Bonus Epilogue

Gage rested his back against the counter in the break room and crossed his arms over his chest. A dozen people dressed in suits and dresses crowded into the small area, and excited whispers filled the air. Most everyone had just come from a wedding.

Everyone except Gage.

He was here to fix what was broken and get a paycheck, not schmooze and chit-chat, and being pulled away from a transmission overhaul for this pow-wow was tanking his mood.

The job at Blackwater Automotive hadn't come with enough warnings.

Tapping the heel of his boot on the floor, he eyed the door. He could slip out and no one would notice.

"Don't even think about it," a feminine voice said beside him.

Gage turned to find Lyric wearing an orange dress and looking up at him with one eyebrow raised and a manicured finger pointed at him.

"I'm not thinking about anything."

Expectations were the key to acing life. If everyone assumed he was worthless, no one could claim to be disappointed when he screwed up.

Lyric narrowed her eyes at him, and the look reminded him of one his sister used to give him. Thea was a couple years younger, but she had always been the responsible one.

Until he shipped her off to who knows where. The old memory tugged at parts of his past he didn't want to revisit.

Gage tensed his jaw and looked away. Most people got the hint when he stonewalled them.

"I see you, and I know what you're doing." Lyric's whisper held an edge he hadn't heard from her before.

Granted, he kept his interaction with her and everyone else to a minimum. So he knew as much about her as he knew about the vegetation on the Rock of Gibraltar.

Nothing. And he didn't care to know either.

Without looking at her, he whispered, "I know what you're doing too, and I'm not interested."

"Who isn't interested in friends?" Lyric whisper-screamed.

Gage turned slowly, and Lyric met his disgruntled look with one of her own.

She had guts, he'd give her that.

"Me. Now go pester someone else."

Lyric folded her arms and straightened her shoulders. "No one else needs pestering. You, on the other hand, need a kick in the pants."

"Watch your language. There are kids around." Gage jerked his chin toward Jacob, who was getting licked on by Olivia's little ankle-biter. It had an old lady name that Gage could never remember.

"I've bent over backward trying to include you in things for months, and I haven't heard a thank you."

"Why am I thanking you?" Gage asked.

Lyric took a moment to compose herself before huffing. "You'll get it one day. You'll see what you're missing here, and you'll thank me. Until then, can you at least fix your face so that scowl isn't memorialized forever in the photos?"

"I'll talk to my plastic surgeon about it as soon as possible," Gage snapped back.

Lyric didn't back down like he'd expected. Instead, she held his gaze a little longer. "There has to be something you care about."

"What makes you think that?" Gage asked.

"Because everyone cares about something. Or someone."

"You're right. I do care about something. What is up with the prices at Sticky Sweet's? A cupcake–a single cupcake–is two dollars. Sometimes, a man just wants to enjoy a tiny cake without having to take out a second mortgage."

Lyric checked her phone, completely unfazed by his off-the-wall rambling. "She's here." Turning around, she announced to the room, "She's here!"

Everyone in the room started moving around. The buzz of excitement hummed in the air.

Gage slowly moved away from the door. After Lyric's warning about photos, he wanted to be as far away from the paparazzi as possible.

Everything quieted as they waited for Olivia. Gage ducked his chin as the click of heels tapped up the hallway.

"Surprise!" The whole room erupted into a shout as Olivia jerked back and pressed a hand to her chest.

"What are you doing? It's not my birthday!"

Dawson Keller, wearing a suit without the jacket, stepped forward and knelt in front of Olivia. She gasped and covered her mouth as she stared wide-eyed at the cupcake Dawson held.

Gage caught a glimpse of it before the room got crowded. A tiny crown was squashed into the pink icing with a diamond ring resting in the middle. He'd overheard Lauren talking to someone about it. Apparently, it was a princess cut.

How precious.

Dawson wasn't Gage's favorite person in the world, but he was mildly tolerable as long as Olivia was around. At least the guy didn't glare at Gage as much when she was present.

Did it count for nothing that Gage had been on his best behavior since he started working at the garage five months ago? No, not to Dawson, at least.

"Olivia Mae Lawrence, you'll always be my queen, but would you do me the honor of letting me be your husband?"

Good grief, this guy could lay it on thick.

"Yes!" Olivia exclaimed, and everyone in the room erupted into a chorus of cheers.

Everyone except Gage. He had nothing to celebrate, and he never would.

A few minutes in, and Gage's head was beginning to throb from the noise. He pushed off the wall and skirted the perimeter of the room. He'd made it all the way to the last wall before Jacob jerked to a stop in front of him.

"She said yes!" Jacob threw his arms around Gage's middle and gave a quick squeeze before running off to tell someone else the news. He'd probably had way too much sugar between the wedding and this little party.

Okay, Jacob wasn't so bad. He liked to talk about cars, and he didn't look at Gage like he was a rubber band ready to snap.

Gage slipped out into the hallway and headed toward the garage. He didn't like standing around when there was work to be done. Two vehicles waited for tire changes, and half a dozen of the others promised more difficult mechanical problems.

Maybe Lyric was right. Gage could probably put cars on the list of things he cared about.

But what else was there? Was he the only person on earth who didn't have someone he cared about? Aside from his mom–the one heading into a later-stage of bone cancer.

Nope. Don't go down that road.Gage had been failing everyone around him his entire life, and it kinda sucked that he hadn't even done something good for the only person in the world who deserved his loyalty. He wasn't the "I'll make you proud" kid. That could have been Thea.

Gage tensed his jaw as he pushed out memories of his sister. He'd sent her away because she had a target on her back. It was the best thing for her to get out of his town and as far away from the people who hated them enough to spill blood.

"Hey, man."

Gage looked up from the beat-up Chevy Malibu when Beau came into view. The guy had a handful of years on Gage, and he'd been a good boss…so far.

He hadn't fired Gage yet, and that counted for something.

Beau propped his hands on the vehicle, careful not to grease up his white shirt and black pants. He tilted his head toward the party going on in the break room. "Thanks for showing up for a few minutes."

Gage nodded once and turned his attention back to the vehicle. "Welcome."

"We're heading to Barn Sour in a little bit."

"More celebration?" Gage asked.

"Yeah, it's not my idea of fun either, but Olivia is pretty convincing."

"Pushy is the word you're looking for."

Beau let out a single huff of a laugh. "True, but I'd do anything for my sister."

Gage looked up and studied Beau. Everyone in town knew Gage's family tree, and it wasn't a secret that he had a sister–one who disappeared five years ago.

But how much did Beau know about Thea?

"You coming?" Beau asked.

It was easy to say no. Gage had gotten good at it over the years.

Shoot. Lyric's little speech was actually gaining traction. What was wrong with him?

The phone in Gage's pocket rang, and he wiped his hands on the grease rag. He pulled it out to see his mom's name on the screen. "I need to take this."

"Sure. Just meet us there if you want," Beau said before waving over his shoulder as he walked off.

Gage answered the phone with a hushed, "Hey."

"Gage, she's back," his mom's breathy voice said in greeting.

The blood in his veins ran cold. There was only one girl who had left, and only one person in the world whose appearance could upset his mom like this. "What?"

"It's Thea. She's back."