Know Me Well (Wishful 3)

Eyes narrowed, Riley readjusted her grip and swung. This time the blow landed true, slamming into the side and caving in two slats at the first blow, a testament to exactly how bad a shape the playground was in. Eyes narrowed, she swung again, and then again, finding her rhythm and steadily destroying the entire length of the tunnel within her reach.

“Hooo-eee,” Mitch remarked. “Remind me never to get on her bad side.”

“Let’s get our piece of this.” With a war whoop, Judd threw himself into the cause.

“Oo rah,” Liam said, and dove into the fray.

Soon, there was a cacophony of thuds and crashes as they all set to demolition. The steady flex and stretch of muscle felt good, even in the heat of the sun. Before his tour in Iraq, Liam had thought Mississippi was hot. A hundred and twenty degrees in the shade had changed his perspective.

“We’re gonna need a chainsaw for the bridge ties,” Judd observed. “These bolts are long since rusted in place.”

“There’s one in my truck,” Mitch called.

“I’ll get it.” Liam set his own sledgehammer aside, glancing over to check on Riley as she went after the walls of the crow’s nest.

Judd followed his gaze. “She’s gonna be super sore tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but her head will be clearer.”

Judd trailed him over to Mitch’s truck. “Maybe you should offer to massage out the kinks. Since this was your idea and all.”

Liam gave him a flat stare and checked the fuel level in the chainsaw.

“Fixing her car had to have gotten you back into her good graces.”

“That’s not why I did it.” Though it probably hadn’t hurt that particular cause.

Judd grinned. “Sure it wasn’t.”

Liam flipped him off. “Grab those bolt cutters. We’ll need them for the chains holding the suspension bridge.”

Hard, noisy work kept him occupied for another hour. By the time the pieces of the bridge had been relegated to the dumpster hauled on site, he was ready to pour the entire cooler of water over his head. He guzzled a couple of glasses before switching over to the sweet tea Mama Pearl had sent over from Dinner Belles. They’d made good progress. In another hour, all the detritus would be cleared and they’d be done for the day.

Grabbing another glass of tea, Liam took it over to Riley, who was breathing hard and glaring in triumph at a splintered support post.

“Okay, I admit it. You were absolutely right. Totally cathartic.”

“Sometimes you just need to beat the shit out of something. Feel better?”

She took the tea and drank deep, watching him over the rim of the cup. “Some.”

“It’s not just Walgreens, is it?” he asked quietly.

Not even surprise in her big blue eyes this time. Just resignation. “Sometimes your perceptiveness is a real pain in the ass.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“I really don’t.”

Liam tried to ignore the sting of that. He’d been out of her life a long time. He couldn’t expect easy entry back into it. “Fair enough.”

Riley drained the tea. “I’d like to take you to dinner.”

That stopped him. “What?”

“As a thank you,” she explained. “My car. Demolition therapy. It’s the least I can do.”

His traitorous brain supplied a quick montage of other things she could do that had absolutely nothing to do with dinner.