Page 114 of Silver Player

I glance back at the grave where my sister eternally rests.

“I love him. I love them both. Thank you for trusting her with me.”

Tears fall heavier as I confess to my dead sister how much I love the man she never knew and the daughter she’s lost through no fault of her own.

I haven’t been paying attention to Billy. Not the right attention. I’ve missed the signs he tried to hold up for me to read. The ones that screamed his vulnerability, yet he opened up to me. He didn’t hold back. I’m the one who tried to play casual and misinterpreted everything about him.

He loves me, and he told me in all the little ways.

You’re breaking me.

I don’t think I can do this without you.

I made love to you.

I want you to be my last.

And then he gave me that heartfelt explanation from his grandfather. It doesn’t matter who Billy had first, or how or where or why, because he has me last.

Forever.

And now I just need to prove it to him.

40

Resolutions

[Billy]

“Boss, someone wants to see you,” Clyde says, his big body filling the door to my office.

It’s New Year’s Eve, and the pub is packed. Both the main floor and the second-floor party room are full. It seems like every member of Blue Ridge has come out tonight to celebrate the beginning of a new year, but I’m taking a second for myself in my office. It’s been a long evening, and there’s still an hour to go before midnight.

Sadie spent Christmas with me and my family, but it wasn’t the same without Roxanne. There was a hole in my heart that only she could fill. When I returned Sadie to the apartment, Roxie wasn’t present. I should be grateful she didn’t throw my gift back at me, but her eyes still spoke of uncertainty. She’s never going to trust me again, and she also hasn’t spoken to me since that day. I laid it all out for her and…nothing.

“Yeah, who wants to see me?”

“Some woman at the bar,” Clyde says. His voice is a bit too tight and high with this announcement, almost like he’s trying to contain a chuckle, but I don’t find anything humorous about his statement.

“I have no interest in some random woman at the bar.” I huff, scrubbing my knuckles up my neck. Roxie’s the only woman I want.

“She said something about a noise complaint. The music’s too loud and—”

“Are you shitting me?” I say, slapping my hand on the desk before standing. What in tarnation? “It’s New Year’s Eve. Who the hell complains about noise on New Year’s? Who complains about the noise in general? We’re a bar, and we…”

I pause as Clyde’s smile grows, and my mouth falls agape as two hands cover his large bicep and push him aside.

“You’re a bar, and you make a lot of noise over here.”

“Roxanne?” I choke on her name.

“I want to file a complaint with the owner. Noise violation.”

Those silver eyes sparkle like the confetti ready to explode at midnight, and I swipe a hand through my hair.

“A noise violation, huh?”

“I’ll just…” Clyde points with both thumbs toward the hall and then offers me two thumbs-up as he steps back. He’s such a goof. He reaches for the door and pulls it closed, leaving Roxie and me within my office.