Page 79 of Last Chance Love

I stepped into the small building next to the clinic, where a lot of basic administration took place. It was technically part of the library, connected by a side door, but this was for guys to deal with their commissary accounts, sign up for courses the ranch had going, and deal with random things the ranch offered or took care of for them.

“Oh hey, Dane,” I said, stopping short when I saw him working the counter. “Since when do they have you on pencil-pushing duty?”

“Turns out Mona thinks I should be a little more hands-off with my mentees and shoved me in here,” he said with a shrug. “At least it has air conditioning, so it’s hard to complain.”

He was passing it off nicely, but I knew it bothered him. Dane and I had come into the program within a few weeks of one another and had both been offered a mentor position at about the same time. Like me, he had been really into the program and position and had shown passion for it. He was good at what he did and cared greatly, but he could be a bit of a helicopter mentor.

“Certainly beats standing around in the blazing sun,” I said, leaning on the counter. “Need to get a couple of my guys signed up for the earliest available survival and first aid courses.”

“Oh yeah?” he asked with a smile. “Preparing to test some of them?”

“Yeah, Reno and Elliot.”

“Really? Well, they’ve been doing really well from what I’ve heard, so I can’t say I blame you. But just the two of them?”

“Look, I brought them into this whole situation of just the two of them. I might as well let them continue that way until, I don’t know, Tier Three, I guess.”

“Huh, you know,” he said as he began typing at the computer. “I’m wondering why no one ever thought to shove two guys together to make them behave before.”

“Probably because all signs pointed toward Reno and Elliot trying to kill each other before they ever started getting along,” I said with a snort. “I just got lucky.”

“Or you knew what you were doing. It’s not like they randomly pick guys for the mentorship program,” he told me with a shake of his head. “Maybe you saw something the rest of us would have missed. It happens. Alright, I’ve got them set up for the survival courses this weekend, and they’ll have the first aid course on Thursday.”

“Nice,” I said, thinking the sooner the better. “There’s a few other guys I want to sign up as well, but they’re not as urgent.”

Dane glanced over. “Oh yeah? Wanting to see your experiment go up in flames or soar above everyone else as soon as possible, huh?”

“And how shitty would it make me sound if I said yes?”

“We’re all human, Leon. We’re allowed our selfish urges. Plus, most of us were sure this would fail miserably, and we’ve been proven wrong. So why not see it through to the end, right? Well, as long as you think they’re ready.”

“I do.”

“Alright, and the other guys?”

It took another few minutes to get the others set up and I chatted with Dane, thinking about what he said. Was it selfish to push Reno and Elliot to the next stage without being absolutely sure they were ready? It felt way too much like other times in my life when I’d been sure, when, in reality, I had wanted to be sure and couldn’t differentiate between the two.

Leaving Dane, I went to the clinic to see how things were going. I was technically assigned to deal with my guys and get some of the repairs and building done, but there wasn’t much for us to do at the moment. With the hotter, stormier months behind us, things tended to calm down, and I was sure I could leave them to their own devices for a bit longer.

I wasn’t surprised to find Reed behind the desk as he squinted at the screen, looking troubled. He didn’t notice me, and I had to rap my knuckles on the counter to get his attention.

My brow shot up when he jerked noticeably, whirling around to face me. “Well, hey, Reed. You’re jumpy today.”

“Sorry,” he said with a bashful laugh. “I was just hyper-focused for a moment. Didn’t even hear the doors open.”

“I noticed,” I said, glancing at the screen and seeing what looked like a spreadsheet. “Doing inventory or something?”

“Oh, Alice said something the other day, and it put a bug up my ass about keeping track of what’s going in and out of this place,” he said with a shrug, leaning back in his seat. “It looks fine to me, as far as I can tell, but not everything is available for me to see. I just…eh, it doesn’t matter. I’m sure I’m doing everything right.”

“You don’t exactly strike me as the kind to make lazy or stupid mistakes,” I assured him. Especially not after what he’d told me the other day about what had landed him in trouble in the first place. That was precisely the sort of thing that left a lasting mark that followed you around forever and kept you on your toes, if not paranoid. “I’m sure it’s just normal issues.”

“Probably,” he said, leaning forward to look me over. “Why do you look like you’re ready to fight someone and about to slink off and lick your wounds?”

“That is an incredibly specific look to have on my face,” I said with a snort. “Are you sure you’re not just reading into things?”

“Nope, you definitely have that look on your face. What happened?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not even allowed to digest things mentally anymore before you jump on me.”

---