Page 49 of Beating Heart
I understood it.
My Ride or Die guys were my brothers.
I’d finished work earlier than usual, and I wasn’t used to having time on my hands.
All the guys were with their ladies tonight, and Hayes was at the firehouse.
So, I was on my own.
My phone rang, and I answered through my Bluetooth.
“Hey, Dad. How’s it going?”
“It’s good. I’m a little tired from being on the road, making the last of the deliveries for the week. But I’m heading home to crash. Just wanted to check on Cutler. The new asthma meds are working?”
My father had been a single dad, just like me. He’d worked hard his entire life as a truck driver, putting in long hours, and he’d been a tremendous role model. He and my mother had been ridiculously in love, and he’d never moved on after she’d passed away.
“Yeah. We haven’t had any issues. He had to use his inhaler at camp a few times this week, but as long as we stay on top of it, use the peak flow meter every day, and be proactive, it’s been going well.”
“Listen to you. You sound like a doctor.” He barked out a loud, weathered laugh. My father had smoked for as long as I could remember, and he had the husky voice to prove it. “Proud of you, son.”
That had a lump forming in my throat. We didn’t talk like that. I knew he loved me. Never doubted it for a minute. But he wasn’t the emotional type, and I think losing my mother the way he had made him guarded in a lot of ways. I’d worked hard to tell Cutler every day how much I loved him. He brought out a side of me that I hadn’t even known existed before he’d come into the world.
“Thanks. Just trying to keep up on all of it.”
“How are you going to handle Tara if she does show up in a few weeks? I never like it when she comes to town. It always has me a little anxious when she’s here.”
“Yeah. There’s a good chance she’ll flake on coming, but if she does, she never stays long. I’ll let her spend a little time with Cutler, and she’ll be on her way for another year or two. It’s the best I can hope for,” I said, as I pulled into my driveway, and a man standing on Emerson’s porch caught my attention.
“All right. Keep me posted. I just got home, and I’m going to crash for the rest of the night. Talk to you tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.” I ended the call and climbed out of my truck.
Emerson had left the Fourth of July barbecue in the middle of the fireworks show last week, claiming she wasn’t feeling well. I hadn’t seen her since, aside from a quick wave, and I got the feeling she was avoiding me. We’d texted a few times, but it was just me checking on her and her checking on Cutler.
I got the message loud and clear.
She wasn’t interested in making things complicated between us.
It was probably for the better. Even if I’d fucked my fist too many times to count since the day she’d moved in next door to me.
I should be going out tonight to try to get laid because I was desperate for some sort of release that didn’t come from my own damn hand. Cutler was gone, and this was my window. But something had me walking toward the stranger standing on her porch.
Was this her ex?
“Hey. Are you looking for Emerson?” I asked, making my way up the three steps to her front door. We were eye to eye. He was tall, just like me. Dark hair. He wore jeans, a dress shirt, and a sports coat, but I didn’t miss the cowboy boots on his feet. Sort of a mix of business and rancher. He didn’t exactly scream Stanford grad. But I didn’t attend college, so who was I to know how a smart dude dressed?
He turned to face me and narrowed his gaze. “I am. And you must be the neighbor. Cutler’s dad, right? Is it Nash?”
She clearly talks to this dude often. I wanted to puff up my chest that she’d mentioned me, but then it hit me that maybe they were getting back together, and that’s why she’d been avoiding me.
“Yeah. Nash Heart. And you are?” I raised a brow, trying to tune out the ridiculously loud music coming from the house.
“Easton Chadwick. Emerson’s evil twin.” He offered me a hand, and relief flooded for reasons I couldn’t begin to explain. I had no claim over this girl.
I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. What’s going on in there?”
The windows rattled with the vibration of the loud music.
