
“Is your stomach still getting upset?”
“Just if I eat really greasy food. Otherwise I’m okay.”
“I know this really great place a few blocks away. They’ll have good stuff.”
“Okay.”
“So why did Justin drive you this morning?”
“I think just to make sure I got there okay and everything was alright. He stayed for like twenty minutes before he left and he’s called twice this morning.”
Kate smiled. “That’s cute.”
“I think he’s expecting something horrible to happen.”
“I talked to him last night and I think he’s worried you aren’t going to like working.”
“So far I like it. Everyone’s been really nice.”
“Do they know that you’re pregnant?”
Brenna quickly shook her head. “Just Johnny.”
“Oh.” Kate pulled her car into the parking lot of a small restaurant. “This is it.”
Brenna undid her seatbelt and got out of the car. “Do you come here a lot?”
“Every once in a while. I’ve been coming here since I moved to LA.”
They walked towards the restaurant and when they reached the door, Kate went to open it but someone coming out from the inside opened it at the same time and the door bumped into Kate’s hand.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I-Kate?”
Brenna looked over at Kate when the tall guy with dirty blonde hair who was coming out of the restaurant said her name. Kate’s eyes widened a bit.
“Tyler…hey. How’s it going?”
“Good. Really good. How have you been? It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, it has. I’ve been good.”
The guy’s eyes moved to Brenna. “Drew told me about what happened. How’re you doing, Brenna?”
She gave a small smile. “Fine.” There was an uncomfortable silence and he spoke again.
“I’m, uh, Tyler.”
“Uh huh.”
“Yeah…” He turned back to Kate. “So are you keeping a busy schedule?”
She shrugged. “It’s not that busy.”
“We should do something sometime. Coffee or something?”
“Sure.”
“Is your cell phone number the same still?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I’ll give you a call sometime.”
“Sounds good.”
He stepped to the side. “I should get going.” He opened the door and held it open for them. “Have a good lunch.”
“Bye, Tyler,” Kate replied, walking into the restaurant. Brenna quickly followed behind.
“Who was that?” she asked softly as they were led to a table.”
“Tyler Dean. He and I used to go out. That was weird seeing him again. It’s probably been like seven or eight months since I last saw him. It was when Drew moved away.”
“Who’s Drew?”
“You don’t know anything about Drew?”
“No.”
“Oh. Okay. Well Drew’s a really good friend of mine and he and Tyler are best friends. When you first moved out here, you and Drew dated for a few months. Then you guys broke up and you started dating Justin. I was dating Tyler through all that. We broke up like a year and a half ago. And Drew moved to Chicago for a job.” Kate paused and looked up at the waitress. “I’ll have the cobb salad. Just water. Bren?”
“Um.” Brenna quickly looked at the menu. “The same.”
“Yeah, so anyways,” Kate continued after the waitress had left. “It’s been a while since I saw Tyler. Shit, I hope he doesn’t call me.”
“Why? You seemed interested.”
“I was just trying to be polite. It would be so awkward if we got together for coffee or whatever.”
“Why did you guys break up?”
“We just grew apart I guess. Tyler has a bit of a wandering eye.”
“He cheated on you?”
“Not that I ever knew of. No, he just was always checking girls out and it bothered me. And we were both always busy and ended up just never seeing each other. I had enough of it so I broke it off.”
“Oh. So what are you going to do if he calls?”
Kate smiled. “Not pick up?”
Brenna laughed slightly. “Really?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. He probably won’t even call so I won’t have to worry about it.”
Brenna nodded and shifted in her chair.
“Are you okay? You keep moving around.”
“Yeah. It’s just…my pants are a little tight.”
Kate got a gleam in her eye. “You need to go shopping. You can get some cute maternity clothes.”
Brenna shook her head. “I think it’s just these pants. I’m not that big, am I?”
“I can’t even tell.”
“I can.” She looked down at the table and then back at Kate. “Have I ever been pregnant before?”
Kate stopped mid sip of water. “No. You always said you never wanted kids before you were married and you and Justin were careful.”
“But what about before Justin?” Brenna asked softly. “Like when I lived in Tennessee.”
“Bren.” Kate lowered her voice. “Justin was the first guy you slept with.”
Brenna felt her cheeks go red. “Oh. That’s what I kind of thought.”
It was silence for a minute before Kate spoke. “Is that bad?”
“No,” Brenna said quickly, practically cutting Kate off. “I was just wondering.” She fell quiet, praying for Kate to change the subject to something else. Luckily, she did and Justin wasn’t really mentioned for the rest of the meal.
It was almost one when Kate dropped Brenna off at the complex and Brenna went up to her office alone. Audrey stopped her on her way by.
“Oh, Brenna. Justin stopped by.”
Brenna frowned in confusion. “He did? Why?”
“He said you forgot to bring a lunch and he was going to buy you something.”
“I already ate.”
“I know. I say you leave. I told you.”
“Oh. Okay. Thanks.” Brenna went into her office and over to her desk. On it, she found a handwritten note.
Brenna smiled slightly as she sat. She had never imagined Justin would be so considerate but the more she got to know him, the more she realized it was one of his best qualities. He was insightful and thoughtful and kind. Especially since they started going to Peter Waters, Justin had been a lot more patient and accepting despite the type of mood she threw at him. She was beginning to understand more and more how she had fallen for him in the first place.
“Brenna?”
She looked up at the knock on her partially opened door and saw Audrey standing there. “Yeah?”
“Were you ready to go over the computer system?”
“Yeah, sure.”
For the rest of the afternoon, Audrey showed Brenna through the computer system and how to work everything. When Brenna was finally alone in her office at quarter to five, she had so much information running through her brain that she felt like she would never remember it. Getting back into the job was turning out to be harder than she thought.
Brenna looked away from the window she had been staring out of when she heard Justin’s voice coming from outside her office. She stood up and went to the door and found Justin in the hallway, talking to Johnny. He saw her and stopped.
“Hey,” he smiled, coming over to her. “How did your first day go?”
“Good.”
“She’s picking up everything fast,” Johnny said. “Soon you’ll be back to normal speed, Brenna.”
“I hope so.”
“Are you ready to go, Bren?” Justin asked. “It’s five.”
“Yeah. I just have to grab my stuff.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Brenna,” Johnny said. “Have a good night.”
“You too,” she replied.
“See you later, Johnny.”
“Bye, Justin.”
Brenna went into her office and Justin followed behind her.
“So how did everything go?” he asked as she got her things.”
“Okay, I guess. It’s just a lot to learn.”
She nodded and picked up her purse.
“Ready to go?”
“Yeah.” She followed him out of the office and down the hallway.
“I was thinking we could just order something in for supper. That’ll save either of us from having to make something.”
“Sure.”
They reached the door and he held it open for her. “What do you feel like getting?”
“I don’t care.”
“Chinese?”
“Okay.”
“Once we get home I’ll call and get them to deliver it to the house.”
She nodded again and got into his car. He got in as well and it was quiet for a moment as he started the car and backed out of the parking lot.
“Justin,” she finally said, looking over at him.
His eyes moved from the road to hers. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for taking me to work this morning and picking me up. It just…It meant a lot,” she said softly, finding it hard to express in words how comforting it had been to have someone familiar there in the day.
His smile stretched across his face and she knew he understood what she was trying to say. “Anytime, Bren.”
