“He’sout.”
“Shit. Does Deniseknow?”
“I dropped that bombshell on her when I found her instead of SarahReed.”
His eyebrows rose and he looked like he was pondering something in his head. “Was that the first time she’d seen you since you’ve beenback?”
“Uh, yup.” He swallowed the last of hisbeer.
“That’s a pretty compact shovel you’ve got there. Can hardly seeit.”
“Whatshovel?”
“The one you’re using to dig that huge fucking hole you’rein.”
Chris rolled his eyes, but Jase wasn’t wrong. He was living Murphy’s Law. If it could go wrong, then it would. His hair fell into his face and he tried to tuck it behind his ears. He growled in frustration when it wouldn’t stay put. What he needed was some clippers, but of course his had quit working. And his beer wasempty.
Fuck you,Murphy.
“Jase!” Bree yelled from thekitchen.
“Yeah, babe?” he asked over hisshoulder.
“You gonna cook this meat or what? The natives arerestless.”
“Coming.” He turned back to Chris. “The woman wants mymeat.”
“Dude. How long you been saving thatfor?”
Jase laughed. “A while. Bree doesn’t appreciate my humor nearly as much as sheshould.”
He couldn’t imagine why. “Dotell.”
“I think it’s because she compares mine to Denise’s. That woman is the queen of one-liners.” He jerked his head toward the kitchen. “Come on. You can help man thegrill.”
He nodded and followed him through the kitchen to the back deck, grabbing another beer along the way. He leaned against the railing and scanned the large yard. The kids ran back and forth with Bree’s dogs, while Denise’s dog lay in the shade of a largemagnolia.
“This is a nice property,” hesaid.
“You didn’t see it last time you werehere?”
“We didn’t come out back, just stayed in thekitchen.
“Oh, yeah. It was Bree’s grandparents’.” He threw burgers on the grill and dropped the lid. “We talked about moving in here, but decided my place made more sense since I use the back of the property for V.E.T.Adventures.”
Shifting his hips against the railing to take some of the weight off his leg, he teased out the information Jase didn’t come right out and say. “You’re moving intogether?”
A huge, shit-eating grin spread across his face. “Yeah.”
Chris sipped his beer. “It looks good onyou.”
“What’sthat?”
“Domestic bliss.” It did. His friend no longer had that hollow, haunted look that had been a constant since his best friend Tony’sdeath.
“Damn straight.” He lifted the grill lid and flipped the burgers. “You should tryit.”
He shook his head. “Pretty sure I’ve lost any chance ofthat.”
