“Here you boys go.” Mom handed the pink lemonade-flavored water bottles to them, Rowdy trotting beside her. “I was just about to start lunch. Thought I’d whip up that taco casserole you like, Ryder.” She adjusted her slipping glasses. “Chase, you’ll stick around?”
“You don’t have to twist my arm, Mrs. Grant.”
“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Tillie?”
“At least once more.” Chase winked at her, eliciting a giggle. “Might just be the two of us, though. Ryder’s got a hot date.”
“Oh?” Mom’s voice climbed an octave at that.
“Was just going to grab some lunch with Kinley.Nota date,” he grumbled.
“Well, invite her over. There’ll be plenty. I better grab this dog some water and a treat.” Rowdy’s ears perked as she followed Mom up the deck and through the sliding door.And she pretends she doesn’t have time for a dog.
“Heard you and Kinley went fishing.Alone.”
“You’re worse than your sister, you know that?” Ryder groused. Secretly, though, he didn’t mind an excuse to talk about it. Especially now that he didn’t have to bring it up. Kinley being back in town was having strange effects on Ryder’s openness. He hadn’t decided how he felt about it. “We caught a couple halibut. Thirty-six and forty-three pounders.”
“Bet Kinley caught the forty-three.”
“Yep.” He forced down a gulp of Mom’s flavored water before pulling out his phone again to invite Kinley over for lunch. Mom had always liked her, even when people in town had less than kind things to say about her. To be fair, she nearly lit the park on fire with fireworks. But Mom recognized the rebellion for what it was:grief.
Chase knelt at one end of the dirt channel, assessing its dimensions that Ryder had guessed at. Ryder was happy enough to know his way around a lawn mower and putting down mulch. His buddy had the landscaping gift.
“Had anymore run-ins with that sleazy lawyer?” Chase popped back to his feet and nodded toward the blocks.
Ryder arched a brow, silently asking the question Chase wasn’t supposed to know anything about.What lawyer?
“He dropped his card on the deck at Warren’s,” Chase added, though it still didn’t explain how he got his hands on it. Ryder and Murph were the only ones out there, aside from the drunk she’d escorted off the premises.
Ryder glanced at the deck door, ensuring Mom was still inside and the windows were closed. Last thing he needed was her worrying about nothing. “Nope, nothing.” Except a close call outside Black Bear Coffee yesterday, but he dodged any interaction. “If he has sense, he’s left town and moved on to another pointless case.”
They carried block after block, refusing the wheelbarrow Mom suggested on two separate occasions. Ryder enjoyed the manual labor and invited the aches surely to follow after all the sitting around he’d been doing. He was ready to get back to work, back to what mattered.
“You saved that kid’s life,” Chase said when they were alone again, aside from Rowdy. “No one in town questions that.”
Ryder tensed, wondering how many people heard about this lawyer stirring things up.So much for keeping it under wraps. Lee hadn’t bothered him during a single day of his vacation, though. It couldn’t bethatout of hand.
Fiona’s old Buick rolled up the sloped driveway, effectively putting an end to that conversation.
“No hot date, huh?” Chase said. “You’re sure smiling like a fool.”
Ryder didn’t care. He had more reasons to smile since Kinley came back than he had in two years. He didn’t know how long it’d last. If he’d go back to brooding the day she left.There’s no way to make this work. Unless she moves home . . . someday.
“Kinley!” Mom popped out of the sliding door, interrupting Ryder’s chance to greet Kinley first. He gave her a nod but kept moving blocks, accepting that Mom was about to steal her away. The sooner the wall was reassembled, the sooner he’d be free to spend time with her. He hoped. “It’s so good to see you, dear.” Mom outstretched her arms, pulling her in for a hug Kinley warmly accepted.
“Future daughter-in-law?” Chase mumbled to Ryder, darting a friendly fist to the shoulder on his way to grab another block.
“What a beautiful necklace!” he heard Mom coo, though he didn’t give in to the temptation to look for himself. “We’ll be inside catching up, boys. Lunch’ll be ready in twenty minutes.”
Ryder sent Kinley an apologetic look, but she didn’t seem uncomfortable or put out about the arrangement. It all felt oddly . . .normal.
“If I didn’t know better—”
“Tell your ex-wife that you’re still married yet?” Ryder interjected.
“Oh, playing dirty.” Chase let out a long laugh, but he didn’t answer the question. “You win. I’ll stop giving you crap about Kinley,for now. But you’d better do something about that, man. You don’t always get a second chance to make things right.”
* * *
