I wanted to reach out and soothe him if for no other reason than to calm my own nerves. I needed him to keep talking, but if he was going to lose his shit on me, it wouldn’t do me any good.Fortunately he got enough of a grip on himself that the tension drained from his face and he sat back down on the stump, pretending he wasn’t upset. It was enough for me. “Ah,” I asked carefully. “Had you invited her there? Grace, I mean?”He turned steely eyes on me. “No.”Short and to the point. And interesting. Had Grace and Rox had issues at some point, or was she just a troublemaker in general? I was going with the latter. “Did your girl know that?”He shrugged. “I guess not.”“You didn’t tell her?”The look he gave me could’ve melted iron. “I would have if she’d come back.”“Oh.” The word hung in the air between us. Finally I said, “I see.”His head snapped in my direction. “No. You don’t see. Not at all.”I stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.He stared me dead in the eye and said, “It wouldn’t have done any good anyway.
