Chapter 7 #3
“I already paid you, so I want you to finish. But you clearly can’t do it alone, so Ryan, you now work with Logan. Warren, I’m sorry, but you’re fired. Don’t touch anything on your way out, please.”
A wide-eyed Warren nodded and scampered down the trail, not even stopping to say goodbye to Logan.
“You can’t fire my employees,” Logan said.
“Okay, then I’ll fire you and sue you for what I paid you.”
Logan huffed and crossed his arms. This time, it was Ryan who grinned.
“And you,” Jasper said, turning to Ryan. “You’re not looking any better here, creeper. Say hello to your new coworker. Now shake hands and make up before I get mad.”
Ryan worked hard to keep his face straight as he stuck his hand out and felt Logan’s weirdly damp, callused one slide against it.
“There we go,” Jasper said, nodding. “Ryan knows how much this park means to me. Logan has a deadline he agreed to. Between the two of you, this should be easy. Right?”
Obviously, this was the worst idea Jasper had ever come up with. That said, he was essentially offering Ryan a way to show him how much he cared, and for that, he was grateful.
“I have to get to work,” Jasper said, glancing at the destroyed fence. “And I guess so do you guys. Have fun today.”
He took off down the trail, and Ryan stepped in front of Logan, who had started following Jasper with muttered pleas to stop.
“Stay here, or I’ll put you in a chokehold so tight your head will pop off.”
Logan choked out a laugh of disbelief, freezing in place when Ryan pulled his shoulders back and lifted his fist. Just slightly. He had no plans to beat Logan up, but Logan didn’t need to know that.
“Jasper!” Ryan shouted, taking off down the trail. Panic flooded his veins as he slipped down the final bit leading to the parking lot. Jasper was almost to his car, just feet from opening the door and climbing in, feet from leaving without letting Ryan explain.
Ryan slipped again. Coincidence, divine intervention, or fate, he didn’t know, but this time, he’d slipped because of a set of car keys on the dirt path. Jasper’s keys.
“Oh, thank God,” he muttered to himself, ignoring the searing pain in his hips from his fall. He made it to the car, where Jasper was pulling on the door handles and huffing angry noises before giving up, ending his fight with a sad slap to the driver’s side window.
“Jasper,” Ryan said, breathing slightly labored.
“Ryan,” Jasper said, breathing more than slightly labored.
“Your keys.”
“May I have them, please?” Jasper said, looking at the keys dangling from Ryan’s index finger.
“You may. If you—”
“No! You don’t get to ask me for anything right now!”
Ryan sighed and squeezed his hands into fists, the keys jabbing his palm. “I’m sorry for how I acted up there. I was rude to Logan, I know, but he was doing so much wrong. I walked through the park, and I don’t think a single thing he’s touched is fixed at all. Most stuff is worse, possum.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“I’m sorry. It just came out.”
“Anyway,” Jasper said, “I know the park is fucked up. I have eyes. And knowing you for so many years did force some knowledge to stick in my brain.”
“Okay, then you understand why I had to step in.”
“I understand why you stepped in. That’s what you do. You decide on something and make decisions that impact me without asking me or considering my wishes. But no, I don’t understand why you think it was any of your fucking business what happens with my park.”
“It’s my business because you’re my husband and I love you, and I want your park to thrive. You’ve never accepted my money for repairs. You wouldn’t let me do the work. You wouldn’t even let me talk to Logan before you hired him. What else was I supposed to do?”
Jasper laughed, right in Ryan’s face, as he snatched the keys from his hand.
“Respect my wishes? Mind your business? You know, now that you’re not in the gym twice a day, every day, you could spend some time on other types of exercise.
Restraint, for example. Next time you think you know better than me about something we haven’t discussed more than twice in the last year, try not acting on it. ”
“Jasper. It just makes sense for me to do it.”
“Well, I’m glad you feel that way. Because Logan’s last employee packed my French drain with fill dirt and lost his job, so he needs an extra set of hands.”
“I’m not working with Logan.”
Jasper stared at Ryan for a few seconds, then nodded. “Of course.”
“What?”
“You decided Logan was incompetent. You decided I needed help. You decided to intervene, despite what I wanted. What I demanded, actually.” He unlocked his car and opened the door, putting one foot inside.
“You wanted a second chance to show me how much you’ve changed. Well, so far, I haven’t seen it.”
“You haven’t given me a chance!” Ryan said.
As soon as he said it, he wished he could shove it all back inside. Jasper’s lips were pressed together in a hard line and his nostrils flared. But then he seemed to give up, throwing himself into his car without another word.
He drove away, leaving Ryan alone in the parking lot. Ryan turned, landing face to face with Logan’s work truck. Cursing under his breath, he limped the entire way back up the trail.