Page 55 of S.O.S. Billboard

Billboard blinked at her. “I, uh…”

With his hot and cold indecision, O’Shea was having trouble holding her tongue. Billboard was making this extremely difficult. Especially since she was trying to maintain her aplomb, outwardly managing her sorrow while her dreams of being with the big lug were dashed.

“Never mind. I get it,” she spat out. “Sever all ties.”

“No. That’s not what I—”

A noise in the rocks behind them had them both clamming up immediately and turning.

“Ethan?” Billboard called out. “Is that you?”

A small head popped up, then another. “Uh, huh.”

Neither Ethan nor Rory looked happy.

“Umm, nice job, circling around so the girls wouldn’t find you.” Billboard praised. “I take it you used all the hints we gave you to obscure your trail.”

“We did,” Rory supplied in a small voice, but her tone held belligerence, too. “Andwe did a good job because you didn’t know we were here, either. Which means we heard you being mean to Miss O’Shea.” Her small chin went up and she glared at Billboard.

“I wasn’t being—”

“Yes. You were,” the small dervish countered, not letting him finish.

“Uh, Miss O’Shea?” Ethen chimed in with a little cough. Clearly, he was a fixer. “We, uh, me and my mother have an extra room, and we both love cats. I bet she’d be up for having you stay with us.”

Now here was an unexpected twist, and one that—if it worked out—suited O’Shea just fine.

“You know what Ethan? I might just ask her what she thinks when we drop you off later. Maybe she won’t mind some help with expenses.” They’d learned, through Ethan’s motor-mouth during the ride to the Blue Hills, that his mother worked two jobs: one as a receptionist at a dentist office, and the other as a bartender at a local restaurant.

Billboard spoke up. “Slow down, O’Shea. Aren’t we getting a little ahead of ourselves?” he rebutted. “It’s not exactly necess—”

O’Shea cut Billboard off, giving him a disparaging eyeball. “How about you and I talk this over, later,” she suggested, putting sugar back into her voice for the kids.

Who the hell was Billboard to make decisions for her? He’d already stomped on her heart after she’d laid it on the line. Wasn’t that enough? She disguised her hurt while giving him crap. “Just one more thing, Billboard,” she added, and this time he nodded. “Stop being a grump to your friends. I realize you have a problem with me, but there’s no reason for it to slop over into the rest of your life. Things will go back to normal for you as soon as I’m gone.”

The sour look she received from him, along with his nod, didn’t make her feel all warm and fuzzy, but hopefully, despite whatever ill-will he still had for her, the man would start acting a little more human around everyone else.

“Should we come out now, or should we stay hidden?” Rory piped up, clearly sensing that the adults were finished.

Billboard managed a chuckle, for which O’Shea gave him points. “No. I think it’s time to call it. The girls are probably stillheaded in completely the wrong direction. Let’s go join Prez and Sarge until Lakisha and Rainee admit defeat.”

“We win, then,” Ethan cried happily, scrambling to his feet, but before he could start over the rocks, he sent a hand to Rory so she could easily make the climb, too.

Sweet.

Ethan’s mother had obviously taught him some lovely manners. O’Shea wished Billboard’s mother would have knocked some politeness into him, but she feared his troubles stemmed from something that had happened to him long after childhood, coming from a place that was a lot deeper and darker than anything Ethan had ever harbored.

O’Shea scolded herself. She shouldn’t beworryingabout Billboard. He’d shut her down. He wasn’t her problem any longer.

****

The rest of the day went well for everyone except O’Shea, who couldn’t shake off her melancholy that she and Billboard hadn’t been able to share enough between them to overcome whatever wall he’d erected between them; to move on to form a deeper relationship. O’Shea hated losing, and it felt like she’d not only lost the love of her life, but someone who could have been a best friend.

At Wiley’s barn, Lakisha and Rainie, after the humiliation of not being able to find Ethan and Rory, buckled down and had proven themselves on the mats. It was clear that Prez had been teaching them self-defense. They’d not only acquitted themselves well, but helped in the coaching of the two younger kids.

Billboard, for his part, had made an effort to be more engaging, not only with his friends and the kids, but even with her.

Why the about face? Was he rethinking his previous attitude, or was he simply relieved that she’d agreed to move out? Whichever it was, O’Shea wasn’t about to be gulled into thinking his change of attitude was anything but self-serving, and she responded to his amended approach politely, but without an ounce of her normal warmth.

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