Chapter 10

It only takes one slow walking person in the grocery store to destroy the illusion that I’m a nice person.

-Fact of Life

Kennedy

Low and behold, that moment came the next day.

I was in town, picking up new nesting boxes for my chickens that I was going to go pick up tomorrow, when I saw the familiar tow truck out in front of the diner. The diner that nearly everyone in town ate at during lunch.

Making a split-second decision, I turned into the parking lot and came to a stop directly on the back side of the tow truck that I only assumed was Evander’s.

My thoughts were confirmed moments later as I made my way inside the diner.

He was sitting at the back of the diner, his back to the room.

Somehow, I knew he was acutely aware of everyone and everything that was happening in the diner.

I knew the moment he knew I was there because he stiffened.

He didn’t bother to look up from his tea, though.

He stayed exactly where he was, hunched over a book that was down on the table in front of him.

Without asking if it was all right, I parked myself in the seat directly across from him, and stared.

“Hello,” I smiled at him, causing him to bring his head up.

He blinked.

“What are you eating for lunch?”

He looked at his empty plate.

“Had a tuna melt.”

I nodded, and then flagged down the waitress, who was doing everything she could not to appear like she was staring at me.

“Can I have what he had, but a water instead of a tea?”

The woman, Phyllis, blinked. “Sure, darlin’.”

She stared at me, and then glanced at the man at my side, then shook her head.

“What are you doing?”

I returned my gaze to the man in front of me.

“What you expected me not to do. You were expecting me to ignore you, correct?”

He nodded.

“Well then, yes, I’m not ignoring you. And I’m actually kind of peeved that you think that I would.”

“Peeved?”

I nodded. “Peeved.”

“What, exactly, is peeved?”

“Pissed off. Annoyed. Irritated,” I informed him.

His lips twitched.

“Wouldn’t want to make you pissed off.”

I narrowed my eyes at his sarcastic tone.

“What are you, a buck ten?” he asked. “What could you do if you were pissed off at me?”

I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what I could do, but the server interrupted us.

“Your water,” Phyllis set it down, then immediately left.

I snickered.

“They really don’t like you,” I told him.

He shrugged.

“They think they have a good reason.”

They think. Not they do.

“I’m meeting the lady for my chickens later,” I told him. “Do you want to come?”

He stared at me. He did it for so long that I was on the verge of asking him what was wrong, but he smiled.

The smile made my heart stop.

My whole fucking life went from gray and bleak to so fucking sunny that I had to take a breath at the beauty.

When Evander smiled… Jesus Christ, it was poetic.

He was gorgeous normally, but when he brought that smile out…it literally melted my heart.

“Are you asking me, in front of witnesses, if I want to go out on a date with you?”

I opened my mouth to deny it, then closed it.

“Yes,” I said finally. “Come be a crazy chicken man with me.”

He snorted, then leaned back in his seat.

“I don’t get off until four.”

Those words made me so happy.

It wasn’t a no!

Over the next hour of the lunch rush, I ate while Evander spoke. At first, it was about nothing consequential…then he started to tell me about himself.

Whatever barrier that had been erected between Evander and I had been destroyed.

And now he actually spoke to me.

“My doctor said I should start killing people.”

I blinked at him, wondering what he was going on about.

“What?” I asked, setting my half-empty glass carefully on the table.

He nodded. “At least, that’s what I got out of it.”

“What was said, exactly?”

He was funny. Really funny.

He had a sense of humor that made me want to laugh out loud—which I would have done had we not been in a busy diner with nearly half the occupants already watching us with their speculative eyes.

“Well, he said I should reduce the stress in my life.”

“And that turns into killing people in your mind?”

He nodded. “The only stress I have is this shithole town and the people in it. Since I can’t get rid of the town, I’m thinking the people need to go.”

With that, I burst out laughing.

“You’re fucking nuts.” I shoved a piece of my sandwich into my mouth.

I liked this man.

He had a wonderful sense of humor, and it was sad that the people of this town didn’t see what kind of treasure they had in the man.

“Did you really go to the doctor?” I asked, the thought just now occurring to me.

He shrugged.

I sat up, my eyes narrowing.

“Evander.”

He sighed. “I was having chest pains.”

I gasped and nearly toppled the table over.

“Chest pains!” I cried out. “You’re only thirty-four!”

His mouth tipped up at the corner.

“Actually, it was because the chain on the winch snapped and popped me straight in the chest,” he supplied. “I had to get checked out per company policy. That, and Travis was there when I was recovering the vehicle and pretty much forced me to go.”

My eyes were still wide.

“You had a chain…what?” I asked a little too loudly. “Let me see!”

His eyebrows rose.

“You want me to take my shirt off in the middle of a diner where everyone and their brother is currently watching our every move?”

“Fuck everyone else,” I practically snarled. “Let me see.”

Let me tell you something about Evander.

He didn’t have a bone in his body that was modest. I’d learned that the hard way.

Or the nice way, depending on how you looked at it.

I’d been working that fence with him for the last two days, and he’d gotten all sweaty. Sweaty enough, in fact, that he’d deigned it too hot to wear a shirt, and he’d taken it off.

He didn’t see anything wrong with the act…and I didn’t think it was something I needed to tell him that men didn’t do when they were in front of a lady…a lady who they barely knew.

Since today had been the first day that he was back at work, after his two days off, I hadn’t seen him yet today.

Because if I had, I would’ve noticed early on that he wasn’t moving right. And sitting down, I hadn’t quite been able to put the dots together.

Evander had this grace about him, despite his height and bulk.

He looked like a great big cat that was always on the hunt for something—what, I didn’t know. What he didn’t do was favor one side and move stiffly.

Something in which I’d noticed, yes, but since he’d been sitting with me for over an hour now, I’d chalked it up to being stiff from remaining immobile for that long.

He was so private and asking anything about him that he didn’t freely offer up, I’d realized, was very hard for him to answer.

It was as if he had to think everything he said through, and if I asked him a question that he hadn’t thought about having to answer, it was like pulling teeth.

He didn’t like it.

So I’d learned to be quiet and let him steer the conversation where he wanted.

Or at least I tried to.

Sometimes I wasn’t always so successful.

He started to pull up his shirt, keeping the left side that faced the diner down with one hand, and raised it until I could see the dark, purpling bruises on his chest.

There was a distinct purpled chain link mark on four spots across his chest. One right below his right nipple. One about an inch above it to the right. One directly in the center of his breast bone, and one more just below his collarbone.

“Ohhh,” I winced. “That looks terrible.”

He shrugged, then pulled his shirt down.

Too soon.

I hadn’t gotten my fill yet.

Dammit.

“When does your sister start treatment?”

I looked up to find his eyes on me, and I started fidgeting.

“Tomorrow,” I hesitated. “I think.”

“You think?”

I nodded. “Yes, the last I heard it was tomorrow. I haven’t heard anything to the contrary yet, but as of a week ago, at the doctor’s office, it’s then. They put the port in two days ago…that, however, she never asked me to go with her to. They, my brother-in-law and sister, just did it without telling me she was having the procedure done, and before I could get up there once I did know, she was already on her way home from the hospital.”

He stared at me for a few long seconds, his brows furrowed. “That sounds kind of shady.”

I shrugged. “They kind of pushed me out of their life once they found out that she has cancer. It’s almost as if…”

I couldn’t finish the sentence.

Saying it aloud almost made it true, and I didn’t want to think the worst of my sister.

“As if what?”

I should’ve known the big man sitting across from me wouldn’t let my evasion pass.

I cleared my throat.

“Almost as if they’re blaming me for what’s happening to her,” I said. “They haven’t outright said it yet, but I can read between the lines. The only time we have together is when I’m getting my nephew to take him to practice.”

“I’ve noticed that they hadn’t made one yet.”

Ever since that first time I’d seen Evander at practice, he’d shown up at nearly every one of them.

The only one he missed was the one two nights ago when I’d left him at my house finishing my fence.

“Why do you allow them to use you?”

“She’s not using me,” I immediately argued. “She’s just doing the best she can.”

He made an sound that clearly let it be known that he didn’t agree, but I chose to ignore it.

“I’m helping her because I love her.”

That shut him up.

“Don’t know about love. But I know about loyalty, and they wouldn’t show the same thoughtfulness if it were you in the same position.”

I didn’t have anything to say to that.

He was right.

Nobody. Not my brother, who barely even gave me the time of day, my father, who only called me because he needed something, or my sister, would ever offer me help if I needed it.

My sister, I could forgive.

My father, I could forgive.

My brother, I could also forgive.

Which was the problem.

I was a freakin’ pushover, and I couldn’t stop it.

“I’ve been asking around about you.”

My brows shot up.

“You have?”

He nodded.

“What did they have to say?”

His eyes felt like they were boring into my skin.

“Honestly?” he asked. “Not fuckin’ much. They, the boys at the office, had no clue who you were. And since I’m not liked by the rest of the town, I didn’t learn much of anything but what I overheard some of the people say at the farmer’s market today.”

“You go to the farmer’s market?” I asked in surprise.

I loved the farmer’s market!

He grinned. “Yeah, the shit grown locally is ten times better than the stuff you can get at the store…plus, there’s someone there that I wanted to see.”

“Who?”

His grin widened. “A guy named Don. He’s the honey guy that sits on the corner of the road right outside of town. He waves at everyone.”

I clapped my hands together. “I do know him! I buy honey from him every so often. I even bought a walking stick once.”

He winked.

“I bought a walking stick there once, too.” he explained. “Then, on the way home, my bike broke down. When I got off, I placed my helmet on the ground behind the back tire. When I was going back to the bike, I semi tripped on the walking stick and sort of stumbled. To keep myself from falling, I moved down into the ditch further than I intended.”

“Yeah?” I sat forward.

“And a car hit my bike going almost seventy miles an hour.”

My mouth dropped open.

“You’re saying that this walking stick tripped you, and you moved out of the way in time to avoid getting ran over?”

He nodded.

“Holy shit.”

He nodded again.

“From then on, every time I see that man, I stop to talk to him. He’s become one of my best friends.”

I smiled, my lips spreading so wide that my face nearly hurt.

“I can only buy so much honey,” I told him. “But I do like him. I’ll have to make a point to stop by there more, though.”

His grin was sweet.

“He’s a lonely old man, and I’ve missed him these last four years. I think he’d like that.” Then he sighed. “I have to go back to work, pretty girl. Otherwise, I won’t get to go all chicken mad with you.”

I grinned. “I think I can deal with that.”

He winked, then stood up.

Before I could say another word, he left, stopping only at Phyllis’ side so he could hand her a fifty.

Then he was gone and I was left staring after him with my heart on my sleeve.