Page 105 of Last Chance Love

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Mona.”

“Where?” he asked, twisting around to look. “I don’t see her.”

“She was standing in the doorway, and the look on her face just…” I shook my head. “I don't know. Maybe it’s paranoia.”

“AboutMona?” he asked, cocking his head. “You know what, come on. Let’s eat outside.”

It wasn’t done often and usually got people scolded because they left things lying around instead of bringing them in to be cleaned. Yet I didn’t have it in me to argue as he led me toward the back of the dining hall and out onto the back porch. I took the nearest seat, dropping my plate on the small table beside it, and Leon took the chair on the other side.

“Talk to me,” he said quietly. There was no need to keep secrets. It wasn’t like anyone would hear us over the din of the dining hall. “What’s going on, and why does Mona have you jumpy? I’ve never seen you worry about her at all.”

“There’s been…well, it started a few months ago,” I said. “I-I debated whether I should tell you because, in the end, I didn’t do what was asked of me. But at the same time, I hated keeping something from you.”

He watched me carefully, his brow slowly knitting together. “What are you talking about? What secret? What did Mona do?”

I should have known that, eventually, I would tell him the truth. I’d kept it from him because I had bought into what Mona had told me when she’d given her reasoning for including me. Yet, as I’d told her recently, I didn’t think it was necessary. Maybe that had been why I’d never tried to do what she asked, instead doing what came naturally to me. Yet I should have known the truth would find its way out of me. I had never been very good at keeping things from Leon.

With a heavy sigh, I took an even heavier breath and decided to tell him about her plan. In retrospect, it sounded like the most ridiculous thing. Me covertly trying to nudge him in a direction I would have done even without her prompting. Looking back, I didn’t understand why it had been so tempting, even if it did include trying to help Leon see his full potential.

“I don’t know,” I admitted when I finally finished explaining. “Maybe I was trying not to piss her off, or maybe I was hoping that would mean I’d be able to spend more time with you.

“So, wait,” he said, having stayed quiet the whole time and letting me tell the story. That was all it took to immediately shut my mouth and let him say whatever he wanted. He had given me the same courtesy. “You agreed to manipulate me so Mona could have her way?”

“God,” I hissed through my teeth. “It was one thing to say it aloud and hear not only how stupid it sounds but underhanded. It’s something else entirely to hear you say it. Shit.”

Leon frowned at the ground, and I could practically hear the gears in his head whirling furiously behind his pinched brow. “I don’t get her sometimes. What was the point?”

“She sees a future for you here.”

“What?”

That was when I had no choice but to explain her end goal, how she saw potential in his ability to see into other people, understand them, and know how to bring out their best. How, in the end, she was looking to expand things so she could improve this place and probably settle some ambition she had in her head.

“Why, even when she’s doing something that could be good, does she have to play these stupid games?” he demanded between clenched teeth.

“Because,” I began with a sigh, wondering when the anger would show itself, “I guess she didn’t trust that you would go along with it. To be fair?—”

“Seriously? Now, you’re going to take her side? Like it’s okay?”

“As I said earlier, the whole idea was stupid and underhanded. I’ve already admitted that. And to be fair, youcanbe remarkably stubborn when it comes to people trying to help you or pointing out that you’re not a waste of space.”

“Fine, but I don’t need someone I’m supposed to be able to trust to start making deals behind my back to manipulate me into doing what they want.”

“Which is why I haven’t done it?”

“Really?” he asked, his brow shooting upward. “Because I recall you pushing me to do everything Mona asked.”

“Uh, everything?”

“You’ve been encouraging me this whole time to keep trusting my guts, to stand up for what I keep feeling in my gut, to be the mentor I keep thinking I can be.”

God, how absurd was this whole conversation? Without context, it would have sounded like we were arguing about whether it was a good thing that I was encouraging. I couldn’t blame him for being upset, though there were some things I hoped to address before this got too out of hand.

“Listen,” I said, hoping he was listening with more than just anger. “There’s no excuse for my agreeing to her idea, none. It’s not like she would have kept us from being around one another. She can be a hard ass, but she’s not spiteful.”

“You say that, but that woman makes me wonder.”

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