Machine by Normandie Alleman
14
Dynassy
“So I needto meet this Bridger fellow. I hear you’re dating him now. Regularly.” Lucinda sat across the breakfast table from me in one of her colorful mumus, a turban wound around her head, her face fully made up down to the false eyelashes and lipstick.
“I am.” The cameras were rolling, so I was less forthcoming than I might have been otherwise.
“Aww, c’mon. Tell me about him. What’s he like?”
“Well, he’s our mechanic. At least he works for our mechanic—you know, Sal at the body shop, the place where they’re working on my car.”
“That place that Nick likes.”
“That’s the one.”
“The car you totaled?”
“Why does everyone keep saying that? I didn’t total it. I just banged it up a little.”
Lucinda gave me a look that screamed “whatever” but she didn’t say anything.
“Anyway, I’ve seen him a few times since the event, and we get along pretty well.”
“Nice? Does he have one of those cute dogs, like those military dogs, the ones who’ve lost a leg in the war?”
I shook my head. “No, he doesn’t.”
“That’s too bad. Those are really cute, you know? That would be good on the special coming up. We have some dogs that will be there, but it would be better if he had one and it could be there.”
“Well I’m sorry that he doesn’t have a dog without a leg, but he’s missing one.”
Lucinda’s eyes grew big. “What?”
I laughed. “Kidding, Mom. But I got you there.”
Lucinda set her coffee cup down indignantly. “Dynassy Barnes, that’s not something to joke about.”
I giggled. “You’re right. I’m sorry. But he was injured in Iraq.” I wasn’t about to tell her what got injured, or how I’d somehow miraculously helped heal that part of his anatomy.
That night with Bridger had been amazing. All my concerns about him not wanting me flew away. I felt so badly for what he’s had to go through for the past five years, but it only drew me to him more, seeing how much adversity he’d faced and how he’d gotten through it. The man was a hero in every sense of the word, and the more I got to know him, the more I admired him.
“You say he was injured? So he’s a real hero, sacrificed for his country and all that. Is he okay now?” I could see the wheels in my mother’s brain whirring around in circles.
“He’s better. He had to undergo a lot of surgeries though.”
“But he looks okay? He’s all in one piece?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Mom. He looks good. He’s also an incredible person. Super talented. Very protective. Intelligent.”
“What’s his name, this Mr. Wonderful?”
“His name is Bridger Thompson.”
Lucinda took a sip of her coffee and smiled. “You’ll have to bring him as your date for ‘A Barnes Family 4th’.”
“I thought I would.”
