Page 68 of Rules to Love By

“So long as you followed them.” He poured coffee from a new machine on a console along the far wall and brought a mug back for Marcus, handing him a handful of creamers and sugar packets.

“Well, yeah. Thanks.” He accepted the drink and started doctoring it. “Obviously.”

“And you did.”

Marcus shrugged. “It kept her stress down.”

“Do you think Tris would have followed her rules?”

“Trisdidn’tfollow her rules.”

Ozzy’s lips quirked up halfway to a grin. “No. I guess he wouldn’t, would he?”

“Tris makes his own rules.”

“One of the things I love best about him, actually.”

Marcus wanted to say “me too,” but it would be a lie. Marcus had never understood why Tris couldn’t just do what Aunt Iris wanted and settle down. He’d always been a law unto himself, but it had never been a law Marcus could live by. There was no structure to it. Frankly, if he’d had to live the life Tris had… he shuddered.

Ozzy’s huge warm hand landed on his shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with following her rules.” His voice was so calm. So steady.

Marcus glanced up at him. “What rules?” Tears seared the backs of his eyelids, and his throat closed.Shit. Not doing this now. Here trying to behave like a fucking professional and instead start bawling. Perfect.

Ozzy squeezed but said nothing.

“There are no rules now,” Marcus croaked. Aunt Iris had made all the rules. Then Johnathan, but his had been shitty rules that had made Marcus angry, made him furious. Helpless, because he could see Johnathan was going to ruin the diner, but he hadn’t been able to stop him.

“Tell you what.” Ozzy offered one last squeeze, then stood again and went back to pour himself some coffee. “I have an idea.” He returned, pulled out his office chair and sat. “I’m going to remind Tris you have a job, some coin in your pocket, remind him that you’re being properly looked after.”

Marcus choked. “Looked after?HethinksIneed looked after?”

Ozzy did grin at that. He wasn’t looking at Marcus as he sorted out papers and separated a few into a neat stack. “Let’s just say I’ve gotten an earful—or ten—about it. He has opinions. But you knew that.”

Of course he did. Tris was nothing if not a tiny, feisty bundle of opinions. “So.” He tossed the empty packets into the trash can and pulled his chair closer, glad the near disaster of tears had passed. “What does he think should happen?”

Ozzy let his grin flatten and peered over a pair of reading glasses at Marcus. “Doesn’t matter. This isn’t about him, okay?”

“Isn’t it?”

“My proposal isn’t to keep my boyfriend happy. It’s about you. About helping you get your feet back under you. Trust me. You need your own balance, under your own power, if you’re going to date someone like Eli Benson.”

What didthatmean? Marcus blinked at him.

Ozzy held up a hand. “Eli’s a good man. Maybe even good for you. The trick is to be good for yourself before you get involved with another person. Understand?”

“That sentence? Yes. I guess. The concept? Sure. But…”

“But what?”

“But why do you care? I don’t understand that. Is it because Tris does?”

Ozzy took the glasses off and set them down carefully over the papers he’d been shuffling through. “I was supposed to join the army. That’s what my family has always done. I grew up an army brat. So did my dad. He met my mother on a base. It’s just… who we are. I went to ecclesiastical school instead. The best I could do was army chaplain.” He traced the wire frames of the glasses as he spoke, gaze focused on them. “Being deployed almost destroyed me. I thought maybe it had ruined everything I thought I was. It certainly made me rethink everything I knew about God.” He picked up the glasses and set them back on his nose, once more shuffling through the papers. “What it did not take from me was that piece of me that lets me see how best to help others find themselves. I lost my own self for a while, but…” He shrugged. “This, I can do.”

“So…” Marcus scowled. “You’re doing this—whatever it is—because you can’t not?”

“Because I can’t not be who I am. I do like being a contractor. I’m good at it, and this house appreciates me.”

“Okay.”

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