Page 24 of Restless Ink

“I thought Shep was coming,” Landon said, licking parmesan from his fingers.

“Livvy has a cold, so he’s home with Shea.”

“Poor kid,” Ryan said. “Glad to have Shep back in town, though.”

“I didn’t know you knew him from before he moved down to New Orleans,” Dimitri said.

“I didn’t, but Adrienne and the others are happier, so I’m happy, too.”

Dimitri nodded, agreeing. He hadn’t liked when Thea’s brother was so far away because Thea had always been close to Shep, all the girls had. It was nice that all the Montgomerys were together again.

“How’s the shop?” Dimitri asked Carter since the other man was seated right next to him. Carter was a mechanic who owned and operated his own place and, apparently, worked long-as-hell hours. Dimitri had no idea how the other man juggled that and a new marriage, but then again, Dimitri had been teaching long hours and grading endless papers while learning to be a husband at first, too. It hadn’t worked out that well for Dimitri. He hoped to hell Carter was doing a better job of it.

“Busy as usual, but I hired a new guy so I can try to take weekends off.” The other man shrugged. “We’ll see. Though around tax season, I might just go back to weekends since Roxie won’t be home anyway.”

Roxie was an accountant and worked just as many hours as Carter did it seemed, but Dimitri liked the idea that the other man was trying.

“I guess when I need a tune-up I should go somewhere else?” he asked with a grin.

Carter pointed at him with a wing. “You go anywhere else, I’ll hunt you down.”

“You’re one of us now,” Mace said. “You’re stuck.”

Dimitri just smiled before eating more wings. One of them? He could deal with that. It had been far too long since he’d had a group of friends like this, and maybe, just maybe, this could work out.

He just hoped whatever was happening with Thea coincided with that.

Two beersand far too many wings later, Dimitri was home alone on his couch, wishing to hell and back that he had his dog with him.That will change soon, he thought. It had to. Because this separation wasn’t good for either of them.

He looked down at his phone, the beer totally out of his system, and knew he needed to make the first move in whatever the hell was going to happen next—and not with Captain.

Dimitri:Hey.

He sucked at texting, sucked at words. He was a math teacher. Give him numbers and a problem to solve, and he’d do just fine. Finding out what to say when it came to a woman he cared about when he wasn’t sure what he wanted or whatcouldhappen between them?

Total cluelessness.

Thea:Hey.

She texted back. That had to count for something, right? And…now he’d turned into one of his students, overanalyzing a damn text and the recipient’s response time.

Dimitri:Went out with the guys tonight. Had wings.

Thea:The guys?

Dimitri:Mace, Ryan, Landon, and Carter.

He frowned.

Dimitri:Was that okay? Hanging out with your sisters’ guys?

Thea:Of course it’s okay. I know you said you wanted friends outside your old circle. It shouldn’t matter what I think anyway.

They were both careful not to mention Molly’s name. Oh, so careful.

Dimitri:Of course it matters what you think. You know that.

She didn’t answer, and he was afraid he’d fucked up again.