Billy & The Beast (Ever After, New York #3) - Eli Easton Page 0,26

To be honest, I never had much time for animals before the accident. But Jack’s been . . .” A lifeline? My only friend? Both of those, but that sounded so pathetic. “Important to me. Now I can’t imagine I’ll ever have a life without a dog. I’ve thought about getting another one, but Jack is so spoiled. He’d probably resent sharing the attention.”

“No way! I bet he’d love another dog,” Billy said, his eyes shining. “And that’s one thing we have in common. Dogs are also in my top two. Aside from horror. I mean, when it comes to something you’d want sleeping at the end of your bed.”

I gave him a raised eyebrow and he blushed again. “As a pet. You know what I mean.”

“Mmm. What made you become a dog lover?”

“We’ve always had a dog. They’ve always been part of the family, even when I was a baby. But . . .” He put down his fork and crossed his arms.

It was a defensive move, as if he were feeling vulnerable. I recognized that, but the move also drew my eyes to the smooth tan skin of his pecs. God, he had beautiful skin. Like his eyes, his skin was preternaturally clear, almost dewy. I looked away.

“I guess my first real canine bond was with our dog Maggie, after my dad moved out. She seemed to know I needed extra help because she was always by my side, licking my face, or snuggling up next to me. It’s like she just knew when I was down. I got really close to her. She had a beautiful spirit, you know?”

She had a beautiful spirit. I couldn’t imagine any of my old friends saying something like that, not in a million years.

The words beautiful spirit struck a chord in me. They reminded me of someone I knew, and it wasn’t a dog.

“It was so hard when she died,” Billy sighed. He picked up his hamburger again.

“I bet. I know it’s inevitable with dogs, and that Jack will get there one day, but I can’t even think about it.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you have a dog now?”

“Yup. Mr. Barks. He’s a shepherd mix. He’s getting up there in age too.”

“You could bring him over sometime.”

Billy looked at me in surprise.

“If you ever, you know, need to be able to watch him during the day,” I hedged, not wanting to sound overeager.

“Maybe,” Billy shrugged. “But this place is so big. I’d worry about him getting lost off leash. He has a tendency to follow his nose. Besides, he watches over my mom when I’m not there.”

“You worry about your mom a lot.”

He nodded, his expression saying he found this perfectly ordinary.

“So what’s the second thing in your top two favorite things?” he asked.

“Sailing.” The thought hurt. “Used to be, anyway.” I could almost feel the motion of the boat, that bounce as it moved over the uneven water, the wind in my face, the exhilaration when the sail was caught by that invisible power and billowed out . . .

No use in thinking about that. No use making myself miserable.

“Now my favorite thing is breathing, I guess,” I tried to joke. “I’m particularly fond of being alive.”

It fell flat, at least to my ears. For a moment there was awkward silence, but he rallied. “Yes, good point. That should be in everyone’s top two, now that you mention it.”

He winked at me. Winked. Then he fed a bit of hamburger to Jack, cooing nonsense to him about how he obviously loved Jack more than I did because I was being selfish with my hamburger.

I stared at him. I knew Billy couldn’t have missed the bitterness I’d expressed, but he chose to sidestep it with an attempt to cheer me up. Which was actually quite effective.

You, I thought. Billy Martin was one of my top two favorite things in life right now. For much the same reason as Jack, because he gave me a reason to find beauty in life again, gave me something to look forward to, even if it was just watching him work around the garden. And because he was there for me. He tried to be. He’d been trying for weeks, I realized, now that I wasn’t too closed off to see it.

Then again, my feelings about Billy were not like those for Jack at all.

“So are you up for watching Frogs after we eat?” Billy asked.

“I’m aflutter with anticipation.”

“I know, right? Me too,” Billy said unironically. “But we can watch