Walk the Line (Man of the Month 12)

But that didn't mean it was a good idea. On the contrary, he thought, glancing over at where Tyree stood with Reece at the other end of the long oak bar, it was about as bad as an idea could get.

"You look distracted," Jenna said, keeping her hand on her belly as she hauled herself up and onto one of the nearby barstools.

"I'm not distracted," he protested. "What makes you say I'm distracted?"

She laughed. "Maybe the way you've been staring at that proposal for the last ten minutes."

He glanced down at the folder he held open in his hands and the sheath of papers that comprised the security company's plan for installing an upgraded camera system.

"Sorry. I was just--"

"Thinking about camera placement?" she interrupted, her tone innocent. "Why wouldn't you be? After all, cameras are fascinating, and you need to spend lots and lots of time second-guessing the experts you hired to analyze the visual gaps and do the installation."

He put the folder down and stared at this woman who was one of his two best friends. "All right. I give up. What's up with you?"

"Not a thing," she said, then smiled sweetly. "So how were Elena and Faith getting along when you left?"

"Gangbusters," he said, his eyes narrowing as he took in her too-innocent expression. "It's not a good idea, Jenna."

To her credit, she didn't pretend to misunderstand. Instead, she just said, "Isn't it?"

He sighed. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to have, but he knew Jenna's matchmaking tendencies well enough to know that there was no way out now. "She's too young."

"Oh, please." Jenna sipped the water that Cam, the weekend manager, put in front of her, then turned her attention back to Brent. "If she was thirty-three and you were forty-three, you wouldn't even give a flip."

"Probably true," he conceded. "But by thirty-three she'd have a sense of her life. Some stability in her career. At twenty-three, she's barely starting out. She's in grad school. You know that right?"

"And, what? At thirty you magically cross some line that makes you established and stable? If that's the case, why haven't you settled down with a thirty-something already? God knows enough women who qualify have passed through these doors and left you their number. And don't deny it, because I've seen the napkins you've thrown out. Lots of heartbroken women out there, Brent."

"Don't push me, Jenna."

For a second, she looked like she was going to argue. Then she sighed and laced her fingers over her growing belly. "Look, I get it. I really do. But not all women leave, you know? And I want you to be happy."

"Who says I'm not?" And he was happy. He had his friends. He had Faith. He had work he enjoyed even if it didn't have the rush of his previous life as a detective. Bottom line, he was genuinely a happy man. But that didn't mean there wasn't something missing.

That part, however, he didn't say to Jenna.

She understood it anyway, of course. "Take a chance, Brent. Just one tiny step outside of your circle. You owe it to yourself."

"No, I don't. The only one I owe anything to is Faith. It's just her and me against the world. You know that. And with her, I'm not willing to take chances."

Jenna's shoulders sank on a sigh. She knew his history. Knew that his mother had passed away his first year of college from ovarian cancer. Her death had driven a wedge between Brent and his father because his dad had pulled away from Brent, going so far as to move to Oregon. Brent had given the man his space, figuring they'd be able to mend the rift after his dad had healed. But then his father was killed in a fatal one-car accident, and even now, Brent didn't know if it was truly accidental or if it had been vehicular suicide.

Either way, he knew better than most that people left. And even though he couldn't shield Faith from death, he could damn sure reduce the risk that the people she loved would walk out of her life.

"You have us," Jenna said softly. "And so does Faith. You know that, Brent. And not every woman is Olivia. I mean, I'm not leaving Reece. He's stuck with me." She flashed a bright grin, her green eyes flashing. "I thought I should mention that. Just in case you were worried."

"Thanks for that," he said, amused despite himself. "Now go away," he added, picking up the folder again. "I really do have to read this and get back to these guys about the installation details."

"Fair enough."

He helped her get off the chair, then smiled as she made the sign of a B on her forehead. "Best friends forever?"

"You know it," he said, making the sign right back.

She rose on her toes to kiss his cheek, then headed back to handle her own work as he tried to focus on the camera installation proposal.

For the most part, he managed to get the day's work done. But her words clung to him as he signed the proposal and emailed it back, and as he called Landon to go over everything the detective had learned when he'd canvassed the neighborhood. On the whole, all of his attention that Saturday was focused on preventing further graffiti and finding the original taggers.