“What?” Darcy demanded, her engaging smile abruptly shuttering.
“It was a little loud. During group. Dr. Goedert asked if you might possibly mow the grass after lunch.”
Darcy wheeled around to stare back at the fire pit, beautiful face crumpling into a scowl. Her look at Dr. Goedert was angry enough to strip paint off metal. Her fists curled as though she were contemplating a physical reply against the person of the psychologist.
“No, I might possiblynot,” she said. “I have things to do after lunch. Itoldhim I needed this afternoon off.”
“I think they’ll be done with group in another half hour. Maybe then?” Teagan suggested, taking a step backward.
Darcy swung a leg over the side of the mower and hopped down, stalking over to Teagan. She poked him in the chest. “I have things to do in half an hourtoo. I have things to do all damn day today. You can tell him that if he wanted to decide when the lawn gets mowed, he shouldn’t have fired the lawn crew!”
“Why’d he fire the lawn crew?” Teagan asked, leaning away from Darcy’s accusatory finger.
“Because he figured I could do it for free if he bought a big mower,” Darcy growled.
Teagan closed his lips over the observation that it wasn’t fair. She knew that, obviously.
They stared at each other for a few tense seconds.
Then Darcy cursed, tossed her earmuffs to the ground, and stalked off toward the residence without a word of farewell.
Well. He’d said more thanHi, Darcy, at least. He’d also managed to piss her off.
Teagan stared wistfully at her retreating figure. He supposed that was his cue to go back to group therapy, except that he very passionately did not want to, and Darcy had promised that there would be trail breaking and other woodland adventures if he stayed, but all week long she’d only told him to rest and recuperate when he tried to raise the subject.
He stood in the field for too long before hurrying after her. Her mood looked incendiary, but he felt compelled to follow and ask about the other programming she’d mentioned.
He searched for her inside the residence until he located her in Rachel’s office, bent over a laptop.
“Oh, there’s Wi-Fi?” Teagan blurted. He’d been unable to connect his work laptop, which was the only device Darcy hadn’t confiscated upon his arrival.
“Not for guests,” Darcy said, glancing over her shoulder at him. She turned back to the keyboard, hunting and pecking for the keys she wanted. “If we gave you internet access, you’d use it to order hookers and blow.”
“Can you get hookers and blow delivered to Big Sky?” he wondered out loud. He’d assumed this area was too remote to even buy her flowers to thank her for saving his life.
“See, that kind of thinking is what landed you in rehab,” she said, finally spinning around in the chair and folding her hands across her muscular stomach. “So don’t even think about it. You can’t use the internet unless Rachel’s monitoring you. Why don’t you go back to therapy instead?”
Teagan grimaced. He didn’t want anything nefarious. He only wanted to check his email and voice messages, because he was sure his directors were going nuts after his sudden disappearance. God only knew what Rose had told them.
“I believe I’ve had enough therapy for the day. Is there anything else I could be doing right now?” he asked.Something with you.
Darcy pursed her lips thoughtfully and flicked her eyes at the window. “It’s a gorgeous day outside. If I were you, I’d get a canoe and a book and paddle out to the middle of the lake. Odds are nobody will bother you till dinner if you do that.”
“I just—what do you have planned, if you’re not mowing this morning?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Oh me? Very exciting plans. I’m going to watch a YouTube videoin German, which Idon’t speak, about how to fix the diesel generator. Then I’m going to fix the diesel generator. I’m going to swear a lot probably. Then I’ll watch the video again. Repeat as necessary.”
“Oh,” Teagan said inanely. “Do you... need any help?”
“Do you know how to repair a diesel generator?”
“No.”
“Do you speak German?”
“No.”
“Do you know any curse words I don’t? Remember, I was in the Navy.”
