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“How can a few hundred dollars and returning the ring make what you did right?”
“Not right exactly,” she hedged, “but...the best I could do. I sent you an apology, too.”
“Yeah, I got your letter. For not intending to hurt me, you certainly did a damn fine job of it,” he scoffed as his eyes ran over her tousled hair, Brant’s T-shirt and her bare legs and feet. “So what are you these days? Some kind of whore?”
“Charlie, that’s enough!” Brant said, but those words acted like a match to a stick of dynamite—minus the long wick. The next thing he knew, his best friend took a swing at him, and it was so unexpected that Brant wasn’t able to dodge it entirely. “What the hell’s wrong with you?” he asked after Charlie’s fist glanced off his cheekbone.
“What’s wrong withme?” Charlie echoed. “What’s wrong withyou? I trusted you. Youknowhow I’ve always felt about her.”
“I also know it’s been over for fourteen years!” Brant said, but that didn’t seem to make any difference. Charlie tried to hit him again, forcing Brant to defend himself.
Talulah cried out as they crashed into the wall and a picture fell while Brant was taking Charlie to the floor. From there, they wrestled with each other until Brant finally managed to pin him down.
Charlie was breathing so hard he could barely speak as he glared up into Brant’s face. “Get off me!”
“I’ll be happy to do that,” Brant said. “But...is this over?”
“It’s over,” Charlie muttered. “She’s not worth it. And neither are you. We’re done. Don’t ever call me again.”
“Charlie, will you calm down?”
Charlie’s stony expression didn’t change. “I said to get off me.”
Brant stood up slowly, in case Charlie started swinging again.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Charlie wiped his nose, discovered that it was bleeding and gave Brant a dirty look. “Fuck you,” he said. “Fuck you both.”
“Wait,” Brant said, but Charlie grabbed a lamp off the entry table and threw it down, causing it to shatter into a million pieces, before stomping out.
Talulah’s jaw had dropped, and her hand was covering her mouth.
“I’m sorry,” Brant said. That was all he could get out before a loud bang drew him to the front window. He was barefoot, so he couldn’t reach the door because of the broken glass.
Charlie had rammed Brant’s brand-new Ford F-250 before peeling off.
“Did he just hit your truck?” Talulah asked.
Brant stretched his neck, watching a plume of dust fan out behind Charlie as he rocketed down the driveway. “Yeah.”
“How’d he know you were here?” She sounded confused, and he could understand why. She would have no way of knowing that Charlie had never gotten over her—that she’d moved on, but he hadn’t.
“I was supposed to play pool with him last night. When he didn’t hear from me, he probably started to look around.”
Her eyes widened. “But why would he lookhere?”
Because he knew she was back and staying at her great aunt’s place. Brant could easily imagine Charlie driving past the house—several times—even if hehadn’tbeen actively looking for anyone. But Brant didn’t volunteer that. He was too loyal to Charlie to make him sound like a stalker and too mad at himself for hurting his best friend. Somehow, Talulah hadn’t seemed off-limits eight hours ago. For one thing, he knew she’d never go back to Charlie, regardless of anything he did. And he’d seen their time together as a night no one would ever have to know about. He certainly hadn’t planned onthis. “He probably looked everywhere.”
“Did he do much damage?” she asked, coming up to peer out the window with him.
“Hard to tell from here.” Brant didn’t want to go out and examine the damage, wasn’t quite ready to face it. He was still grappling with what had occurred.
“Are you okay?” she asked, but from the way she was hugging herself, he got the impression she was the one who was rattled.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” His cheek was tender. But it could’ve been a lot worse.
“He was bleeding,” she said, staring through the window at the now-empty drive. “Do you think he’ll be okay, too?”
“Physically? I’m sure he will. I tried not to hit him, especially in the face. I have no idea how he got a bloody nose.”
