Page 11 of The One With the Mountain Man

"And under no circumstances should you agree to go to either book club."

"We have book clubs now? Plural?"

"This Book Club Is My Alibi—aka TBCIMA aka the Alibis—meets at Still Standing and Read What You Love—RWYL— meets at the bookstore."

"I see Sharon is at her acronyms again." The older woman loved coming up with quirky, long-winded names for things, shortening them to their acronyms, and then creating merchandise to go with it. She said it was her "retirement fund."

"Which is why you can't go to either of them. She will use it as her and Maeve's personal dating show. You'll be cooked."

"Cooked?"

Her shoulder lifted. "It's what the kids say these days."

"I'm guessing cooked means screwed?"

"Yep." She sat up and wiped the tears away. "Gus sure likes having you home. I do too. Sometimes I can't get him out of there without heaping piles of guilt.Why do you always run away? We barely see you and even when you're here, you go and hide.Why is it always our problem and never theirs? Why can't they shut their traps for thirty minutes of quiet time? Why do we always have to find ways to accommodate them, but they never bother to accommodate us?" She sighed. "Sorry, too many parent-teacher conferences this week."

But she made an excellent point. It was why I left. Well, one of the big reasons. Maybe if our family could bend enough to make space for Karis and me, I wouldn't feel the overwhelming urge to run away and never come back.

"You want to know a secret?" I didn't know why I wanted to tell her. It wouldn't matter. It wasn't like I could make Marley magically appear.

"Uh, yeah. This is what we do. We tell each other our secrets and keep them from all the others."

"I met someone."

Her mouth fell open. "Shut. Up. Who? Where?"

"A few hours ago. I don't even know her last name or where she's going. But damn, Karis. It's the first time anyone has ever made me stop dead in my tracks and rethink my life." Marley hadn't left my thoughts all damn day.

"Tell me everything."

"Her name is Marley. She's traveling for work. And she likes pork barbecue."

"Well, she'd be a psychopath if she didn't. When are you seeing her again?"

"Probably never. I told you; I have no idea where she was going. We didn't exchange information." I had never chased a woman before, but if I ever saw Marley again, I wouldn't let anything stop me. It was weird to be so sure of someone I didn't know, but my gut was never wrong.

"Well, that's disappointing. You finally show a shred of interest in something and let it slip away?"

"I have plenty of interests."

"Yeah, being alone and being outside. You know why everyone wants you to settle down?"

"So they can annoy me in one place?" Maybe telling Karis was a mistake.

"Sort of. It would be nice to know where to find you at any given time. But more than that, everyone just wants to know you found something that makes you less miserable."

That got my hackles up. "I'm not miserable. Just because I live my life differently doesn't make me unhappy. In fact, living my life the wayIwant to is whatdoesmake me happy!"

"I know that!"

"Why are we fighting?" Gus twisted and sat up, rubbing his eyes just before he grinned wide. "Hey buddy. Sorry I woke you up."

"Huk. Mine!" Then he fell back onto me with his chunky arms around my neck.

Fucking hell. This kid had my whole heart. Maybe even enough to get me to come home more often.

Maybe. "Yeah, I'm yours, kid."

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