“You don’t find that…important and interesting?” Sam asked with a light chuckle.
“What are you talking about?” Clearly vexed now, James furrowed his brow.
“It just seems that she’s someone you would normally take up that offer with,” Sam explained.
What was Sam talking about? Why was he so caught up on the widow? So what if he didn’t want to bed her. It was early in the morning. It didn’t signify.
“We should go for a walk.” No other explanation needed. This was the reason he had been waiting for them. It was just a simple plan laid out before his friends.
Sam and Chris just stared at him as he made his pronouncement.
“Where are we off to?” Sam asked dubiously, as if he could already read into James's plan. Of course he couldn’t.
“Nowhere in particular. Just need to get some fresh air and exercise. Don’t be lazy.”
“We weren’t—” Chris started to say.
“No time to chat.” Facing the two men, James flapped his arms wide and clapped his hands down, one on each man’s shoulders. “Let’s go.”
Sam offered half a smirk and Chris smiled casually. “I could use the air,” Chris said.
“We could all use air. It’s a known human dependency.” Sam cracked a full smile now.
“Right then. Off we go,” James almost winced at his last turn of phrase. Something he was pretty sure he had never said in that exact tone before. An altogether too high pitched tone with uncredited eagerness. “I mean,” he dropped his voice to a lower register, “Let’s get out of here.”
Sam chuckled as James turned around to walk outside. James was pretty sure he heard Sam mumble something about twenty pounds to Chris. When he glanced back, Chris merely shrugged one shoulder and shook Sam’s hand.
“What’s that about?” James inquired.
“Nothing. Just an old bet,” Sam said cagily.
“And you’re not going to share that with me?”
“No.” Sam sauntered ahead of him, mimicking, “Off we go!” which made Chris chuckle.
It only took a short time before James regretted bringing his friends along with him. Sam kept suggesting different turns or pathways to take. It was growing more and more difficult to nonchalantly demand that they all forge ahead in the direction James intended they take.
“I think this looks like a great path to take,” Sam was saying again.
“That goes down to the stables.” James had no idea where it led except that it was not to the archery targets. “Not interested in the stables,” he mumbled as he ambled forward.
“I’d be curious to see their stables.” Sam’s voice was unusually optimistic.
James was growing more irritated by the second, so when he whirled around to Sam, his loud voice caused Sam to raise his hand defensively. “If anyone would be interested in seeing the stables it would be me. I’m not interested in them, ergo neither are you two.”
“Not sure that’s how that works,” Chris added unhelpfully.
“Where are we going then? What are you interested in seeing?”
James's blood was boiling. Couldn’t Sam just drop it and follow along for once in his life? “Nature. I just want to see some damn nature, all right? Now can we quit chatting like a bunch of mother hens and get on with it?”
“Huh. Never really thought I’d see the day…” Sam intentionally left the thought unfinished as he poked Chris in the arm. “Wasn’t he just saying he would never?”
“Never, what? What are you talking about?”
“Nature,” Sam said with a chuckle. “Show us more of thisnatureyou want to see.”
“Fine.” James stomped onward. After emerging from a small copse of trees, James sighed in relief. A few yards away was Joan. His shoulders dropped in ease and a small smile played at his lips.
