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Before she could shut the passenger door, through gritted teeth, he said, “Friendship.”
She nodded, the ability to speak beyond her, and turned away, rushing into the pub and praying no one stopped her.
Somehow, miraculously, she made it all the way to her bedroom without running into anyone. Once there, she closed the door, locked it, dropped down on her bed, and sobbed her heart out.
Chapter Thirteen
Leo walked into his house and dropped down on the couch without even yelling out to tell the guys he was home. He sat there and stared at the TV but couldn’t summon enough energy to turn it on.
He’d driven Yvonne home three days earlier, and his life had been a complete shit show ever since.
After dropping her off, he’d gone to the hospital, where his father had been engaged in World War Three with his doctor, who insisted he wasn’t well enough to go home. It had taken Leo and his mother the better part of two hours to convince Dad to go to the rehabilitation facility, promising him it wouldn’t be for long.
The rest of that evening was spent moving his father, then he drove his mom back to the farm and stayed with her until nearly midnight. She’d been physically and emotionally wiped out, something Leo could relate to. So he’d sat with her in the kitchen and listened as she talked about all her fears, all the things stressing her out. It had occurred to Leo that he was definitely his mother’s son.
Vince had been asleep when he got home.
The next day and this one had both started at four a.m. with phone calls from Josh, who was “just checking” that he was up and headed to the farm. One of their hired hands had quit—probably because of Josh’s award-winning personality lately—so Leo had spent fifteen hours both days working with the crops, as well as taking care of some paperwork he’d fallen behind on since his dad’s heart attack.
Yesterday, he’d gone to see his dad after work, but today, he’d called en route and his mom, hearing the exhaustion in his voice, had insisted he go home instead, promising that his dad was settled in for the evening and resting peacefully.
He had tried to talk to Vince yesterday, but his son was giving him the silent treatment, still seething with an anger Leo had never witnessed in the young boy. He’d been too tired to engage in battle, so he’d simply walked away.
Tonight…tonight he needed to clear the air. Leo couldn’t go on like this. He was strung out and so fucking tired. Of everything.
He pushed himself up from the couch and headed toward Vince’s room, dreading the coming confrontation. He passed Clint and Ryder, who were heating up some leftovers in the kitchen for dinner.
“Oh, hey, Leo. Didn’t hear you come in. Man, you look wiped out.” Leave it to Ryder to state the obvious.
“Yeah. Vince in his room?”
Ryder nodded. “Dinner will be ready in fifteen.”
“Cool.” Leo hadn’t eaten much the past few days. He simply couldn’t work up an appetite.
He continued down the hall until he reached Vince’s room. He stood in the doorway, looking in. Vince was playing a video game, beating away at the controller like it had personally insulted him. From the way his son’s shoulders stiffened, Leo knew his presence had been noticed.
He walked in and dropped down on the edge of Clint’s bed, facing Vince. “Turn that off for a second.”
Vince slid him a sideways glance, then paused the game. He didn’t speak, not bothering to offer him a hello or even a fuck off.
Leo had considered what he wanted to say on the drive here. In the end, he’d decided there was no point in sugarcoating it or hemming and hawing. “I just wanted to let you know,” he started, “that Yvonne and I have broken things off. We’re going to go back to just being friends.”
Vince’s expression, which had been nothing more than scowls since the day of the fair, morphed to one of pure confusion. “What?”
His question took Leo aback. “We’re not going to keep dating. You said you didn’t want things to change and, well, we get it. Vince, I know the last few months…hell, the last few years have been hard on you. They’ve been hard on all of us. Losing your mom like we did, well, there’s just no replacing her. She was a very special woman, and she loved you more than anything. But I hope you know that I love you too, that I’d do anything for you. It’s been a crappy summer for you, and I’m sorry, but I promise from now on—”
“You were dating Vonnie?” Vince interjected.
That wasn’t exactly the response Leo was expecting after his heartfelt speech. He nodded. “You saw us kissing on the Ferris wheel.”
Vince shook his head. “No I didn’t.”
“Oh. Well, you got so angry the other afternoon when you got home from camping, when she was here, I assumed—”
“She’s here a lot.”
Leo wasn’t sure he’d say a lot, though now that he thought about it, before they’d changed the status quo on their relationship, she probably did drop by once or twice a month, and she was almost always bringing them food.
