Been There Done That (Leffersbee #1) - Hope Ellis Page 0,121
He really was missing out. Mrs. Leffersbee had rarely made this when I was a kid, but she’d always busted it out for special occasions like my birthday. I did feel rather spoiled.
“I took his food and you took his truck? Between the two of us, I’d say I’m faring much better than him. My day just got a million times better.”
She smirked as she unloaded squares of cornbread. “He’s feeling a bit of sibling rivalry. Suddenly, he’s not the only son around for my mother to fawn over. It’s for the best. It’ll keep him humble.”
My breath caught on the word “son” and my chest tightened. My mother could never be replaced, I knew that. But to be back in the arms of this family . . . to once again be a treated as a son . . . I hadn’t imagined this moment would be possible all those years ago.
“Why’d you borrow Walker’s truck?” I kept the emotion from my voice.
“He comes here all the time. Keeps a readymade kit in the back. And I didn’t want mud caked on my tires.”
I flicked an apprehensive glance at the blanket we sat on. “This isn’t Walker’s, is it?”
She punched my arm, cackling. “Gross. Don’t make me think about strangers’ bodily fluids.”
I cracked up. “Is it?”
“No.”
“So it occurred to you already.”
“You’re disgusting.”
“Nah, I know Walker.”
We settled against the pillows, arms gently bumping as we ate while watching the constellations gain greater luminosity in the darkening sky. We talked about everything and nothing. Zora told me about her success in cleaning her office, filled me in on the most recent round of Walker v. Tavia and caught me up on town gossip. I let her pry the details of my week out of me while she watched me with slitted, all-knowing eyes.
“You have been some variety of asshole.”
“What?”
She shook her head at me. “You get this way when you’re bored.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Excuse me. I’m not—”
“Yes, you are. You’re bored. You did the same thing in school, remember? Before they finally understood that you were too advanced for the material? You’d cause trouble, disrupt class, get fascinated with random, bizarre things. It exhausted everyone around you.”
I stilled, considering her words.
She chuffed, popped a piece of cornbread in her mouth. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say it. I know I’m right.”
Jesus. Was she?
“I realized it the longer I listened to Eddie. The way you keep dragging the team into things, how you’re always searching for the next, near-impossible thrill like an adrenaline junkie? The short-lived victory when you pull it off before you’re moving on to the next thing? Same as before, I remember it. You’re bored.”
Words escaped me. Had she really summed up my discontent, the thing that kept me in near-constant conflict with our staff that easily? That she knew me so well, still, after all these years, brought a wave of affection. Now I’d have to grapple with her hypothesis, because there was enough evidence to support it.
Damn. I was bored. The realization was blunted by the fact that I was eating what was still the best gumbo I’d ever had in my life. This evening was already full of revelations.
“I forgot how good her gumbo is.” Zora sounded thoughtful as she examined the spoon she’d just licked clean. I looked away, thinking I’d give her an opportunity to finish eating before I mauled her in the back of the truck. “She hasn’t made it in years.”
“I’m bored.” I stared at her in the gathering darkness, heard the ring of truth in the words once I spoke them aloud. “That’s what’s wrong with me.”
She tilted her bowl to get the last of the gumbo. “Yes. I’m surprised it took you this long to figure it out.”
I dug an elbow into her thigh and she shrieked, then laughed.
“Okay, okay. I won’t be so smug. But I’m not surprised.”
“You’re not?”
“Nope.” Melancholy sat heavy in her voice. “It’s how it works, I think. You put everything you have into something, you throw all your effort behind a goal. And then, years later, you reach your goal and discover things are different than you thought they’d be.”
I considered her words as I poured myself more gumbo. “I can see that. When Eddie and I started this business in undergrad, my goals were to help people, but also to be first in everything we brought to the market. To win, to make all the money, to crush the competition.”