13. Knox

I waitedin my cruiser outside of Woody’s Diner, where Garth ate breakfast every morning. He was a farmer on his family’s operation, but I was pretty sure he did more bullshitting around town than he ever got work done.

A glance at my dashboard had me letting out a string of swears. I had ten minutes until my shift started, and I wanted to handle this off the clock.

Looking back at the diner, I saw the front door swing open, and I got out of my car, walking up to Garth and catching him on the sidewalk.

“Knox, they don’t serve donuts he—”

“Shut up,” I said. “And walk with me.”

He seemed confused, so I grabbed his arm, guiding him around to the back side of the diner.

He shook his arm out of my hand. Maybe I had been squeezing a little too tight. “What the fuck?” he said, anger flaring his nostrils.

“What you said about Larkin was uncalled for.” I kept my voice firm but even.

“Larkin?”

“The single mom you didn’t want to ‘waste your time on,’” I snapped, anger flooding at the memory of those texts.

Garth raised his eyebrows, lines forming on his ruddy red forehead. “We say stupid shit in the chat all the time. It’s what we do.”

I shook my head, wondering why I still put up with guys from high school. We clearly had grown in different directions. But could he really not see what was wrong with what he said? “It’s one thing to have some locker-room talk and another to make fun of a single mom just trying to get by.”

He smirked. “Looked like she was getting by just fine on that dance floor.”

My hands clenched, and if I were seventeen, I would have decked him. Instead, I was a grown man representing Cottonwood Falls. I leaned in, getting right in his face, and made my voice deadly. “Single moms have the whole fucking world sitting on their shoulders, and they don’t need to take any shit or deal with any judgment from the likes of you.”

He held up his hands. “Sorry, I was just fucking around in the group chat. I didn’t know it was that big of a deal.”

I shook my head. “Having integrity is a big fucking deal. Do better.”

Once he nodded, I stepped away and walked off. But then he called after me, “You’re with her, aren’t you?”

My jaw ticked as I turned to face him. He had a dumb smirk on his face like he’d gotten me good with that remark. But I curled my lip in disdain. Not just because Larkin had thoroughly friend zoned me last night and was going out with another man, but because I hated it when people made comments like that. “You’re not one of those guys, are you?”

He jutted out his chin. “What do you mean?”

“One of those guys who only gives a shit about a woman if she means something to you. Not because it’s the right thing to do.”

He drew his eyebrows together. “What’s it to you? It was a dumb text in a group.”

And maybe he did have me there. Because if I made a habit of getting onto every person who said something stupid, I’d never have time for anything else. But I settled for the truth. “I don’t want to be a part of a group that’s okay with talking about women like that. We’re too old for that shit, Garth.”

He nodded then scratched the back of his neck. “What do you want me to do?”

I barely kept from rolling my eyes. You could lead a horse to water, but... “You post in the chat and say you messed up last night and won’t do it again, then we’re square.”

He tugged his lip up like he’d smelled something bad.

“You have ten minutes. And I have to get to work.” I turned and walked back to my car.

In seven minutes, a text came through my phone.

Garth: Sorry guys. I drank too much last night and didn’t mean that stuff about that mom. Gotta be gentlemen around here, right?

He sent a cowboy emoji.

Trent: You? A gentleman? Why are my feet feeling cold? Hell freeze over?

Dennis: Hell yeah, Garth. Cowboy up.

A couple other guys chimed in, but I didn’t reply. I had half a mind to tell those guys to never talk to me again. But at least we were moving forward without any more of that nonsense coming through my phone.

* * *

After work,I went over to Hayes’s garage to blow off some steam. Every so often, we got some guys together to play beer pong or poker, depending on what kind of mood we were in.

Today, when I walked into his garage, freshly changed and showered from work, I found a mix of Madigans and Griffens gathered around a big round table. Our two families had grown up on neighboring ranches and remained close friends throughout the years. Tonight it was Hayes, Fletcher, Rhett, Tyler, and me around the table.

They each acknowledged me, and I went to the fridge to get myself a beer. “Anyone need another?” I asked.

Hayes said, “Always.” So I grabbed one for him too and went to sit at the white plastic table in an empty folding chair between Tyler and Hayes.

Glancing my way, Tyler said, “Been a while.”

I nodded in agreement. “You’ve been too busy for us, opening up the new locations for your apartments.”

He smiled at the mention of his thriving business. He and his wife had gotten an investor to help them expand and convert several more out-of-commission buildings around Texas into boutique senior apartments. “Good problem to have, I guess,” he said.

A strange feeling filled my chest, and... fuck, I had to admit I was jealous of him. He had it all—a job he loved and a wife to come home to. Someone to build a life with him. I was tired of doing it all on my own. I wanted a partner, in every sense of the word.

But with everyone I dated lately, it seemed like something was missing and it ended shortly after it began. I couldn’t, in good faith, keep dating someone when I didn’t see a future with them.

Fletcher shuffled the deck of cards in his hands and said, “If we don’t start playing soon, I’m going to fall asleep.”

Rhett covered his ears. “I don’t need to hear about your sex life keeping you up at night when it includes my sister.”

Shoving him, Fletcher said, “I wish. Leah’s in a sleep regression, and Liv’s with her all day, so I’ve been taking the night shift.”

Rhett made a face, and Hayes said, “If you keep talking about kids’ sleep schedules, I’m going to fall asleep. This is why I’ll never have kids. You pop one out and get boring.”

Fletcher rolled his eyes at our brother, and Rhett laughed, saying, “Never say never or fate will bend you over and fu—”

“Just deal,” Tyler chided with a mix of humor and exasperation in his eyes.

Fletcher started passing out the cards.

They slid over the plastic table, and for the next couple hours, we played and ribbed each other.

It was exactly what I needed to get my mind off Larkin.

Until I pulled up to my house and found her sitting on my front porch.