are you going?” She sounded so bewildered, he almost relented, but if he did, she’d just pick up where she’d left off.
“It’s a nice morning for a walk.” His mom would make a scene in here, but she wouldn’t follow him down the street. If he went back upstairs, she’d follow him and bad would just turn to worse. “Love you, Mom.” He couldn’t in good conscience tell her it’d been nice to see her.
He walked out the front door. His leaving wasn’t a turn-tail-and-run move. It was more of a strategic retreat, a decision not to return enemy fire. He wasn’t getting into a firefight.
The mild sun on his face felt great as he walked down the sidewalk. Not allowing his mom to bully him felt even better.
His cousin materialized out of seemingly nowhere. But then again, Lars had been so consumed in his thoughts he could’ve stepped on top of Dirk and not known it.
“Hey, Big D. How’s it going?”
“She’s coming.”
What the hell? Lars whipped his head around to look over his shoulder. His mother wasn’t back there. “Mom’s not back there.”
“Why would she be?” Dirk looked at him as if he’d lost it. “I thought she was leaving today.”
They walked on.
“She is.”
“Oh, okay. Then why’d you bring her up?”
“Never mind,” Lars said. “Let’s start this all over. Who’s coming?”
“Natalie.”
Right. Okay. They’d talked about her on Friday night. “Cool. That’s great. Way to go, Big D. When’s she coming?”
“I’m not sure yet.” The familiarity of the look on Dirk’s face slammed Lars in the gut. Lars had seen his share of men die, and there was a look in their eyes, a look of inevitability, of resignation, of giving up the fight. Dirk wore the same look. What in the hell was going on with his cousin?
They’d run out of sidewalk. A group of kids, plus a couple of dogs, were playing dodgeball in the sandy lot to the left. Lars propped against a tree. Dirk shoved his hands deep in his pockets and looked around. Lars suddenly realized Dirk hadn’t just happened to run into him. He’d been waiting outside for him.
“What gives?” Dirk apparently needed to get something off of his chest.
Dirk shuffled from one foot to the other. “I shouldn’t have asked her. I shouldn’t have ever looked her up.” The look of self-loathing on Dirk’s face shocked Lars. “I’m not good enough for her. I—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s this all about, Dirk? So you’re not Liam? That’s a damn good thing. You’re a great guy, a hard worker. What the hell do you mean you’re not good enough for her?” He quickly ran back through their conversation. Dirk had never gotten too caught up with women. But he was definitely straight. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be miserable over Natalie in the first place. That left only one other option he could think of. “You know, if you’ve got a problem getting worked up, a doctor can prescribe something.”
Dirk turned beet-red and for a second Lars didn’t know if Dirk was going to punch him or cry—either one would suck. “I get it up. What the hell?”
“Exactly, what the hell? If you’re not into guys and you can get it up, why are you acting so crazy?” Well, that was a thought. Maybe mental issues ran in the family—his mom was certainly a head case. “Hell, I’m sure there’s medicine for whatever’s ailing you. You can take a pill for just about anything these days.”
“Yeah?” Dirk looked as if he wanted to hit something. “Do they make a pill for stupid?”
Dirk wasn’t going to be recruited for the space program but he wasn’t stupid either. “You’re not stupid. Why would you say that?”
Dirk’s face took on a mulish expression and Lars sucked in a deep breath and prayed for some patience. Dirk got that expression when he was digging in his heels on something.
Lars’s morning had gotten off to such a damned good start. He’d woken up to explosively fantastic sex with a great woman. It was a beautiful sunny day and no one was likely to get blown up or killed here. What could go wrong? But the day seemed to be steadily going downhill.
“Look, D. I’m not your mama and I’m not your shrink. If you want to talk, then talk. But you’ve got to tell me what you’re dealing with or just shut the hell up. So what’s it gonna be?”
For what felt like a full minute, Dirk glared at him, obviously mulling