Tag
Cooper. Please.
3:48 a.m.
Cooper
I love you Tag. Sorry for being the worst brother basically my entire life
Some frantic text messages from Tag followed, but Cooper hadn’t responded again. I glanced up. “What do you think that meant?”
“My first thought was that it could be a…” He stopped, shook his head.
I said what Tag couldn’t. “A…goodbye?”
“Surely not.” He lifted a shoulder, eyes cutting to the white rocks beneath our boots as we started our slow walk toward the corrals again. “I don’t know.”
I nodded, handing the phone back to him. “Why did he go home?”
“My guess is Greg was askin’ for money, so Cooper went to meet him. He’s spent his entire life tryin’ to make Greg love him, but it’s never gonna happen, and no matter how many times Greg hurts him, Coop runs straight back when he calls.”
“But why would that lead him to go see your mom?”
“She’s got everything he’s gonna need after Greg spits in his face again.”
My stomach turned at the thought. Their mom, Janice, was an addict of the worst kind. I knew first hand how the pain could get so bad you were desperate to numb it or end it. Cooper hadn’t been sober at Meadowbrook—not by a long shot. Wandering bar to bar on his time off, picking up women, and causing a general ruckus was pretty much normal for him. But Meadowbrook didn’t have easy access to drugs, so as far as I knew, Cooper had been drug free the months he’d been collecting a paycheck from Tag. That was something to celebrate and protect. And the biggest reason he should not, under any circumstance, pay his mom a visit.
A deep sigh pulled against my lungs. What a mess.
I asked, “Will you really call the cops?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“If they find him at my mom’s, they’ll arrest him.”
“Because whatever he’s doing over there isn’t legal.”
“Exactly.”
“So…” I let the word hang between us, calculating. “How are we getting him home?”
“I gotta pick him up, I reckon.”
I shook my head, stopping just shy of the corral fence. Tag’s PTSD was easily triggered, and the last thing Meadowbrook needed right now was one of his episodes. “No, Tag. That’s a terrible idea.”
“I don’t have another choice.”
“Yes, you do.” I tapped my chest then spread my arms wide. “I can go get him.”
Tag shook his head. “Cooper needs me.”
“Cooper needs youstrong.You know just as well as I do, that going home will stir up all sorts of stuff you don’t need to be dealing with while you have a pregnant wife at home.”
He raised his hands to his hips, his eyes sweeping over the horizon beyond me. “I’ve…healed a lot. I’d be alright.”
“Now’s not the time to test it.”
