Can't Get Next to You

“So, you and Sutton seem cozy.” Duane says to his brother as they were walking toward the office one morning.

“What do you mean?”

“You two just seem to really get along.” he says, emphasizing the word, really.

“It’s not like that man. She’s my assistant and that’s it.” Leland says unlocking the office door, holding it open he let’s his brother walk past him.

“Sure she is.” he says, slapping his brother on the back.

“Just drop it. She’s a good girl and she works hard for me.”

“I bet she does.”

The two brothers dropped their conversation as the door opened and Sutton walks in, three Starbuck’s coffees in her hand. She had always stopped on the way to work and bought one for Leland and herself now she would have to start including Duane Lee in the mix.

“Morning guys.” she says cheerfully.

“Sutton is a morning person.” Leland tells his brother as he takes the coffee she was offering.

“Yet you two beat me to work?” she says playfully toward Leland before handing off the other coffee to his brother.

Leland sits down in his black leather chair, taking a sip of the hot liquid and says, “I like to keep you on your toes.”

Duane Lee clears his throat, looking over at Leland. Sutton sips her own coffee and looks between the two of them, they had obviously been talking about her before she came into work but she decided not to say anything.

“Hey Sutton, do you wanna go to lunch with me?” Duane asks later that afternoon.

“Um, sure. If it’s okay with you Leland?” she replies, looking over to him. He shrugs in return and goes back to work. The last thing she wanted to do was upset her boss by going out to eat with his brother who had just moved back to town.

“So where are we headed?” she asks Duane Lee as they turn onto the main highway.

“I was thinking about this little hole in the wall place I use to go to when I lived here before, if it’s still open.” he says with a smile.

She could tell by that crooked smile of his that he was probably trouble. She didn’t know whether it was good trouble or bad trouble. Duane seemed like the type of guy who was always flirting; he was confident and funny and obviously good looking, those things played well to his advantage.

The car came to a stop outside of what was truly a hole in the wall or as most Hawaiians would call it, a shack.

“I’ve lived here for almost ten years and I’ve never noticed this place.” Sutton says, as Duane opens her car door. She thanks him and follows him inside.

The owner and cook who happened to be the same person remembered Duane and asked if he wanted his usual. Duane tells the man he would like two.

“So, you’re ordering for me now?” Sutton asks, taking a seat outside on the patio.

“My treat, so I get to order.” he tells her.

“Oh, is that how this works?” she asks playfully.

“Yes ma’am. Trust me, you’ll love it!”

They studied each other while waiting on the food, each one trying to size up the other. Sutton always had a distrust for most people and Duane was no exception. She wondered why he had suddenly come back into his brother’s life. There had to be some kind of reason and she was going to find out.

“So, what made you move back to Kona?”

He takes a sip of his drink and carefully thinks about his answer. “Well, I guess the easiest explanation is that I broke up with my girlfriend.”

“So, this whole time you’ve been living in Florida, you’ve been dating this chick and you haven’t asked her to marry you?” She only knew this because she had Googled Duane Lee after he called his brother and asked for his old job back.

He looks surprised at her response. “I decided a while back that I wasn’t getting married again.”

“Well, that’s why she broke up with you.”

“I said, I broke up with her.” he quips back.

“Seriously dude, is that what you tell yourself?” Sutton asks. It was obvious to her what the problem was- his lack of commitment.

Just as he was about to come back with his own sarcastic remark, their food arrived. They thanked the owner/cook/server and started to eat, neither of them saying anything for a while.

“Mmm.” Sutton says, popping a french fry in her mouth.

“I told you!”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll give you this one. It was really good.”

“So, what’s my brother been up to since I’ve been gone?” he asks, propping his elbows on the table.

She wondered why he wanted to know, was it just that brotherly curiosity or was he just being nosy. Sutton decided that she should probably choose her words wisely when she answered his question, the last thing she wanted was for Leland to find out she was talking about him and his private life behind his back.

“He’s just been working a lot. He goes out on a lot of hunts alone.” she adds. “I really wish he wouldn’t because I know it can’t be safe. And he won’t let me go so...”

“No, he shouldn’t be going alone. We always said you should have at least three people.”

Sutton nods in agreement. “Yeah, I’ve heard him tell people that over and over again. But he doesn’t always practice what he preaches.”

“Well, we should get back to work.” Duane says, standing up. He pulls out Sutton’s chair like a gentleman would and then opens her car door.

“You are quite the gentleman.” she tells him as he starts the car.

He gives her that crooked smile again and she thinks to herself, yep, he’s definitely that bad kinda trouble.