When the worst had subsided, I propped my ass against the open trunk of my car and wiped my eyes, watching Si try to get himself under control. The man was so capable, but looked helpless in that moment. Vulnerable in his laughter. I felt something inside me crack a tinybit.
Maybe I did have need of a friend, afterall.
“God, if you only knew how smooth my game was earlier tonight,” he moaned. “You wouldn’t believeit.”
“Yourgame?”
“I was on a date. At a bar.” He lifted his head and gave me a rueful smile. “Guy was hot, totally into me. I’d almost locked things up.” He came over and leaned on the car beside me with a sigh. It was comfortable,companionable, and I found myself relaxing for the first time in… well. Awhile.
“Almost,” I snickered. “Sure.”
He knocked his shoulder gently into mine. “Believe what you like. It wasthisclose.”
“The guy must have been easilyimpressed.”
Si turned his head to glare at me in mock outrage. “I’ll have you know, lots of guys are intothis.” He waved a hand up and down hisbody.
“Uh huh. So what happened?” I demanded, still smiling. “How’d your destiny getderailed?”
Si snorted. “Destiny doesn’t exist, Ev. Everyone makes choices. And sometimes you have to live with the consequences of other people’schoices.”
“Okay.” I put my hands up in surrender at his unexpected lecture. “Whatever yousay.”
“Like, in this case, my date got derailed because a sweet old lady heard gunshots and decided to report it. And then further derailed when some dumbass got scared off the road by a deer or something.” He shook his head at me in reproof. “We don’t evengetmoose this farwest.”
No kidding. The moose had been about as real as myhallucination.
“So, kind of a wild night in O’Leary,huh?”
“Prettymuch.”
“And your date wouldn’t wait for you to finish yourbusiness?”
He sighed again and tilted his head back to look up at the sky. The moon had risen, and there was a smattering of stars just visible through the canopy of trees. “Most guys don’t like coming in second to the job. Kinda kills thevibe.”
I nodded. “Well, I’m sorry,” I told him. “For my part in thederailment.”
He shook his head like I was crazy, his eyes still trained on the sky. “Not yourfault.”
I tilted my head back so I could appreciate the view, too. I had to admit, it was kinda pretty. The night was mostly silent around us, but it didn’t seem so terrifyinganymore.
After a while, my stomach grumbled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten since… Damn.Yesterday.
Si turned his head and raised a teasing eyebrow. “We’d better get you to Henry’s before your stomach starts digesting itself.” He reached into the trunk for the largest of theboxes.
“Don’t bother with that one,” I told him, giving up on the idea of carrying them myself. “Just the othertwo.”
“The big one has all the incriminating evidence?” he joked, lifting one of the smaller ones into thetruck.
“It has art supplies,” I said dismissively. “I haven’t used them inages.”
Over a year, to beprecise.
Si looked at me curiously, hands on his hips. “Why not? Doesn’t it drive you crazy if you go too long without… doing whatever kind of art youdo?”
“Painting,” I said, frowning. “And yeah, it used to. Do youpaint?”
“Oh God, no.” He shook his head ruefully as he grabbed the other small box. “I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler. But Matty - my brother Matthias - he was a whole other story. Always had a sketchbook in hishand.”
