Page 130 of Rhodes

Reeves nods.

"He was there when nobody else was."

"I know."

"No, you know he was around. That's different."

His face tightens.

"Mom died, you guys left, Dad disappeared into Stone Intermodal, and Vin was fucking there. He taught me half the shit Dad should've taught me himself."

"I know what he was to you."

"Then why the hell didn't you tell me? I needed closure.”

"Because you'd already lost Dad. Then you found out the man who helped raise you was behind it." Reeves leans his forearms on his knees. "Ridge and I thought you'd carried enough."

There it is. I turn my head slowly.

"You thought you were protecting me."

"Yeah."

A laugh works its way out of me, but I don't have any humor for it.

"Of course you did."

Reeves watches me for a second.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"That wasn't nothing."

"You're sitting there telling me you did what you thought needed doing, then kept it from me because you thought knowing would hurt worse."

His eyes narrow slightly. I hear Tallulah in my kitchen. I see her face buried in my shirt while I stand there with both arms around her and say nothing.

My fingers close harder around the rail. A car rolls slowly past the gate, bass low through closed windows. Neither of us speaks until the taillights disappear around the corner.

Tallulah's voice comes back with no invitation. “This has never been about you. Whatever I decide to do is my choice, and you don't get a say.”

I sit down again. Reeves reaches for his beer and takes the last swallow.

"I fucked that up with her," I say.

Reeves takes a sip of his beer.

"I've known I fucked it up since the day she walked away."

Reeves looks over at me. "Knowing you fucked up and knowing why aren't always the same thing."

He shrugs one shoulder. "I'm not saying that to be a dick."

"You've got a gift."

"So I've been told."