"You mean the hockey thing," he said quietly.
"Yeah, the hockey thing."
Lucy took a sip of her drink, trying to cover the silence that had taken over. It was kind of awkward, but it wasn't. She wasn't exactly sure how to define it.
Ryan finally sighed and took a drink from his glass. "The hockey thing is the hockey thing, I guess. It still sucks, but I feel like I'm starting to finally shake it off a little."
"I hope being up here has helped."
"It has. It's been quiet and I got to read a book and eat donuts."
Lucy let out a small laugh. "Eat donuts."
"Yes!" She turned to see him smiling warmly at her. "I wish I could eat donuts all day during the season, but you know how Andy is about me sticking to a healthy diet."
"So you're feeling better because you got to indulge?"
His smile faltered a bit and he looked down at his drink. "I like donuts," he said meekly.
Lucy's eyes narrowed as she took him in. What was making him so nervous about the donuts she gave him? She was about to ask him what was up with that, but instead he turned to look out at the lake in the opposite direction from where Lucy was sitting. His hand went up to his face, his fingers tracing the edge of his lip as he concentrated on the horizon over the trees. If he didn't look so serious and contemplative, she would've been staring seductively at his lips.
But then he took a breath and his eyes began scanning the horizon until she guessed she was back in his peripheral vision.
"Back at home, my friends kept pestering me about the final games of the season," he said seriously. "They were over analyzing things. 'Why didn't you do this?' or 'Your coach should've paired you with Moore,' or whatever." He shrugged and took another breath. "I mean, I've been friends with them since we started playing hockey together as kids, and I know they're well-intentioned or maybe just trying to live through me because I'm the only one not in a beer league at home with them. But it was just…"
His voice trailed off, his eyes fixing out on the water.
"It was too much," Lucy said.
"Yeah." He turned and gave her a small smile. "It's been nice being here with you."
"Right, me," she said sarcastically. "The lawyer who tells you gory Edgar Allen Poe stories."
Ryan laughed, and Lucy realized it was probably the first time she had heard him laugh like that in a long time.
"Yeah, those, and then you gave me a book about a grisly serial killer on the loose."
She shrugged a little. "You didn't seem totally freaked out by Poe."
He gave her a teasing smile that bordered on flirtatious, making Lucy feel strange things about him again.
"I wasn't freaked out by Poe," he said. "You, on the other hand, freak me out."
"Me?"
"You." His voice was teasing but matter of fact. "Normally, you're kind of — I don't know — big-city lawyer when you're in Detroit. But here, you bring me donuts, make me coffee, invite me to dinner."
"You've had a tough month," she said quietly. "I'm just trying to be nice."
"I know. It's just…different."
Different? So it wasn't only her who was feeling it.
"And then you gave me a book with a bunch of murders in it."
Lucy let out a loud laugh that scared a few birds out of a tree near them. He had sounded so kind and sincere and then…that. Count on Ryan McCloud to lighten the mood and take the less serious path.
She turned and saw him staring at her a little. It wasn't much, but when it was only the two of them sitting together on the porch, it felt like there was something more there.
