Lucas nodded, understanding more than Ryder probably realized. Life had a way of pulling people apart, even when they tried like hell to hold on. He still missed his family, even with all their faults, and the friends he’d made back there. He hadn’t had much luck building a group in his new town. He glanced over at Ryder. Maybe that was starting to change.
They rounded the bend in the path, and the snow tapered off, clouds scudding away from a bright half-moon. The silvery glow highlighted Ryder’s broad cheekbones and neatly groomed beard. Luca forgot to watch the path for a moment as he scanned the big man’s face.
Ritz came to attention suddenly, ears up and tail still. He barked once as he stared off into the trees. Ryder turned to peerinto the gloom beyond the circles of light, frowned and shook his head. “Silly dog. Probably barking at ghosts.”
Lucas glanced sideways. “Do you believe in that stuff?”
Ryder rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and shot him a quick glance. Ritz had resumed his walk down the path as if nothing happened. “Nah, well… I listen to this show, Midnight Mysteries. They talk about all this ghost and cryptid stuff. Keeps me awake on late-night shifts.”
His eyes widened. “Wait. You listen to their podcast too? I love it! Did you catch last night’s show about the Newman spirit lights?”
A smile tugged at Ryder’s mouth. “Yeah, swamp gas, right?”
They laughed together, a low, somehow musical sound that filled the night air with warmth. The conversation wound on through a few favorite episodes and the idea that Bigfoot was probably an inter-dimensional being before they circled back around to real life topics.
“I love my job,” Ryder said after a while. “But it’s a lot sometimes. The hours are long, and I’m on call more often than not. They don’t have money to hire more full-timers in a town this size, so we pick up the slack whenever. You see the worst days of people’s lives, over and over. Makes you appreciate the quiet when you find it.”
Lucas swallowed, surprised a little about how open Ryder was, as if he felt as comfortable with Lucas already as he did with Ryder.. “It’s not something I could do, but I understand about strange schedules. My freelance work can happen at any time, and now I’m working nights at the college. It makes it hard to have a social life sometimes.”
In their texts back and forth since they first met at the dog park, they both shared random surface stuff about their lives. The heavier conversations seemed more suited for face-to-face walks in the park.
They exchanged a glance, brief but heavy with understanding. They led different lives, and had different pasts, but the same loneliness lingered behind their careful smiles.
A harsh buzz sounded from beneath Ryder’s coat, and he rucked it up to press a button on a small black device. A pager? Before Lucas could ask, Ryder pulled his phone out and tapped it on. A clear and professional voice said, “Residential structure fire reported at 315 Willow Drive. EMT requested for one potential victim, elderly male homeowner.”
Ryder cursed under his breath and tapped a few buttons on the screen. “I gotta… Damn it.” He looked at Ritz, then back at Lucas. “I need to go. I have to get him home before responding to the call.” Pulling Ritz back to a short leash, he turned and headed back toward the parking lot. “Sorry about cutting our walk short, but—”
“Let me. I can keep him,” Lucas said without thinking. The words escaped before he could second guess them.
Ryder’s boots stuttered to a halt on the snowy path. His blue eyes narrowed, and brows knit together. “You sure?”
Lucas nodded. “Go. I’ll take care of him.” He reached for the leash and eased it from Ryder’s grip. Their fingers brushed together, somehow warm and setting off sparks despite the gloves they both wore.
Ryder looked down at their hands, then at Ritz, who sat panting at Lucas’s side like he belonged there. After a beat, Ryder let go of the leash. “Okay. Thanks. I’m sorry about this.” Without another word, he jogged off toward his truck.
Lucas blew a gout of steam into the air. “Okay, buddy,” he said to Ritz. “Looks like it’s just you and me.”
After staring at Ryder’s retreating form for a long moment, the golden retriever turned toward Lucas and wagged his tail enthusiastically. Lucas smiled and followed Ryder’s scuffed boot prints back to the parking lot. The dog didn’t seem to mindjumping into the strange little car or getting out again at his apartment.
Lucas loved dogs, but he wasn’t really prepared to bring home one as rambunctious and curious as Ritz at a moment’s notice. The moment he took off Ritz’s leash, the dog exploded into action, sniffing every corner, knocking over a stack of photography books, and trying to fish an empty pizza box out of the trash.
Extracting the box from Ritz’s teeth, he bagged the trash quickly, put down a bowl of water, and distracted him with scritches and pets. “Let’s calm down now, Ritz, or Ryder won’t let me take care of you again.”
Ritz panted happily but calmed down once he had a drink and another perusal of the small apartment. They settled on the couch together, and Lucas turned on a nature documentary. Instead of paying attention, Lucas lost himself in petting the dog and wishing this could be his life for real… taking care of Ritz while waiting for Ryder to come home to them.
He shook his head and refocused on the migratory bird information on the screen. It meant a lot that Ryder trusted him with his best furry friend. The warmth of that trust burned through him, and something else sparked to life behind it. If Lucas wasn’t careful, he realized as Ritz nudged his hand for more attention, he was going to fall hard for this dog, this life, and the man who made it all possible.
Chapter 6
Ryder
By the time Ryder pulled into Lucas’s apartment complex, the adrenaline that kept him sharp at the house fire scene had disappeared. Nothing but exhaustion lingered in its wake. Well, that and the smell of smoke and the vague unease that always came with a patient with an inconclusive outcome.
The fire hadn’t been massive, but it still damaged the structure enough to make it unlivable. The older man forgot a pot of soup on the stove, and by the time he noticed the smoke, the flames engulfed the kitchen. He managed to get out to the lawn, but not quickly enough. The firefighters went in, and Ryder and Eva got the man on a gurney and into an oxygen mask.
Besides smoke inhalation and a nasty burn on one arm, the man seemed confused and disoriented slightly. The type of fear Ryder saw in his eyes twisted something deep inside and lingered after the call was over.
He sat with the patient while Eva piloted the bus to the hospital before turning him over to the nurses and heading back to the station. The acrid smell of burned linoleum clung to him, and scorched memories lingered in his mind. Fires were some of his least favorite scenes to respond to. Even if the outcome seemed promising, it never got easier seeing someone’s life reduced to charred wood and smoke.
