Oh.
The poster’s handle filtered in, theTick821. His Dougherty County badge number? Still? Geez, he was such a goober sometimes.
And geez, Colt missed him like hell sometimes.
Still.
“What proof?” Colt dropped his hand. “He’s always hated running.”
“Did you see that time? He’ll run on the treadmill because he has to and because it’s easier.” She dropped the device in her bag, and Colt stifled an insane urge to snatch it back, to scroll through posts that had nothing to do with him, simply to have that moment of connection with Lamar all over again. “But he runs with her because she loves it and he loves her. She gives him a fit, really pushes him but in a good way, and he’s better because of it. That’s what I’m talking about.”
As far as celebrations went, this one kinda sucked, despite the excellent food and the even better company. Talking about his cousin hurt, talking about Tyler hurt, and examining his own propensity for mistakes didn’t feel so great either.
He pulled in an even breath. “I’m happy for him, Holly.”
Next to him, she stilled, her gaze heavy on his face. “When are you going to forgive yourself?”
He closed his eyes.
Her fingers landed on his knee again. “Colt.”
Opening his eyes, he laid his fork and knife across his plate. “When he forgives me.”
Which meant he never had to worry about forgiving himself. He could strike that task off his to-do list.
“I love him–” Yeah, that was nothing new, but the words pinched his heart for some crazy reason, the idea of Holly loving Lamar. “--but he’s too stubborn for his own good.”
“I don’t blame him.” He set his glass down. “What I did was wrong.”
“Yes, but still. You havealwaysacknowledged your part in the whole mess and owned what you did.” She slid her plate away. “On some level, you did him a favor.”
“Holly.”
“I know.” She waved a hand between them, her dogged expression almost contrite. “We don’t have to talk about it.”
“Thank you.”
“But.”
“Sheesh.” He slumped into the seat.
“Oh, come on, Colton. Everyone has a sexual past, and most everyone has something in that sexual past they don’t want people to know.”
“Yeah.” His something was common knowledge in their small town, so he never got away from it, not really. Hell, his mirror meant he never got away from it. He slanted a glare sideways. “So what’s yours?”
“Oh.” Her cheeks flushed, the gentlest wave of pink. “Okay, if I share with you, you cannot tell anyone.”
“Who am I gonna tell?” He waved a hand, palm up, at the restaurant. “You know me better than that.”
“Okay.” She pulled in a deep breath, pendant trembling atop the curve of her breasts. “So back when we were like twenty-one and Coach Zakrzewski got divorced?”
“Yeah.” He vaguely remembered that. Hadn’t Coach Z remarried since then, like one of the kindergarten teachers at the primary school?
Holly traced a finger along the table edge. “So I ran into him a couple of weeks after it was final and we kinda had a weekend fling.”
“You kinda had a weekend fling.” His brows tugged down, hard. “That’s not something youkindado. Either you do or you don’t.”
“Okay, we definitely had a weekend fling.”
