Chapter 24

He entered the diner and couldn't see Phoebe, which told him she was sitting down in the back, out of sight.

"How's our girl doing, Brody?"

"Much better today, thanks, Linda," he said to the diner's owner.

She had a face that had spent far too much time in the sun, so it was wrinkled and colored like the orange peel you found stuffed down the sides of your sofa. Her uniform was pink and clashed horribly with her tomato-red hair. But what Brody admired most about her was her ability to own it.

"Zoe and Dan are sitting with her while I do some errands."

Nothing got by anyone in this town, so he'd given up fighting the knowledge that his life was an open book years ago.

"I'll make you a sundae to take home for her."

"She'll love that," Brody said, heading down the diner.

Booths, neon lights, and everything required to make it look like something from the 1950s, he and his siblings had spent many long hours in the Do-Si-Do growing up.

"I thought I smelled the stench of Duke."

"Fuck off, Keller," Brody said, passing the man seated reading the paper.

Kellers and Dukes didn't like one another. But, for the most part, they just verbally smack-talked, unless they were having a bad day, and then it was best to run… especially if Sawyer was involved.

He found Phoebe seated, looking at the menu. Her hair was a tousled mess, and she wore a pale blue denim shirt open with a white tank beneath. Brody felt a jolt of need as he looked at the top of her head. There was also anger now that he knew what someone had done to her.

"Phoebe." Her eyes shot up as he spoke. "Mind if I join you?"

He had a feeling she wanted to say no, but instead she nodded with wary eyes. Brody slid into the booth, trying not to think about that scar on her side and that some asshole had hurt her.

"Just coffee, thanks, Linda," he said when she arrived.

"I'll have the omelet with bacon and coffee too. Thank you, Linda."

Phoebe had always enjoyed food like him. In fact, there were so many interests they'd shared. So many things he'd loved about her, and he knew now that he'd never taken the time to tell her.

Brody had been selfish and full of his own importance, and Phoebe had just always been there, idolizing him.

"How's Ally?"

"Better. It was a rough few days, but she's just tired now. Dan and Zoe arrived with food and games and shooed me out of the house. "

Her mouth twitched at his words. "Nice that you have them to do that."

"It really is. I'm not sure I would have handled things as well as I had if they hadn't been there when Ally's mother left. Parenting is like the worst and best days of your life all rolled into one. You just never know what's going to land like a steaming pile of crap in your lap, but my kid makes everything worth it."

"Based on what I've gathered from the people I know with children, that seems an excellent description." Phoebe looked down at her hands, which were clasped one on top of the other, before she spoke again. "About what happened between us, Brody."

"The lovemaking?" She nodded, looking up. "It was amazing, and I'd really like to do it again with you."

Brody had never been someone who danced around what needed to be said. He found it easier with his family to get straight to the point.

"That's not going to happen. We can't… I won't do that with you again." Her words were calm, but those eyes were anything but. The lovely blue depths were troubled.

"I'd never hurt you, Phoebe." He covered her hand with his.

Her laugh held no humor. "Brody, I left to take up a scholarship you resented with your anger riding me every mile I traveled away from you. It nearly destroyed me. I wanted to come back to Lyntacky so many times. I was homesick, and my heart ached with missing you and knowing that I'd made you angry. That I'd hurt you. It took someone to point out that the relationship we'd had wasn't healthy."

"Who?" he asked.

She waved a hand in front of her. "It doesn't matter who, only that it made me realize how toxic what we had was."

"Not all of it," he protested.

She gave him a small smile. "No, not all. But I lost myself in you, Brody. Lost who I wanted to be."

"I called you?—"

"I know, but I didn't answer or return them because I was still hurting, and what could you have said to change things?"

Her words were the truth. It had taken growing up for Brody to see that. "We were always too young to make that commitment, and I was too immature to see that you leaving was the best thing for both of us," he said.

"I understand that. Understand the girl I was too."

"What girl were you?" Brody asked.

She didn't speak until Linda had dropped off their coffees.

"I idolized you way too much, Brody. Your needs were always my priority, even over my own."

"Phoebe—"

"My point is that I will never compromise who I am for anyone again," she clarified.

"And you think I'd ask that of you still?" Her eyes told him she did, and that hurt, but Brody knew he deserved it. "I'm not asking you to marry me, Phoebe. Just be my friend?—"

"With benefits," she said with a little more force this time.

"Sure, if that comes with it, I'm good with that, but I also do want to be your friend, Phoebe, and if that's all you want to give me, I'm happy with that too."

"First and foremost, we were friends before anything else," he added when she remained silent.

Looking at her, Brody wondered how hard it would be for him if she said no. How much her rejection would hurt seeing as having her back in his life had lit something inside him. Something he hadn't even known he needed. He wasn't examining that too deeply but knew what he'd once felt for this woman had never gone away, just simmered, and could grow into something real and deep.

"I'm sorry, Phoebe. You deserved better from me. I behaved badly that day you left for New York. Hell, I behaved badly for years, but you made it too easy to be a selfish asshole, which in no way is an excuse."

She sipped her coffee, wrapping her hands around the cup.

"The fault was not yours alone, Brody, and it turned out for the better because I qualified to become a teacher. If I had stayed in Lyntacky, that may not have happened."

He watched something flicker across her eyes, and then it was gone.

"I am not looking for a relationship, and especially not with you."

"I've told you I won't hurt you again, Phoebe," Brody said, trying to stay calm. The "especially not with you" part of her last words stung, even as he understood why she'd said them.

To have any relationship with this woman, he knew he'd have to tread carefully. Just looking at her made his body simmer with a need to have her under him again, but he'd have to get her trust first and show her he'd changed. Brody also had Ally to think of. He'd never brought a woman into their lives. Never been serious about anyone.

"So, you're going to live your life solo with no attachments?"

"I didn't say that, Brody. I want to date, but only when I find the right person."

He wanted to growl at the thought of Phoebe with anyone but him. Instead, he took a steadying sip of coffee. "But not me."

She studied him, and he sat and took it.

"You don't want commitment either. You have Ally."

"You don't know me anymore, Phoebe."

"Just as you don't know me. But maybe?—"

"Let's work on the friend thing then. We used to make each other laugh and get along pretty well. I promise this time not to make you run around after me."

This forced a laugh out of her. "I've learned to say no, Brody."

"Good for you. I know how you got that scar, Phoebe. Will you tell me about that day in the classroom?"

"You searched me?"

"Yes" was all he said.

"I don't like to talk about that. It's done with, and with a lot of therapy, I've put it behind me."

"I'm sorry you went through that, Phoebe. Sorry some lowlife, scumbag, asshole hurt you."

"Brody—"

"I want to find him and hurt him like he hurt you," Brody growled.

Her smile was small. "He's in prison and no longer a threat to anyone. But thank you for the sentiment."

He touched the hand she had wrapped around her mug, but she pulled away. Before he could speak again, someone called his name. He turned, and everything inside him stilled with the shock of who stood there. Getting out of his seat, he looked at the woman who had walked away from him and their child ten years ago.