AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Grateful for the change in subject and his blanket support, I smiled. “That sounds juicy.”
“Barns—my dad—paid him to marry her ten years ago. I thought something was up, but I couldn’t get to the books until everyone was so busy before the wedding. I confronted Ansen, Aggie told him to fuck off, and me and my brothers made sure he did.”
“Ten years ago? How are they together again?”
“She’d never confess to me, but Wilder said she and Sutton got drunk one night, and next thing we knew, Aggie had hired Ansen and swore there was nothing between them.”
“And now they’re married,” I mused. “So romantic.”
He grunted and plucked a string.
“If you’re not her brother,” I added.
“He’s a good guy. He probably was then, too. Barns was one of those controlling men you’d want to stay away from.” A troubled frown played over his mouth. Cody sounded determined not to follow in his footsteps.
“Frederick definitely isn’t a good guy.”
“He’s a pussy.”
I liked the rough side to Cody. “He has the money to be a bully.”
“That may be true, but it doesn’t mean he’s not a coward. A good man will do what’s right no matter what, no matter how hard it is, and no matter how much money they have.”
“And you, Cody?” I was close to whispering, desperate to hear the truth. “Are you a good man?”
“I’d like to think so.”
He didn’t sound so confident. I kept pushing. “What’s the hardest thing you’ve done, no matter what, where money didn’t make a difference?”
He strummed a few strings. The sounds were lower, deeper. Sadder. I didn’t think he was going to answer me, maybe he didn’t have anything, but he ran his thumb down the strings and said, “Stay married.”
* * *
Cody
What the hell did I just say?
Tova’s lush lips parted. She must think I was lowering myself to her ex’s level. I had no other explanation. The words had popped out, like they’d been caged in a dark, terrifying corner of my mind and escaped at the worst possible time.
“You weren’t happy?” she asked softly.
The strings anchored me to this world. I wasn’t lost in the past. The guitar marked a time before Meg. The last time I felt like myself. “I wasn’t unhappy.”
She was quiet for a beat. “I understand that more than I thought I would.”
I glanced at her, surprised, but I was met with an understanding stare. “You do?”
“I wasn’t in love with Frederick. But I thought we had a mutual relationship, and I was okay that it wasn’t built on love.” Her smile dipped. “I know it’s not the same as you and your wife, but I get it.”
“I loved my wife.” I plucked the G string. I should’ve been doing guitar therapy since the funeral. The sound soothed my nerves, made my world seem like it was spinning in the right direction. “I respected her more.” I hadn’t thought a lot about my relationship with Meg as much as I had in the last few weeks. It just was. Like when Mama left, and I was it for my siblings. It just was. The kids needed a stable home, and my in-laws fit the description better than me. It just was. I was thinking about it all now. “I knew I was a lucky bastard that a woman like her was interested in me. That she moved here, away from the city, and still managed to kick ass at a job made five times more difficult because she was stuck with me.”
“I think you’re selling yourself short.”
“You didn’t know Meg. She was amazing.” I strummed over all the strings again. “But she was also Meg. Prickly. Moody. Ambitious in a way where she’d never be satisfied in Buffalo Gully. She wasn’t warm, and she kept her emotions tightly wound until I wondered how deeply she actually felt.” I plucked the strings harder. I forced myself to be gentle. The last thing I wanted was for the kids to hear me. “Even when the tumor was diagnosed, she was practical. Almost businesslike. I thought maybe it was a defense mechanism. What the fuck did I know about finding out I was dying? But...I’m not sure. She was ruthlessly efficient and almost harder on me—and the kids,” I finished with a sigh of resigned admission.
“I didn’t know her, but it sounds like a defense mechanism.”
“I don’t know,” I murmured. “We were married for twelve years, and at first it was fine. Then Grayson came and life got busier, and she seemed to thrive on the stress, but she wasn’t a doting mom. I was surprised when she got pregnant with Ivy. She said it was so they’d have each other to play with. Like cats.”
