Quickly, we pushed through the crowd to the kitchen, but I didn’t stop until we hit the keg room.
“You okay?” I asked my cousin. “That was intense.”
Gabe, shoulders slumped, shook his head.
“What do you need?”
When he looked up at me, it was like he’d aged a decade. The weight of carrying this town was getting to him. “I need an arrest,” he said softly. “I need to be able to tell the citizens of this town that they are safe. I need Nolan to get some rest, and I need him to not kill himself trying to find this murderer. And I need to get through Founder’s Day without a recall petition.”
I blinked, the weight of his words settling in. He took his role so seriously and sacrificed so much for this town, yet so many seemed close to turning on him.
“Actually.” He sighed. “You can do one thing for me.”
“Anything.”
“Call Brian. File the paperwork.”
I reeled back. The words were like a physical blow. “You called Brian?”
My sister’s fiancé Brian was a big deal family law attorney. He’d recently passed the Vermont bar so their family could spend summers here. I liked the guy a lot, but professionally, he was an absolute shark. He’d gone above and beyond for Jess andmy nieces, and he’d even managed to fuck over her shitty ex-husband in the process.
“He’s the best,” Gabe said. “And together we can get you through this.”
Anger stirred to life in my gut. “There’s nothing to get through.”
He closed his eyes and exhaled. “Dude, the kid’s three months old.”
“My sonVincentis three months old,” I gritted out, my hands balled into fists. “And his mother and I are doing great.”
Gabe crossed his arms, giving me a big brother look that dripped with condescension.
I loved the guy, but we’d never been close. He’d mostly stuck with Josh growing up, while Nate and I had always been buddies. Like us, there were four of them, and our parents discovered early on that the easiest way to deal with all of us was to put us together and send us off into the woods to entertain ourselves.
“You need to get serious.”
“I am extremely serious,” I said, that anger winding its way to my chest. “I’m serious about being Vincent’s father.”
“Of course you are.” He dragged a hand down his face. “But you can’t just ignore the legal side of this.”
“Why not?” I loved to ignore unpleasant things, I’d gotten pretty damn good at it over the years.
He frowned, his brows pulled low. “Because this could go very badly for you. And there’s a lot at stake.”
I wished I hadn’t left my beer at the bar. Maybe the cool ale would calm the rage rising up inside me. Of course there was a lot at stake. Vincent was a human being, a child who needed love and care and braces and summer camp. The responsibility was enormous; I didn’t need to be reminded of that.
“Legally and financially,” he said.
“I’ll do whatever is right for Vincent.”
Gabe buried his face in his hands. “Okay, no. Don’t say that.”
I bristled. “Why not? It’s the truth.”
“Because we need to be strategic.”
“I’m not going to battle against Evie.” My gut sank at just the thought. “She’s the mother of my child. We get along, we coparent.”
I took a step back, not trusting myself not to take a swing at him. I never got mad, and I certainly never yelled, but my desire to defend Evie and Vincent was stronger than my desire to people please.
