He grimaced as he looked at himself in his bathroom mirror Wednesday morning, realizing he should at least tell Mitch that Brittany hadn’t hooked up with Jay. He knew Mitch probably had given her some kind of shit for it on his behalf.
After he got ready for work and armed himself with a thermos of coffee, he set out in the dark, early morning. One thing he disliked about his job, he had too much time to think, to be alone. Once upon a time, that’d been ideal. It kept him from having to be around some of the local guys that worked for his dad. Unfortunately, too much time to think right now was not doing much for Landon’s psyche.
He drove down the deserted stretch of Highway 82 until he reached the turn-off for the saw mill. He parked his truck in the usual place beside the office and gathered his jacket and thermos. Before making it to his rig, though, he noticed a light on in the office. He wondered briefly if someone stayed late, but that was unlikely.
After he tossed his things in his rig, checked his log books, and made sure his trailer for the morning was loaded down and ready for the three hour haul down to Laurel, he made his way to the office to make sure it’d been locked up, at least.
He frowned when he found the door unlocked. If his dad made it in first, there’d be hell to pay. He pulled the door on open and twisted the lock on the knob, but came up short when he heard the light sounds of music coming from one of the offices. He stepped in, wondering if maybe his daddy had come into work early. He couldn’t recall the last time his daddy pulled an all nighter since Landon’s mama put her foot down a few months back. Now that they had Jay around to manage the mill, his daddy needn’t lose sleep.
He walked back and realized quickly that his daddy wasn’t in, his office was still dark. But the door to Jay’s office was slightly ajar, light on and a Sheryl Crow song playing in the background. He started to make his presence known, but thought maybe he should just leave Jay to it. He smiled sadly to himself as he peeked in the cracked-open door. Jay sat at his desk, humming along to the song, writing notes in a ledger.
Landon turned to leave when Jay’s voice rang out. “Come in if you’re coming, Landon.”
Landon couldn’t gauge Jay’s mood by his mild tone. A tiny piece of his silly heart hoped the way Jay’s words sounded had been with a hint of amusement. He pushed on the door and walked in.
“Sorry. The light was on and the door was open. Thought I’d make sure someone hadn’t been dumb enough to leave the office unlocked.” Landon shuffled from foot to foot with his hands in the pocket of his jeans like a kid expecting to be scolded. “Didn’t want daddy starting the day pissed off.”
Jay finished scribbling in his ledger, then dropped his pen and leaned back in his chair. Jay’s tired smile and guarded eyes still gave nothing away. “Never good to have Ricky starting out the day with a thorn in his paw.” Jay stretched, diverting his eyes from Landon’s. Landon took in the sunken cheeks and dark circles under Jay’s eyes. Maybe Jay had actually been sick and not just avoiding Landon.
“Yes, I was actually sick.”
Landon tried not to balk at Jay’s having read his mind. “I feel kind of bad for wondering.” Landon looked down, self derisively.
“Well, I wasn’t just avoiding you,” Jay smirked. At least his tone finally gave away a little humor. Landon huffed a chuckle and looked up at Jay through his lashes, not sure if he wanted to get into a heavy conversation first thing in the morning. He definitely didn’t want to corner Jay if he was tired and not feeling well.
“I get these real bad headaches sometimes. They make me nauseous. Woke up two days in a row with one. I’m pretty much good for nothing but sleeping.” Jay looked Landon in the eye. “I wouldn’t let personal shit affect my job, Landon. That, I promise you.”
“I…” He flinched, remorse settling in. He couldn’t say he didn’t think Jay would, because he’d obviously thought so over the last couple days. “Sorry.”