“Trouble?” Kyle’s voice asked as the cushion next her sank.
She opened her eyes to find him holding a steaming mug of tea for her. She begrudgingly accepted it, shaking her head. “No more than normal. Thanks for the tea. You didn’t have to make another cup. I was just–”
“Trying to get me out of the room without asking me to leave? Yeah, I got that.”
“Sorry,” she said. “It’s just that–”
“Alex is freaking out about this whole thing? Yeah, I got that, too. Especially when he came at me in the kitchen.”
Ava chocked on the tea, coughing and sputtering as she set it on the side table, turning her wide eyes to Kyle. “What?”
Kyle waved dismissively. “It’s fine. It wasn’t a big deal. He just…freaked out a little bit about how he may have overreacted to what he saw when he walked in on us.”
“He didn’t walk in on us,” Ava shot back. “I mean, not like that.”
“I know that. I just think he’s reeling a little after the whole thing with your health and how you sort of kept it a secret.”
“I told him. I just…didn’t want him upset over nothing.”
Kyle shot her a glance. “It wasn’t nothing.”
“Well, now we know that. But at the time, we didn’t know what it was, and I–”
“Should have told him, just like you should tell him about Chris before something happens there.”
Ava clicked her tongue, shaking her head. “When did you become a grown up? You were fun when you came here, Doc.”
“Maybe because I actually really like you two. If you two broke up…” He heaved a sigh, shaking his head.
“What?” she asked. “I mean, that’s not happening, but it’s not like it would affect you.”
“Sort of. I feel like I would be a child of divorce.”
She screwed up her face. “You’re not our child.”
“No, but…you’re my friends. You’re…my only friends. And it would be awful if my two friends in the whole world weren’t also friends anymore.”
“That’s not going to happen, Doc. Alex and I are not breaking up.”
“Unless he gets mad at you for keeping the whole Chris is making a move thing from him.” Kyle wrinkled his nose as he shot her a glance.
She glared him. “Okay, okay, okay. I will tell him. I just…hate that this is all happening during a time when no one trusts me to make competent decisions because I’ve been drugged. Oh, speaking of being drugged…Shadow wants to do an on-site recon. You up for it?”
“Uhhhh, not sure I’m the partner he’s hoping for, but…yeah, if it helps out.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be with you every step of the way. I just think we’d be wise to have a doctor with us to decipher anything that we find.”
Kyle wiggled his eyebrows as he bobbed his head. “That’s a good point. I may be of some use to you in that respect. Also, I’m going to practice with my aim.”
Ava chuckled at him as she patted his shoulder. “It’s okay, Doc. Maybe leave the shooting to me and Shadow. You can’t be good at everything.”
“You are,” he retorted.
“Hardly. I’m very clearly a wreck at relationships. Not even the solid ones are easy.”
“Big deal. I am obviously awful at them, too. I have expressed my interest to not one, but two married women. Both of whom rejected me.” Kyle shook his head as he stared out over the roiling ocean. “I mean, how stupid can you be?”
“Cut yourself some slack, Doc. You’ll find the right one.”
