Page 34 of Knight's Fall

“Sorry. Didn’t know the neighbor was a touchy subject with you. What’s her name?”

“I’m not gossiping with you about my neighbor.”

“Whatever. I just wanted to know the name of the woman who turned you into an angry little knot.”

“Shut up, Jay.”

“Seriously, man. If this woman has you sitting out here drinking alone, maybe you need to do something about it.”

“You need to stop talking about shit you don’t understand.”

“So explain it to me. I have nothing better to do, and neither do you. Talk.”

“You’re not my therapist. At this point, you’re barely my friend.”

“Keep insulting me, but I know you better than most. I’ve hit a nerve, and I’m not leaving until you admit it.”

“Fine! I admit it!” Wings hadn’t meant to shout, but his outburst was the only way he could think of to stop Jay from pushing him. The noise startled the lightning bugs enough to light up like a fireworks show, and he could see a neighbor peeking out his window to investigate. He sobered, trying to calm himself before continuing.

“If I’m going to spill my guts, I need another beer.”

“I’ll get us both one.”

Jay stood and disappeared in Wings’ house, and Wings was glad for the moments to collect his thoughts. He couldn’t understand how his friends figured out about Courtlyn or how she would get under his skin. She hadn’t even been on his radar until he helped her break into her house. He’d seen her before, of course, both in the neighborhood and at the diner, but other than finding her cute, he’d never had a reason to interact with her.

Jay returned and handed a beer to Wings before settling back in his chair. He took a swig of his own drink before he spoke.

“She’s not home. We can move to the deck if you want to.”

Wings narrowed his eyes. “How would you know she’s not home?”

“The lights are out at her house. Either she turned in for the night pretty early, or she’s not home. Either way, I think you’re safe from seeing her if you wanted us to move to the deck.”

She was home. Wings saw her return from taking their neighbor’s dog for a walk, like she did most evenings.

“She works the early shift at the diner, so she turned in early. She has to be there before the sun comes up to get ready for the breakfast rush.”

“You know a lot about her for someone who wants nothing to do with her.”

Wings shrugged. “I’ve seen her at the diner. Plus we’ve sort of hung out some since I’ve been on leave from work.”

“BB said she asked about you at the hospital. She hadn’t seen you around and wondered if something had happened to you. He said he could tell she had a thing for you. I’m guessing the feeling is mutual.”

“I don’t have a thing for her. We’re…friends, I guess.”

Jay smirked. “You guess? Stop trying to downplay it. I know what it looks like when you suddenly start seeing someone in your life differently. You do remember how Payton and I got together, don’t you?”

Wings remembered all too well. Payton had been Jay’s sister Addison’s best friend, and Payton harbored a secret crush on him, though he never thought of her as anything but his sister’s shadow. After Addison’s death, Payton and Jay lost touch until she landed herself in trouble and needed his help. He headed up her protection detail, and it wasn’t long before Jay started sharing the attraction Payton had felt for so many years. The two were married after eloping to Las Vegas. They adopted Davi at the same time and then Stephanie a few years later.

“You want to know what’s going on? Well, so do I. Did BB tell you Courtlyn mowed my yard while I was in rehab? And she had food delivered to me from the diner after I came home. Her name is Courtlyn. Courtlyn McNeal, but her best friend calls her Coco. There’s a mean girl at work who calls her Mac, but she hates it so don’t ever call her that. Want to know the first time I talked to her? She was out walking the neighbor’s dog, which she does every day because the lady has arthritis and can’t do it herself. Courtlyn and the dog got sprayed with a skunk, and when she made it home to shower, she dropped her key under her porch and tried to climb through a window to get inside. I caught her as she fell, and then I picked the lock to get her inside. I even got the damn key back for her. And you know what? She smelled worse than the slums we were at in Mexico, where the people shit in ditches and the heat was hotter than hell in the summer. But you want to know what I kept thinking? She was cute. She was nervous and couldn’t stop talking and she was pretty damn cute. And she felt good. When I caught her, she felt like all soft and curvy and…Shit, I don’t know, but whatever it was, it was wrong.”

Jay didn’t reply, which was good because Wings was on a roll. The words came out of him as defiant, like he was trying to make Jay sorry he asked about Courtlyn. The more he talked, though, the more he realized just how messed up he was over this woman.

“I didn’t know it was her at first. When I found out, you know, that she’d been feeding me all this time, I went over to thank her. I’m not a total ass, you know. We talked about nothing, but it was nice. Like we could be friends. We hung out today. She came to help me out with Mo, and we painted in the house. We talked and laughed like we hang out together all the time. But I messed up. And I don’t know how to fix it or even if I should because like you and BB said, she has a thing for me.”

“And you just think of her as a friend?”

Wings nodded. “Right. That’s all she can be. She’s not my type, you know. She’s like Payton. Someone a guy marries and has a family with. But I’m not that guy. I don’t want to be that guy. My life is good, just as it is. When I’m back on my feet, things will go back to normal. I can finish the house, flip it, and move on to the next one. I won’t even have to see her after that. I mean, she’ll be at the diner when we go, but she’s in the kitchen most of the time. I can be in and out and never have to speak to her.”

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