Never Far Away (The Never #2)(12)

They sat on a bench near the river, dining on food truck cuisine, which tasted way better than it sounded.

“So, Porter, you know what I do for a living. Tell me, what is it that you do?”

“I’m a contractor. I mainly do residential work, building houses, remodeling jobs, stuff like that.”

“Sounds tiring,” Ella said as she bit into her gyro.

“Well, it’s more paperwork then you’d imagine. Plus, I own my company, so a lot of the time I’m in more of a supervisory role. But there are certainly days when I come home worn out and sore.”

Ella looked at him with squinty eyes. “We’ve had this conversation before, haven’t we?”

“What conversation?”

“The ‘what do you do’ conversation.”

“Yeah, I guess we have. Why?”

“This must be really boring for you, hearing things about me you’ve already heard, and I am just pleasantly enjoying our conversation completely clueless.”

“We spoke about a lot of things before your accident, but we by no means covered everything. I don’t mind repeating myself and I could never tire of hearing anything about you. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself and try not to think about stuff like that. I just want to get to know you again.”

“Tell me something you never told me before,” she asked with a smile.

“Ok, well, I don’t usually tell people this because it makes people angry. But, I don’t like dogs.”

“You don’t like dogs?”

“Nope, never have.”

“That’s really weird. Who doesn’t like dogs?”

“I don’t hate dogs, I just don’t want one as a pet.”

Ella starting laughing. “Why not?”

“They are really high maintenance. I feel like a pet should blend into the background. I shouldn’t have to rearrange my day to take care of a pet. Dogs take a lot of work and I just wouldn’t ever commit to one.”

“Interesting,” Ella said once she finished laughing.

“Tell me something about yourself you wouldn’t want to tell anyone,” Porter said, liking the way their conversation was going. Ella brought a finger to her chin in contemplation.

“Ok, but this is going to make me sound really bitchy.”

“Well, I definitely didn’t sound like a prince with my dog-hate speech,” he replied with a smile.

“True,” she said. “But promise you won’t hold it against me.”

“Promise.”

“Ok, well, I sometimes lack the ability or even the inclination to sympathize with people.” She scrunched up her brow, looking nervous to be revealing this unattractive trait.

“What exactly does that mean?”

“Basically, when people are complaining, mostly people I don’t know, I have a tendency to think they are just whiney and I get irritated by them easily. Like, I feel people should just shut up and move on.” She dropped her face into her hands. “I’m the worst person on the planet.”

“It’s ok. That’s how I feel when people talk about their dogs,” Porter said, hoping to get a smile. She did smile, but she also smacked him on his arm.

“That’s not funny.”

“So you don’t tolerate whiners. There are worse things you could have said.”

“I guess that’s true.” They were quiet for a few minutes while they finished their meals.

“Can I ask you something? You might not like the question,” Porter asked.

“Sure.”

“What do you know about your break-up with Kyle?”

“Ah, Kyle,” Ella tucked her hair behind her ear and took in a deep breath. “I’ve been told that on my birthday I came home from work and found him with someone else.” She started fidgeting with the hem of her shirt and was looking down at her hands as they worried the fabric. “My mom said that we broke up on the spot, that he packed a bag and left that evening. She also told me that he came and went picking up his stuff. By the time the store was robbed he was completely moved out, but that we had a fight that night.”

Porter watched her as she said the words, wondering what, if anything, he should tell her about the situation.

“I guess he wasn’t too happy that I wouldn’t give him another chance and he came over to try and convince me that we should be together,” she took a breath in and let it back out. “Kyle was never a violent guy, so I don’t understand why he would put his hands on me. I almost don’t believe it happened. It’s all third-hand information. I don’t remember it and no one has seen Kyle since I was in the hospital.” Ella looked back up at Porter, and he saw that her eyes were thoughtful and a little confused.

“It happened. I heard your voice when you called me. You were terrified.”

Ella stood up and took a few steps away from the bench.

“I don’t understand why my parents and Megan would go to such lengths to tell me a story that is so completely different than the truth. It just confuses me even more.”

“I’m sorry,” he said as he went to stand in front of her, wanting to look her in the eyes. “I don’t want to undermine your parents; it seems to me they were just trying to do what was best for you.”