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“I know you want to protect her, but she’s ready to know the truth.”
“We can tell her tomorrow,” Ridge said.
“Why not tonight?” Blake asked, ready to tell Everly the truth of everything.
“There’s the bachelorette party at our place tonight.”
Blake pinched the bridge of his nose. “I forgot.”
“Yeah, we’ve been ordered to make ourselves scarce.”
“What time is it over?” Blake asked.
Ridge shrugged. “Whenever they get tired of knitting or whatever the women do when they hang out.”
“I guess that means we’ll be confined to the basement for the night.”
“Do you even remember how to get to the basement? You haven’t worked out in the gym in a while,” Ridge joked.
“I could still outrun you.”
“That’s the only win you have on me.”
Blake rolled his eyes. Gym competitions were a regular thing before Everly moved in, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d hung out with Ridge.
“She’s the reason I stayed here,” Ridge said. “She’s happy here, and I didn’t want her to think I’d screw my life up again if I moved away. You know she thinks her lot in life is to keep me in line.”
“It’s a full-time job,” Blake said. “You’re a wreck.”
Even Paul chuckled. Ridge had been a model citizen since he was released. He’d made less than zero waves and hadn’t drawn a speck of attention. On purpose. The whole point in moving to Blackwater was to be able to live a normal life without being spotted by a reporter. Mr. Chambers had been understanding and promised Ridge could be assigned to any task that didn’t involve the guests. Occasionally, Ridge would be a second wrangler on pack rides, but he always kept to himself.
So far, so good.
“Why now?” Blake asked.
“I’m not in a hurry. But once Everly gets settled in, I think it’ll be easy to slip away.”
Blake took a deep breath. “If that’s what you want, go for it. Everly will miss you.”
Ridge huffed. “So will you.”
“I’ll cry into my pillow every night,” Blake said.
“You’re such a softie.”
Blake dramatically clutched his heart. “Guilty.”
Ridge didn’t react to Blake’s joking comment. Instead, the serious mask rested on his face like stone, and he kept his gaze straight ahead. “Take good care of her.”
“Dude, you’re moving, not dying. Who’s the drama queen now?”
Ridge shook his head. “You know what I mean. If we tell her, she’ll freak out.”
“I’m not so sure. It’s been over five years, and we haven’t heard a word from that guy.”
“I don’t expect we will, but she was always afraid of drawing attention. She doesn’t know that her worst nightmare came true.”
The hairs on the back of Blake’s neck stood on end. “We handled it. You handled it.”
