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“Who? We’ve been together for months, O. Months.”
“You need to talk to her,” Declan speaks up. “I know it’s not a conversation you want to have, especially if it was you they were talking about tonight, but, B, this shit is going to eat you alive if you don’t get it off your chest. If you need to scream and yell, then do it. Lay it on us. We can take it. But you need to compose yourself and talk to her. Tell her what her words did to you. Tell her that you’re in love with her. Let the cards fall where they may, but don’t keep it all inside. It will fester and burn like a wildfire until there is nothing left.”
“You know what Dad would say if he were here, right?” Sterling asks.
“Work hard, love harder,” we all say in unison.
He nods. “Love her harder, Brooks. Something isn’t adding up. You two were happy, and then suddenly, she’s ending things. There is a huge missing piece to this puzzle, and you are going to have to be the one to work hard to figure it out.”
“I don’t know how to love her any harder than I already do,” I confess.
“You fight,” Declan says, his voice low and gritty. “You face the hard shit head-on. You give it all you’ve got, so if and when you still walk away without her, you know you did everything in your power to show her what she means to you.”
“And if I can’t come back from that? I’ve given her all that I am. I don’t know that I have anything else to give, and if I did find another piece of me she didn’t already own, and she still tells me I’m not who she wants, I don’t know that I can come back from that. Hell, I don’t know how I’m going to survive without her now. Everything in this fucking house reminds me of her.”
“You dig deep, and no matter how it turns out, you have us here to help you pick up the pieces. All of us. You have eight brothers who are standing behind you. Holding you up. That’s for a lifetime, brother,” Orrin says. “Not just today, but today and all of the tomorrows. We’re here for you.”
I nod. “Love you guys.”
“We love you too.”
* * *
When my phone rang at six o’clock this morning, I debated on answering when I saw it was work, but then I was afraid it wasn’t a work call, and something had happened to someone I love, and I swiped at the screen.
Sure enough, it was my boss, asking me if I could work a few hours today. They’re shorthanded, and I agreed to work from ten to four when she was able to find alternate coverage. I didn’t want to work on my day off, but it’s better than sitting around my house moping.
My brothers convinced me to talk to Palmer. To tell her everything that’s on my mind and in my heart. The idea of her telling me that we’re still over rests heavily on my mind, but I know they’re right. If I don’t tell her, I’ll always wonder. I know in my gut I’ll never love another woman the way I love her, but if I don’t know for sure, I’ll never be able to start to heal from the pain of losing her.
Ready for work early, I decide to make a pitstop at The Sweet Spot for breakfast. Just another place that reminds me of Palmer and our time together. I still remember that morning. I was shocked that she brought me something and was thoughtful enough to think of my coworkers as well. No one had ever done something like that for me before that I wasn’t related to. I fell a little harder for her that day, and yeah, that has a little to do with my decision to stop on my way to work.
I’m standing in line waiting for my turn when I feel a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I see Ramsey standing there smiling. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Hey, Rams,” I say, turning back to face the counter. I’m still upset with her for what she said.
“Oh, no, that’s not how this is going to go.” She grabs my arm and pulls me out of line. Okay, I let her pull me out of line. She doesn’t stop until we reach a small table by the window. “Sit,” she commands, and because I want answers, I do as she says. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” I cross my arms over my chest.
“I call bullshit. Now tell me what’s going on with you and why you basically shunned me just a minute ago standing in line.”
“Maybe you’re dodging a bullet. Oh, wait, that was Palmer.” I watch her face closely. She looks confused, and then realization dawns on her.
“We’ll get to how you know about that conversation in a minute. First, I want to start with you’re an idiot.”
“What?” I sit up straighter in my chair.
“We were not talking about you, knucklehead. We were talking about Toby.”
“Who the fuck is Toby?”
“Toby is a guy Palmer dated when I first moved back to Willow River. It was very short-lived. He was at the Tavern that night and asked her to hook up.”
“What?” I say again, this time a little too loudly. “He asked her to hook up. Seriously?”
“Yep,” she says, popping thep. “She was telling me how he was never interested in her as a person, just getting into her pants. She broke it off with him, and that night was the first night she’d seen him since. And before that brain of yours goes crazy, I can already see the smoke coming out of your ears. She never slept with him. She has more dignity than that.”
I feel my shoulders relax. “She wasn’t talking about me?”
