AllFreeNovel
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So much for her secrets to a happy life. He was the worst student on the planet.
His phone rang.
Leo frowned when he saw Ryder’s name appear on the screen. It was Saturday, and Ryder was supposed to have the day off. If he told Leo he had to go in, Leo wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold his shit together.
“Hello,” he said, not bothering to temper the hostility in his voice.
“Hey, Leo. You still running deliveries?” Ryder asked, oblivious to Leo’s anger.
“Yeah.”
“Listen, the boys and I were just talking. Decided we wanted to go camping tonight. School starts next week, and I haven’t had a chance to do any fun things with the guys this summer. Besides, I figured you could use a break from all of us.” Ryder lowered his voice as he added, “Give you a night alone with Yvonne.”
Ryder had been surprised to find Leo and Yvonne sitting very cozy on the couch together the other night. So much so, he’d been waiting up for Leo when he got back from dropping her off at the pub. It had been nice to talk to someone about her, and he’d been genuinely touched by Ryder’s support. The two of them had been virtual strangers when they’d moved in together, bonded by sons who were brothers. Since then, Ryder had become a friend, even though there were times Leo got a sense Ryder kept him—and everyone else in the world—an arm’s length away. He could only assume Denise’s death had broken something in the other man, and now he struggled to get close to anyone.
“Anyway,” Ryder continued, “we got the tent and sleeping bags out of storage. We’re hitting a grocery store on the way out of town for campfire food, then heading to Point Lookout for the night. Told them we’d do some fishing in the morning, so we probably won’t be back until mid-afternoon. You okay with that?”
Leo heard the words Ryder was saying, but they weren’t fully soaking in. He was getting a night off. A chance to be alone with Yvonne.
Every miserable feeling he’d been suffering floated away. “Seriously, man?”
Ryder chuckled. “Yeah. Seriously. I told you the other night. I owe you.”
“Thanks, Ryder.”
They hung up and, just like that, Leo found his silver lining. That weight that never fully left his shoulders lifted and he felt free. He texted Josh to say he wasn’t coming back to the farm as he’d originally planned, and that he wouldn’t be able to make it at all tomorrow. His brother would be pissed as fuck, but that was just too bad. Leo hadn’t had a day off in…years.
Marie was slated to visit their dad later and pick up their mom to take her home, as was their routine. So, the rest of the day was his.
And he knew exactly how he wanted to spend it.
He grabbed the crate of vegetables from the back of his truck, suddenly grateful he’d made this his last delivery of the day. Once he saw Yvonne, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to let her out of his sight…at least until the boys got back home.
Leo walked through the screen door and immediately spotted Yvonne’s cute ass as she bent over to pull a pie from the oven.
He wolf-whistled at Yvonne, not noticing her aunt Riley until the other woman laughed.
Leo turned and smiled at Riley. “You caught me.”
Riley walked over and grasped his chin in her hand, turning his head this way and that, inspecting him. He was a grown-ass man, but the woman had a way of making him feel like a small child, and not in a way he hated. Her concern for him felt nice.
“I like the smile, but you’ve still got those damn dark circles under your eyes. You getting enough sleep?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Eating right?”
“Nope.”
“Stressed to the max?”
He nodded. “Always.”
“Dammit. That’s what I thought. Yvonne, I thought we had a plan to fix all this?” Riley chastised her niece, who’d drifted over to them, amused by their interplay.
“He’s a tough case, Riley. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
“Speaking of building Rome,” Leo said. “Any chance you can get the rest of the day off? I’m free until tomorrow afternoon.”
