Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
RYDER
On our return to the cottage, the scrambled eggs were a watery mess in the pan, and the overcooked bacon had definitely seen better days.
I directed Thaddeus to the bathroom, changed into my work clothes, and set about cooking a fresh lot of everything.
I was almost done when I heard the sound of the front door closing and Tap’s less-than-dainty footsteps heading for the kitchen along the polished floorboards.
I groaned and turned toward the open door. I’d somehow forgotten he was coming early to load the van for the Cumberland job.
“The gear is all in the ute.” My best friend and employee wandered into the kitchen, sniffing the air, his tight black curls still damp from his morning shower.
A larger-than-life figure, Tap and I had been friends for longer than I cared to remember.
We’d first met in the Sunday school of the church that both sets of parents attended, and we’d been glued to each other’s sides ever since.
Tap came from a large Fijian whānau, big on family, and even bigger on food.
I’d been welcomed into their ranks like a long-lost cousin and found myself a second home.
A bit lost at school, Tap was completely at home in any garden you dropped him in, his green fingers coming from his grandmother, who encouraged him to help with her sprawling garden.
When I launched my own landscaping business years later, asking Tap to work with me was a slam dunk.
I’d even offered him a partnership a few times, but Tap had always insisted he wasn’t that guy.
He liked the work but not the business side of things, and so that’s how we’d always rolled.
Tap approached the breakfast bar, licking his lips. “Damn, is that bacon?”
I snorted. “You know damn well it is. Did you remember to throw in those sample pavers?”
He nodded. “Yep. And before I forget, we need a new blade for that old skill saw of yours, but otherwise we’re good to go. Man, I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving,” I argued, shooting a nervous glance over his shoulder to the hallway, but the bathroom door remained closed. I figured I had a few minutes max before Thaddeus appeared and my life became a goon show. “You’ll be happy to know I cooked extra this morning.”
“Music to my ears.” Tap enveloped me in a hug. “I won’t have to beat your arse, then. It’s gotten a little chubbier since the last time we were on intimate terms, and I might strain a muscle.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re such a dick. It is exactly the same size. And there was no last time. It was an only time. One night. One unfortunate and forgettable thirty minutes, fifteen years ago. An encounter we both regret. One. Uno. Singular. Ein. We were hardly a romance made in heaven.”
Tap winked. “It was forty minutes, at the very least, but who’s counting?”
I laughed. “You, clearly. But you have to agree; we’re much better as friends.”
“True.” Tap leaned over my shoulder as I flipped a pancake. “What the fuck are you doing making pancakes? We never have pancakes.”
“I felt . . . like a change,” I fumbled. “Now shut up and take a seat.”
Tap laid a hand on my forehead. “Are you sick? Dying? If you are, can I please have the flatbed truck? And no, I don’t want Ziggy.”
I groaned. “You bloody will so take Ziggy. Your boyfriend is the reason he’s so damn spoiled.”
Hearing his name, Ziggy came running from where he’d stationed himself in the hallway opposite the bathroom and begged to be picked up.
Tap happily obliged, crooning softly, “Aw, did you miss me, little man? I promised Will I’d kiss you for him, but I lied.” He scratched behind Ziggy’s ears for a few seconds, then put him back down.
I had to smile. Tap’s boyfriend, Will, was a red-haired, green-eyed, smart-mouthed whirlwind of a young man with a huge heart and an endless capacity to make my best friend smile.
Ziggy positively adored him, and I happened to agree with the dachshund’s assessment.
Will was the best thing to happen to Tap since .
. . forever. Between Tap’s easy-going nature and his solid, reassuring presence, and Will’s zest for life and endless capacity for fun, they were a great match.
Will’s family had been less than happy about their son’s coming out, and he didn’t see much of them.
On the other hand, Tap’s large extended family had welcomed Will into their fold with open arms and given him the home he’d been missing for too long.
I hoped with every fibre of my being that they lasted. Before Will, Tap’s dating history read like a Rolodex. When Will came onto the scene, all that changed, and I couldn’t be happier for my friend. Envious, even.
“You got into the chicken food again, didn’t you?” Tap studied Ziggy with a smile, then looked to me. “He’s gotta be a kilo more than he was at the beginning of the week.”
“Day before yesterday.” I shot Ziggy a glare, which he happily ignored as he trotted back up the hallway toward the bathroom. “I’m gonna have to fit a lock to those bins.”
Tap’s answering chuckle ended abruptly as he said, “Oh shit, I almost forgot. Do you know there’s a car buried in your compost heap?
” He stole a slice of bacon, and I slapped him with my spatula.
“Ow!” He shook his hand. “That hurt. Anyway, I took a look, but it’s empty.
The heap will need a rebuild though. The concrete block divisions are fine, but there’s manure strewn all over the place. ”
“Yeah, I’m aware,” I told him. “Let me get done here, and I’ll tell you about it. Now, sit.”
“Yes, sir.” Tap saluted and turned toward my old oak dining table groaning with food. “Jesus, Ry.” He put a hand to his chest and batted his lashes. “Pour moi? You shouldn’t have.”
“Shut up.” I threw a piece of buttered toast his way, and he caught it on the fly.
Chewing thoughtfully, Tap considered the laden plates of food. “Since when do you go all Gordon Ramsey for breakfast?”
“I didn’t go . . .” A blush stole over my cheeks, and I grunted, “Whatever. If you don’t want to eat, you can always start shovelling the manure.”
Tap cocked his head. “I never said I didn’t want to eat. What’s going on, Ry?”
Instead of answering, I walked to the door into the hallway, knowing exactly how this was about to go down. I was almost looking forward to it since Tap was overly fond of reminding me exactly how predictable I was in his eyes. “Do you want sausage with your eggs and bacon?” I called.
Tap immediately stopped chewing and his gaze jerked toward the hall, his expression almost comical.
Thaddeus took a second to answer, “No, but thank you.”
Tap’s mouth dropped open, and he joined me at the open door in two seconds flat. “Just who the hell was that?” His gaze locked on the empty hall before turning back to me. “Do you have a man stashed in your bedroom, Ryder Nelson?”
“Keep your voice down.” I manhandled Tap back into the kitchen. “And no, I do not have a man stashed in my bedroom.” I met his gaze and couldn’t resist. “He’s in my bathroom.”
A slow grin spread over Tap’s face, and he punched me in the bicep. “Why, you dirty dog. I am so fucking proud of you.”
I made sure he caught my eye-roll before I gave him a shove.
In our fifteen years of friendship, Tap had stumbled upon me waving goodbye to one of my hook-ups no more than a couple of times, tops.
I’d been even more careful since he’d gotten with Will.
Tap’s boyfriend could conjure a wedding cake out of a speck of flour.
“It’s not like that,” I cautioned him. “Thaddeus isn’t a hook-up. He’s a—” I struggled for the right word and finally settled on “—trespasser.”
Tap’s eyebrows hit his hairline. “A trespasser? A trespasser named Thaddeus?” He cupped my face in his big hands. “Exactly how much weed did you smoke last night?”
“Get off.” I freed my face from his grip. “I found the poor guy sleeping in my shed this morning. That’s his car in the compost pile.” I quickly filled him in on the rest of Thaddeus’s story, then waited for his response.
Tap took a moment to reply. “He said it was a spaniel?”
I shrugged. “That or a border collie or something similar. He thought it was black and white.”
Tap replied warily, “Uh-huh. And you think it was—”
“I think nothing,” I snapped, feeling my face heat. “I just thought it was . . . interesting. Anyway, that’s how I came to find him asleep in my shed.”
Tap’s heavy sigh carried an air of incredulity. “Only you, my friend. This could only happen to you. And what? You decided the only sensible course of action was to invite the man for breakfast? You know nothing about him.”
I unloaded the last of the pancakes onto the plate and pushed the frying pan off the heat.
“Well, I couldn’t just let him walk off, could I?
His clothes were still dripping wet, for fuck’s sake.
And the tow truck—” My mouth snapped shut at Ziggy’s merry yapping, signalling his imminent approach.
I sucked in a breath and turned to find Thaddeus entering the kitchen, hair still damp and wearing a pair of my sweats and my well-worn Lawn Enforcement Officer T-shirt.
Tap leaned close and whispered, “Good Lord in heaven. No further explanations required.”
Hidden by the breakfast bar, I kicked him in the shins while keeping my gaze firmly locked on Thaddeus.
The sight of him in my clothes did funny things to my stomach.
The last person who’d worn those particular items around the cottage had been James, my ex.
The realisation arrived with some unwelcome memories and an unexpected twinge of heartache.
Then again, Thaddeus wasn’t James, and there was a lot to be said for this fresh-faced young man padding barefoot around my house while looking all kinds of sexy. Tap had a point. “Jesus Christ,” I whispered under my breath, my lips not moving. Then much louder, “You look better.”