Page 45 of Run to Ground
Unable to hold back an amused snort, Theo muttered, “Belly button touching your backbone? If I’m your grandma, then you’re my grandpa.”
Although Jules sent him a baffled glance, she went with it, giving Hugh a mock-concerned look. “That sounds like a serious medical problem. I’m not sure food is going to fix it.”
“It will. I’m sure of it. The power of belief is strong.”
She rolled her eyes, but reached over to squeeze Hugh’s upper arm. A jolt went through Theo—a jolt he ignored, because it felt too much like jealousy for his peace of mind. “Seriously, though, how are you doing?”
“Except for those instruments of torture”—Hugh gestured toward his crutches—“I’m just fine.” When she gave him a disbelieving look, he grimaced. “Better, then. I’m getting better.”
“I can’t thank both of you enough for what you did.” All teasing dropped from Jules’s voice as she looked back and forth between Hugh and Theo. “For saving Dee and Sam and me.” Her laugh held the threat of tears, and Theo shifted uncomfortably. He hoped she wouldn’t cry. If she cried, he’d have to hug her, and then he’d never hear the end of it from Hugh.
“Jules?” Norman Rounds called from his booth, distracting her from impending tearsandawkward hugs.
“Be right there,” she responded, giving Theo an apologetic grimace. “Your usuals?” At their nods, she hurried to the beckoning man. Theo watched her go, not even trying to pretend that he wasn’t enjoying the view. When she reached Norman, however, Theo frowned.
“Rounds has been in here a lot lately,” he told Hugh in a low voice.
Without even looking toward Norman’s table, Hugh answered, “Yep. Showed up in Monroe six months ago and has been squirreled away in Gordon Schwartz’s compound ever since—well, until lately. I’d caught glimpses of him around town once in a while, but this daily breakfast thing is different.”
“Why the change?”
“No idea. Maybe the bromance honeymoon period’s over and Gordon refuses to cook for him anymore.”
Before Theo could say anything else, Otto dropped into the booth next to him. “Why are you here?”
“I just asked him the same thing,” Hugh said, giving Theo a mock-chiding look. “You have another week to go before your mandatory leave is up. It’d be longer if you told the truth about how much your ribs are hurting.”
“I’m not at work,” Theo growled. “I’m getting breakfast. And he was talking toyou. You know, the one with the extra hole.”
Otto raised a hand, cutting off Hugh’s retort. “You”—he jerked his chin at Hugh—“should be at home. Andyou”—this time his sharp gaze fixed on Theo—“should also be home.”
“I’m getting breakfast!” Theo repeated, a little louder that time.
“And flirting with the new waitress,” Hugh added. “Jules.”
Theo turned his fiercest scowl on Hugh, but it just made his partner smile wider.
“He held her hand.”
Otto’s eyebrows lifted so high they almost touched his hairline.
“I know,” Hugh said, as if Otto had made a comment. “We didn’t think it would happen, but our little boy is all grown up. Remember when he said all girls have cooties and he’d rather die than kiss one?”
If he hadn’t been positive Megan would take unholy glee in banning him from the diner, Theo would’ve climbed over the table and started pounding on Hugh, bullet wound or no bullet wound.
“Quit trying to distract me,” Otto grumbled, although his mouth had twitched at the corners. “How’d you get here?”
“Great.” Hugh flopped back in his seat dramatically, but then winced, presumably when his leg protested the jerky movement. “I have two new grandmas now.”
“He walked,” Theo answered for Hugh absently, his attention distracted by movement at the stranger’s table. Norman Rounds reached out and grabbed Jules’s wrist, pulling her closer to him as he spoke rapidly. Theo stiffened. “Let me out.”
“Why?” Hugh asked, while Otto just looked at him.
“Out.” When both men still looked at him expectantly, Theo exhaled, short and sharp, and jerked his head toward the stranger’s table. “He’s militia, and he’s touching Jules.”
After a single glance, Hugh and Otto got to their feet, and Theo rushed out of the booth behind them. Theo tried to move around them and take the lead, but the two men formed a wall, even with Hugh swinging uncomfortably on his crutches.
“Hello,” Hugh greeted Norman, who immediately dropped his hold on Jules. Nudging her gently out of the way, Hugh lowered his body into the seat next to the gaping man. “Hope you don’t mind if I sit here. My leg is throbbing something fierce, and I really need to get my weight off of it.”
