Page 75 of Canadian Spring

She remained quiet as she looked out the windshield, arms still crossed over her chest as she hugged herself. The tension in the cab of his truck was so thick it felt like a wall between them. He wanted to reach out and crash through it but knew he couldn’t. Walls were for protection, and right now, they needed protecting from each other.

“I can’t do this right now.” Grabbing her purse from the floorboards by her feet, she jumped out of the truck and ran to her car, dodging the hail.

His heart sunk to his stomach as he watched her go. He wished it could’ve turned out differently for them, that there was a world where they could live their happily ever after, but this wasn’t it for them. She’d see in the long run that he was right, she’d be in the city doing what she loved and he’d be protecting others, even if they weren’t together.

His stomach turned to acid as he watched her back up and drive away, leaving him alone to wonder what he was going to do next.

Dyllan waited out the hail to bring in Skylar’s things, piling the boxes in the corner of the living room. They served as a constant reminder of what happened in the truck. Now he sat on his couch with a glass of whiskey in his hand as he stared at his laptop screen. The job posting for Iraq displayed on the screen, the application form ready to be filled. His mind wanted him to type on the keyboard and fill the form out to get it over with, but his heart was stopping him. He’d started filling out the form and stopped too many times to count. Each time he’d lost his nerve thinking of Skylar’s words to him.

Was he just shipping her off and assuming what was best for her? Probably, but how else could he make her see that she wasn’t thinking clearly when it came to him.

Not that he couldn’t admit the same about himself.

Since they’d woken up married in that hotel room, Skylar had turned his life on its axis and he didn’t know what to do about it. One drunken night started to show him that he could have everything he thought he couldn’t have and certainly didn’t deserve.

“Fuck it.” Putting his glass down on the coffee table, he filled out the form and hit submit before he could think too much more about it. He’d let Skylar cloud his judgement for too long, leading him astray from the path he knew would be the right one for everyone. He couldn’t let the fact he’d fallen in love with his blonde-haired, blue-eyed doll get in the way of saving her and others.

His phone rang next to his laptop displaying the Brewing Company’s phone number on the screen. With a swipe, the sound of music and talking filled his empty house.

“What?” Dyllan barked, the intrusion not helping his mood.

“Well, hello to you too, Thompson. Always nice to speak with you,” Zach said from the other end, sarcasm lacing his voice.

“You called me, Richardson. What do you want?” His gruff voice raised with the noise level through the phone.

“You need to come to the Brewery and get your wife.”

Dyllan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why?”

“Because she’s drunk and making our first karaoke night her own personal concert. I’m not complaining, she’s very entertaining, but I have a feeling she’s not going to be so happy when she wakes up tomorrow.” Zach muffled his phone for a second before returning. “Look, I don’t know what you did to make her this upset but from one married man to another, fix it. She’s really upset, but she won’t talk.”

“Why do you assume it’s something I did?”

“Really, man? You want me to go there?” Zach laughed.

Dyllan grunted. “I’ll be there in ten.”

Throwing his phone on the coffee table, he ran his hands over his face. “Fucking great.”

Walking into the tasting room at the Logan Creek Brewing Company minutes later, Dyllan could see exactly what Zach meant when he’d called. Skylar’s elbow rested on the mic stand as she swayed with her eyes closed and sang. Walking to the bar, he rolled his eyes at the smirk on Zach’s face.

“You really fucked up, didn’t you?” Zach asked, throwing a bar towel over his shoulder.

“Shut it, Richardson,” Dyllan grumbled as he watched his wife.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing.” He didn’t need to turn to see his friend was glaring at him, not believing what he was hearing. “We just had a fight coming back from Vancouver, that’s all.”

“Doesn’t look like that’s all to me, not from the songs she’s been singing tonight.”

As if on cue, Skylar opened her eyes and locked gazes with Dyllan. She stood straighter, becoming more convicted, past singing and on to yelling at him directly that he couldn’t ride on her little red wagon.

“Fix it, man!” Zach yelled as Dyllan stalked toward the stage, not breaking eye contact with his wife.

The song ended with Skylar giving him a smug smile. “Well, hello, husband. Fancy seeing you here.”

“I got a call someone was causing a karaoke disturbance.” He towered over her as he narrowed his eyes at her face. Her mascara was smudged under her red-rimmed eyes as she stared back defiantly.

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