Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Blythe

Y ou know the old saying: when it rains, it pours? I could personally attest to how true that was thanks to the past two weeks. It all started with Ainsley bringing home a nasty stomach virus that moved through the house at a rapid pace, leaving only myself behind. If I thought my kids were bad when they were sick, it was nothing compared to my six-foot-two, two-hundred-plus-pounds-of-muscle brother.

Turned out, his dog came by his pathetic personality honestly, because Tristan had been the worst patient out of all four of them. It was really sad when a thirty-six-year-old man was a worse patient than a barfing four-year-old.

The only reason I hadn’t smothered my brother with a pillow then called my mom and Sunny over to help me bury his dead body in the woods was because the bug only lasted twenty-four hours. Twenty-five and Tristan would have mysteriously disappeared, and I was confident I’d watched enough true crime shows and listened to enough podcasts to get away with it. If not, I could’ve always played up to the sympathy of the women on the jury. Surely, they would have understood that men were whiny little bitches when they got sick.

I was so glad I managed to stay healthy, because after a week of puke, fevers, and other bodily fluids, I didn’t have it in me to also take care of myself, and, Lord knew, there was no one else who would have done it had I fallen prey.

Just when I’d been ready to believe the worst had passed, two nights ago Avett shouted from the upstairs shower, “Mom! The water’s doin’ something funny,” right before a pipe in the kitchen burst. Of course, Tristan hadn’t been home at the time and wasn’t answering his phone, so it had taken twice as long for me to find the water shut-off for the house than it should have.

With no water and the plumber claiming it wasn’t going to be a quick fix, the kids and I had to pack what little we had that wasn’t still in storage and relocate to my parents’ place, a problem in itself.

After the four of us had moved out, my mom and Trick had decided to downsize, moving into a two-bedroom, two-bath on the outskirts of town. At present, the four of us were all sharing a bathroom, and I was sleeping on the sofa while my three kids were crammed into the guest room. That had managed to shine a glaring light on the fact that I hadn’t done a very good job of finding something permanent for my kids. They needed permanence and security, but so far, all I’d given them were temporary stopovers while I struggled to get my shit together.

They deserved better. Unfortunately, between sickness and the day it took to dry the flooded kitchen, I had managed to burn through most of my time off from work, so finding the time to look for a place that would work for my family was harder than I expected.

I kept waiting for a break, for things to start getting easier—or at least even out—but it felt like every time I was about to get my feet under me, the rug was pulled out all over again.

That was why, when Sunny insisted that I needed a night out—no kids, no responsibilities—I hadn’t put up a fight. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d dressed up and spent a night on the town with friends. It had been hard to find time in Indiana. Elliott was always working—or so I thought—and his family wasn’t very big on babysitting. Not that I had many friends I could go out with anyway. My life there basically consisted of my husband and children. I hadn’t minded. I loved taking care of my family, but being back in Hope Valley where I had a built-in circle of friends, it was easy to see what I had been missing.

I lifted my pint glass to my lips and drank back the cold, crisp amber liquid, letting it coat my tongue before swallowing it. A lot had changed about The Tap Room while I was away. Rory and Cord’s daughter, Lennix, had taken over running it, and turned it from just a bar into an actual brewery, complete with an in-house brewmaster and everything. They hosted tastings and tours, and even had a gorgeous event space to rent for weddings or parties.

But other things about it had stayed the same, such as the amazing selection of beer they served. Not that I’d had a chance to sample what they had to offer before I moved away—at least as far as my parents knew.

Lennix had barely been a toddler when I moved away, but I was getting to know her as a woman tonight and see all the qualities she shared with her mother. Getting to know her, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her father, because I had a sneaking suspicion she’d been more than a handful growing up. There was too much of Rory’s wild in her to ever be tamed.

“This place is fantastic,” I told her as she dropped off a second round for me, Sunny, Sunny’s sister, Holly, and Lennix’s sister-in-law, Rae. Rae’s parents were also close friends with mine, but they’d moved away, only coming back to town for short visits, so I hadn’t gotten a chance to know her until now. It wasn’t hard to see why Zach had fallen for the former big-city transplant.

I scanned the bar, taking in the rustic vibe of the raw wood features, the high beams, and the large glass windows. Lennix had somehow managed to build everything out while still keeping all the charm that had made this place a favorite spot for decades.

“It feels like the same bar, only... more. If that makes any sense.”

She beamed with pride at my attempt to compliment her. “It does. I get what you’re trying to say, and I really appreciate it. My grandparents and Mom were scared when I first came to them with the idea of expanding. They were worried we would ruin the history of this place.”

“You didn’t,” I assured her. “You just added to it.”

Rae lifted her drink in the air in salute. “And we get to reap the benefits of Len’s brilliance with free drinks for life.”

I laughed as Holly and Sunny cheered.

“Not on your life, cheapskate,” Lennix threw back. “You forget we’re family? I know you’re loaded. First round was on the house because I love you crazy assholes, but you’re paying for the rest. This is a business, not a charity.”

My head fell back on a deep belly laugh. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed so freely. Hell, I couldn’t remember the last time I had fun like this. In the past few hours, I hadn’t thought about all the ways my life had been turned upside down. I hadn’t remembered to be sad or angry or stressed. I’d been able to push aside the fact that the first boy I had ever loved had been invading nearly every single one of my thoughts for the past two weeks. That I couldn’t stop thinking about him, so I’d taken the coward’s way out and was avoiding him like the plague because everything he was making me feel was so damn complicated.

I’d simply been present in the moment with an amazing group of women who were determined to show me a good time.

I’d been away for so long that there were a bunch of new faces in the bar, but there were also plenty of old ones as well. And one of those old faces wasn’t a particularly welcome sight as he moved in my direction. I had to swallow the groan that wanted to escape my chest.

“Shit,” Sunny hissed from beside me, her eyes landing on the figure pushing through the crowd and growing closer. “Looks like you’ve pinged on Lonny Oswald’s radar.”

“Looks like it,” I grumbled, bracing for the interaction that was about to happen. Lonny Oswald had been an asshole back in middle school and high school, and judging from the smarmy grin on his face, he hadn’t managed to change his ways since then.

He was the stereotypical jock who thought his shit didn’t stink because he knew how to throw a football. He and Rhodes had been in the same grade all through school, and for some reason, Lonny got off on giving Rhodes shit whenever possible. I always suspected it was jealousy, because he knew he’d never be half as talented or smart as the kid he looked down on just because Rhodes hadn’t grown up with the same privileges as he had. But it hadn’t mattered how much money Lonny’s parents had, it was never enough to buy the shithead a lick of class or sense.

When Rhodes and I started dating, he’d actually tried getting to him through me. He tried flirting and making passes whenever he thought Rhodes might see, doing everything in his power to goad him into a fight.

His attempt at swagger was severely diminished, thanks to the beer gut hanging over the waistband of his jeans.

He stopped on my side of the table, only a few feet separating us. “Well, well, well, look who the cat dragged in.” He licked his lips as he looked me up and down, and I didn’t bother to hide my cringe. “Still lookin’ as good as always, Blythe.”

“Lonny,” I said flatly, taking another sip of my beer.

“How ’bout you and me go for a spin around the dance floor?”

“No thanks,” I answered, hoping that would be enough to move him along. Unfortunately, he was still as bad at taking a hint as he had been back when we were growing up.

He drew closer, leaning his elbow on the high-top table beside my pint glass and caging me in with his body. “Aw, come on, sexy. Don’t be like that. We can have a good time together.”

“Jesus, Oswald,” Sunny clipped, her top lip curled up in disgust. “Get a clue. She’s not interested.”

He turned to bare his yellowed teeth at my best friend. “No one asked you, trailer trash.”

My back shot straight and my eyes narrowed on the man standing too close to me. “Since you won’t listen to her, maybe you’ll listen to me,” I said, my voice growing scarily low in the way that always brought my kids to attention. “I tried letting you down nicely so you could walk away with your pride intact, but you just insulted my best friend and if there’s one thing I won’t tolerate, it’s someone insulting the people I care about. So now I’m going to humiliate you. No, Lonny, I do not want to dance with you. In fact, I’d rather have a rubbing alcohol enema than have your hands anywhere near my body.”

“Oh my God,” Rae breathed out from the other side of the table, her wide eyes pinned on me.

I didn’t miss the way Sunny grinned or that the conversations around us had gone quiet and more and more people were turning their attention our way, but I was on a roll.

“The fact that you think you have the right to call someone else trailer trash when you’re standing here looking like a reject roadie for a ZZ Top cover band is downright laughable. But what’s even funnier is that you actually came over here thinking you had a shot in hell with me. You obviously took one too many hits to the head in high school, so I’m going to spell it out for you so you can’t possibly misunderstand. There isn’t a universe in which a man like you could ever land a woman like me. You’re swinging way above your weight class, buddy. It’s time for you to move along.”

Snickers sounded from all around us, but the women at my table didn’t bother trying to cover up their laughter. They let it fly, right in the prick’s face.

Halfway through my diatribe, Lonny’s face started to grow red with embarrassment, but by the time I finished, he was an unhealthy shade of purple. “You think you’re hot shit,” he seethed, venom coating his tone.

I took a slow, casual drink. “Nope.” I made sure to pop the P obnoxiously. “I know I am. Now run along before you do something to really piss me off.”

“Fuckin’ bitch,” he hissed, shoving away from our table hard enough to make the glasses rattle, but I didn’t so much as flinch, refusing to give him any kind of reaction.

“What the fuck did you just call her?”

My blood went cold and my back shot straight. I knew who that voice belonged to, and more specifically, I knew that tone. It meant shit was about to hit the fan.

Sure enough, when I looked back over my shoulder, Rhodes was standing there, and he was staring at Lonny like he was about to rip the man limb from limb with his bare hands.