Page 53 of Forever Fallen

The road tripout to Azle was a quiet one.

They had headed there first, because it was the least number of things to move, according to Ryan. It wasn’t like they could talk much anyhow because they had an audience in the truck. Thumper had come with them… and he wasn’t much of a conversationalist.

Apparently, none of the other guys could go today.

Alpo was working on one of the planes, Valkyrie wouldn’t leave because of Marisol’s impending due date – and it was the same for Armadillo, sort of. Armadillo and Firefly were teaching a class that had already been scheduled today… and Romeo left for Alaska this morning with Dixie.

No, they were shoulder-to-shoulder in silence, driving down the road. The stillness was only interrupted by the sound of a few tools rustling around in the bed of the truck when they hit a pothole on the road.

She wanted to ask Ryan about his childhood, talk to him more about his past, or get to know him a little better… but doing so in front of Thumper would only raise questions.

“How’s Harley and Samantha?” she asked quietly, glancing across Ryan to look at Thumper who was driving the truck.

It was ludicrous to see Ryan squished in the middle of them – and she’d offered to sit in the middle, but he said ‘no’… and she had no idea why.

“Samantha’s doing great. The doctor said she’s already gained almost a pound and Harley’s doing fantastic,” Thumper smiled, looking straight ahead. “We are going to have Delilah take some photos of the baby for us when she feels up to it. I think Armadillo said she got put on bedrest for the baby.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Do we have much further?” Ryan said quietly, adjusting slightly in the seat. Sophie leaned over towards him and whispered softly.

“I could have sat there, you know…”

“It’s fine.”

“You would have had more room here.”

“Sophie, drop it.”

“Fine. Go back to being…”

“Are you two okay?”

“We’re fine – he’s just being stubborn,” Sophie muttered, crossing her arms against her chest, looking out the passenger window of the truck at the city surrounding them just to keep from looking at Ryan again.

“I wanted to let you have the more comfortable seat,” Ryan said bluntly. “If that makes me stubborn, so be it.”

Thumper laughed at that point, causing the two of them to look over at the quiet man in surprise. He raised an eyebrow that reminded her of Ryan and wondered if it was just a guy thing… only to hear his next words.

“Oh… so you two are still inthatphase?”

“And what phase is that?”

“The one where you are trying to mesh together and fighting against it because the other person makes you nervous or antsy…”

“No…” Ryan balked in a high-pitched voice that had Thumper laughing again – and had her surprised at his obvious reaction.

“We’re not in a phase,” Sophie began and grew quiet.

…Were they?

Ryan had been trying so hard to be nice and had agreed to the five years of marriage… but was that because she made him nervous, and he was afraid? He didn’t seem that way at all – in fact – he was much braver than her when it came to being forward. He always seemed to be putting himself out there…

Sophie looked at his profile in disbelief as the realization hit her.

Ryanwasscared.

He was putting himself out there, being extraordinarily bold and aggressive to put her back on her heels… so she would push back, turn away, or reject him. It was those times where she needed comfort so badly that he’d actually turned to her – like at the funeral.

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