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She exhales a shaky sigh. “Right. Stupid question. Obviously, you remember that. So I have another secret I uncovered back then, and I’m at a crossroads about how to handle it.”
“Are you telling me what it is?” I tease, feeling a touch lighter in response to her tone shift.
After a long pause, she blurts out, “Does Sawyer know anything about his birth family?”
“Oh, shit. Again, Mia? Come on!” I groan, only half-teasing. “We haven’t dealt with the first revelation yet.”
“You said you wouldn’t be mad. And it’s not my fault. I just happened to uncover the information. And it wasn’t hard to find. He could have found out himself with very little effort.”
I halt her rambly rebuttal by grabbing her hand and bringing it to my lips, kissing the backs of her knuckles. “Shh. Calm down. I’m a little shocked.”
“Okay. So does he know about them?”
My stomach swirls with worry for my friend. “Unless something has changed recently, he doesn’t. We served together in the Rangers and talked about that a few times. Most of the other guys said they’d want to know, but Sawyer never did. He stood firm that he didn’t care about his parents. They left him, and he wasn’t about to beg them for scraps.”
“Do you believe he meant that, or was he just saying it to seem tough?”
I purse my lips, hemming and hawing. “Fair question, but I tend to believe him.”
“So he wouldn’t care that he has family right here in the Tampa Bay area?”
After filling my lungs, I shake my head resolutely. “No. I don’t think he would. Besides, he’s so damn happy now.Finally.He didn’t have the easiest life. Would knowing help him and Sammy somehow, or would it simply cause unnecessary drama? I suspect it’s the latter. If it were me, I’d let him have his happiness.”
“Well, that complicates things.”
She taps her fingernails against her chin and stares blankly out the window.
Remembering what brought on this topic, I ask, “What email did you get?”
“In my quest to turn over a new leaf and lead with honesty, I did something I now regret.” She drags her hand along her forehead. “I emailed his mother. She replied. She’d love to meet him if he wanted to, but she won’t force it.”
“His mother lives here?”
She swings her head in a smooth arc. “No. Tennessee.”
“Who lives in the bay area?”
“One of his brothers.”
My gut swirls more fiercely. Sawyer has brothers?Damn. As alone as he felt all these years, I bet he’d have liked to know that before. But now? I’m not so sure. I’ve never seen him this happy in the fifteen years I’ve known him.
“Does he know about Sawyer?”
Mirth frames her features. “Believe it or not, I’m not sure.”
A dry laugh rattles my chest. “I don’t believe it. Mia knows all.”
“Believe it, stud. I could have dug further, but it didn’t seem important at the time, and I had other shit to do.”
“What was your plan? Tell Sawyer and let him decide?”
“First, I figured I’d find out if she was open to hearing from him. I didn’t want to tell him, only for him to learn that contacting her wasn’t possible. That seemed cruel.” She pauses and sighs. “So I emailed her. Now that she said yes, I considered passing on her contact info and letting him decide. But you’ve got me second-guessing that.”
“What about the brother? Doesn’t he get a say in this?”
“I wanted to give him the choice too, but I started with the mother. I could ask her if he knows about Sawyer and go from there.”
That doesn’t sit right with me. “Nah. You’re already way more involved than you need to be.”
