Nerd Girl(82)

“Maybe in a few years. The market seems to be getting better. It’s fine for now.” He shrugged. “Would you like a tour?”

“Sure.”

He held out his hand and I took it, following him as he led me down to the basement. By the looks of it, the basement was the entertainment room. A large flat screen hung from the main wall with some expensive looking stereo equipment in the cabinet below it. There was an Xbox controller sitting off to the side and I noticed a few Halo game cases. What is it with men and video games? Twelve or thirty-seven, they all still loved playing them. A couple feet in front of the equipment sat a very comfortable looking old, worn, leather sofa. On the north side of the room, the sliding glass doors opened up to the patio with some light landscaping of potted plants and foliage. This was the deck I noticed outside above the garage.

“My dad would have a field day here,” I said, eyeing all the wiring which I was sure led to some surround sound speaker or something.

Ryan chuckled. “How was the brunch?”

“Good. I got the third degree about you, though.” I looked over at him and he raised an eyebrow.

“I’m sure you did,” he said with a mischievous grin.

Through the glass of one of the built-in cabinets, a picture caught my eye. Looking closer, I saw that it was a young Ryan and another guy, both in graduation caps and gowns. They looked so young and carefree standing in front of a classic yellow Mustang. They each had an arm draped over the shoulder of a very young Catherine. Catherine looked to be about fifteen or sixteen. Even so young, she was beautiful beyond her years. She looked like the epitome of the high school homecoming queen. He wasn’t kidding when he said he had known her almost his whole life. The picture brought forth images of my own youth; football games on a Friday night, hanging out late on a waterfront dock, pondering the future.

“That was my friend, Daniel,” he said quietly. He didn’t mention anything about Catherine, so I didn’t either.

“You guys look so young here,” I said, stating the obvious. “Great car, by the way.”

“My dad would let me take it out every once in a while. He let me drive it to our graduation ceremony. It finally broke down when I was in college. My dad sold it to some guy who liked to work on restoring old cars. I was heartbroken.”

“High school graduation?” I asked confirming another obvious point.

“Yeah,” he confirmed quietly. His tone was slightly off, so I peered up at him. His face held a hint of sadness. “Daniel was Catherine’s older brother. He died not too long after that picture was taken.”

Surprised, I looked up at him. How tragic to have experienced the death of someone so close to him at such a young age. He continued to speak, looking at the picture and remembering the painful event from his past.

“We were in a boating accident together. They said he died instantly. I knew my life was never going to be the same again after that.”

Wow. I let that sink in for a moment and let out a deep breath. I felt an unexpected heaviness in my chest. Ryan wasn’t kidding when he said that he and Catherine had a long history together. They had lost the same person, someone they both had loved and grown up with. They had shared both the memories and the pain of their loss.

I didn’t know why this bothered me so much. This was all history and in the past, and Daniel’s memory wasn’t a threat to me. Was I jealous of Ryan and Catherine’s shared memory of him? I felt shameful for even thinking it. Catherine was his past and I was hopefully his future. I just needed to get over it.

“His loss must have been so hard for the both of you.” Why did I keep saying things that continued to state the obvious?

“Yeah, it was,” Ryan said quietly. He didn’t elaborate further, and I didn’t push. He placed a hand lightly on my lower back, turning me towards the stairs.

With that silent gesture, I knew that he didn’t want to continue that particular conversation. We headed back up the stairs, passing the main floor and continuing up to the top floor. There was a room on the north side that he had turned into an office. The open space in between his office and his bedroom looked like a den with bookshelves and comfortable reading chairs. I walked over to one of the shelves and eyed his book collection.

“What’s your favorite genre?” I asked as I perused all the different authors and books. I saw mysteries, courtroom drama fiction, books about war, and a lot of business nonfiction.

“I read a lot of industry books on technology trends.”

“For pleasure, I mean,” I said dryly while rolling my eyes at him.