Burned

"Oh, my god," Bree muttered.

She remembered the shot and almost smiled.

"I did look pretty good in that one, didn't I?"

Her tone changed when she asked the question, and Bev smiled.

"Pretty good? You were freakin' hot!"

"Ahh, the good old days," Bree bemoaned. "Never to be seen again."

Bev wanted to say something encouraging but couldn't.

"Listen. My guy, Connor, he said he'll give me a call in a couple of days and let me know how it's going. When he does I'll update you. Or...I could have him call you directly."

"No. You handle it. I'm not ready to deal with all that, and especially not some guy who's seen me in a bikini."

Bev thought about telling her sister that Connor said she was beautiful but knew that would just remind of the way things used to be. Instead she told her she would handle everything but let Bree know that at some point he'd have to come to the house to install the new design.

"Oh, right. I guess I could stand at the left side of the desk with the left side of my face toward the wall the entire time," Bree said, trying to sound like she was kidding around.

Bev understood but knew that meant she was already worried about having to meet some strange guy, and that meant exposing her biggest fear to him. Bev ignored the comment and told her sister she'd call soon.

Jeff stopped by after he got off work and asked Connor what was going on.

"Oh, hey. Check this out," he said as soon as Jeff asked.

He showed her the pics of Brianna and got a whistle.

"Damn! She is fine!" Jeff said. "Does she have a sister?"

Connor laughed and told him, "As a matter of fact she does, but I have no idea what she looks like or even if she's available."

"That's okay. I've got a new hottie I'm hooking up with tonight anyway."

"The teacher's aide?" Connor asked, remembering how Jeff had drooled over her.

"One and the same. She is SO hot!"

"Yeah, yeah. All of your women are hot," Connor said partly in disgust and partly out of resignation that his weren't and probably never would be.

"Want me to ask if she has a sister?"

Connor gave his brother a 'fuck off' look that made Jeff laugh.

"So...that's a no, I take it."

Connor flipped him the bird, and Jeff laughed even louder before asking what his bro was working on.

"The hot woman's new website."

"Oh. So...bor-ring!" Jeff quipped.

"I'll be making three months worth of your salary off this 'boring' design there, Bucko."

"I don't need money," Jeff nonchalantly replied. "When your dates consist of a cup of coffee or a drink followed by a roll in the hay, you don't need a whole lot of dough."

"I hate you," Connor said without even looking Jeff's way.

"I hate you, too, bro, and I uh, I gotta jet. Little Miss TA...that stands for 'Tits and Ass' and not 'Teacher's Aide', by the way, is expecting me at six."

"Have fun," his younger brother replied as a new idea hit him. "Oh. And don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."

Jeff laughed and unbeknownst to Connor, he flipped his brother off on the way out with both hands.

Connor worked 14 hours a day for the next two days and finished his big-money design which the new owner loved. He loved it so much he added a $500 bonus to the total with a promise of mentioning Connor's name to his own clientele.

A day later he had most of the design basics in place when he called Beverly. She was thrilled and thanked him for the update.

He told her she was most welcome then before hanging up he asked her about the pics she sent.

"Listen. I'm not sure this is appropriate," he began, "but I have to say I was...and still am...captivated by your sister. Well, her pics. She's...beautiful."

"I think so, too," Bev said, wondering if she should continue meddling or leave well enough alone.

"She looks like she might be in her 30s," Connor said before Bev could say anything else.

"Oh. Yes. She was 30-ish when those were taken."

Connor was staring at the bikini pic again and didn't notice the evasive answer.

"Do you think she'd even consider going out with someone who was say...27?" he asked a little pensively.

"Twenty...seven?" Bev asked, the thought of him being that much younger than her or Brianna having never crossed her mind.

"That didn't sound encouraging," Connor replied, trying to sound lighthearted.

"No. I...I'm sure that wouldn't be much of a concern," Bev replied in a way that told Connor he was missing something.

"It's probably just as well. I'm nowhere near being in her league anyway, so...."

"What? No. She's...she's very open to...new things. And people. And I can assure you looks aren't at the top of her list. Especially if, you know, she met someone kind and caring."

Connor laughed politely then said, "Unless he's 27, right?"

Bev knew better but couldn't help herself.

"You'll be meeting her in a few days anyway, so I want to let you know something," she began.

Without going into the details she let Connor know sort of generically that there'd been an accident of sorts and that a 'small part of her face' had been affected and that it was a source of a lot of concern for Brianna.

"Oh, gosh. I'm...so sorry," Connor told her sincerely as he wondered what it was and how serious it had been.

"Her uh, her ex-husband did that--and a lot more--so that's why I say that 'kind and caring' are really important to her."

Beverly felt like she had a shovel in her hands and couldn't stop digging the hole deeper with every word she spoke.

"I hate men like that," Connor told her truthfully. "I've never even raised my voice to a woman let alone, you know...."

"You sound wise beyond your years," Bev told him, the change in her voice evident to him.

"I try," Connor said with a laugh. "My brother is the brain in the family. Maybe I'm the heart?"

He laughed again, but Bev didn't. She went from feeling terrible for saying so much to someone she didn't know to wondering if she might have possibly done the right thing where Brianna was concerned. It was beyond a long shot, but she felt like she had to try wherever she could, even if Brianna got angry. She didn't know whether or not she was doing the right thing, but she did know she wasn't going to say a word about this to her sister as she thanked Connor again and ended the call.

Connor needed to contact Brianna at some point to set up a time to download the design onto her desktop, and after this conversation with her sister, he decided to call her the next day.

He waited another five days then dialed her number.

"Oh, yes! Hi. I'm so glad you called!" Brianna said after he introduced himself.

"My pleasure, and I have some good news. I'll be finishing up the design the day after tomorrow and wanted to touch base with you about the installation. For now, let me send you what it's going to look like. You won't have any functionality, but let me know if you like the overall look."

He sent it, and when she opened the link, she was amazed.

"I LOVE it! This is incredible!"

Connor laughed a little then asked her permission to finalize the design.

"Yes! Absolutely. This is even better than I imagined. Thank you!"

"It was my pleasure. Now we need to choose a time for me to stop two days from now. Will you be home then?"

"Yes, of course. I'm home pretty much all the time," she said without explaining why. And why would she do that to anyone, especially a stranger?

"What works best for you? Morning, midday, or evening?"

Brianna's first thought was when she could best hide herself from him and that was in the evening. After the sun went down. She could keep one dim light on near the computer and excuse herself when he sat down to do the install.

"Okay. Evening it is," he replied cheerfully. "Is seven okay?"

"Um...how long will it take?"

"About an hour, give or take. I need to run some checks after the install."

"Oh, well, in that case is eight too late?"

"I'm a night owl, so later is better. I was kind of dreading you asking me to come over at 8am, so 8pm is perfect."

She could tell he was smiling, and he had a pleasant voice and seemed kind, so Brianna found herself smiling, too, even though it was still uncomfortable.

"Then I'll see you in two days from now around eight."

"You will. And it was very nice talking with you," Brianna told him.

"Yes. You, too, Ms. Layton."

"Please call me Brianna," she said very politely.

"Fair enough. And I go by Connor."

"Okay...Connor. Thank you again."

As she sat there, Briana was feeling proud of herself for some reason. Perhaps it was nothing more than just talking to a man and not having the feeling that her skin was crawling. Maybe it was because he was just a nice guy who was easy to talk to. Whatever the reason, she allowed herself to bask in the 'afterglow' the rest of the day and imagine that one day she would somehow find someone who could, well, literally look beyond her burn.

As the day of installation wore on, Brianna found herself looking at the clock every few minutes. Around three in the afternoon she called Bev to see if she would be willing to come over about seven or so.

"Isn't that when Connor's coming over to install the design?"

Brianna didn't say anything, and her sister knew why.

"Are you asking me to take your place?"

"Well, you are paying for it, so I just thought it would make sense if you met him and since you'd be there, maybe you could just handle the install, too."

Bev thought about flat out telling her 'no' but couldn't.

"Tell you what. I'll come over and I'll even answer the door for you. But the rest is on you."

Knowing that was probably the best she could hope for Brianna agreed and managed a weak 'thank you'.

Connor showed up right on time. When Bev opened the door, he was so surprised it took him a second to ask if she was possibly Brianna's sister.

"I am. I'm Beverly but go by Bev. And you must be Connor? It's so nice to finally meet you. I can't wait to see the final product. Bree showed me what you sent it, and it looks fantastic!"

She invited him in, and he walked by she thought, "He's not...bad looking."

He was maybe 5'9" and on little on the thin side, but he had nice hair and kind of...sad-looking eyes that were his best feature. Not exactly a movie star but he wasn't...unattractive.

Bev walked with him and led him to Brianna's home office where she was sitting at the computer where he would be installing the new design. Her right side was to them, and when they walked in, she turned slightly and said, "Connor! Please come on over."

She stood up and again briefly turned about 45 degrees toward him as he walked right up to her.

"Brianna. It's a pleasure."

"Yes. Same here! Please. Go ahead," she told him as she moved to the chair she'd placed next to the desk just in case.

He saw her drag it over and smiled when she kind of looked his way.

"Will I bother you if I watch?"

She sat down and stared at the screen as he looked right at her and said, "No. Not at all. But it will take about an hour. And then there are the checks."

"Right. Well, can I get you anything?"

"No. I'm fine, but thanks. I'll uh, I'll just go ahead and dive in if that's okay."

"Sure. Yes, please."

Brianna was not only as attractive as the pictures made her out to be, her perfume was driving Connor crazy. As he inserted the flash drive he adjusted the way he was sitting to accommodate the growing problem he was experiencing.

He hair looked shiny and silky and she was dressed very nicely with the top she had on revealing the body he'd seen in the bikini pic.

"You know what?" he said as his throat got dry. "Maybe a glass of water would be nice."

He had a small rag in the black case he brought with him, and when Brianna got up to get his water he could wipe them dry.

"Bev? Could you please get Connor some water?"

After several seconds of silence Brianna called her name again. More silence.

"I...should go see where my sister went. I'll be right back. With the water."

There was barely enough room for her to stand up, and the only way out was around the front of the desk. Brianna felt anxious and almost nauseous as she looked at the 5-6 feet the desk took up and the task of walking around it.

As she did she made sure to keep her head looking straight ahead then casually brought her left hand up to cover the burned area even though it was on the opposite side.

Beverly was sitting in the kitchen and on her phone.

"Where were you!" Brianna nearly hissed.

"Right here. Why?"

Brianna glared but got no sympathy.

"I told you I'd open the door. I did that. My work is done."

Bree got a glass and filled it then stared her sister down until she left the room. Now she had to expose her left side or...walk backwards.

Beverly made her so angry she no longer cared about hiding her face or anything else. She prepared herself for the stare and the questions and walked in with the water.

Trying to remain civil with her guest she did her best to smile as she walked in.

"Okay. Here you go. One glass of water."

He looked up with a smile as his right hand also came up. He'd forgotten what Beverly had told him until his eyes saw where she'd been burned. It was covered with makeup but still unmissable. He only looked for a second, but it was too late.

"Do you want it or not?" Brianna asked as she felt anger and pity and self-loathing.

Connor took the glass then set it down, and for reasons he couldn't explain he stood up. Without asking for permission he put his arms around Brianna. She stood there like a rag doll as he hugged her.

And then he said something that changed her life.

"You're still beautiful," he mostly whispered.

The words were nice, but it was how he said it that touched her. Her anger drained and her arms came up and held him back.

"You don't have to say that."

"No. But it's true," he said as he moved his head back to see if she would look at him.

"You only got a quick glance," she told him as though she had to convince him he was wrong...or at least that he couldn't be right.

It took a few seconds, but when she did, he smiled and waited for her to do the same.

"See? I was right."

Still needing to prove he was wrong, she turned to her right.

"I'm not beautiful, Connor. This is the real me."

He waited for her to turn to face him again then told her she was wrong.

"That's not you. That's one tiny, little...insignificant part of you, Brianna."

He saw her looking for some sign of deception, but there was nothing to see. Connor not only saw the burned area, he really, truly didn't care. And he meant it when he told her she was beautiful.

She wanted to believe him, but she couldn't. She couldn't because she'd convinced herself she wasn't beautiful or anything close to it. She was...burned...and nothing else mattered.

"I can't change how you feel about...that," he said quietly as he looked into her eyes. "But I can tell you that it doesn't matter to me. At all."

Their arms were still around each other, and while she wanted to call him a liar, that was something else she couldn't do. She wanted to let go of him, but she couldn't do that, either. So she laid her head on his shoulder and let the tears in her eyes fall as he pulled her closer without saying another word.

It had been so quiet that Beverly slowly walked in to see if everything was all right. She froze in her tracks when she saw her sister and looked at Connor. He only winked and nodded so slightly that Brianna couldn't tell.

He then made a 'thumbs up' sign with one hand. Beverly nodded, smiled, and gave him one back before tiptoeing back into the kitchen.

Connor ran his hand up and down Brianna' back from the back of her head to her waist.

"Thank you," she finally whispered.

"Hey. You really are beautiful," he told her again.

"I'm not, but I like believing that you're at least willing to say that," she told him as the last of the tears fell.

"Are you all right?" he quietly asked.

He felt her nod then squeezed her body before relaxing his arms.

She raised her head, and even though her eyes were bloodshot and mascara streaks ran down her cheeks, Connor didn't even notice. He just looked at her then slowly and gently raised his right hand. He got close to her cheek when she flinched.

"It's okay," he said with a look of reassurance in his eyes.

She closed her as he touched her...there...the first time anyone who wasn't a doctor or a nurse had done so since that day. Actually, it had been much, much longer since anyone had touched her face, and as he did she looked at him with eyes filled with sadness and need.

Somewhere deep inside she knew she would never, ever let him--or anyone who looked like him--kiss her. But as he slowly leaned in to do that, she wanted this kiss more than anything she'd ever wanted in her life.

It was very short but also very soft and quite possibly the most significant event in the last two or three years. She knew it had changed her life. She just didn't yet know how.

When he finished the install and ran the checks, Brianna called for Bev to come in and have a look. The two sisters raved over the site as Connor explained it. But more importantly, Beverly saw her sister smiling and she was no longer hiding her scars. It was all she could do not to cry, and she was as happy as she could be that she'd called him to do the job.

After the short 'dog and pony show' Beverly said she needed to get going. She thanked Connor again and hugged her sister who quietly said, "You won't believe what happened!"

"Oh. Well, call me later and tell me. Everything!" Bev said without letting on that she knew.

When she gone, Brianna asked Connor, "Have you eaten?"

"No. Not yet."

"Would you like to stay? For dinner?"

"I'd love to," he told immediately and with a smile.

No, Connor Harrison wasn't handsome, but to Brianna he was the most beautiful man she'd ever known, and the one who made her believe she was beautiful, at least to him, and that was all she needed to know. Not just then, but for the rest of her life; a life that spent with the website designer who gave her love and most of all...hope.

******

When Connor asked Brianna to marry him just four months later, Nathan and Beverly both asked their siblings if they'd lost their minds. Neither of them believed in love at first sight, and they told their friends they thought they were moving way too fast. And yet they each knew the person they'd grown up with and what they'd been through. Their reservations aside, they could tell that Connor and Brianna not only believed in something they didn't, and both of them told their friend they knew from the moment they first kissed, and while they still didn't like it, that was good enough. They stopped offering unsolicited advice and gladly accepted the honor of being best man and maid of honor, respectively, for the wedding that took place just three months after that.

There were many times when, over the course of their lives together, that Brianna Harrison knew she would have never given a man like Connor a second look, even if he'd been her age, because, well, 8s don't date 6s. More importantly, she now knew that had she not been burned she would have missed on the kind of love she'd craved and always wanted, because it came from a man she wouldn't have found attractive.

To her, Connor wasn't a 6. In her new reality he was a solid 10, and if that wasn't enough, her loving husband also gave her two beautiful children she adored and who also loved her unconditionally.

She even got to where she honestly felt that being burned may have been the best, worst thing that had ever happened to her.

Next to her amazing, younger husband and their two wonderful children, of course.