Page 72 of Hard to Love
She nodded once, a sharp gesture of understanding. “You know what your problem is?”
Oh, he had so many he’d stopped counting years ago.
“Your problem is you’ve been doing the stoic, lone wolf thing for so damn long, you’ve become incapable of trusting other people. Trusting them to help you.”
“WhywouldI trust other people to help me?”
“Because without trust, it’s impossible for you to believe anyone could love you. And love is something we all need, even the solitary Alex Villanueva.” She lifted her chin, but Alex could see emotions rolling over her face. Before he could reach for her, tell her he was sorry, she turned and strode toward her car.
Chapter Twenty
Greer lined up her shot on the seventh hole, swinging her focus back and forth from her neon yellow golf ball to the windmill that blocked the entryway to the hole approximately every ten seconds. She pulled a little backswing and whacked the ball with her putter. The ball careened off one of the windmill’s blades and ricocheted back at her, but her reflexes weren’t fast enough and the damn thing hopped over the tee box and did an impressive jump onto number six’s green. Sure as shooting, the little traitor rolled directly into the wrong hole.
Delaney watched the whole scene with raised brows. “Impressive, but don’t even think you’re changing your score on six to a hole in one.”
Lily Justin, a relative newcomer to Prophecy, said, “That kind of creativity should get some acknowledgment. I mean, just the physics involved—”
“I knew I liked this girl.” Greer snatched up her ball then scooted over and pulled Lily in for a one-armed hug. Lily didn’t hug back, but she did flash a small smile. Greer was dying for the whole story on the middle school science teacher who dressed in khaki skirts and plain button-up shirts, but she had a feeling that pushing for it would send Lily scampering back into the little frame house she rented over near the park. “How about a mulligan instead?”
“Fine,” Delaney huffed, “but that’s the only one you’re getting tonight.” Sipping on—and scowling at—her virgin margarita while holding Greer’s fully loaded drink in her other hand, she trained her attention directly on Greer’s newly teed-up ball.
This time, Greer’s ball sailed through without a hitch, and she two-putted it into the hole. Then she took her own margarita from Delaney and held out her hand for Lily’s so she could tee up her ball. While Lily was concentrating on her shot, Greer leaned in to Delaney and whispered, “There’s more to her than meets the eye.”
Delaney slid her a look. “Isn’t that the case with everyone? Most people aren’t open books like you. People are entitled to their privacy, you know that, right?”
Greer winced.
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t mean to.”
They watched Lily lay up so she was close to the windmill for her second shot. Just the thought of that strategy made Greer twitchy. Hit it hard. Go for broke. Do it now. Obviously not Lily’s mottos. Once Lily’s ball was through the rotating arms and she headed to the other side, Delaney said, “What didn’t you mean to do?”
“You know the little painted church I had delivered the other day?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I kinda walked in while Alex was praying.”
“Alex, praying?” Delaney’s hand drooped, which would’ve been disturbing if it was tequila dribbling onto the fake turf instead of just lime juice.
Greer lifted Delaney’s arm back to a perpendicular level. “He’s Catholic.”
“Okay, so that makes sense. But why in the worldwould you listen in on that kind of private conversation?” With narrowed eyes, Delaney cocked her head to one side. “Remind me to remind Cal never to give you a key to the house. There’s no telling what you’d walk in on and listen to.”
“Hey, just because I don’t have some of the artificial boundaries other people do is no reason to lash out at me.”
“But a man praying? You might’ve been better off interrupting him when he was jerking off.”
Now, it was Greer’s drink that splashed over her hand. She could totally imagine doing that with Alex. Somehow she didn’t think he’d have a problem with it either. That was, if he was over being pissed off at having her offer him help and a sympathetic ear. She slurped the sweet liquid off the back of her hand. “He’s got family problems.”
“Everyone’s got some family issues, and if anyone knows how hard it is to get past them and move on, it’s me.”
“But that’s just the thing, you did. And we have each other. You, me, Cal, Raylene, the whole town. It’s not just one person trying to take care of everything and everyone. We can always call in reinforcements. Not Alex. He goes all tight-mouthed.”
“Maybe he’s just not comfortable with the whole small-town, we-take-care-of-our-own thing.”
“But he needs to become a part of this community.” Greer took a healthy swig of her drink then stared down at her almost empty glass.
