Page 25 of Fighting a Riot

Mom brought up traveling down sooner rather than later, but I insisted she wait.

Movement outside distracted me. I peered out through the open slats of the blinds and exhaled.

“Holy hell with a hand basket,” I muttered.

“What’s wrong? I know how you like to mess with common sayings, dear, but that’s a new one even for me,” Mom said.

A small brick patio with a teak pagoda butted up against the main house. Yak stood out there shirtless and lifting weights. I’d seen him shirtless twice, but I hadn’t wanted him to catch me staring. Now, I could gawk all I wanted.

“It’s nothing,” I said, my teeth sinking into my bottom lip.

“Elenora Rose, you just got back from an oncologist. You cannot say things like that and tell me it’s ‘nothing.’ Spill, young lady.”

I shook my head. “Sorry, you’re right. I’m in a new place, and my neighbor is outside.”

“That doesn’t even warrant a ‘hell’ let alone a ‘holy hell.’ What’s he doing? Yard work?”

Now I’d done it. Mom was happily married, but she read romance novels. Lots of them. She had an appreciation for male bodies, and she especially had an appreciation for people falling in love.

“No, Mom. He’s lifting weights. But it isn’t a big deal.”

“If you say so. Now stop staring at your neighbor. When’s your next appointment? And what’s going on with canceling the wedding? Do you need me to help out? Gary already called your Uncle Grant. They were driving down, so at least they don’t have to cancel airfare.”

When I finished telling her about my earlier phone calls, Mom let out an almighty sigh. “It’s a crying shame your brother can’t get here sooner.”

“Yeah, but I don’t need him to fight my battles, Mom.”

I could hear the smile in her voice. “Maybe I need him to do it so I don’t worry so much.”

“Mom.”

“Nora.”

If she said anything after that, I didn’t hear her. Yak had two dumbbell weights on the patio floor. He had his hands wrapped around them while he held himself in a plank position. Then he lifted one weight and executed a one handed push-up. After he went back to the plank, he put that weight down and switched hands.

Between Trixie’s encouragement to jump Yak’s bones and the sight of him holding himself up at this perfect angle, my vagina wanted me to plant myself directly under his taut frame.

“Nora! Earth to Nora. Are you still there?” Mom asked.

I cleared my throat. “Yeah, Mom. Sorry. I got distracted.”

“My goodness, how can you be so distracted. You’ve seen men lift weights before. Especially as much as you hung with your brother and his buddies.”

That wasn’t even close to the vision of Yak on that patio. Mainly because Evan and his buddies had been seventeen at the time. I didn’t know how old Yak happened to be, but he wasn’t a seventeen-year-old acting like a twenty-something.

Hell, he even made Destin look doughy.

Ugh. Why did I have to think about Destin?

“Mom, I’ll call you after my next consultation, all right?”

“Fine. But, let me know if I can help you, honey. Seriously.”

We hung up and I tamped down the smart-alec part of me that wanted to tell Yak he needed to do his workout inside –at least until May. This felt like torture, so I wandered to the small kitchen and whipped up some shrimp scampi.

Chapter 5

Against the Wall

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