“We were up before you,” Jason reminded, flipping me off. “Some of us still exist on adult hours.”
I rolled my eyes. “Take Tally with you. I don’t want her to wander off and scare any psychos again.”
I needed time to unwind outside of everything crazy. Sometimes the only way to relax was to hang out under the stars.
“Tal, come on!” Ethan called.
She ignored him, throwing her head back dramatically to look at me, ears flopping.
I reached out and gave her a few rubs before snapping my fingers toward the house. “In.”
She did as she was told, hurrying up the deck stairs toward the house.
“Don’t stay up too late, Captain,” Ethan teased, patting my shoulder before shuffling in behind the lovebirds. “You have more questionable decisions to make tomorrow.”
I laughed. Did I ever.
Josie
Going to Mass for the first time in over a decade was rough, but mixed with my parents’ bickering and Lincoln’s nagging, running for the hills looked better and better.
Someone had to be prepping their boat first thing in the morning, too, the sight catching Lincoln’s eye as we headed out to the car in our Sunday best. He jabbered nonstop on the way into town, desperate to ride around with his friend, Luke.
That’s right.
Luke was his friend.
I was chopped liver.
Meanwhile, Mom and Dad took icy relations to a new level, snipping and snapping at one another in Mass, God’s house not even safe from their wrath. And while Mom sent nothing but smiles my way when I shot her a look, Dad kept things as cold as ever. I shouldn’t have agreed to come when Mom asked the night before, but Linc wanted to spend time with them.
We settled in for breakfast at the Scoop, the only diner in Briar with breakfast worth eating, not that there was much competition. I kept Linc at my side in case we had to bolt, expecting the worst. Dad was too on edge for the meal to go over smoothly.
Mom rattled on about her book club that she signed me up for, not that I minded. I needed to make new friends and craved adult conversation. There were only so many times I could talk about Aquaman in a day.
“What were you doing Friday night?” Dad asked, interrupting Mom mid-sentence.
She stiffened, setting down her fork, her normally gentle eyes narrowing harshly. “Ed, leave her alone.”
An oddly specific question for him, especially since he rarely addressed me directly.
“We had dinner at the opening, played catch, and I worked. Why?”
I wasn’t mentioning the bit about Luke. I was more than a little tipsy at the time and still embarrassed I berated him about a girlfriend that turned out to be a dog.
“We ran into Luke Barrett yesterday, and he mentioned you two were together. It’s almost like you want to ruin your life.”
I turned to Linc, who was oblivious to the conversation as he happily munched away on blueberry French toast. “Linc, adult talk.” His little hands cupped his ears obediently, a routine we had on lock.
“We’re not talking about this,” I warned, shooting razor blades my father’s way. “What I do in my personal life is none of your business. I talked to him at the opening like you did, and I talked to him later that night because his dog was on my property.”
“It’s my business when it concerns me and my name!” he shot back, red creeping up his neck to his face.
“In case you’re unaware, I don’t have your name anymore.” I hadn’t been a Roberts for years, and I’d never been happier than the day I waited for hours at Social Security to change it.
“People know you’re my daughter, and I won’t let you drag it through the mud by slumming it with a Barrett.”
“Doesn’t he own two businesses in town?” I asked, not wanting to go toe to toe about Luke but doing so out of principle. “Doesn’t sound like I’d be slumming one bit!”
Was it ridiculous to argue over a guy I wasn’t dating? Maybe.
Did I give a rat’s ass? Nope.
Dad flushed a deep shade of purple, crumbling the napkin in his hand until his fists turned white. “Dan Sutton is worth more, and he likes you, but you won’t give him the time of day!”
“Oh, you mean the guy that talks to my parents about all the alleged time we spend together?” I scoffed. “It’s my life and my choices. Back off.”
I was also fairly certain he was the creep sending me texts past midnight. Not exactly someone I wanted around my kid or me.
“See, this is what I was talking about with you coming home,” he sneered, the veins in his neck rising like rivers of rage. “You always make stupid decisions and need other people to save you.”
I gripped the edge of the table, wanting nothing more than to toss my orange juice in his face. “What did you ever save me from?”
He’d thrown me to the wolves, sending me to live with his militant brother until I scrounged enough money to rent a room from a crazy lady with twelve cats.
“The Barretts. Jail. The moron you called a husband. Anything else?”
“You.” I shook my head and met his eyes, refusing to let him upset me further. “My husband’s name was Scott. He made me breakfast in bed every Sunday and took care of me when I had no one. You can hate him all you want, but he’s a part of Linc, and he’s a part of me. I’m sorry that you’ll never know how wonderful of a person he was.”
At one point, his barb would have pierced my armor, but I’d erected an impenetrable shield around Scott.
“A druggie? Yeah, real wonderful. At least you have a predictable type. Maybe Dan should lie and tell you he likes dope.”
“Are you done yet?” I asked, not giving him the reaction he so desperately craved. “We’re trying to have a nice family breakfast,
