Michael growled as Zane moved past.
Ty leaned over the table. “That’s his way of saying fuck you without saying fuck you. You’re over here with me, buddy. This way we can both talk to her and look at how pretty she is.”
The corner of Michael’s mouth curled up—an almost smile—and he moved in next to Ty. “She is pretty.”
“So pretty you had to toss her over your shoulder and drag her out to dinner.” It wasn’t a question. It was hopefully an explanation.
“I panicked.” Michael’s expression was stony. “She was standing there and she looked a little horrified to see me, so I panicked and picked her up and carried her out here, and now I can see where that might have been an overreaction on my part. Did everyone really have to cheer?”
“It’s that kind of town,” Ty replied. He had his very lovely piña colada in front of him because unlike Sawyer, Zane believed in blenders.
“I wasn’t horrified to see you.” Lucy reached out and stole his piña colada like she almost always did and took a little drag off the straw. “I was surprised you were there. Not surprised you were here at Trio. Surprised you were behind the door when I opened it and I’d just had…”
She took another drink. He was going to have to order another one.
“Just had what?” Michael was suddenly tense again. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” Lucy shook her head and passed Ty’s drink back. “I was taking out the trash and I thought I heard something. It freaked me out a little. Too many horror movies. That’s all.”
That brought up so many good memories. “We used to watch horror movies while we were in college.”
“You were in college,” she reminded him.
“I was,” he said. “We would find a movie on cable and then call each other and watch and talk the whole way through, and I would inevitably get a phone call around two a.m. that night that she heard something.”
“You liked that part,” she accused.
There it was. That invisible tether that had connected them for as long as he could remember.
Michael reached out a hand, and Lucy took it. “I’m sorry for being overbearing. I didn’t want to screw this up a second time. Not that I screwed up the first time.”
It was Ty’s turn to groan. “Fine. It was all my fault.”
Lucy reached for his hand, too. “I should have talked to both of you. I should have taken Michael up on his offer to go have a drink and sort it out. Ty, I’ve come to realize that I’m scared of losing you. So scared that I would almost rather push you away than try, and that’s foolish of me. Michael, in some ways the same goes for you. I’m invested in this relationship even though it’s not much of one yet. There’s a part of me that would rather hold on to the possibility of what could happen between us than actually attempt to make it happen. Does that make sense?”
“It sounds stupid,” Michael replied, his voice hoarse. “But yes, I do know what you mean.”
Progress. It was a beautiful thing. “I do, too. It’s why I turned you down back in high school. I knew I was going away, and I didn’t think I could keep you. Funny thing is we stayed close for the most part. I missed you all those years, and then when I came back you had a boyfriend and I decided it was time to see if there was someone else out there for me.”
“Tell her.” Michael sat back.
Lucy did the same, breaking their contact, but not in a harsh way. They were still somehow together, the little booth they sat at enclosing them. “Tell me what?”
He glared Michael’s way. They’d talked more than sports the night before. Mostly Ty talking because Michael was a closed-up asshole. But he was a pretty good listener.
Michael took a sip of his beer and put it back down again. “This is why you two didn’t get together then and wouldn’t work today if you didn’t have me. You have to talk to each other. And the fact that I have to be the one to say that is sad because I’m not a talker. At least not anymore.”
Well, not talking hadn’t worked for them. The question was would she actually believe him. He’d admitted this particular secret to Michael last night. He’d expected the man to snort and laugh at him. Instead, Michael had turned his way and given him what Ty now thought of as his understanding grunt.
“I came back from college a virgin.” Ty said the words directly and clearly because he didn’t want to repeat them. “Like I said, I meant to come home and start a relationship with you because I could give you what you deserved.”