Chapter 22
Two hours after closing, Ryder was finally ready to leave. Libby had gone to meet up with Klaus and Lea and could or could not be in his house when he got home. He told himself the latter would be better, but the truth was, he liked having her there.
He’d only known her a short time, but she’d made a big impact on him, and maybe her leaving was for the best. Then he couldn’t get in any deeper or end up in her bed, which was what he wanted… had wanted last night.
She’s leaving Lyntacky soon, bud. Try to remember that.
“What do you want?” he said, answering his phone when it rang.
“I have a free appointment now, as it’s our late night. So get here in five, asshole,” JD said.
Snorting, Ryder hung up and drove to the Gnat. Walking in the front door minutes later, as most things were close in Lyntacky, he found his future sister-in-law seated behind the reception desk.
“Hey, Birdie.”
“Hi, Ryder.”
“How are you doing? Picked a date yet?”
Small, blond, and sweet, Birdie was the exact opposite to the bear she was marrying.
“End of the month at our place. Simple and just with the people we love.”
Most people would say with friends and family, but not Birdie. Raised by Meadow and Hamish McAllister surrounded by peace, love, and understanding, she was all about that.
“Nice. I can’t wait. Want me to put the food together for you guys? It can be my gift to you.”
Birdie started crying then. Sighing, he went around the desk and hugged her gently.
“Those emotions getting a bit big for you, sweetheart?”
“I’m just so h-happy,” she whispered.
“I know. You need to stop now because if my big brother finds out I made you cry, I’m in serious trouble.”
She snuffled out a laugh and then got up to go to the restroom.
“I’ll tell JD you’re here, Ryder.”
“Okay. You want me to drive you home after?”
She rolled her eyes. “Sawyer is coming. I’m not sure why I can’t drive myself.”
“Because we love you,” Ryder said, which made her sniff again. Her belly was big now, as she was due in eight weeks, and Birdie wasn’t a big person. She was carrying a little human who he’d loved like he did Ally.
Sitting, Ryder stared at the painting on the wall opposite. There was no accounting for taste. Seriously, art was definitely in the eye of the beholder. It looked like something Ally had puked up as a baby.
“Nina’s room will be the dirtiest, Libby!” Ryder heard JD say. “Think of a toddler who pulls all their toys out and never puts them back, then double it, and you have her.”
“Harsh!”
That voice was Nina’s.
“And yet so true.” Ryder knew that was Cill’s voice. She was the Gnat’s masseuse.
“You’d think I’d be worse, seeing as I have hair all over the place, but Nina still wins the award, Libby.” That voice belonged to Jessie, the hair stylist.
What the hell was going on, and was there another Libby in Lyntacky other than his Libby? Well, not his, but the one he knew.
Getting to his feet, he walked through the doors that led to the rooms where everyone did their thing. He saw her back down the end of a hallway and followed as she disappeared.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
She spun from whatever she was sweeping and looked at him. “My heart just about stopped, Ryder. I didn’t know you were there.”
She’d changed her top. This one was a soft white baggy sweater, which she wore over her jeans. Her hair was pulled up in a messy knot on her head.
“And I repeat, what are you doing?”
“Working,” she said.
“You’re employed by me, and you’re doing Dee and Red’s books. How much more time is there in a day for you to work?”
“My work for you won’t suffer, Ryder, and I’m only doing this two nights a week. I’ve nearly finished Dee and Red’s books.”
“You’re sweeping the Gnat’s floor in a white sweater that looks like it costs a month’s worth of wages?”
Like she had when he’d spoken about her comment on his wet chocolate molds, he thought she looked nervous again, seeing as he’d mentioned money. What the hell was this woman’s deal?
“I thought you were going to meet up with Lea and Klaus?”
“I did. I moved my bag there, and they gave me a key,” she said quickly. “So you won’t have to worry about me being in your space anymore. Thank you for having me in your house again.”
She looked really nervous now, and who could blame her after the make-out session they’d had last night.
“Welcome.” They stood staring at each other because it seemed that like him, she didn’t know what to say next.
He had no rights to this woman and couldn’t tell her what to do, even as everything inside him balked at the fact she was now working two jobs. Lots of people did that all around the world, Ryder got that, but for some reason, it bothered him she was doing it. That she’d walk home in the cold after this to Klaus and Lea’s sleepout and stay there alone.
Not exactly alone, as Klaus and Lea would be in the house, but still. Christ, stop, Ryder, she’s not your problem.
“Problem?”
He turned to find JD behind him. “No, you ready for me now?”
His brother-in-law-to-be nodded, his eyes going from JD to Libby. “Yup.”
Ryder walked around him to the room JD did his tattooing in and sat on the bed.
“You all good there, Ryder?” JD said, wandering back in minutes later.
“Of course. You?” He rolled up the sleeve of his T-shirt.
“Never better. I’m living with your sister after all.”
“I mean, to you that could be a bonus, but you have to understand we likely got the other version of her,” Ryder said, making himself relax. “My sister was a she-devil.”
“Watch how you talk about the love of my life,” JD drawled.
He then pulled his cart closer and sat on his stool.
“So lay it on me. What do you want on your upper arm?”
“This.” Ryder handed over the paper with the picture of the tree he’d found online.
“A symbol of growth and continued growth?” JD asked, getting it immediately. “Nice. Mind if I add my touch to it?”
“Have at it,” Ryder said.
“So why the tattoo now?”
“Why not?” Ryder lay back and looked at another ugly painting across from him. “What’s with the ugly artwork, bud? You get a deal on them or something?”
JD swiveled from what he was doing to look at the painting. It was black lines and squiggles that looked like semicolons.
“I paid a lot for the artwork in here, you heathen.”
“You were ripped off.”
“So Libby.”
“No Libby.”
“You seemed kinda tense when I saw you talking to her just before.”
“Not tense,” Ryder said, wondering if he should move towns and visit his family occasionally. Would he enjoy the anonymity? Even as he thought it, he knew he’d miss everyone too much.
“What’s he getting done?” This came from Nina minutes later while JD outlined his tattoo. She and Cill were soon looking over JD’s shoulder, watching.
“I’m sure you both have clients,” their boss said.
“Nope, mine’s just drying her nails. Libby is making us coffee. Anyone want one?” Nina asked. “She also got the dead mouse that Deidra dragged into my room, so you don’t have to do that today, JD.”
“Can’t say I’m sorry about that. Two coffees for us,” he added before Ryder spoke.
“How do you know I wanted one?”
“Do you?”
“Yes, but you didn’t know that.” Ryder knew he sounded testy, but it felt like suddenly his life wasn’t his own anymore, and everyone in Lyntacky had a say in it.
“You sound testy. Not getting enough sleep?” Cill asked. “Jed gets real testy if he has no sleep.”
“It’s a man thing,” Nina added.
“Do you always have an audience for your work?”
“Only when I get important clients like you,” JD said.
Closing his eyes, Ryder blocked them out. He’d meditated a few times, especially when things were tough. He may seem easygoing, but inside his head was another matter entirely. Sometimes he had at least fifty tabs open with no hope of closing them.
Ryder often thought he’d taken a while to settle on something he loved because he’d had so many other things to discard on the way to finding it.
“He’s got good bone structure. Do you want a facial, Ryder?”
“No, Nina, I do not.”
“I could rub your shoulders,” Cill said. “Oh hey, Libby, you’re a doll for making us those drinks. I think JD should simply employ you full-time to work here and make us stuff. Do you bake for Ryder?”
He knew Cill was trying to annoy him, so he kept his eyes closed.
“I don’t, no. Ryder is your best bet when it comes to delicious food and coffee. I only know how to make it because he taught me.”
She’d said the words quickly, as if to soothe any ruffled feathers Cill may have given him. The woman clearly had avoided conflict and not lived anywhere like Lyntacky in her past life. Conflict started at breakfast in this town. Opening his eyes, he looked directly at her, as she was standing at the foot of the bed he lay on.
“Here’s your coffee, Ryder.” She held out a caramel-colored mug for him.
“Thanks.”
Her eyes went to the arm which JD was working on and grew wide.
“What is that about?” Nina said, pointing to his shoulder.
“You don’t recognize it? It’s a cartoon symbol called Popeye,” JD said.
“Ha-ha,” Ryder said, looking at Libby. What was she thinking? She looked shocked to him. “It’s the symbol of many things. Harmony, balance, growth, that kind of thing,” Ryder said.
“I’ll get back to work,” Libby said, and seconds later, she was gone.
“What’s her deal?” Cill asked, nodding to the door Libby had just fled through.
“How would I know what her deal is?”
“You work and live with her,” Nina said.
“For a handful of days, and we don’t talk at work because—this may come as a shock now, so brace yourself—we were working. At home she was always in her room.”
“Did you have sex?”
Nina’s words had Ryder choking on his coffee.
“Well, hell, is it okay if your tree has a branch out of its trunk that looks like a penis?” JD said. “Because you jerked your arm at the wrong time.”
“No, we did not have sex,” Ryder hissed.
“Who had sex?” Sawyer wandered into the room, filling up all the remaining space, of which there wasn’t a whole lot anyway.
“Ryder,” Cill said.
He then had four pairs of eyes on him.
“Nice work, little bro. Who with?”
“Why is it nice work? You lot need to get lives and stay out of mine.” Ryder kept his voice down, not wanting Libby to hear because if she hadn’t pulled away from him last night, they would have had sex, and he knew that.
“Why are you whispering?” JD asked.
Ryder closed his eyes and ignored the four of them as they discussed his love life and anything else that they thought would annoy him for the next ten minutes.
“Better go, my next client is here.”
When he opened his eyes again, it was just Sawyer and JD in the room. His brother was staring at the tattoo from beside JD now.
“You didn’t tell me you were getting this.”
“I don’t tell you everything,” Ryder muttered.
Sawyer looked at him then. “Huh, I always believed you did.”
“Because you were such an open book for years, after all,” JD said.
“That’s different. People expect that of me, but not him. He’s the nice Duke sibling.”
“I’m sure the other three may have something to say about that,” Ryder said.
“Maybe” was all his brother said, but he knew that look in Sawyer’s eyes. There was a talk in Ryder’s future, and it would be around what else he’d hidden from his big brother, and there was no way he was coming clean about that.