“No.” Leo almost shouted the word, then fumbled for a reasonable objection to an equally reasonable plan. “William’s going to be head of the outdoor education programs. He should get used to dealing with kids.”
William shrugged. “Sure. So Faith and I get the kids while you get the lessons set up.”
This time it was Faith who balked. “Which sister would we be picking them up from?”
“Vanessa.”
She barely hid her wince. “Maybe William should get the kids solo,” she said slowly, “which I guess means Leo and I could meet the ranger?”
“Makes sense to me.” The tension in his chest eased. “William’s on kid duty, and Faith’s with me.”
“I’m with you,” she repeated a little faintly.
She wasn’t really with him, but at least for a few hours next Saturday, he could pretend she was.
“Sorry,” she murmured, gesturing to an incoming call on her cell phone. Once she’d ducked out of the office, William turned back to the laptop.
“That’s not going to be a problem, right?” His tone was casual, but his question wasn’t.
Leo immediately bristled. “Meaning?”
“Meaning I’m not an idiot.” William crossed his arms and leveled that don’t-bullshit-me look that he had seen millions of times over the years, although it was usually directed at POR volunteers who thought they’d arrived in Brazil for a week of vacation. “You want me to believe that you two had a no-big-deal thing in high school that doesn’t matter to either of you anymore?”
He didn’t want to lie to his best friend, but he also didn’t want any extra drama.
“I hadn’t seen her since graduation day until I moved back home.” That was true at least.
“So it wasn’t serious?” William raised his hands in a defensive gesture before Leo could object to the question. “I’m just trying to figure out what you pulled me into the middle of.”
“You’re not in the middle of anything.” He chose to ignore the first part of the question, and for a blissful second it looked like his friend had dropped it.
“If you say so.” William stood, pocketed his phone, and headed for the door. “I’ve got a meeting at the park district in twenty. Quick question though. When did you get that tattoo that you always told me had no significance whatsoever?”
Leo froze, his eyes darting down to the black outline of the fox visible under his rolled-up shirtsleeve. “High school.”
“Mm-hmm.” William tilted his head. “And remind me what Faith’s last name is?”
“It’s Fox,” he gritted out.
“Well,thatis an interesting coincidence.” William’s mouth twisted into a devilish smile. “See you back at the house tonight.”
SEVENTEEN
Faith bit into her strawberry fritter and tried to ignore her friends. Unfortunately her friends refused to ignore her.
“Stop staring,” she mumbled around her mouthful of delicious pastry.
Thea eyed her over the rim of her coffee cup. “We will when you start spilling.”
“Or do I need to ambush you on-air again?” Mabel added.
Faith stalled for time with another bite of fritter.
“You two are way too happy in your relationships to be messing with your single friend.”
Thea reached across the table to rest her hand on Faith’s. “It’s because we’re happy that we’re messing with you.”
Easy for her to say. They were meeting for Sunday-morning coffee in Thea’s sun-soaked kitchen, and Faith couldn’t possibly be happier that her friend had landed her dream house and her dream man and her dream life. But it was also a reminder that she wasn’t at that stage. Like, at all.
