Page 60 of Back To Our Beginning

“Again, I don’t care. You could have returned my two calls last week. You’re damn lucky I’m giving you this chance. Gotta go.”

I could still hear the man talking as she hung up.

“My woman, the ball-buster.”

“I can’t believe that asshole. Can you?”

“Sure, I can. I bet you a coke that he never pulled that shit with Dad, but he thought because you were a woman, he could get away with it.”

“I should have made him sell it to us at below the rate he quoted,” she muttered. Then she got up and smiled. “Who’s this?” she asked, nodding at me.

“This is Beau, the man I told you about.”

She walked around the counter and gave me a big hug. “Roan’s had nothing but good things to say about you.”

“Thanks. I think. You know, sometimes he lies.”

She threw back her head and let out a husky laugh. “Trust me, I know. But only for the greater good.”

“I have the Vette taken care of, so I’m going to take off. If anything else comes up, it can wait until tomorrow,” Roan said.

“Sounds good.”

“What time do you think you’ll be home? I’m making stir-fry.”

“Well, if you’re cooking, I’ll be home by six.” She reached up and gave Roan a kiss.

It was four o’clock now. It would be nice to be spending time with Maddie, but she’d already texted and told me that tonight was going to be a late one and so I’d need to pick her up then.

“Come on, Beau, you’re driving me home,” Roan said.

I nodded. “It was nice to meet you, Lisa.” I smiled at her.

“You too, Beau. You’ll be there for dinner, won’t you?”

“I’ve got something planned for Maddie.”

“Understood.” Roan nodded.

“It was nice meeting you, Lisa.” I waved as I followed Roan out the door.

By the time we made it to his house, he’d made at least eight disparaging remarks about the Camry. He was definitely a car snob. It was a really hot day, so we settled down with our beers in the living room with the air conditioning.

“You good with the information I got you on that sleazebag, Bruce Forrester?” Roan asked me.

“I wouldn’t say, good. But I thank you for asking around. It sounds like he’s scared of messing up a good thing.”

“If I felt he needed a little more persuasion to stay away from Maddie, I would have given it to him, but his lawyer has assured him he’s going to get away with this, so he’s going to behave like a choir boy until his court date.”

“As long as he doesn’t come after Maddie or Eli, I’m good.”

Roan nodded, then smiled. “So, I never saw you when you first came to town. How was it, finding your long-lost twin?”

I smiled. Now this topic of conversation was a welcome one. “Surreal. Good. Fantastic. Took me a bit of time to get my head around it, though. But now, we’re really aligned. Both special forces. I mean, our growing-up years were different, since he had to grow up with our sadistic bastard of a father, but still, down at the core, we’re really similar.”

I liked Roan. Not only were we both Marine Raiders, but he and I had grown up together in Jasper Creek. He was a grade ahead of me, but we played on the same football team. He knew my story. He got me. He listened.

“I can’t say the same about me and my brothers. The twin thing must be a whole different animal.”