Page 18 of Buck & Mari

Breathless.

Desperate.

Hungry.

“Ow.”

He looked down to see Ebi glaring at him through the slats in the cat carrier.

“Oh… Sorry.” Mari reached over and secured the carrier with the seatbelt. “She really doesn’t like being in there. I… I should get her home.”

“Yeah.” He stepped back but kept his gaze on her. “I’ll see you on Friday, Mari.”

Her chin lowered and she looked back at him, her eyes wider. “Friday.”

He smiled. “Yeah. Friday. I’ll see you then.”

Before she could say anything, he closed the door and walked toward the portico outside the main entrance of the rehab center.

As he rounded the front of Riptide’s car, he saw his teammate staring at him as if he’d never seen him before.

Opening the passenger door, Buck climbed in and didn’t feel the normal twinge in his calf muscles or the shooting pain in his leg.

He put his seatbelt on and sat back in the seat, tipping his head back against the headrest.

When the car didn’t move, he turned his head to look at his friend. “Well?”

“Well, what?”

Riptide shook his head and offered an almost smile. “Who was that?”

“Hmm?”

Buck knew he was grinning then.

He could feel the once familiar stretch of his lips and the lift of his cheeks. “The woman?”

“No,” Riptide huffed and his Australian accent was almost perceptible. “The cat in the carrier that ‘you’ where carrying, old man. Yes! The woman.”

Buck couldn’t even muster up a snarl at the ‘old man’ comment.

“She’s a volunteer here. Well, the cat is. So I guess she is one, too.”

Riptide shook his head, almost imperceptibly. “You’re feeling better, I guess?”

Buck looked at him, narrowing his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

Riptide gave him a grin and turned back toward the steering wheel. “You’re smiling, my man! I haven’t seen you smile like that… in a long, long time.”

Riptide put the Jeep into gear, and they lurched forward a bit.

Buck didn’t have to hear anything more from his teammate.

He knew what Riptide meant.

He hadn’t seen him smile since the accident.

There hadn’t been much to be happy about.