Page 84 of Rebel Moon

“In the way that Jason’s a mean drunk,” Luci said. “He hit me one time. That was all if took. It was over in an instant. We were supposed to move in together, but thankfully I figured it out beforehand. We’re talking a Jekyll and Hyde type of situation. He seemed perfect at first. Then came the verbal insults. Criticizing what I was wearing. How I talked. My friends. Even the way I loaded the dishwasher. Looking at my phone like he was suspicious, which was ridiculous. The only place I ever spend time at is my clinic. But that was a year ago. I’ve moved on.”

“Thank God,” Ivy said. “If Jack knew that, we might not be having a wedding.”

“Yeah, ‘cause he’d be in jail,” Holly said. “For murder.”

“Please don’t mention it to him,” Luci said. “I don’t want him to worry about someone who’s not in my life any longer.”

“Does Grant know how you feel?” I asked Luci.

She nodded, twisting her champagne flute in a circle. “It’s been verified. But we agreed it would just be a Montana thing. Secret. We’ve been … doing that … seeing it hidden.” Her eyes filled. “But the more I think about the month ending, the more I don’t want it to. However, Grant won’t even entertain the idea of telling Jack. The boys in the band are the only family he’s ever really had. If he lost Jack or any of the others, he’d be lost.”

“If Jack acted that way, he’d have to answer to me.” Ivy grinned. “Wife privileges. I get to tell him when he’s wrong so he can make it right.”

“I don’t know that it matters anyway,” Luci said. “We had a big fight last night, and I think it’s over.”

Grant Walker. Quiet, deeply sensitive, and loyal. The band was his whole life. Keeping something like this from Jack must be killing him.

No one said anything for a moment or two. Finally, Holly said, “Luci, when did all of this start with Grant?”

“For years, when I’d go to their shows and there would be an after-party, we always seemed to wind up talking in a corner all night,” Luci said. “But after I’d return home, I never heard from him.” She put up her hands. “Please, though, don’t say anything about it to the other guys. This month’s almost over and I’ll go back to my real life.”

“Sometimes real life isn’t what we thought it would be,” Holly said.

“Like staying in a dying town?” Luci asked, not unkindly but certainly blunt.

“Yeah, just like that,” Holly said.

“But you’re doing good work in Stonehaven,” Blake said. “You’ve talked about it all month.”

“I don’t know. Being here, with Luci and Jack … and Rhett … I’ve been reminded of how I used to be.”

“Yeah?” I asked. “Like how?”

“That I used to laugh. I was fun, remember, Luci?” Holly asked.

“No one was more fun than you,” Luci said. “I saw that girl at the talent show.”

Holly smiled. “We were such idiots back then. But I was madly in love with him.”

“We were idiots,” Luci said. “But I miss those kids. Even though life beat us up, we had one another. And yes, we did have fun. Even though I was the pet.”

“We all adored you,” Holly said.

“Until I was fourteen, I thought my name was Jack’s Little Sister,” Luci said, laughing.

“That’s not true,” Holly said. “Is it?”

“Not all the way true, but pretty close,” Luci said.

“I forgot how Rhett could …” Holly trailed off.

“How Rhett could what?” Ivy asked.

“How he could make me laugh,” Holly said. “He might not seem that way now, but he was always the one up for a fun time. The rest of us were more reserved. Rhett was the one cheering us all on, convincing us to take risks. Telling us we could do or be whatever it was we wanted.”

“That’s true,” Luci said. “He was the one who told me I could be a doctor. I didn’t fully believe it at the time, but some part of me must have because I had the courage to apply to medical school.”

“And worked your butt off for years,” Holly said.