Page 89 of The Promises We Were Never Meant To Keep

I think Elise gasps. I’m confident Tanner drops an F bomb. Herman chuckles!

“Forgot how good those taste.” Holt growls a rough sounding moan that sets my every burning ember into a full-on blaze. Then his hand snakes around me and he grabs my half-eaten croissant from my desk before he shoves the whole thing into his mouth.

He’s halfway to the door when he calls out, “The job waits for no one, Pop. Let’s get a move on.”

Herman shakes his head once, but there’s a twinkle in his eyes I haven’t seen since Tate left us. The sight is a whole new assault on my already battered self, and it takes everything I have inside me to walk myself around my desk before my legs give out and I sink into my chair.

I’m well and truly screwed considering this is what I have to look forward to for the next five months. Emotional warfare with Holt Wilder. As though I don’t engage in enough of that with Miss. Mabel.

I drop my head into my hands as a big fat tear slaps against my notepad.

I have zero chance of getting through this in one piece.

9

SEE IT FOR YOURSELF

APRIL 2023 – PRESENT DAY

“Did you have to be so hard on the girl?”

I don’t slide my eyes from where they watch the road to Dad, though I can feel his are on me.

I mutter, “Didn’t think I was that hard on her.”

Dad curses. “She was damn near crying, Holt.”

“A man would think the woman who moved between brothers like she did would have thicker skin.” I pull the truck off the road and onto the bumpy trail of the job site. The house will be a massive one, when finished. Already, there is a crew at work.

I open the door and pause when Dad calls my name. “You don’t know what that girl has been through.”

“She’s a woman, Pop,” I tell him dryly. “She made her bed and now she’s sleepin’ in it.”

I don’t wait for his reply. I exit the truck and slam the driver’s side door. I hear Dad’s pained grunt as he exits and know it’s the weight on his knee.

I’d go help him, if I thought his pride would accept it. It wouldn’t, though, so I set to making my way through muddy earth to the foreman on site. We meet half-way, and I catch the man’s wide, familiar smile. “Hey, man. Long time.”

I pull the man in for a one-arm hug. “Micha.”

Micha gives me a pat and stands back, eyes dragging the length of me as Dad sidles up close. He’s trying not to show favor to his good leg. Both me and Micha do our best not to notice.

“Whatcha doing back?”

“Working,” Dad boasts proudly. “Holt will be overseeing things while I’m indisposed.”

“Yeah?” Micha asks, brows raised, head bobbing.

“Yeah.” Taking in the build and the group of men working, I tuck my hands into my pockets. “This your crew?”

“Sure is. It’s a good crew, too.”

“Didn’t realize you were working for the company.”

Micha nods again. “Yeah, well. That’s what happens when you make it big and forget about all your friends back home. You don’t got a finger on the pulse of what’s what anymore.”

My back teeth connect. I’m not about to take that bait. “You and Andy still a thing?”

“Naw.” Micha grins the same grin he had back in high school. “We split right outta high school. But I am married.” Micha holds up his hand to tap a black rubber band he wears on his ring finger. “Sweetest girl, my Mandy.”