“I didn’t know you and Marie were friends. What’s that like? Did you have to fill out an application? Go for an interview?” Tyler is talking to Jonah, but he’s grinning at me. “Did she tell you to fuck off a few times, too, before she gave you a chance?”
I’m shaking my head, but I’m laughing now. And my cheeks are flushed. Again. “Don’t you have more naked people in the woods to rescue?”
“Oh man, I hope not.” His eyes twinkle with laughter.
Jonah watches curiously as if trying to decipher the cryptic joke, before tapping my arm with his elbow. “We better get back with that level before Roy quits on me. He’s on a super short fuse.” His gaze darts between Tyler and me, and I see that look of determination settle into his jaw a second before he says, “Hey, listen, if you’re around tomorrow night, you should come by the Ale House in Trapper’s Crossing.”
What is he doing? “Tyler lives too far away,” I blurt, glaring at my best friend.
“Actually, I don’t mind the drive. You going to be there, Marie?” Tyler is smiling. Is this a challenge? He must be able to sense my panic now as surely as he did earlier from across the lot.
“Yeah, she is,” Jonah answers for me.
“Then maybe I’ll make an appearance. Cheers.” He holds up his paper cup, the blue ink paw prints almost comical in his large hand, and then heads back to his pickup.
The second we’re in Jonah’s truck, he turns in his seat to declare, “You hooked up with that guy.”
“I didn’t!” I falter. “Not exactly. It’s a long story, and I don’t want to get into it. And why did you invite him to the Ale House?” My hands free of the coffee tray, I smack his arm.
“I was tryin’ to help you out! Come on, you two wanna jump each other.”
“We don’t.”
“Yeah. Bullshit,” he scoffs, cranking his engine. “I may be an idiot about a lot of things, but I can tell when two people are into each other.”
“We’re not. Or he’s not. Believe me, he couldn’t have been clearer.”
Jonah cocks his head, waiting for an explanation.
He is not going to relent. “His wife died giving birth to his son. They both died.” I watch the green-and-white ranger pickup truck sit at the main road, the little light blinking as Tyler waits to make his turn. “He’s not interested in dating anyone.”
Jonah’s face twists. “Christ, Lehr, you’re bringin’ a lot of drama with you today. Poor guy, though. That’s gotta be rough.” He works his fingers through his beard in thought. “So, you wait. Get to know him. Be friends, and when he’s ready—”
I burst out with mirthless laughter. “And when he’s ready for a relationship, he’ll decide that I’m the one for him? Gee, where have I heard this before?” Oh yeah, that was me, convincing myself of that brilliant plan for years. “No thanks. I’m thirty-eight. You think when he gets over her, he’s not going to be looking for someone younger than him?” Someone who won’t be in her sixties when their child is twenty? If she can even have a child by then? “I don’t have time for the wait-and-see game. I’ve been there, done that, and I am never putting myself through it again.”
The second the words are out, I regret them.
We’ve never openly addressed the elephant in the room. I don’t think Jonah’s ever seen it. At least, I’ve convinced myself of that because it’s easier for my pride that way. But I’ve seen the elephant, stomping around with a trumpet affixed to its trunk, just in case it needed more attention.
Jonah takes a deep breath, as if preparing himself to unload words he was hoping he’d never have to say.
And I’m suddenly terrified that, above all else, I’m about to lose my best friend. That storm, I cannot weather. “Jonah, I—”
“No.” He puts up a hand to stop me. “First off, plenty of women have babies in their forties, so stop thinkin’ that you can’t. And I know things may not have worked out how you saw them going.” He swallows. “But I only ever want to see you as happy as I am with Calla.”
“I truly am so glad you found her. You two are perfect for each other.”
“We are, aren’t we?” He smiles wistfully. “Honestly? I never thought I could be this happy. It’s like she was made just for me.”
I watch the truck pull onto the main road and speed off toward the entrance to Nancy Lake. In another world, I wonder if Tyler might have been made for me.
But in this world, it’s beginning to feel like I’m on my own.
“Hey, you feel like going for a ride tomorrow? Just you and me. Hit up some villages for old times’ sake? Play with some strays?”