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The drinks kept coming, the food was divine, and we didn’t pay for a single bite of it. Our entire group was dancing and laughing and having fun, while a single thought ran on a loop in my head:I was finally enough—this should have been perfect.
35
WYATT
This house is too damnquiet.
Sprawled on the couch, I stared at the white ceiling of the living room and mentally noted the spots we had missed when painting. I needed something, anything, to keep me from thinking about Lark and how I’d pushed her to go for this job in the first place.
Summer break was coming to a close, and everything should have been clicking into place. I loved the thrill of a new football season. Everything was new and hopeful as the team had a fresh start with a new season. There was a buzz in the atmosphere—charged.
I felt none of it.
To make matters worse, campus reopened and Michael, Kevin, and Joey loaded up the car and moved back into an off-campus house. They would spend their last couple of weeks with the team, and I could only hope they didn’t get hurt or into trouble. I did my best to give a stern-but-supportive pep talk before they drove back to the city.
Watching them drive away was nothing like when Lark waved her arm out the window and disappeared around the bend in the road.
It was like the life had been sucked out of me when I watched her little gray car drive away. Plus, I refused to let her in on how things were really going here. What was the point? It would only make her feel terrible and second-guess her decision to take the job in the first place.
Her texts were brief but upbeat. I wondered if she was doing the same things as me—putting on a brave face and barely making it through the day.
I sighed again and was contemplating going for a run when a text came through on my phone. Hope leaped in my chest as I snatched the phone off the coffee table. Disappointment flooded me when I saw it wasn’t a message from Lark.
Duke
Heard Kate and Tootie stole Pickle for a girls’ night sleepover. Let me guess, you’re sitting alone and miserable? Crying yourself to sleep?
He wasn’t too far off, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.
Yes. Doing whatever the hell I want is really an inconvenience.
Duke
Meet Beckett and me at the Grudge. Have a beer.
I didn’t have a reason not to go, other than to sit in the dark and feel sorry for myself, so I sent him a quick reply and changed my clothes.
Tourist season had been in full swing for a while now, so the divide between the Sullivans and Kings was less apparent inside the bar. I scanned the unofficial Sullivan side and raised my chin after I spotted Duke leaned against the back bar with his friend Beckett. When I walked up, he slid a beer bottle in my direction.
“Thanks.”
“Hey, Beckett.” I shook his hand. “Good to see you again.”
Duke took a pull of his beer and rested his forearms on the bar. “Kate’s gonna be a problem.”
My brows knitted together. “Problem?”
Duke shook his head and sighed. “Surprised you haven’t already heard about the one-sided shouting match that happened over at the house. Our sister is less than thrilled with our choice in contractors.” He tipped his beer toward Beckett.
He wasn’t stupid enough to talk shit about our little sister, but I didn’t miss the way he tensed at her being the topic of conversation.
I still decided to poke the bear. “Think you can take her on? She’s a pistol, that one.”
Beckett’s throat bobbed and he nodded. “Yeah, it’ll be fine.”
I eyed him a second longer. He was quiet, but there was something about him that exuded confidence. Duke said he was the best, and if he was willing to help us out, despite our sister’s temper and foot stomping, then so be it.
We needed his help. We needed Katie to get Aunt Tootie on board to take care of the house before it collapsed around her, and there was no way we were hiring the Kings’ construction company and willingly welcoming them into her home.
