Chapter Two
BEING Ateacher in a small town meant that Ben Harding’s life was community property. He’d booked the afternoon off work and now he was going for a run, and even though he’d taken a compassionate leave, not a sick day, he knew that any parents who saw him would notice. Couldn’t stay at work with their precious darlings, but had no problem jogging around all over the place.Oh, they wouldn’tsayanything. But they’d notice.
So he’d taken the route out into the country rather than going along the river through town as he usually did. He could relax and enjoy nature without fretting about who was watching.
At least he should have been able to, but as he jogged past the cemetery he saw two vehicles off on the far side of the road. Seth would be driving the tow truck,and, yup, there he was, his bushy red beard clear even at a distance. But the other guy… shit, was he a parent? Damn, nice car, and the guy was kind of—
Ben stopped running so suddenly he almost fell over, too stunned to have properly balanced himself through the deceleration. The other guy. Oh.
He wished he’d kept running. Was it too late? If he just started again, if he powered right pastthem, ignored them both and apologized to Seth later? Could he do that? Or he could turn around—that was more his style, really. He could turn around and run away, and, yeah, that was pathetic but there was no one on the road right then who didn’t already know how pathetic he was.
No, he told himself.How pathetic youwere. Totally different. You’re older and wiser now.
He forced himself towalk on, and they stared at him liketheywere the ones freaking out. Okay, good. He could be the calm one for a change.
He should ignore Liam entirely. That’d be the cool thing to do. Say something casual to Seth, something about a new kind of beer or some sport or some other manly topic, and not even acknowledge that Liam existed. That’d be good.
But he was Ben the Chronically Uncool, so beforehe knew it he’d staggered halfway across the road and was staring at Liam like he was Bigfoot. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“I’m sorry,” Liam said. The last words Ben had heard from him all those years ago, and the first ones now. “My car broke down. Sorry.”
Liam’s car had broken down just outside North Falls, not in the city where he and the car belonged. But Ben wasn’t ready fora deeper conversation, not when he was still in shock just from looking at Liam. “Okay,” he managed. “Okay. I, uh—I’ve got to go.”
“You’re sweaty from the run. You don’t want to get chilled,” Seth said helpfully.
“Right,” Ben agreed. He took two steps, then three, and realized he was walking almost sideways, his gaze still locked on Liam’s face. Looking for—what?
“You’re an asshole,” he said.Not planned, but not a lie.
Liam just stood there. Seth nodded in sage agreement with Ben’s words.
“And what thefuckare you doing here?” Ben demanded, stepping back closer to Liam. “This is—I mean, obviously I don’t own the town, but you have no reason to be here, do you? You were so damn happy to leave this place behind, so what are you doing back?”
Liam still didn’t answer, and Ben foughtthe urge to push him, grab him,shakehim, kick his cheating, lying ass all over the damn road. “Fuck you,” he spat.
Liam actually nodded. But, sure, he’d been pretty damn agreeable all those years ago, too, once he got busted. Sneak around and make a fool of Ben behind his back, but to his face? Oh, he was so, so sorry to Ben’s face.
“Fuckyou.”
“This is going much better than I expected,”Seth said with a happy smile.
That reaction made sense, because Liam had betrayed Seth too. They hadn’t been lovers, but they’d been friends, all three of them, and Liam had lied to Seth and destroyed that relationship just as surely as he’d destroyed the one with Ben.
“Nice that he’s got a pretty car,” Ben told Seth. “Nice that thethingsin his life are valuable.”
And Liam turned away.
He’d been quick, but not quick enough, and Ben felt as if all the hot anger that had been running through his body froze. Not all the way to hard, solid ice, but into slush, slippery and useless. Because Liam had been—
“Can you give me a minute?” Ben asked Seth, and he waited as Seth heard the words, absorbed them, questioned them, and didn’t care for them.
“You sure?” Seth asked, and when Bennodded, he reluctantly turned and walked toward the far end of the tow truck.
Ben stepped to the side and Liam turned away again, but there was nowhere for him to look, not with Seth off to the left and Ben angling in from the right. He stood still, then lifted his hands quickly to his face, brushed at his eyes, and muttered, “Sorry. That’s—I have no idea what’s going on with that. Allergiesor something, hopefully. But it’s not you. That is, it’s not for you to feel bad about.”
“Oh, that’s really generous of you,” Ben sniped, but his heart wasn’t in it. Liam had been crying—wasstillcrying, because the initial scrubbing had removed the first set of tears but there were more coming now, fat and rounded on his golden skin. “What the fuck, Liam?” Suddenly, Ben realized where theywere parked. Liam hadn’t—he hadn’t known Terry well enough to care about his death, not this deeply. But there were other people buried in the cemetery, obviously, and one of them must have meant something to Liam. “I’m sorry,” he said. Then, quickly, “For your loss. Not for thinking you’re a fucking asshole. I’m not sorry about that.”
Liam took a deep, shaky breath. “Okay. But to be honest—Idon’t have a loss.” Another shaky breath. “Shit, I guess I should have just left that alone, huh? No point dragging you into whatever the hell this is. Sorry. Let’s start again. I just—thank you. For your condolences.”
