Page 31 of Last Chance Love

LEON

Leaning on the fence, I watched Elliot and Reno paint one of the storage sheds. When I had a moment to spare, I would try reading what was going on between them, see if I could sense anything good growing or at least anything potentially bad that might spring up.

Yet, no matter what I did, something always got in the way. Whatever tuned sense I had for other people failed me with the two of them. Reno was an obstinate wall that sent me bouncing off every time I tried, and Elliot was like trying to grab hold of an eel.

The only thing I could measure was that nothing had happened. Well, other than the incident a few weeks ago when they ‘mysteriously’ showed up with bruises and cuts that could have only come from a fight. Yet the two had stood their ground and refused to admit it. I’d felt an absurd amount of pride, especially when they managed to withstand Mona’s interrogation.

Yet there they were, acting like they had from the first day. Well, not totally. There were differences, as subtle and hidden as they were. Elliot didn’t talkquiteas much as before, but he didn’t seem sullen or wounded. Reno still had the same sour expression most of the time, but I would swear he responded to Elliot with more than just curt insults. It was almost enough to say something was improving, but I couldn’t be?—

“Keep staring like that, and a certain good doctor might hear and get jealous,” a warm, wry voice chided me from behind.

I turned to find Riley standing behind me, a wide-brim hat perched on his head and a shovel in his hand. “Oh goody, you’re starting the jokes as well.”

Riley tilted his face down, bearing the wide, warm smile that was as much a part of him as his blond hair and the faint freckles on his boyish face. “Well, I wouldn’t call it a joke.”

“Certainly sounds like one,” I said, looking around. “Where’s your leash holder?”

“Oh, now who’s making jokes?”

“I wouldn’t call it a joke.”

He laughed at that. “Max is getting supplies. Apparently, I have the joy of digging fenceposts and ditches today. So he’s getting water and…other things.”

“Other things?”

“Yeah, don’t ask me; he was all mysterious about it. Pretty sure it’s something to torture me with. Who knows?”

“I feel you might know exactly what he’s going to get.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah. You just don’t want to say it to me.”

There was something almost wary in his eyes while he watched me, but it disappeared under the light of his smile. “Just so you know, I was teasing you but wasn’t trying to make fun of you. From what I’ve heard, you and Reed are pretty nice together.”

“There is no together,” I told him, ignoring the small skip of my heartbeat. There waswaytoo much between us to ever get back to where we had been when we were younger. It had started when he left to go to college, but I had been the one who had started the degradation of what was between us. It had been slow at first but grew exponentially with every passing year.

He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean like a couple or whatever. I just meant that you two seem pretty fond of one another. That’s the kind of thing I love hearing about around here. It’s nice to see people who come from such…I don’t know, hard backgrounds, find common ground, and develop relationships. I think it’s what makes this place work so well.”

“You make it sound like you’re observing the place instead of being here, being one of us,” I said, squinting at him.

He blinked and let out a little laugh. “Sorry. Kind of an old habit from when I was a kid. Just my way of, I don’t know, looking at things around me. It can be fun, you know? To look out at what’s happening around you, pull yourself back, and try to look at it without all your emotions and preconceptions.”

“God, you sound like Reed sometimes,” I said with a shake of my head. “College kid before you got your ass blasted by a court of law?”

He laughed again, turning to look behind him. “It’s endearing how you make it sound like you’re some hick who wandered out of nowhere, barely knowing how to talk.”

It wasn’t exactly an evasion, but itfeltlike one. It was enough to make me watch him a little more closely and wonder what was going on in that head of his. Riley was and continued to be very odd as far as things around here were concerned. It wasn’t just the educated way he spoke. Even educated people did stupid shit, ending up behind bars. There was just something about him that made him stick out in this place. I wasn’t the only one who felt he didn’t belong, but I had no hard and fast reason to think it other than my gut, so I kept it to myself.

“I’m serious,” he said, giving me a slight nudge. “I’m glad you have someone you can call a friend. It always seemed like you didn’t have much in the way of friends, except maybe Max.”

My brow shot up. “Please tell me you haven’t told him that.”

“What? That I think he’s the closest thing to a friend you have?”

“Wow! That’s just…I don’t want to say insulting because Max is a decent guy but, Jesus, if that’s friendship to you, I’m worried.”

He rolled his eyes. “I said it was theclosestthing to a friend I thought you had. Now I know the two of you respect each other and get along. From what I heard, Reed gets top spot for friendship with you.”

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