Running Wild

a nice, young man.”
Ri’s expression turned a bit sour.
“And I don’t have his number anymore,” continued Seamus.
“Oh, yes, he left it with me. Just a moment.” She returned with a slip of paper. “Have you two had lunch?”
“No,” said Seamus. It wasn’t that he wanted to force Ri to hang out with his mother, but he hoped to introduce a sense of normality into Ri’s interactions with people before they met up with Pete and tried to dispel this idea of Pete the Dangerous One.
“There’s a fresh loaf of bread. Come help yourselves.”
They fixed themselves sandwiches, Ri avoiding the meat of course. Yes, Seamus would have to remember he was vegetarian. All the while his mother watched Ri with ill-concealed interest. Ri said little and ate a hell of a lot, quickly, and it was enough to have his mother widening her eyes at Seamus.
She remained polite though. “Your father will be sorry he missed you. Are you heading back to the farm right away?”
“We won’t be in the city long. Just came to pick up a few things,” Seamus said vaguely. To show Ri the sights. To reintegrate him into society. To reintroduce Ri to Pete.
Before they left, she managed to maneuver Seamus upstairs, alone.
“Who is this man, Seamus?”
“A neighbor.” He figured the tent made that a truthful statement. “Bit down on his luck.”
“You can’t know him very well,” she warned.
“Well enough to come to town with him, Mom. It’s fine.”
“He strikes me as a bit odd.”
Seamus bristled. “That’s judgmental of you.”
“I’m not judging anyone,” she protested. “I’m stating a fact.”
“Mom.”
“Be careful. Get to know him better.”
Seamus rolled his eyes. “Mom, not every guy I’m with is someone I’m with , okay?”
“I know that.” There was a little snap in her voice that surprised him. “But you like him.”
He opened his mouth to deny it, but that didn’t seem quite right. “Just friends, Mom, okay?”
She looked at him in disbelief, and he realized his cheeks were feeling hot.
“Time to go,” he said, too loudly, and headed back down, his mom trailing behind.
After goodbyes to his mother, they sat in the car while Seamus started to dial Pete—the real reason for their sojourn into town. Ri put a hand on Seamus’s arm, and he cut off the call to look at Ri inquiringly.
“Where are we going to meet up?” Ri asked.
“I thought at my apartment.”
“It would be safer in a public place.” Ri was dead serious, so Seamus made it a point to hide any hint of amusement.
“All right. I’ll suggest a Starbucks.” At Ri’s blank look, Seamus asked, “Don’t you like coffee?”
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that he won’t attack us in a crowd of people. Are there a lot of people in a Starbucks?”
“Absolutely.” Seamus opted not to argue about the likelihood of being attacked by Pete anywhere. “I don’t know if he’ll be available though.”
Ri gave a cynical smile. “He will jump at the chance to see either of us.”
“If you say so.” Seamus punched redial, and Pete picked up on the second ring.
“Hey,” said Seamus, suddenly feeling a bit awkward about this whole thing.
“Seamus. Where are you?” Pete asked, a rather out-of-place urgent note in his voice.
“In town,” Seamus said slowly.
“Can we meet up?”
Seamus glanced at Ri. “Uh, sure. How about the Starbucks downtown?”
“Come over to my place. I’ll give you my address.”
“Can’t,” said Seamus.
Pete paused, as if to argue, then said, “Okay. What time at Starbucks?”
Seamus gave him half an hour notice, and Pete said, “No problem. See you then.”
Seamus still wasn’t worried about Pete and his alacrity at accepting a coffee invite. After all, Pete always wanted to see Seamus, though usually his schedule wasn’t quite this wide open. He couldn’t say he felt spooked, but that Ri had been dead-on in his prediction Pete would jump at the chance to see him was a bit unsettling.
“He still likes you, doesn’t he?” Ri asked.
Seamus decided not to pussyfoot around it. “Yes.”
“And you, do you like him?”
Seamus sighed, trying not to think of who he did like, sitting across from him, off limits. Ri might think Zachariah was trying to matchmake, and maybe he was right. However, Ri’s issues made Seamus feel mostly responsible for him and any attraction inappropriate. But he supposed he’d better answer the question, because Ri’s expression had darkened.
“It’s over