And if ever there was a segue into what she wanted to talk to him about, that was it. She hesitated and then asked quietly, “And what if that is what I want to do?”
He looked up at her, frowning. “Sorry?”
She shrugged. “What if I do want to stick with you?” she said and then laughed. “Sounds wrong but gets the idea across.”
He grinned. “It’s also pretty clear, and I’ll never argue with that. And I hope you do,” he replied quietly. “I wondered these last few days because it seemed like you wanted to be just friends.”
“More than friends,” she murmured. “I’m already trying to figure out what to do if you leave, like you were talking about a long-distance relationship. And I… I don’t think I can handle that.”
His face fell, and he nodded slowly. “I can understand that,” he murmured. “It is definitely something I’m giving a lot of thought to.”
“And do you have any answers?”
“Not yet,” he said, “but I hope to soon.”
She nodded slowly. “Maybe you could let me know when you get there?” she asked hopefully.
“I can do that,” he replied. “It would help to know a little bit more about how you feel about everything.”
“Well, I think I just said how I felt,” she murmured.
He nodded. “True enough.” Yet his voice was a little distant, a little sad.
“Do you really have to go so far away?”
He shook his head. “I don’t have to, no. I’m not even sure where I’m going,” he murmured. “I have to come up with some kind of a career, something to do.”
“And you have to do that right away?”
“No,” he admitted thoughtfully. “I’m friends with a guy who used to be here as a patient, and he has opened a center in town that helps veterans adjust to their new civilian lives.”
“Right, I heard about that,” she said. “I’m not sure which one of the guys did that, but I’m sure Dani could tell you more about it.”
He nodded. “Maybe I should talk to him first, see what kind of options there are in town.”
“And do you have a problem living in Texas?”
“Nope,” he replied, “not if there’s a reason for it. I don’t want to just make an arbitrary decision, if I need to be somewhere else.”
She nodded. “And I can see that too, but I hope that you don’t.”
“It means a lot to you to stay in Dallas?”
“It means a lot to me to stay here at Hathaway House. Maybe that’s a little hard for you to understand. I don’t know, but this feels very much like family for me, very much like it’s where I belong.”
“And it’s pretty hard to argue with that too. Obviously we have things to think about.”
“We do,” she murmured. And that was the end of that.
After Lana left,Ryatt remained at the pool for a long time, just sitting with the cup of coffee that she had brought him. It had long gone cold, but he didn’t care. When he got chilled, hemoved over to the hot tub and sat there, lost in thought. When Dennis came around and nudged him gently, Ryatt looked up, startled. “Sorry. I was lost in the clouds.”
“Or lost in love,” Dennis noted, with a bright smile.
Ryatt gave him a wry lip twitch. “I don’t know. Nothing’s ever quite so smooth in that department.”
“It’s not meant to be,” Dennis declared, still smiling. “It’s supposed to be something that you have to work through.”
“Why is that?” Ryatt murmured. “Shouldn’t it be easy?”