Page 138 of Burning For You

Things Ash thought of too. And if he was thinking it, so was everyone else.

“I don’t have any answers for you,” he said. “What I know is that Alan was off. I’m not sure when he’s due back, but he’s on the schedule for Thursday. I’ll stay Wednesday morning so I know he shows up.”

There was no reason to admit that he’d driven by Alan’s house on Saturday and didn’t see the family SUV there. Just Alan’s truck, but it hadn’t looked like it’d moved in days.

When he went by last night, the SUV was back, Alan’s truck parked behind it.

If they’d gone away, they were back now.

“There isn’t a lot we can do,” Jim said. “Other than stand around talking. We need to get this house built again. We’re lucky this didn’t cost us the job or any other ones.”

“Have you heard anything from what Skye wrote from customers?” he asked. He wasn’t sure why that hadn’t crossed his mind before. That the Lancasters had a big business in the area and by her putting it out there so dramatically in the public that she was being targeted, that they might worry other jobs could be jeopardized.

“There has been some talk,” Corbin said. “Garrett said he’s been questioned a few times doing renovations.”

Garrett normally worked when homeowners were around. He’d hear the most.

“And you’re just telling me now? Why haven’t you said anything?”

“Because Skye doesn’t need this on her shoulders,” Jim said. “She did what she did and there is no taking it back.”

“I don’t know if she ever thought it would affect your business. I’m positive she thought what she was doing was right.”

“She always thinks she’s right,” Keegan said. “She doesn’t stop to think that some of her actions affect others.”

“That’s harsh,” Ash said, standing up straighter. He didn’t need them saying shit about the woman he loved.

Even if it was her family. But she felt like his family.

And hearing that she loved him as much as he did her was like this pressure being lifted off his chest. The one that was weighing him down in shallow water, making it hard for him to breathe.

The fear she’d pick up and leave again.

Yeah, her actions affected more than her.

Her family was right.

But she had to put herself first too and maybe her brothers didn’t understand that.

He’d make sure they did.

“It’s the truth,” Tate said. “When she left, it killed Mom. We all know. But Mom never said a word.”

“Did you ever stop to think that she’s been living with her own guilt? Survivor’s guilt. Then guilt over the fact that the life she has is better than if she hadn’t lost her parents?”

“I’ve said that to Carrie,” Jim said, his head down, his voice not as strong. As if he didn’t want Skye’s brothers to hear it.

“You never said it to us,” Corbin said.

“Maybe if you opened your eyes you’d see it.”

“Has she said it to you?” Jim asked. “Voiced those words?”

Ash didn’t want to betray her, but this was beyond those things now.

There was just too much at stake.

“Some of it,” he admitted, nodding. “Everyone is on eggshells and I think we have to step back and see what she is going through. What she’s gone through. She didn’t ask for this.”