Page 92 of The Shots You Take

“Oh, I don’t know,” Darren glanced up from where he was loading the dishwasher. “Maybe the way he’s always caressing you with his eyeballs.”

Riley scoffed. “Caressing.”

“Oof, those eyes, though, right? Breathtaking. I can see why you were head over heels.”

“It wasn’t because of his eyes.” Riley sighed, and amended, “It wasn’tonlybecause of his eyes.”

Darren closed the dishwasher, grabbed his glass of wine, then perched on one of the stools at the island. “Go on.”

“He was…” Riley couldn’t think of how to summarize everything he’d loved about Adam. “We were…” he tried again, then shook his head.

“I get it,” Darren assured him. “Like with Tom, I can’t even remember the why of it. I met him, and I fell in love.”

“Yeah,” Riley said, loving how simple the explanation was. “The why doesn’t matter.”

“Sowhydon’t you take that hunk home and love him all night long?”

Riley glanced at the entrance to the kitchen to make sure Adam wasn’t within earshot. He spotted him in the far corner of the living room, talking to Bea. “I want to, believe me, but it might not be the best idea.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Hey, the other day when I told you about him you called him a monster.”

“But that was before Isawhim,” Darren argued.

Riley huffed. “You’re a terrible friend.”

“No! Let me rephrase that: It was before I saw how he looks atyou.”

“Caressing me with his eyeballs.”

“Right! Anyway, he’s in love with you. Deal with it,gorgeous.”

Now Riley was really blushing, but he was smiling too. “He lives in Toronto,” he pointed out, needing to keep things grounded.

“So what? So did Tom. There’s a cure for Toronto.”

“He has kids there.”

Darren frowned at this. “Oh. Well, that’s a bit tricky. How old?”

“Fifteen and sixteen.”

“Pfft. I thought you saidkids. They probably haven’t noticed he’s gone.”

Riley shot him a withering look.

“Seriously,” Darren insisted. “You know what I was doing at that age? Smoking weed and making out with you. I didn’t care what my parents were doing. And you moved away to play hockey when you were how old?”

“Sixteen,” Riley mumbled.

“See? All grown-up.”

“Hardly. And anyway, he’s not abandoning his kids, and I’d never want him to.”

Darren sighed. “Fine. And I never saidabandon. He could fly to Toronto once a month, or, you know…FaceTime.”

Riley pushed away from the counter. “You made the right decision, not having kids.”

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