“You work in the heart of it.” He tossed another chip into his mouth. “I thought you would’ve heard the lore by now.”
“Ooh.” I leaned forward with my hands under my chin. “You gotta tell me all about it.”
“Not much to tell, really. I was the weird horse kid. Smart and scrawny with thick black glasses. Never fit in with the jocks, no matter how badly my dad wanted me to. Sarah did, and she tried to bring me into that crowd, but I just never got along with them.”
I’d never heard that name before. “Sarah?”
“Lizzie’s mom. My sister. She was Black Pines’ little sweetheart. I was her weird little brother. My parents were always well-liked. Did the whole PTA thing. Took part in all the town celebrations, donated to help build the school stadium and all that shit. Then they all died. My perfect family didn’t fit into their pretty little box anymore.”
Heart throbbing harder in my chest, my brows raised.
When I didn’t say anything else, he grabbed another chip. “What’s that face for?”
“That was just a very blunt way to tell me your whole family is dead,” I said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Not mywholefamily. I’ve still got Liz.” He chewed the chip and swallowed. “I don’t know. It sucks. But it’s history.”
Maybe that was true. I still got choked up about my mom’s death, but for the most part, I had to keep on living.
But I also had a community behind me now. I guessed Sebastian did too. It was just hard to imagine a young single guy, raising a little girl on his own after his whole family died. Especially because the only person he seemed close with at the ranch was Rhiannon. And me now, I supposed. Sacrificing his dating life and all his free time on top of that gave me a new sense of respect for him.
“So, no serious relationships then?” I asked.
“Not since I got Liz, no.”
“And before Liz?”
“A couple, yeah.” Another slurp from his soda. “Three. Two in college, and one at the end of high school.”
“Well, you can’t leave me hanging like that,” I said. “What happened?”
He set his drink down and eyed me. “If I tell you about my failed relationships, are you going to tell me about yours?”
