I took a swig of my water. “Sorry again for interrupting your work day. I texted but no one responded.”
“It’s fine. I get pulled away all the time to help with the girls. Things are pretty relaxed here.”
“Well, business must be good.”
“We stay booked out. I’m not complaining.” He took a deep breath and shoved his hands into his pockets. “So, how you doing? Don’t normally get a visit from you.”
“Man, my world is crazy right now. I’m sure Jules has kept you in the know.”
“Got the update last night. I know the situation isn’t ideal—but congratulations on the handsome son.”
That acknowledgement felt pretty good.
“Thanks. Kacey is a great kid.”
“Seemed like Miranda’s done a good job with him. How are things going between the two of you?”
A big involuntary sigh escaped. “Not great.”
Pat didn’t say anything, allowing me to fill the silence.
“I did something horrible.” I swallowed, shame creeping in on me for the thousandth time since my conversation with Miranda yesterday. “And I don’t know if I’m going to be able to fix it.”
There was an arrangement of chairs on one side of the shop. Maybe for clients? We both sat.
“I wanted to talk to you because you helped Jules grieveand…and I want to know how. After Cameron passed away, she spun out of control. It got worse with every year that went by. She was going to get herself killed if something didn’t change. And then she met you.”
Cameron was my best friend. After he died, I was afraid I lost my sister forever too.
“I was only returning the favor. Jules savedmylife first.”
“How? What did she do?”
He lifted a shoulder, a gentle smile pulling his cheeks back. “She was just there. Present. At first, I thought she was annoying and presumptuous. But she refused to leave and turns out I needed a reason to live again.”
Sounded like a stubborn Jules thing to do.
“So when you returned the favor, you…” I let my sentence trail off, hoping he would fill in the blanks.
He shrugged. “Her big breakthrough was seeing Cameron. She needed someone to hold her up through that. That’s all I did. Sit with her. Let her lean on me.”
He said it like it was no big deal. But I knew Pat played no small role. He was integral to the changes that had taken place in my sister over the past couple years.
Why did I feel like I was in middle school about to ask a stupid question in front of the entire class? I averted my eyes and rubbed my hand up my jaw. “Did—did she cry?”
“That word’s a bit tame.”
“It was bad?”
“Oh yeah. Many times. Not just the once.”
“She’s always been so tough. I’ve only ever seen her really cry once…maybe twice?”
He hummed like he had some insight.
“What?”
He shook his head. “Jules wasaskedto be tough.”
