What information did he have that made him go from classic Dad invalidation to full-on fake illness and shut the visit down?
My thoughts returned to the tiny cabinet in the small room.
Did he know about the tapes?
CHAPTER TWELVE
After kissingthe pavement again and watching June speed off with a cigarette in hand, I headed upstairs to my room to find my notebook. I hadn’t thought about the recordings from the children’s home since I left, but now they took up just as much space in my mind as the house itself. I wanted to find the tapes and burn them. Or hand them over to the authorities with a promise they’d never involve me or tell me what they planned to do with them. But mostly, I just wanted to burn them.
Taco greeted me with her signature smile, and I tucked her under my arm as I allowed myself a peek through the slatted blinds. Dax was in the cleared yard, creating the edging for what would be our new garden beds.
Did I mention he was shirtless?
In the midday heat.
Did this man not have one of his zillion other jobs to do? I didn’t know where he found the time or the stamina to be here so often helping Breeze. Maybe he did like her after all. Or maybe it really was a big-brother thing.
I watched as he raised a spade above his head and drove it into the earth, his toned frame flexing with the movement. His brown t-shirt hung from the back pocket of his jeans, and hisblack work boot pressed firmly on the blade. Every so often, he paused to wipe his brow with the back of his arm, and I imagined pulling the shirt from his pocket and doing it for him. Along with the rest of his chest.
I bit my lip, my gaze following the line of hair from his tanned stomach to the top of his jeans, and to somewhere I was definitely trying not to think about.
It wasn’t that I liked him. It was that I had perfect eyesight. And I’d have to be blind not to notice he was a good-looking guy. Things in my woods had been barren for longer than I could handle.
I wondered if gas station guy was still around? Surprisingly, I hadn't run into him again since I’d been in Glades Bay. Perhaps it'd been a mistake to turn him down after all. I ran a finger along my top lip as I continued to watch the shirtless show. Dax could be an option? I could think of a few ecstasy-filling ways to keep his mouth filled, so I didn't have to deal with that part. But he knew more about me than I was comfortable with, and I couldn't shake the discomfort of that. Know my body for sure, I didn’t have a problem with that, but you didn’t get to know my mind. That was one of the few things that had always been mine.
I watched as Dax connected the hose he’d brought with him this morning, and I pressed my face closer to the window, practically grunting with anticipation. Please hose yourself down. Or better yet, try to drink from it like a dog and kill the fantasy completely.
He did neither, and I was genuinely disappointed. He simply began watering the compost he’d spread earlier.
In that moment, Taco’s paw got caught in the string of one of the blinds, causing it to swing against the window as she aggressively flailed trying to detach herself.
“Hold on,” I soothed as I carefully untangled her. But the movement from the window had already caused Dax to look up.He stood on the mown grass grinning that smile that made me want to slap him and melt like an ice-cream at the same time. Did he know it was me? I crumpled to the floor like a child caught doing something naughty.
“I’m embarrassed for you,” Breeze said from the doorway. Her tone was dry, arms folded.
“How much did you see?” I asked from the floor.
“I arrived somewhere between the heavy panting and the part where you ducked like a twelve-year-old whose crush just looked up.”
My lips twisted. “Not much then.”
I gave Taco a quick ear scratch and let her go.
Breeze gave me a long look, her lips pursed like she was reading me. I wanted to look away. I was afraid she was seeing something that wasn’t really there.
“He’s not a crush,” I said, getting up.
Breeze made a noise in her throat.
“Well then, I can’t wait to see what you’re like around someone youdolike. If it’s any worse than that performance.”
I narrowed my eyes as she turned and walked back toward the stairs, laughing quietly.
“You’re something, Riley. I can’t wait to see when you figure it out.”
“Figure out what?” I asked, hands on hips.
She turned at the top of the stairs and glanced pointedly at the window.
