Besides, Riley didn’t even know where Garrett lived, though a stop at the fire station to see Cole would take care of that.
No, she was going to Yuma.
She looked down at Copper. He met her gaze, one eyebrow higher than the other and cocked his head. “The shit you get me into.”
~~*~~
Garrett swore as the drill bit snapped. He was an idiot for trying to build a porch in the middle of the summer heat by himself, but the promise of shade sooner rather than later was too hard to ignore.
Wiping the sweat from his eyes with his discarded t-shirt, he dropped it on the sawhorse and went into the shed for another drill bit. He might have to take Mason up on his offer to bring over some of the firehouse guys to help. His dad had offered to stay and work with him, but he didn’t want him working in the heat. It was already close to ninety and climbing.
Opening his drill bit case, he paused at the sound of a truck pulling into his dirt driveway. Damn, his shirt was in front of the house. He’d bought the home as much for it’s potential as for acres of land that kept him from the eyes of prying neighbors. So, who the hell was here?
Standing in the dark shed, he peered out to see who had arrived. When Riley stepped out of her truck, he sucked in his breath. The sun glinted off her fiery red hair, beneath what looked like a new white cowboy hat. She wore a simple white t-shirt and her usual blue jeans. All dressed and ready for her new job.
The thought brought back his anger. What the hell was she doing here? Had she decided to say goodbye and rub in the fact she was leaving. If so, he could make this pretty quick.
He ignored the fact he had no shirt on and strode out to see what she wanted. “What are you doing here?”
“Hello to you too.”
He moved to where his tape measure sat next to his t-shirt. “If you’ve come to say goodbye, well goodbye.”
Using the tape measure, he ran it from one post to the other, then went back to a two by four and wrote the measurement down.
“No, I came because of Copper.”
Copper? He looked up to see her open the passenger door of the truck and Copper hopped down. Damn, if he didn’t miss the little guy. “What about Copper?”
“Whisper said he needs you.”
As if to prove the point, Copper ran to him and pawed at his leg. Shit, he couldn’t ignore him and not pet him. “Are you trying to tell me your abandoning your dog like you are me?”
She grimaced. “Shit, I deserve that, but no, I’m not abandoning him. I’m not abandoning anyone. Whisper said there was an unbreakable bond between you and Copper.”
He’d never met this Whisper, and now he wasn’t sure he wanted to. She sounded like one of those people who believed in crystals. Not that he had a problem with that, it just wasn’t his thing.
He crouched down and gave Copper most of his attention. At least the dog was straight forward with his affection. “What are you talking about, Riley? If you didn’t come to say goodbye and you didn’t come to drop your dog off with me before you left then why are you here?”
When she didn’t answer, he finally looked at her. “Well.”
“I…I…”
Did the woman not realize that just standing in front of him made the pain of losing her worse? “Damn it, spit it out.”
“I love you. Okay?”
He froze, his whole body stuck in time.
“I can’t help it. I didn’t want it to happen, but Whisper says we formed a bond and it can’t be broken. She said we would all be miserable if I tried to break it. Fuck, I’m so tired of being miserable. I don’t want to avoid life anymore. What the hell have I been surviving for if it wasn’t to live. I’m a complete basket case and a total mess, but for some reason I still want to be happy. That didn’t happen until you.”
His lungs finally sucked air in, and he took a moment to digest what she said. She loved him and didn’t want to throw that away? But could he trust her with his heart?
“So, you’ll be staying at Last Chance?”
She shook her head and his anger returned. “So, you’re still going to Yuma.”
She shook her head again.
