“Neighbor lady, huh?” Ray swiveled to waggle his eyebrows at Garrick.
“Ha. It’s not like that. She’s probably in her seventies now. Guess Linc and all his good deeds have worn off on me.” Giving a lopsided smile, Garrick shrugged.
“Okay, fine. Leave me to run alone.” Linc backed out of the parking space and headed for their assigned location.
“Hey, you didn’t ask the rook,” Garrick pointed out. Damn it. Linc had not meant the invitation for him but now he couldn’t exactly exclude him without raising questions.
But before he could figure out what to say, Jacob sighed, casual as could be. “Nah. I’ll text you if I get free, but I’m on yard work duty for Mom myself.”
That was so deftly handled that Linc almost whistled under his breath. He was good. No sign of the guy who had been panting and begging in Linc’s arms, no extra interest in him at all.
And why that made him sad, he couldn’t say. He needed to be relieved, not wistful.
“Well, let me know,” he managed, trying for the same carefree attitude, but not sure he got there.
“Will do.” Jacob kept up the casual distance even when they were out in the field, nothing other than professional, one of the guys. He joked around when Garrick or Ray started it, neither pensive nor withdrawn, but mainly he got down to work. How the fuck did he stay so normal when Linc could hardly breathe from wanting him so damn bad? And he had how many more months of this to get through? He seriously might not make it in one piece.
Garrick and Ray didn’t seem to pick up on his internal distress, but Jacob did, casting him a speculative glance when the other two were occupied with hauling some deadwood.
“You okay?” he asked when Garrick and Ray were busy some distance away, chopping up branches too big to move by hand.
“Fine.”
“Good.” More of that professionalism. Jacob didn’t press, which was again oddly disappointing.
Not that he wanted Jacob’s concern, but... Fuck. He was a mess. He tried following Jacob’s lead, throwing himself into their tasks, but it only worked so much, especially when Ray and Garrick ended up out of sight, fetching more tools from the truck, leaving him alone with Jacob.
“Look, I’m only going to say this once.” Coming closer, Jacob spoke in a whisper as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Do you need me to ask for a switch? I’m not here to make you miserable, Linc. And I think I could do it in a way that wouldn’t throw anyone under the bus. Kelley’s chafing at McKenna’s leadership. They seem to have some sort of oil-and-water thing going. I could frame it as doing her a favor, switch with her. Is that what you need me to do?”
“Fuck.” The smart thing would be to agree, get Jacob off his crew, out of sight and hopefully out of mind. But Garrick and Ray had gone to some trouble to get him where they could keep an eye on him. He’d be letting them down if he let Jacob move crews. And okay, that was a pretty slim excuse, but it was all he had. But maybe also it was that he’d be letting himself down too. “No.”
“Seriously? You think you’re going to be okay all season? You’ve looked like you’re a couple of heartbeats away from a stroke all day. You have a better idea of how to make this work?”
We’re not done yet. The answer came to him in desperation, born of hours of frustration. Need a repeat application. Wasn’t that what he’d said? Maybe once wasn’t enough. Or twice. And he’d already broken his word. Had already proven himself to be untrustworthy. Had shown himself yet again why he needed to be thinking about moving on after the season. This thing still had no future for a whole host of reasons, but maybe there was something to Jacob’s theory of working it out of their systems. Or so he needed to believe if he was going to have any chance of clinging to sanity the next few months.
He could hear Garrick and Ray approaching, indistinct chatter coming through the trees, meaning he had to speak fast. “My place. Tonight.”
Jacob’s eyes went wide, but he nodded. And strangely, that agreement was all Linc needed to relax and get back to work, shoulders unknotting, spirits lifting as he tossed branches around. He’d get to see Jacob later, and maybe, just maybe there was a way to work this thing out that wouldn’t leave both of them charred and useless, devastated trees after the fire of whatever the hell this was between them rolled through.
* * *
Jacob took the long way to Linc’s place, as in not the way that passed by his mom’s place, not that he expected anyone to be watching the rural road for his truck, but he wasn’t taking chances. Similarly, he was grateful for Linc’s long, winding drive that hid the house and parking area from view. He still didn’t know what Linc was up to, ordering him to come over, turning down Jacob’s offer to switch to a different crew. An offer he’d meant sincerely. He wasn’t out to make either of them miserable, and if Linc didn’t want to be around him after last night, he’d understand. Hell, he was having a hard time playing it cool himself with all the flashbacks and frustrations.