Page 25 of Challenged By the Ex-Military Lumberjack
"Chopping wood is relaxing?"
"Yeah."
"That's very on-brand for you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you're exactly the kind of person who finds physical labor relaxing." I grin. "Let me guess, you also enjoy long walks in the woods and communing with nature."
"I have a dog. Walking comes with the territory."
"But you like it."
He sits down in the chair across from the couch. Not beside me this time, I notice. Maintaining that distance. "Yeah. I like it."
"Why?"
"Why do you ask so many questions?"
"Because I'm curious. And because you're interesting."
He looks at me like I've said something incomprehensible. "I'm not interesting."
"You absolutely are. You're like a puzzle. And I like puzzles."
"I'm not a puzzle."
"Everyone's a puzzle."
"Then I'm one of those ones with all the edge pieces missing."
I laugh, but there's something sad about what he said. Something that makes me want to reach across the space between us and tell him that edge pieces can be found, that puzzles can be solved, that nothing is broken beyond repair.
But I don't. Because I barely know him, and because I can see in his eyes that he doesn't want to be fixed.
He just wants to be left alone.
Except, he's not leaving me alone right now. He asked me to stay. He cooked for me. He's sitting here having a conversation instead of finding an excuse to disappear into another room.
Maybe he doesn't know what he wants.
Or maybe, and this thought makes my heart beat a little faster, maybe he's starting to want something different.
"Tell me more about Ridge," I say, changing the subject.
Eli looks at the dog, and his whole expression softens. "What about him?"
"How'd he end up here?"
"Already told you. He just showed up."
"And you kept him."
"Didn't really have a choice. He wouldn't leave."
"You could've taken him to a shelter."
"Could've." He reaches down to scratch behind Ridge's ears. "Didn't want to."
