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A “none of your business” wouldn’t do me any good.I tried to have more tact than they expected.“She’s my friend too.”
Willow tsked like I had no business calling Kenny my friend.
My temper flared.I opened my mouth, and to hell with what I said—
The screen door creaked open.“Willow, Bruce, hello!I’m sorry I didn’t return your message right away.I was going to after I got the kids into bed.”Kenny stepped onto the porch, her expression as pleasant as always, but I caught her quick glance between me and her in-laws like she was judging the level of tension she was walking into.
Kenny standing on my porch fit her better than that cramped, outdated thing she lived in now.The peeling siding didn’t look so haggard around her sunny smile.
She blocked the door, keeping the boys inside, rightly noting the animosity swirling around.
“Call us whenever you want.”Willow’s tone had done a one-eighty to matronly and full of love.
Bruce’s glare deepened on me, but he directed his words to Kenny.“I just came to talk to Liam about the fences.”
Dread pooled as heavy as molten lead in my belly.“What about them?”
“They need to be fixed.I need to let my cattle out for the summer.”
“So fix them.”Same argument, different day.
He cocked an arrogant brow.Derek would pull the same move when he was being an ass and I used to mimic it and call him Bruce.His laughingfuck youstill rang in my ears as one of my treasured memories.“I’m leasing the land; I don’t need to fix the damn fence.”
“Bruce,” Willow gently chastised, her gaze darting to the screen that my kids’ faces were pressed against.I hated to soften toward her and her rare lack of accommodation when it came to her spouse.
“You’re leasing the land for your cattle,” I said in a flat tone, knowing it wouldn’t help.“If you want the fence fixed, fix it.Unless you want the seventy-year-old woman to do it.”
Grandma Gin would do it too.And then take so many pain meds she either couldn’t sleep or would sleep too well.
“If Ginny can’t take care of her land, maybe it’s time to sell.”
My initial reaction was to tell him fuck no, we’d never sell.But this place wasn’t mine, and the last few years had shown me that it was expensive to keep.“Let me guess.You’d be the first to offer?”
Seeing me around must have made him worry I would decide to stay and purchase the land.Part of me was tempted to see if I could rearrange my expenses to cover payments and upkeep.Then I wouldn’t just be his brother’s reminder of a scandalous affair, I would be one of the blocks between him and his siblings acquiring all the land around Coal Haven.
Bruce drew himself to his full height—two inches shorter than me—and planted his hands on his hips.“Then I’m taking the cost of supplies and time off the payment.”
He’d gotten a good fucking deal.Grandma Gin’s back had been against the wall.She should’ve had Bruce sign a contract instead of using the handshake method, but she hadn’t been able to afford a lawyer.She hadn’t bothered me about it.
Kenny’s gaze burned into me, a silent unspoken support.She knew better than I did what Derek’s parents thought of me.When she’d first started dating Derek, they’d tried using her to talk him into giving up his friendship with me.Bad influence and all that.
Which might’ve been true, but half the destructive ideas had been Derek’s.It was why we’d gotten along so well.He was a hellion, but he’d been better at blending in, so I’d shouldered a lot of the blame.Kenny hadn’t treated me differently or avoided me, no matter how much she’d been urged to.
Birdsongs rang around us, cutting into the tense silence.Kenny was watching us.Eli and Owen were watching and would have a million questions.I wasn’t going to leave a mess for Grandma Gin.“Fine.”
I’d have to make up the difference with my own money to help Grandma Gin cover expenses.Maybe I could try to sell some of the pieces in my shop.
Bruce’s gaze flicked to Kenny.“Make sure you give us a call, Kennedy.”
His tone told me what he’d be talking to her about.How I was no good.I was a user.Stay away from me.As if I hadn’t helped drag her back to the land of the living.Since my back was to the house, I let my fury flame across my face.Kenny and my kids didn’t have to know how upset I was.
Bruce and Willow had lost their son, and I grieved with them.But when it came to my personal life, they’d tried to take away my only friend.It wasn’t going to work with Kenny any more than it had with Derek.
