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“Good, I guess.”
“A rave review.”
I chuckled. “I guess I’m just going to take a while to adjust to being in an office all the time.”
“It’s what you wanted, right?”
I nodded against him. “Yeah. It’s better for Katie.”
“Better for you, too, right? More money, more responsibility?”
I sighed and Sly tilted his chin down to meet my gaze. “If you don’t like it, don’t do it.”
“It’s not that easy. I accepted a promotion.”
“So?”
I thought about what he was saying, but I knew it wouldn’t go over well at work if I changed my mind. Everyone else who was a contender had been told they didn’t get it. They’d have to start the search again if I bailed. “I thought you didn’t like me out in the field anyway.”
“I don’t. Wrestling bears doesn’t seem like the right thing for you to be doing when you’ve got Katie here to worry about. Or me.”
“I should be worrying about you?”
“No, but if one of those bears puts a paw out of line, they’d have to worry about me for damn sure.”
“Thanks for offering to beat up a bear for me. Very chivalrous.” I chuckled against him. It was nice to hear him offer to protect me, but it still irked me that he didn’t see that how much I loved my job trumped any perceived dangers in my mind. My former job, at least.
“I don’t like this job for you either though,” he said, and it immediately rubbed me the wrong way. It was like Zach all over again, the only way he’d be happy about my work was if it was completely benign.
“Kind of not about you though,” I said.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
I relaxed against him again, determined not to let the irritation I felt ruin what we’d just shared. “How was your week?”
“Not great,” he said bluntly.
I arched up to get a look at his face. “Why?”
He sighed, and I moved away a little, supporting my head on my hand so we could see each other. “My dad had a heart attack this year,” he said.
I nodded. “I know.”
Sly sat up abruptly, and then turned to face me, his expression murderous. “You knew?”
“I was here when the ambulance came,” I said. “Did you...did you not know that?” Why wouldn’t his mother have told him? Wouldn’t she have called him when it happened?
“No. No one mentioned it to me.” Sly’s face was dark, storms raging in his deep brown eyes. There was something more here, but he wasn’t telling me what it was. “Didn’t want to distract me during the season,” he said, nearly spitting this last part.
“I guess that was considerate. They were thinking of you.” I couldn’t believe Violet would keep this from him, but didn’t feel like it was my place to say so.
“You think so?” This was an accusation, not a question.
“Hey.” I lifted both my hands in surrender, facing him on the bed. “I don’t have anything to do with this. I don’t know why they didn’t tell you. I’m sorry.”
He stared at me, hard, for another beat. And then I saw the fight flow out of him. “Not on you.” He slumped, bowing his head and resting his forearms on his legs, which were bent beneath the covers. I moved closer and dropped a hand on his back, smoothing the long muscles there.
“Hey. You okay?”
