Page 31 of Runaway
Stella blinked as if she couldn't comprehend Lizbeth's words. I didn't blame her. Dad didn't say much, but after working as the county sheriff for decades, he read people unusually well. It was the real reason I'd taken Stella by. I'd wanted him to meet her, even briefly, just to get his thoughts. He'd texted me later and said,She seemed nice.
Which reallywashigh praise from Dad.
“Oh.” Stella managed a similar smile. “Thanks . . . I think.”
Lizbeth beamed further. She loved making friends. JJ jogged over. If the smile plastered across his face meant anything, married life had been good to him so far. We collided in a hard man-hug, and it felt really good to see him again.
“Mark,” he drawled as he stepped back.
“My favorite hippie JJ.”
He socked me in the arm and I instantly felt better. I put a hand on Stella's shoulder to introduce her, then almost regretted it. We'd had a strict, silent, no-touch policy since she'd arrived. Aside from me grabbing her hand yesterday to help her off the four-wheeler, we hadn't touched skin again, and that had felt like an afterthought. This was on purpose. And she didn't flinch away, which felt like progress, so I left it there.
“JJ, this is my friend, Stella. Stell, this is my hooligan brother that I've probably talked too much about.”
JJ smiled warmly, extending a hand. I expected a little bit of a glazed-eyed stare from her. Quick, startled blinks. Something. Girls always had reactions like that to JJ, with his high cheekbones and long hair pulled away from his face. He was a handsome god amongst men, particularly on the rocks.
Stella just smiled with the same casual warmth and took his hand.
An unexpected sense of relief followed. With Stella here, everything would be different. For maybe the first time since Lizbeth wandered—or, more aptly, crashed—into JJ's life, I wouldn't be the third wheel. The one that ignored their making out or giggles or snuggle sessions while I desperately tried to bury myself in the business.
The one that also hid how he really felt because reality was disastrous.
Even if Stella was only a friend, that went a long way. Separating from JJ had been harder than I'd expected. Like peeling apart the sticky parts of two pieces of smashed duct tape. Something was going to get shredded. With over thirty years of our life side-by-side, there was a chasm without him. One that no amount of mountain man life could ever fill.
And maybe there'd even been an empty spotwithhim around.
Lizbeth hooked a loyal arm around JJ's waist and leaned into him. He took her weight and rested an arm across her shoulders with a smile. His fingers toyed with her hair that fell like glimmering strands of fire.
Lizbeth's gaze focused on me, then her jaw dropped.
“Mark,” she cried, “did you trim your beard?”
I tugged at it a little. “Yeah. Needed it.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Looks nice. And a haircut?”
“I'm not a caveman.”
“I thought you were going full mountain man,” she said.
“I ran out of flannel.”
She snorted. I motioned to their car, then started to walk toward Adventura again. “So, to what do we owe the pleasure?” I asked. Stella followed to my right, a step behind, while JJ and Lizbeth fanned out on the other side.
“I have updates on your website and HomeBnB listing,” Lizbeth said as she twined her fingers with JJ. I kept my gaze ahead and wondered about the mountain lion.
“Brought you some lunch, too,” JJ said. He cast a quick glance toward Stella, but she was looking up in the trees. Wondering about the cougar as well, perhaps? “Thought you might like some company. But if we're—”
“You're not,” I said brightly. “You know I love it when you come.”
His shoulders dropped a little bit. Was it relief? Was he struggling with the change too, or was he too happily distracted? Even Lizbeth kept glancing at Stella, then me, as if trying to sense whether there was some sort of undercurrent there. Well, she wasn't wrong to wonder.
Sometimes I did too.
I clapped a hand on JJ's shoulder, able to push those thoughts away because it's what I did so well. “Thanks, brother. I have a date tonight, so lunch is perfect.”
Stella stiffened next to me as we came to the split in the path, but when I looked up, she had her usual smile on.
