He got a funny look on his face. “I’m sure she got a clue now that I don’t feel the same way.” He leaned forward in his chair, propping his elbows on the table. His gaze was steady on my face as he whispered, “She talks too much.”
I reeled back and laughed. “I talk too much! Remember when you asked me, ‘do you always talk this much?’ You do, don’t you?”
A big smile came over his full mouth, and I swear he was more handsome than ever. “I changed my mind, and the difference is that I like hearing you talk.”
My heart skipped a damn beat or ten before he managed to keep going.
“I don’t like talking either, but you get me to somehow.”
I didn’t even try and suppress the elation that had blossomed in my chest. I was sure it was on my face too as I grinned at him, pleased. So pleased. “It’s a gift. My aunt says I’ve got a friendly face.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” he argued softly.
I shrugged, still beaming from the inside out. “So…，” I started to say, not wanting to talk about Amos’s flirty former teacher.
Those gray eyes caught and held mine, inviting my question.
“How are you? How’s Colorado Springs treating you?”
“Fine,” he said, lowering the cup to sit on top of the thigh furthest from me. “It’s keeping me busier than I was expecting. I’m glad I didn’t take the position when it became available.”
“Busier than our little stretch of the woods?”
He tilted his head to the side. “It’s more driving here, a lot more, but it’s still less. Less people. Less bullshit.”
“Any idea how much longer you’ll be there?”
“No. Nothing has been finalized yet,” he replied before taking another sip. “They told me no longer than two more weeks, but I’m not holding my breath.”
I moved my leg until it tapped against his. “I hope it goes fast, but we’re holding down the fort. Amos is doing okay, at least from what he tells me. He’s eaten dinner with me a few times when his uncle is running late, and I make sure to get him to eat some vegetables. I asked Johnny about him the other day when he picked him up, and he said he was doing fine.”
“I think he’s doing all right,” he agreed. “He doesn’t seem too heartbroken to be alone so much.”
I grinned at him, and his mouth hitched up in that familiar way I liked.
“You? You’re okay?”
We had barely seen each other in that week between the Hike from Hell and him leaving, and we hadn’t really gotten a chance to talk about what happened that night. Me almost losing it. Me sitting on his lap while he comforted me. Him stroking my back and holding me close. There were all these signs… all these things I picked up from him and… I wasn’t sure what to think about any of them. I knew a man didn’t act that way for nothing. I wanted to ask… but I was too much of a chicken.
But I still told him the truth. “Yeah, I’m good. Business has picked up a lot with so many hunters in town, so we’ve been busy at the shop.”
His purple-gray eyes were on me as the side of his leg nudged mine beneath the table. “And when you’re not at the shop?” Rhodes asked slowly.
Was he asking me…？ I kept my face neutral. “I’ve been hanging out with Clara at their house. I went horseback riding with one of my customers and his wife last week. Other than that…”
He took another sip, attention still totally on me.
“Hanging out at home after work with your boy. Same old. I like my quiet life.”
He pressed his lips together and nodded slowly.
“What about you?” I asked, ignoring the strange feeling in my stomach that was way too similar to the one I’d experienced coming out to see the woman talking to Rhodes. “What are you doing when you’re not working?”
The leg beside me shifted, rubbing against my own through my pants. “Sleeping. They got me a rental house that’s too quiet, but there’s a gym close by I can go to easily. I’ve gotten to see my brother and his family a couple of times. That’s about it.”
“How long are you staying today?”
“I have to leave tonight,” he said just as the music I’d been ignoring changed.
A song I recognized too well came on. I let it go in one ear and out the other, keeping my face about as even as possible. “Some time is better than no time,” I told him, feeling the strain in my cheeks before I managed to push the faint resentment away.