High Heat (Hotshots 2)

* * *

The only thing worse than Rain being in a funk himself was Garrick being in one and not wanting to admit it. He’d been strangely distant when Rain had arrived to walk Cookie after work the day before. Not mean or snappy, but a sullenness that wasn’t usually there. However, he’d denied being down, instead claiming tiredness, which was when Rain knew something was up because it usually took Herculean efforts to get Garrick to admit to being worn out. But he’d let Garrick have his privacy and his brooding time and had returned to Grandma’s to watch another comedy with her while he quietly worried about Garrick.

But he’d had hopes that Garrick would either snap out of whatever was bringing him down or talk to him about it. Neither happened, though, and now they were on their way out of town to the party at Garrick’s friends’ place in the country. Ordinarily, their silences while driving were the good kind, either broken up by random observations and Garrick’s commentary on Rain’s music selection or stretching out, contentment and anticipation mingling. Comfortable. However, today there was nothing comfortable about Garrick’s closed-off face and stiff posture.

“Are you sore from yesterday’s workout plus PT? We can always leave early if you need to.” Rain tried to sound upbeat but flexible.

“I’m okay.” Garrick sounded anything but, and Rain groaned. The empty rural road stretched out in front of them, a gorgeous summer day with blue skies, but the storm cloud over Garrick’s head didn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

“I’d ask if you want to talk about it, except you quite clearly don’t. So, instead I’ll ask if there is anything I can do?”

Garrick paused like he was actually considering a real answer, then sighed. “It’s okay.”

“Nothing?”

“You sleeping over tonight?”

“If you want, sure.” Rain refrained from pointing out how Garrick hadn’t seemed exactly open to that last night.

“Slept like utter crap last night. Maybe...you being around might help.”

“Good. I’ll plan on it then.”

“Thanks. And sorry. I know I’m being difficult. I’ll work on being better.”

Rain wanted to tell him that he’d prefer Garrick to talk, not worry about how to hide his grumpy mood, but then the GPS bleated for him to make a turn into a long gravel driveway. A small, low house with a cheerful porch sat back from the road, and a number of vehicles were already parked off to the side of the drive, which meant Rain had to park farther from the house than he’d like. All the gravel and uneven, scrubby terrain was going to be hell on the wheelchair, something he wouldn’t have thought about a few weeks ago, but now he’d learned to always be looking for accessibility issues.

“How do you want to handle it?” he asked Garrick. “If you’re up for me helping push, we can probably get the chair to the porch or—”

“I’ll take the crutches. It’ll be slow going, but I don’t want to tear up the chair. And I don’t want... Yeah. Better this way.” Garrick nodded firmly, tone resigned, as if he’d had some internal discussion that Rain hadn’t been privy to.

Which was frustrating because Rain wanted to help and couldn’t do the best job at that if Garrick wasn’t communicating, but he also wasn’t about to start an argument right here or try to make Garrick’s bad mood about him when he was pretty sure it had nothing to do with their relationship, especially given the sleepover invite.

And he tried hard not to hover as Garrick painstakingly made his way across the yard to the house. All he could really do was carry the seven-layer vegetarian dip and chips they’d brought and hope for the best. There was little actual grass though, not much to cushion Garrick if he fell, and barring fluffy grass, Rain would have given a lot for a paved path of some kind right about then. As they reached the porch, the door swung open and the guy Garrick had introduced as Linc came out.

“You made it!” He frowned as he watched their approach. “Hell, I didn’t think about your wheelchair. Do you need me to fetch it from the car for you? Need help with the steps?”

“I’ve got it.” Garrick gave his friend a tight smile. Rain knew from experience with Garrick that steps, even three flat, wide ones like these, were among Garrick’s hardest challenges. He preferred to take his time and have his space doing steps and not have someone crowding him like his overeager friend was doing. Linc kept close, acting like he could catch Garrick if he fell, hands moving restlessly like he was tempted to steer.

Good luck with that. Rain hung back, waiting until Garrick was safely on the porch before he followed after the two of them.