The beautiful green eyes I loved so much remained pointed at the ground. He shuffled his feet.
“Nothing,” he said. “Stupid bar fight, that’s all.”
“Yeah right,” I smirked.
“Seriously,” said Chase. “I was in a bar, had a few drinks… and had it out with an old friend.”
“Bullshit.” I dabbed at his eye with a clean tissue from my pocket. “You’re an American who came here only a couple of years ago,” I said. “You don’t have any ‘old friends.’”
Chase let out a short laugh, then looked to Noah. “Wow. She’s good.”
“Too good,” Noah admitted.
“Good enough to tell me what’s going on?” I demanded. “Or are we going to lie about something as stupid as a black eye?”
There was an awkward pause as the men looked at each other again.
“There’s nothing really to lie about,” said Chase fina
lly. He took the bag back from Noah and began handing out the breakfast sandwiches. “I was at a bar—”
“Which bar?”
“The Norman—” A scathing glance from Noah forced him to cut himself off again, but it was too late.
“The Normandy Inn,” I finished for him. “Go on.”
Chase shrugged. “And that’s it, really. I wised off to the wrong guy. You know I’m a wise-ass. That part’s indisputable.”
“And what do they look like?” asked Noah. His emphasis on the word ‘they’ was troubling.
“Pretty much like me,” said Chase. “Only with missing teeth instead of black eyes.”
We made our way slowly back to the truck, which was our makeshift breakfast table. Noah was already spreading out the wrapper of his sandwich. Chase however, was limping.
“Your leg too?” I asked in alarm.
“Ribs,” said Chase, holding his side.
“Oh honey…”
“Trust me, it’s nothing,” he smiled again. “They got it worse — they look much uglier than me.”
“They were ugly to begin with,” said Noah, popping the top on his coffee.
“Still, I—”
A background noise became a loud rumble, as Julian’s truck pulled up noisily. My heart soared. My whole body flooded with relief and happiness.
Thank God.
Noah and Chase were covering their sandwiches with their hands. But I didn’t care. I ran through the dust-plume and straight up to the side of his truck…
… which was somehow pulling a trailer, filled with lumber and supplies.
“Oh my God…”
Now Noah and Chase did come, making their way over as Julian leapt from his truck. He went to the back, and immediately opened the trailer’s gate.