“Dev –”

Devin straightened, pulled the cigar out of his mouth and leaned toward Layne. “Tanner, that girl knows exactly what kind of man you are,” he repeated and finished, “and you scare the snot out of her.”

Layne felt the muscles in his neck get tight and he said, low and curt, “I’d never hurt her, old man.”

“That ain’t what scares her,” Devin shot back.

“Come again?”

“How’d this start?” Devin suddenly asked.

“How’d what start?” Layne asked back.

“You and her, why’s she back in your life?”

“She had some stupid ass scheme…” Layne started then stopped, it hit him, it hit him so hard it suddenly all became clear, he turned away from Devin and looked out into the night.

“Boy,” Dev prompted.

“She came to the hospital when I got shot,” Layne answered quietly.

“Right,” Dev whispered.

Layne closed his eyes and muttered, “Fuck.”

“Right,” Dev whispered again.

Layne opened his eyes and whispered into the night, “Jesus.”

“You’re as domesticated as I suspect you’re gonna get, dog, kids, house in a small town, office over a coffee shop. That don’t mean you don’t got dark and wild in you, boy. You got dark and wild in you, ain’t no gettin’ it out. Trust me, I know. A woman can see dark and wild. She can be attracted to it. She can want it. She can even fall in love with it. That don’t mean she can live with it.”

Layne stayed silent.

Dev sat back in his chair, put his stoagie to his lips and puffed.

Then he took it out and spoke. “Far’s I can see, you got a lotta shit you gotta deal with. Her soon-to-be ex, whatever’s happenin’ at that church but the biggest mission you got on your plate is to convince her that comin’ home to dark and wild is a good thing but, more, convincin’ her to be home and take a chance on the fact that that dark and wild may mean one day you won’t be comin’ home.”

“Nothin’s gonna happen to me, Dev.”

“I know that, you know that, your girl, she don’t know that. So she’s gotta think it’s worth the risk.”

“Her father was a cop,” Layne pointed out. “Anyone knows the score, it’s Rocky.”

“A cop who got shot,” Devin said and Layne turned his head to look at his friend.

“What?”

Devin turned his head too. “A cop who got shot. I remember her story, boy.”

“So she knows the score.”

“And, I’ll repeat, Tanner, that don’t mean she can live with it.”

“She’s close with her Dad, she’s close with her brother, she’s fine.”

“Wild dreams,” Devin replied.

Now the old man was just irritating him and he let it show when he said, “Dev, that doesn’t make sense.”

“You told me she shared your wild dreams. You went huntin’ for yours. She ever leave this town?”

Layne stared at him then answered, “No.”

“Somethin’ means the world to you, you think one day you’ll lose it, you got two choices. You cut yourself off from it so, when you lose it, that don’t destroy you or you hold it so close, it can’t ever go away but, if it does, you got as many precious memories as you can bag. Thinkin’ about your girl, do either of those sound familiar?”

Layne suddenly found he was struggling to get enough oxygen in his lungs.

“Well, Tanner? Do they?”

“You know they do, Dev.”

“So what you gonna do?”

Layne reached for his smokes and looked to the night.

“Two cigarettes, that’s tellin’,” Devin muttered.

“Shut up, Dev,” Layne muttered back.

Devin shut up. Then he stubbed his stoagie out in the ashtray and got up. He moved around the table and stood behind Layne’s chair as Layne fired up a cigarette.

On Layne’s exhale, Devin said, “I’ll leave you to your smoke.”

“Obliged,” Layne murmured.

Devin moved to the door and Layne knew there’d be a parting shot even before he heard Dev hesitate in sliding it open.

“Grab hold, Tanner,” he whispered into the night then Layne heard the door open.

“Fuck,” Layne whispered one second after he heard it close.

Chapter Twelve

Toothbrush

Rocky’s warmth was pressed against him, her head on his chest, her arm heavy on his stomach, her knee resting on his thigh – pinning him to his back in the bed.

Her head shifted, her arm tightened around him and she slid up so her lips were against the underside of his jaw.

“You need to wake me up, baby, I need to get to work,” she whispered.

* * * * *

Layne’s eyes opened and he saw dark.

But what he felt was Rocky’s warmth pressed against him, her head on his chest, her arm heavy on his stomach, her knee resting on his thigh – pinning him to his back in the bed.

Layne stared into the darkness and let the smell of her, the feel of her, the warmth, the softness, Rocky pressed close, pinning him to the bed for the first time in eighteen years, penetrate.

He closed his eyes and focused on those sensations and the golden trail they left.

Then he opened his eyes and smiled.

* * * * *

The night before, after Layne sat outside brooding in the dark through his second cigarette and to the end of his beer, he entered the house to find Jasper and Keira preparing to leave and Rocky and Tripp in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on cleaning it.

Layne’s eyes went to his watch and he saw that Jas had half an hour before Keira’s curfew and Keira lived at most a ten minute drive away so either his son was trying to ingratiate himself with Cal and Violet by taking her safely home with time to spare or he was going to take Keira somewhere so he could make out with her.

Layne was guessing the latter.

“Be back, Dad,” Jasper called from the front door, his hand in Keira’s.

“Thanks for dinner, Mr. Layne,” Keira called after Jasper was done.

“Any time, Keira,” Layne called back and they disappeared.

Layne looked at Devin who was standing at the front of the couch, already had his arms stretched over his head and was faking a huge yawn.

Then he heard Rocky announce in a firm, school teacher voice, “Layne, I need to talk to you.”

Surprised at her tone, his eyes cut to her, she gave him a look and then strutted to the steps and up them, still wearing her heels, her ass swaying with every step.