Page 57 of Crazy for You

“Generally the best things in life have always taken me completely by surprise,” Ryan said, staring out across the square.

“And the worst.”

His brow furrowed. “Definitely the worst.”

“So what you’re saying is, the things we plan for end up being the mediocre parts of life?” She smiled as she popped the last bite of cupcake into her mouth.

“Guess so. That’s not so romantic, is it?”

“Maybe not, but I think you’re right.”

“I like being taken by surprise. You, Emma Rush, definitely caught me by surprise this year. This”—he leaned in and kissed her—“totally blindsided me. And now I can’t fucking get enough.”

Ryan spent the next week working his ass off at Off-the-Grid and spending every free moment with Emma. And not just screwing her brains out—although they did plenty of that—but rock climbing together, sharing meals and laughs, and enduring plenty of amused looks from the rest of the group in the process.

Wednesday night saw them all gathering at Ethan and Gabby’s place for game night. The women seemed pretty excited about it. Ryan would have rather had Emma all to himself that night, but this could be fun, too. As long as he got to take her home afterward.

Gabby and Emma had set up a pretty impressive spread of food in the kitchen. There were all kinds of chips, dips, wings, cookies, and a cooler full of beer. He filled a plate, cracked open a beer, and ambled into the living room. Ethan was jumping around in front of the TV, playing some kind of interactive video game. Trent sat on the couch, engrossed in his cell phone.

“Where’s Mark?” Gabby asked, propping her hands on her hips as she surveyed the room.

“He told me to make an excuse for him,” Ryan said.

“Nice excuse,” Emma said with a giggle.

Ryan shrugged. “He’s not so much into games.”

“Ethan told me he’s big into video games,” Gabby said, looking miffed. She whipped out her cell phone, presumably to call Mark.

“He is,” Ethan agreed, jumping into the air. His character on the TV screen did the same, leaping over an obstacle in his way. “And the designer of his favorite video game happens to be my fiancée, although…” He dodged to the left, and his character took a hit to the nuts, knocking him off his platform into the water below. “Fuck. I can’t remember if I ever told Mark that Gabby helped write King of the Desert.”

Ryan took a drink from his beer. “I can’t remember if I mentioned video games when I told him about tonight either. Might have just said games.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Men suck at communication. Who wants to play Cards Against Humanity?”

“Me!” Gabby gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up, phone pressed to her ear. “Mark, you better get your ass over here. We’ve got food, beer, and video games. Everyone else is here, and you should be, too.” She ended the call. “Voice mail, dammit.”

“I’ll make sure he comes next time,” Ethan said, again jumping through his virtual obstacle course. “He needs to get out more.”

“Is it because of his time in the military?” Gabby asked cautiously. “Does he have PTSD?”

Ethan stopped, causing his character to get whacked and fall into the water again. “Not sure I’d go as far as PTSD, but he’s definitely got some issues.”

“Has he talked to someone?” Gabby asked.

“I think he talked to a shrink at Fort Campbell when he was stationed there after he got back stateside,” Ryan said. “He’s doing good, all things considered.”

“I never asked what happened,” Gabby said. “You know, his scar and everything…”

“He’s never told us the details,” Ethan said. “But I think it was pretty bad. It’s not just the scar on his face. His leg is messed up and there were other injuries, too. He had to leave the Special Forces so when it was time for him to reenlist, it wasn’t too hard for me to convince him to come out here and join us at Off-the-Grid.”

“For what it’s worth,” Emma said, “and not to downplay what he went through in the military at all, but he was kind of a loner in high school, too. I think it’s just his nature.”

“That’s true,” Ryan agreed. The only time he’d ever seen Mark come out of his shell had been with Jessica Flynn, his high school sweetheart. Then he’d pushed her away, too, when he enlisted.

Gabby sat on the couch, rubbing her hands over the front of her skirt. “Well, I hope he comes. He should be here with us.”

“I agree.” Ethan went back to jumping through obstacles.

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