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“I worry about never trusting another person that way again.”
The lines lessened on his forehead as he turned to me, and we connected in our shared grief. “It would take someone extraordinary.”
“Yes. It would, but maybe I’m a romantic or just a fool. I truly think I’ll find that person,” I said in a wistful voice that didn’t sound like me at all. Maybe it was, though, more me than I usually was around most people.
Rick’s face was nearly hidden from me, but I saw his eyes, how they looked into mine then, searching. I don’t know what he thought he’d find, but his words were few. “You’d deserve only the best.”
It made my heart race when he looked at me that way. His eyes were keen on mine, but open, like he was trying to show me every thought in his handsome head. We spent the rest of the evening in silence until he left around ten. I sat for a while by myself, reflecting on the day, the conversations, all of them crowding into my mind.
The next morning, I went to the kitchen to fill my water bottle, meeting Rick there. I nearly felt my eyes popping out of my head when I saw him in his shorts and tank top. The guy was in great shape, thighs lean and hard, biceps rigid, lightly tanned skin soft and toned.
“Hey, Rick.”
“Hey! I haven’t done this in a long time, so I hope the two of you are patient with an old man.”
The body on him beckoned me to stare so that I had to pull my eyes to look into his face. “Old? Yeah, right.”
“Forty-eight this year. Maybe not old, but not a young man anymore, so you’ll both run circles around me.”
“Dad?” Chandler said from the doorway as he came through, holding his stomach. “I’m not feeling good.”
While Rick rushed to his son to check on him, I was skeptical. It felt like a ploy, but I could be wrong, so I kept my suspicions to myself.
“Pain? What’s wrong, Chan?”
“Nothing major, Dad. Just don’t feel too well. I think I’ll take some Pepto and go lie down for a while. You don’t mind me skipping out on the run, do you?”
His voice was simply pitiful, and his dad ate it up, though I saw it in Chandler’s eyes. He was faking, and I thought I knew why.
“No, of course not. Go lie down and rest. I’ll tell Phoebe to check on you after she gets Colby’s breakfast.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
After Rick left to take Chandler to his room and speak to Phoebe, I laughed to myself. Chandler was more obvious than he thought he was, and it was charming, if not a little annoying.
He, like I had, felt that his father wasn’t straight, but possibly bisexual. I was pretty sure that Chandler had a plan to get his father distracted with his own romantic confusion. That would likely take his mind completely off his son’s choice of schools and the fact he was gay. After all, how could he protest his son being gay if he was dating a man?
Sneaky and I felt like I was being used, well, because I was. I wasn’t angry, however. If it made it easier for him, I would be fine with it. That was a long time before I thought anything would happen between the mayor and me.
When we got to the start of the trails, Rick took a few moments to stretch, all the while casting worried glances over his shoulder back at the house.
“If you want to go back to the boys, I can run alone, Rick.”
“No! No, I’d rather you didn’t go alone, actually. There are predators out here. We’ve seen bears, lions, and snakes. I realize you have a cell, but we also have sketchy reception in certain places.”
Was it for my safety or to be close to me? I’m sure Chandler would delight in thinking it was the latter. “Okay, then. We’ll make it a short one. I know you’re worried about Chan.”
He laughed as he started off, calling behind him, “I’m not as dumb as he thinks.”
I caught up quickly, and I couldn’t help but laugh as I asked, “Dumb?”
“He’s trying to distract me. I have a feeling he’s got something to tell me. He’s done this since he was little. If he had bad news, he’d distract me, but…he learned it from me. I parented that way.”
“He’s distracting you with the run?”
“No. With you,” he said without a glance at me and then jogged around a corner and started up an incline.
I caught up again, laughing. “Me?”
