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Hoyt held up his phone. “I’ve got it.” He cleared his throat. “I need to free myself from ancestral trauma, acknowledge my unconscious cultural biases, and rid myself of the toxic male privilege that I…” he squinted his eyes, “spread around like ant spray.” He scratched his head. “Doesn’t sound that hard, right?”
“Damn,” Manny mumbled. “The woman isn’t playing.”
“We’re going to meet twice a week at Jasper’s and discuss how we can do better,” Hoyt informed the group. “Betsy emailed me worksheets, so I’ll copy them and bring them along.”
“Worksheets,” Zane said with a snort. “No way. I’m not doing worksheets.”
Linc punched his cousin’s arm. “Don’t be a wimp. Do you want to show Olivia that you’re doing the work to become emotionally unconstipated, or what?”
“Betsy told me that I suffered from that too.” Hoyt flipped his phone in his hand. “Our first meeting is tomorrow night. Six sharp.”
Linc nodded. “You can’t count Zane and me in.”
“Excellent.” He ran his thumb over his phone and then held it up. “Betsy hooked me up with Insta something, and I have a lot of inspirational quotes that I’ll be sharing.”
“Surprised that you don’t have a Pinterest account,” Manny said with a snicker. “You could create boards with wedding inspiration.”
“Oh, I have the Pinterest app too.” Hoyt ran his hand over his shirt. “Betsy said something about loving it, so I downloaded it. And, I’ve got to say, it’s not hard to spend an hour or two making those board things.”
“You don’t say,” Linc commented as he looked at his cousin. “Maybe you should show Zane since he needs all theinspirationhe can get.”
Zane held up his hands. “I’m good, got plenty of that.”
Hoyt tipped his chin at the group. “See you guys tomorrow.”
Manny mumbled something and peeled away from the group, and Zane did the same. Left alone, Linc looked around and knew that settling in Haven was the best decision he could make.
Even if it required doing worksheets with his new friends.
FOURTEEN
The following day, Lucy drove up to the Hawker manse and wondered if any of the family ghosts were out and about. She hadn’t run into any during her previous visits and wondered why since she’d long been a favorite of the souls that passed to the other side.
Perhaps the Hawker relatives would break their silence today. She parked under a flowering dogwood and grabbed the box of books she’d put together for Julie. When she stepped out, she noticed Zane in the yard to the left of the house.
Should she say hello or freeze him out?
Deciding good manners were always the best choice, she set the box on the hood of her car and strode toward her sister’s paramour. Or ex-paramour. Whatever he was, he looked about as heartbroken as a person could be. “Hello, Zane.”
He popped his head up and frowned. “Did you come here to poison or shoot me?”
“Neither.”
He dropped the metal scraper in his hand and sat back on his knees. “I doubt Olivia would approve of your civil attitude.”
“I’ve received no direct instructions to make you disappear.” She waved her hand. “But who knows what the day will bring? For all we know, the go-ahead could arrive any minute.”
Zane dropped his shoulders. “I think I might welcome it because it would mean she still felt something. Even white-hot rage would be preferable to the yawning emptiness her disappearance has provided.”
“A statement like that makes me think you are hoping for a do-over with my lovely sibling.”
“I’m not a man who relies on hope. I believe in action.” He waved his hand over the old, rusted tub. “I’m working on a project for Liv.”
She took a step forward and studied the antique. “I’m not one to rain on a man’s parade, but how in the world is this old thing going to fix things?”
Zane threw Lucy a smirk and pulled out his phone. “I learned about this thing called Pinterest yesterday and happened to come across some board thingies that Olivia made.”
Pressing her hand against her chest, she let out a laugh. “You stalked my sister on Pinterest?”
