Because she hasn’t sought me out.
She hasn’t come to me to explain why she left me at the bowling alley with her friends.
She hasn’t come to me to break thingsoff.
And she sure as hell hasn’t come to see howIfeel about any of it.
I’ve made it all too easy for her to ghost me, and she’s, apparently, perfectly happy with that. It’s clear now: not only will she never love me the way I love her, but this was never about feelings for her. Probably just convenient sex.
But none of that is Will’s problem.
Clearing my throat, I say, “I take it back. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your generosity.” Despite the title, which I’m required to throw in as his little brother, I mean every word.
He rolls his eyes and heads back to the living room. “I’m just glad you’re not out with that Casey girl right now.”
I reel. Even with my complicated feelings about Brie, the way he calls herthat Casey girlrankles. “Her name is Brie.”
Will huffs as we lift my headboard and walk it down the hall. “What I mean is, I was starting to worry you were getting attached toBrie. I’m glad you’re here, doing something that really matters.”
I do a double take at Will, shocked by his words. Yeah, this cabin’s important to me, but we’re talking about aperson. Maybe I don’t matter to her, but she really mattered to me.
Mattered. I roll my shoulders and shake my head. As much as I keep trying to put whatever we had in past tense, it isn’t.
Brie still matters to me. One week can’t change that.
Voice hard, I say, “I’d like to know what you have against Brie because you sound a little too much like Dad right now.”
Will cracks his knuckles, a sure sign he’s mincing his words. “I don’t have anything against her.”
I sense abutcoming. For the first time, I get the brotherly urge to pummel him right in that pretty-boy face of his, see if I can’t knock some of that perfectly-styled hair out of place for once.
He inhales. “But” —I fold my arms and he catches the gesture— “how well do you really know her?”
“Pretty damn well,” I sneer.
But it isn’t true. She never let me in deep enough toreallyknow her, constantly keeping a wall between us.
Fuck. One week is all it took to show how little she cares about me. I’ve been chasing her this whole time, initiating every interaction between us. But without me prompting it, it’s like I don’t exist. She’ll never be the one to come to me.
Will seems to see right through me. “How well do you know any of the Caseys?”
I frown. What the hell do Brie’s sisters have to do with this? “Mara helped with the computers at school. She can be shy, but she’s really polite and sweet.”
Will levels me with a blunt look like I’m an idiot. “Not the youngest one. The rest of them.”
And that’s when I know Will’s grasping at straws. Without answering, I head back toward the living room to move the rest of the bed frame.
“You know their dad was the town drunk, right?” he calls as he follows me. “Blue Ridge was an eden until he went off the rails, disrupting order, picking fights, making the whole town stink like cheap bourbon.”
I whirl around. “What does this have to do with Brie?”
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” he says dismissively as he squats to pick up the rest of the bed frame.
I don’t move. “Youdosound like Dad. This is exactly the kind of classist bullshit I thought you were above.”
He stands to his full height. I’m bigger than he is by a lot of pounds, but he’s taller. He points a stern finger at me. “I’m not Dad, and it’s a valid question. You’re too young to know it, but he was a hustler and a scammer. Cost the town hundreds of thousands of dollars we never got back. And here’s his oldest daughter, a college drop-out living in the most affluent neighborhood, as a single mother? Doesn’t add up. Then the middle one’s back in town all of a sudden, and has you wrapped around her finger? Does she even know you don’t have an inheritance coming your way? Because if not, you might tell her, see how quick she disappears.” He sighs. “That youngest one seems honest enough, but I wouldn’t trust the others one iota.”
Almost all of this is news to me, but it doesn’t matter. Protectiveness creeps through me, and not just for Brie. “They have names.” It’s almost a growl. “AndGiais a damn good mother.” My voice rises. “She’s always the first to volunteer her time. She’s the approved pick-up parent to at least five kids who don’t belong to her so they have someplace to go when their parents do a double.”
