Page 51 of Tanner

Tanner’s grip tightened on the napkin. “It means I’m trying.”

Tanner said it in a flat tone, but Miles heard the strain in it anyway. Miles eased his stance before Tanner could read any challenge in it. “Alright.”

Tanner frowned at him, probably expecting more. “That it?”

“I’m not asking as a deputy sheriff. If I was doing that, this would be a very different conversation. I’m asking because if you leave it too long, somebody else will force the issue, and they won’t care how hard you’ve been keeping things together.”

Tanner swallowed. His eyes went to Savannah again. “She’s fine with me,” he said quietly.

Miles didn’t answer straight away. He made sure Tanner was looking at him when he did. “I know.”

For a second Miles thought Tanner might say something more, but just then Cody yelled from the grill that if nobody came and took the burgers right then he was eating them himself, and the moment broke.

Tanner shook his head, the edge of a laugh there and gone. “That’s probably a threat.”

“It is if he’s hungry.”

“And he’s always hungry?”

“Pretty much.”

Tanner looked at him then, more directly than he had all afternoon. “You always do this?”

“Do what?”

“Wait until somebody’s comfortable before saying the thing they don’t want to hear.”

Miles considered it. “No.”

“That should worry me more than it does.”

“Probably.”

Savannah came back to Tanner not long after that. Chalk still dusted over her fingers and now one cheek. Tanner lifted her onto his lap when he sat down, and she went without protest, settling against his chest with her head under his chin.

Cody walked over with a container in one hand and held it out. “For later.”

Tanner looked at it, then at him. “You already packed leftovers?”

Cody shrugged. “There’s always too much food.”

That got a small smile out of Tanner before he took the container and put it on the table beside him.

Miles stayed where he was, talking when somebody pulled him into a conversation and watching Tanner when he thought he could get away with it. Tanner had settled more than he had earlier. Not fully, though. Not enough that Miles would call him relaxed. But he was still there, Savannah tucked against him, listening when Cody said something and answering now and then. The trouble was he wasn’t only watching Tanner anymore. Somewhere along the way, Savannah had worked her way in there too.

At one point Tanner looked up and caught Miles watching and Miles held his gaze. Tanner looked away first, but not before something changed in his expression. Then Cody said something to him, low enough that Miles couldn’t hear it, and Tanner shook his head with the edge of a smile still there.

Miles took a drink from his beer and looked back toward the yard, but the pull of that glance stayed with him longer than it should have.

Chapter Fourteen

By the time the light started to fade, the noise had begun to lower. Tanner stayed where he was near the edge of it all with Savannah on his lap, her weight warm and heavy against his chest. She still had chalk on one cheek and watermelon juice dried near the hem of her shirt, and every now and then she shifted enough to remind him she wasn’t fully asleep yet.

Cody dropped into the chair beside him with a fresh bottle of water in one hand. Orsen stayed standing for a second, then sat on the bench opposite, stretching his legs out in front of him. Santino had gone to help TJ with something inside, leaving the three of them free to talk and nobody else close enough to listen unless they were trying.

Cody glanced at Savannah and lowered his voice without making it obvious. “She’s done.”

Tanner looked down at her. “Nearly.”