“Too late,”Tashateased, patting her hand.“You’realready in love.”
“I amnot.”
“But you like him,”Ginnysaid, eyes searching her face.“Don’tyou?”
Rose hesitated, fingers still pressed to her cheeks.“Ilike that he’s… easy.Nobaggage.Noghosts.”
But even as she said it, her heart gave a little stutter.Onethat had nothing to do with coffee.
And everything to do with possibility.
Pushing away the feelings, she swirled her hands in the air.“Enough, y’all.Canwe just eat breakfast in peace?Andtalk about fishing or boating or anything else that someone can think of?”
“You can change the subject all you want,”Tashasaid.“Butit won’t change what everyone’s thinking about.”
Rose sighed because truer words were never spoken.
CHAPTERTEN
Acen stood behind the garage, pacing a slow trench into the gravel with the heel of his boots.TheJunesun was already stretching its fingers across the sky, hot and unrelenting even this early in the morning.Theair smelled like oil, sun-warmed metal, and the faint sweetness of honeysuckle drifting from the hedges along the edge of the lot.Cricketschirped lazily in the high grass near the fence line, and somewhere down the road, a dog barked at nothing.
He shoved his hands in his pockets, then yanked them back out, frustrated.Hecouldn't get the image out of his head—Rose, laughing in that way she did when she was truly at ease.Rose, looking athim—that man,Declan, the way she used to look atAcen—like he was the only one in the room.Likeshe hadn’t been burned before.
He swallowed hard and kicked a loose rock, sending it skittering across the gravel.Dustrose in a lazy puff and drifted away.He’dtold himself he was done.Thathe’d said what he needed to say, offered his apology like a grown man should, and left the rest in her hands.
But watching her ease into someone else’s orbit like it was the most natural thing in the world?Thathe couldn’t stomach.
He paced back the other way, jaw tight.
Around the corner cameRiley, rag slung over one shoulder, grease smudged on the edge of his shirt.Hisboots crunched in the gravel as he approached, his face unreadable except for the glint in his eyes that said he’d seen more thanAcenwanted him to.
“Don’t you have some real estate to sell instead of piddling around here with some old car?”
Riley stopped a few feet away, planted his feet, and crossed his arms.“So.Yougonna keep brooding back here like some kind of tragic country song, or you actually gonna do something?”
Acen didn’t answer.Hejust stared at the sun-drenched horizon past the tree line, jaw clenched tight enough to ache.
Riley tilted his head.“Youshould’ve told her the truth back then.”
Acen finally turned to look at him, eyes narrowed.“Whatgood would that have done?Itwouldn’t have changed anything.”
“Maybe not,”Rileysaid evenly.“Butit would’ve mattered.Toher.Hell, it would've mattered tome.Youleft us all in the dark.”
Acen blew out a slow breath.“Ididn’t know how.Everythingwas a mess.Ifigured the cleanest thingIcould do was walk away.”
“Well, congratulations,”Rileysaid, spreading his hands.“Youdid just that.Cleanbreak and all.Andnow she’s out there having dinner withMr.PerfectHairlast night while you’re stomping holes out here in gravel this morning.”
The sound of a lawnmower fired up in the distance, and a blue jay squawked noisily from the edge of the roof before taking off across the open lot.Thesun beat down heavier now, casting harsh shadows across the edge of the garage and making the asphalt out front shimmer like a stovetop.
Acen scrubbed his hand down his face.“Itwasn’t justBriana.Itwas everything.Myfolks.Myplans.Menot being good enough.”
“You’re tellingmethatnow?”Rileyshook his head, incredulous.“Man, if you’d said that toRosetwenty years ago, she might’ve understood.Shemight’ve even fought for you.”
Acen looked away, shame simmering low in his chest.“Shedeserved better.”
“Maybe.Butshe wantedyou, back then.Andall she got was silence.”Hecrossed his arms.“AndIwas too much of a coward to call you out on it all these years.Iwanted to keep your friendship more thanIwanted the truth for my sister.I’mno saint myself.”
A heavy pause settled between them, thick as theTennesseehumidity.Thekind of silence that said neither of them really had the words to patch old wounds.Notcompletely.
