Page 9 of Nicks and Cuts

Or seeing Shannon every day might rub his nose in everything he didn’t have?

He’d been back for five years…what if nothing changed in another five? What if it did? He had a nice routine going. A routine that was taking him nowhere. He had no plans for the future, in part because thinking ahead had been far too hard when he’d barely been able to get through a day.

Now he breezed through months without stopping to think. That was good, wasn’t it?

He hated the way one stupid Pride event had made him question everything. He should be grateful that he had a life and that he had turned a hobby into a job, so he enjoyed his life.

That was enough.

Or at least it had been enough.

But when Shannon had talked about his ex, Dante realized he didn’t really have an ex. He’d had liaisons that, even before the accident, had never been more than a way to blow off steam. He’d never broken up with anyone because he had never been that close to anyone.

He checked each student’s work and found something specific to praise, from the shape of the blade to their handle color choices or shape. Then he was alone.

He didn’t even have anyone he could call up and have beers with. Some of the guys he’d gone to school with had reached out when he’d first moved back, but he’d shunned them all, unable to reconnect while grappling with the loss of everything.

He’d never even considered that he might be lonely. He talked to other knife makers online, and there were a few guys from his army days that he kept in contact with. But if he died in sleep, no one would notice until his next class turned up and wondered what the smell was.

He was locking up the workshop when Shannon’s SUV rumbled up the driveway, towing an orange, black and white trailer in the shape of a fish. He’d seen that parked at the motel and wondered who owned the monstrosity.

Shannon waved, and Dante pointed to the other end of the stables. A very fat goldfish was going to be parked there until Shannon found somewhere else to live.

“I have the pizzas,” Shannon announced as he got out of the car. “And they are still hot.” His gaze flicked over Dante. “Do you want to clean up first? I can put them in the oven to keep warm?”

“Do you want to unpack?”

He glanced at the SUV, then at the pizza boxes in his hand. “Nah, I’ll do it after.”

“Okay.” Dante was willing to bet that after two beers and a pizza, Shannon wouldn’t feel like doing anything. He knew he wouldn’t after being on his feet all day. “I’ll wash up.”

He headed toward the mudroom, and Shannon followed after locking his vehicle. Dante smiled; no one was going to come all the way out here to steal a car.

“Just go through. I’ll be there in a minute. Beer is in the fridge.” He turned on the hot tap over the laundry sink.

“You don’t want a shower?”

He kept his gaze on his hands, not wanting to think about what had happened in the shower with Shannon. “Are you saying I stink?”

“No, but your clothes are…very…” He felt Shannon’s assessment. “They’ve had a hard life.”

Dante snorted. “I do a lot of work in them, but it’s only metal and wood, no bodily fluids.”

“Thanks for the reminder why I don’t bring my work clothes home.” He turned and walked out. Dante lifted his head just enough to watch. Once again Shannon was in jeans that fitted him like a glove and a T-shirt that probably cost more than everything Dante was wearing.

He dried his hands, gave Shannon head start of a few more seconds, then drew in a breath and followed, not sure why his heart was acting like he was running into battle. No one was going to ambush him in the kitchen, and pepperoni was not a weapon unless he included the smell of it on someone’s breath.

Shannon had placed the three pizzas on the table, lids flipped open, two squares of kitchen paper on the table with a beer next to each one. Dante frowned. “What’s with the paper?”

“Plates…or do you eat over the box?”

That depended on the company. His parents had always gotten out proper plates. In the army it was a piece of pizza in each hand, and it was eaten fast to get more.

“If it’s just me, over the box. Thank you for setting the table.” He sat, and Shannon sat opposite him.

“I didn’t know what you liked, so chicken supreme, meat lover, and the controversial pineapple and ham…though I was very tempted by the bacon and eggs.”

“If you get that, ask for the chili sauce.”