Page 39 of Sycamore Circle

“I am too.” When Grafton’s fist connected with Chance’s jaw, Mason winced. “That had to hurt.”

“Mason. We’ve gotta get involved.”

“You can if you want, but I’m tired of treating them like they don’t have a clue.”

Watching Chance pull Grafton down to the floor, Bo whistled low. “They kind of don’t.”

“What brought this on, anyway? I was with Chance all afternoon. We hung sheetrock with Seth on the new house on Adams. He seemed fine.”

“Yeah. I’m sure he did. He only falls apart when he doesn’t have a babysitter.” Mason sighed. “Chance isn’t all that good with time on his hands.”

“And Grafton?”

Mason rolled his eyes. “Grafton’s just an idiot.”

When the coffee table cracked, Bo stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “The party’s over. Everybody, go someplace else. Grafton, Chance, come on over here.” When both looked ready to protest, Bo interrupted. “Now.”

Five minutes later, Mason and Bo were sitting on one side of the poker table and Grafton and Chance were sitting on the other. It was hard to say which of the four of them wanted to be there least. Mason looked fed up. Grafton and Chance were ticked off and out of breath.

And Bo? Well, he was more confused than anything. “Do I even want to know what set you two off?”

“Ask him,” Chance said. “I just got here.”

Dutifully Bo turned to Grafton. “Well?”

Grafton shrugged. “It weren’t nothing. We were just messing around.”

“Don’t play that game with me,” Bo said. “I’m not a guard in the prison yard. My job is to make sure you don’t go back to prison, which means you’ve got to get your act together. What happened?”

“Chance was asking me about Molly. I know he asked just to mess with me too.”

“I wasn’t doing anything.” Chance turned to Bo. “I was just thinking about you and Joy and started thinking that it’s got to be hard to find a girl who sticks around. I mean, other than Lincoln and his wife. Her name’s Jennifer, right?”

“Don’t you start thinking about Lincoln and Jennifer,” Mason warned.

“And while you’re at it, stop thinking about Joy too,” Bo added.

Chance’s cheeks flushed. “Fine. I won’t ask anyone about anything.”

Bo glanced at Grafton. He was still breathing hard, and his hands were clenched. “Calm down, Grafton.”

“Whatever.”

Mason sighed. “Here’s the deal. Real life on the outside ain’t like life inside. If someone nudges you in the middle of the grocery store, it’s probably nothing more than they weren’t watching where they were going. If someone asks you about a girl or whatever, it doesn’t automatically mean that they want to start a fight. You guys need to get some perspective.”

“Can we be done?” Grafton bit out.

Bo exchanged a look with Mason. It seemed like their little discussion wasn’t over yet. “Chance, go clean up the living room. I’ll send Grafton out to help in a minute.”

Chance gave Grafton a wary look then headed over to the coffee table. When Bo saw he was occupied, he lowered his voice. “Grafton, you’ve got to get a handle on things. You’ve been out three months and you haven’t found your bearings yet.”

“I can’t help it. I miss Molly.” Meeting Mason’s eyes, he added, “I’m not cut out for this.”

“You’ll find another girl,” Mason said.

“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about this.” He waved a hand. “I don’t want to keep meeting with you and working and dealing with all your rules. Putting up with kids like Chance.”

“If you drop out, we can’t let you back in.”

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