Page 37 of Always Bayou

He leaned in and captured her lips in a kiss. He pulled back and looked directly into her eyes. “I love you.”

She nodded. “I know. I love you too.”

He knew she did. But everything really felt off.

Still, he forced himself to climb out of bed, get dressed, then grabbed his stuff and gave her one final kiss.

“I’ll call you later.”

She nodded. “Yes. And on your way back too if you start to get tired. I’m worried about you driving back.”

He was less worried and more pissed off about driving back, but he nodded. “Okay. We’ll talk soon.”

She nodded.

He gave her one last kiss and then made himself leave.

His feeling of restlessness and frustration seem to grow with every mile that passed, and he was particularly pissed off when, after three hours on the road, he suddenly jerked himself upright and realized he’d fallen asleep at the wheel just in time to see the front of his truck dive into the roadside ditch.

six

Four days later…

The doorto Beau’s shop opened suddenly, slamming against the wall, startling both him and Mitch. They swung to look at who had just come in.

Beau froze.

“Uh, oh,” Mitch muttered.

Yeah. Uh, oh was a massive understatement.

Beau was in a lot of trouble.

“Oh, hi, Mitch,” Becca greeted, stomping across the concrete floor to where he and Beau were working on a dining room table. “What are you doing here? I wouldn’t have expected to find you here in the middle of a weekday. Since you have a job of your own. And Beau usually does these projects alone.”

She clearly knew why Mitch was here. Even without seeing the sling on Beau’s arm, or the wrap around his ribs, or the still-healing cuts on his face.

It had only been four days. He still looked pretty banged up.

“Hey, Becca,” Mitch greeted, straightening and brushing his hands off on the back of his jeans.

“What areyoudoing here in the middle of a weekday?” Beau asked her crossly.

No, he hadn’t told her about his car accident yet. He’d been planning to. Maybe. Eventually. After he was fine again. Probably. But it didn’t feel like something he should tell her over the phone. It sure as hell wasn’t something he could text her about. And, frankly, he wasn’t sure when he was going to be able to get back in a vehicle and drive up to see her. His truck had been totaled, he was driving a rental, and he wasn’t looking forward to buying a new truck even once the insurance bullshit was all figured out.

“I’m here to make sure my boyfriend is actually in one piece and then yell at him for not telling me he was in acar accident!”

She was upset. Obviously. And understandably.

He blew out a breath and put his drill down. “How did you find out?” He’d asked everyone to keep a lid on it. But he should have known better.

“Sam told Toby.”

Sam Landry, a cousin of a cousin, had a crush on Becca’s friend Toby. They talked on a pretty regular basis. Of course. Beau should have thought to tell Sam to keep his mouth shut.

Becca crossed her arms. “I guess I can see that you’re okay enough to walk and talk and use power tools.”

“I just need a little help since I can’t hold things tightly with my left hand,” he said with a nod. “Mitch is my left hand for a bit.”

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