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Sawyer loved it here too because it brought back memories of time spent with his family.
“I sometimes wonder what he’d think of all of us now,” Dan said.
“He’d be proud,” Sawyer said. “You’re a cop. Ryder is getting his bakery, and we’ve grown the business he loved. Plus, there’s what we do with our money.”
“Your money,” Dan added. “But yeah, we did good.”
“I still remember that day,” Dan said. “Watching Dad laughing with Mom, and then suddenly he collapsed.”
Sawyer remembered it, too. As the eldest, he had to look after his brothers and sister while his mother went in the ambulance to the hospital with her husband. But he’d known, even then, that his dad was dead. The man he’d respected and looked up to. Big and stronger than any man he knew and suddenly gone from their lives.
That was the day that changed something inside Sawyer. A darkness had crept inside him that he’d wondered if it ever leave. For a while, Sawyer believed Jolena was the change he needed. She’d bring him back into the light.
“I sometimes think it was hardest on you, Sawyer,” Brody said.
“No more than any of you.”
“Maybe, but you were the oldest and had to look out for us while Mom grieved and before Uncle Asher came home.”
“Why are we talking about this now?” Sawyer rasped.
“Because we should have before, just like we should have pushed you about the number Jolena did on your head and heart,” Brody said.
“You’re always just Sawyer. Strong and grumpy. But maybe you have cracks inside you like we all do, and we never took the time to help you repair them,” Dan said.
“I’m okay” was all he could manage because this was too much emotion for him. This and Birdie. His chest burned, and he felt like something was changing inside him and Sawyer didn’t know how to stop it. But if he didn’t, what if it brought more pain?
“I’m just going to say one more thing.”
“Can I stop you?” He looked at Brody.
“Don’t turn your back on something if it’s good, Sawyer. Don’t have regrets because of what happened in LA.”
His brothers got out of the car, and Sawyer sat and watched them walk inside. His life felt like it was spiraling out of control and the only thing that had changed in it was Birdie.
Jolena had hurt him, and they were right in that he’d protected himself from women since then, but no one had challenged that until now. Until Birdie.
Chapter31
Birdie still couldn’t get her head around the fact her father’s medical bills were paid. Mind you, at the moment she couldn’t get her head around much. It was light and fuzzy after the alcohol she’d consumed.
Sawyer had told her to make good fudging choices. That had irritated her enough to drink the entire second travel mug down far too quickly.
“Drink, drink, drink!”
The chant came from behind her. They were standing at the bar in the Circle Left, and shots were lined up in front of her. The place was full of people celebrating the Lavender’s win and the Lemon’s loss.
“Your big grumpy bear is watching,” Nina said in her ear.
They’d come here, because Betsy had told her the after-parties were always fun. Since she’d never been invited to one before, she came. Today she was debt free, and damnit, her life was changing.
“What?” She squinted at Nina and tried to bring her four eyes down to two.
Birdie had drunk too much, she knew it, but it had crept up on her. One moment she was just feeling normal and the next her mouth didn’t seem to want to work properly.
“Sawyer. He’s talking to Larry Limpet, who is, for the first time, wearing a Lavender team shirt under his overalls. The man even smiled at me before.”
She knew why but didn’t say. She was also sure that Ryder didn’t want anyone to know what he was doing yet. At least she thought she knew, but things were pretty fuzzy.
