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“I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. I’ll…I don’t know, sell my house or rent it out and—”
“What the fuck, Rhett. You don’t have to do that. He didn’t come home for us when we needed him. Why would you uproot your life for him?” We had to help Mom when she was pregnant. When she hemorrhaged after the twins were born. After she passed, it was nannies and two scared, broken kids taking care of the babies.
“Why do you care what I do? You don’t give a shit about me,” he spits out, and Jesus, this is already a disaster.
“I’ll stay with him starting tomorrow.” I don’t want to argue with him. I want this day, then this summer, to end as quickly as possible. “What’s wrong with Easton?” I’ve been hearing some things the past few months, but Rhett makes it sound like things are worse.
“He’s East. Been arrested three times in the past few years, nothing major, just stupid shit. Bar fights and things like he’s a fucking kid. I have a feeling things go down more than we know, but for whatever reason, Officer Thorn goes easy on him. Probably because of Dad.”
That doesn’t surprise me. Dad has that power here.
“He’s a fucking mess and always has been, but…it feels different lately. I can’t put my finger on it. The only reason he consistently works now is because of Dusty, but sometimes Easton flakes on him too. Dusty is a lifesaver. He’s really come through.”
I freeze at hearing Rhett speak about my ex-best friend. At the familiarity in his tone.
I try to hold the memories at bay, but thoughts of that night break through my mental dam, flashes of Dusty and Rhett at the lighthouse.
We’d never been more than friends, but Dusty had always felt like he was mine, my solace, the one place I was always safe. I’d never had to fight for Dusty’s attention the way I did Dad’s—and I only ever got Dad’s when he needed something from me or when I wasn’t doing something well enough. Dusty didn’t make demands of me the way Dad or Rhett did. When they fucked with my head, Dusty always brought me back to earth… And then Rhett had taken him away from me.
Even all these years later, hearing Rhett talk about him feels like someone’s ripping out my guts.
Rhett did it to take what’s mine, but Dusty? I will never understand it…why he would go to Rhett.
The only reason I can think of is that I wasn’t enough.
I push to my feet. “I gotta go.”
“What are you talking about? The food hasn’t even arrived. This discussion isn’t over.”
“Yes,” I say, tossing my napkin down. “It is. I’ll be at Dad’s sometime tomorrow.”
Without another word, I walk away.
CHAPTER TWO
Dusty
Easton is thirty minutes late.
This is the first time in two months, so I try not to get too frustrated, but it’s hard.
Because Morgan spent so much time taking care of his family, I spent a lot of time with them too. In many ways, Easton feels like a little brother to me. While people on the outside know what the Swifts have been through, I saw it from the inside. I felt it through Morgan, as much as someone other than a Swift could feel it.
So yeah, I have a bond with Easton. I care about him a whole hell of a lot, but this is also my place of business, and being professional is important to me.
“Sorry I’m late,” the tattooed blond in question says as he comes in through the shop’s heavy metal door. Dusty’s Collision Repair is my baby. I’ve always loved putting cars back together—not the fixing of mechanical parts as much as the body work. It’s really all I’ve ever wanted, which is why Easton not taking it as seriously is like sandpaper against my skin.
Leaning against the wall, I stare at him a moment. Sometimes it’s hard to believe he’s the same little kid who was the first diaper I ever changed, hard to believe he’s Morgan’s little brother. As far as I know, my ex-best friend doesn’t have any tattoos, and Easton is covered in them. He’s the only Swift who didn’t go to college or who has a record. I guess it’s possible those things have changed with Morgan in the last ten years, but I doubt it.
“East, we talked about this. You know your shit—you’re probably the best apprentice I’ve ever had—and it’s clear to me how much you love it.” I’m not sure East has ever loved anything the way he does auto body work, much to Mayor Swift’s dismay. “But I can’t keep letting you get away with—”
“Morgan’s back,” he interrupts, making my heart drop to my gut.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, not with Gregory’s stroke, but then I know how Morgan feels about his dad, and about Rhett—and clearly about me since he left town and never spoke to me again.
I wasn’t sure my goddamned heart would ever recover. Sometimes I’m still not sure it has. Case in point, my words are still lost to me after the two simple ones East spoke. Morgan’s back.
I clear my throat. “And you were with him?”
