I kept my eyes on the distant sparkle of Pamlico Sound. “Doesn’t feel like it. I had six women who trusted me to protect them, and they got to watch the bastard walk away with a handshake and a pension. And I got to pack my life into two duffels and pretend like it was mutual.”
“Hell of a thank you,” Sawyer muttered.
“Yeah.” I jerked my shoulders, wishing I could banish the images that still haunted my nights. “So now I’m here. Trying to figure out what the hell comes next.”
Ford leaned back again, processing. “You thinking about staying?”
Once the answer would’ve been an unequivocal no. But despite the pain this place had caused me, my family was here. My friends were here. A part of me would always feel like Hatterwick was home. “Haven’t decided yet.” I chased a drop of condensation down my glass with my thumb. “Feels different this time. The island, I mean.”
“I mean, it is different now,” Sawyer said. “Now everybody knows Miles is the reason Gwen disappeared.”
“Folks are still clutching their pearls over him killing David Galef last year,” Ford added.
Yeah, I knew all of that. And yet. “People knowing our illustrious former mayor was more of a shit than they were aware doesn’t automatically make them ready to rewrite the story. It’s one thing to know the villain wasn’t me. It’s another to look me in the eye and admit it.”
Ford’s expression softened. “Most people know better now.”
“Most people,” I repeated. “Not all.” Some would always look at me and see a brown man from the wrong side of the island. Someone less.
The waitress came back with refills. Sawyer thanked her; Ford tossed a few fries onto my plate like I needed moral support in the form of carbs.
“Hey, you could do worse than staying here awhile,” Sawyer said. “Plenty of work. I can always use another set of hands on construction sites. And the marina is perpetually short staffed this time of year. Plus, you’re half local legend. Some people actually like you.”
I smirked. “You and Ford don’t count as a majority.”
“That’s debatable,” Ford said. “We’re the two loudest.”
The easy laughter helped bleed off the edge. For the first time in weeks, my chest didn’t feel like it was caught in a vise.
Then I said the thing I hadn’t planned to. “Madden Reilly’s back.”
Sawyer froze mid-bite. Ford’s brows shot up.
“You’re serious?” Ford said.
“Yeah. She’s on the boat next to mine.”
Ford sat back hard enough to make his chair creak. “You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was. She came over yesterday.”
Sawyer’s tone went skeptical. “Why?”
“To apologize.” I took a sip of Coke. “Said she was sorry for what she said. For believing the rumors. For piling on.”
Ford let out a low whistle. “That’s… rich.”
“It’s something.” I hadn’t known what to think or say about it, so I’d said nothing, watching her walk away to the slip next door. “She looks like she’s been through hell.” Whatever her story was, it was written all over her.
I’d taken one look at her and seen the fragility that sat on her shoulders like a mantle of glass, and I’d wanted to step in and do… what? Protect her? Comfort her? Some asinine heroic bullshit that was an absolute no go even before I realized exactly who she was.
“Something about getting fired from her prosecutor job, according to the gossip mill,” Ford said. “Maybe she got what she deserved.”
“I’m not sure about that. No matter what she said to me back when, I can’t take satisfaction in the fact that she looks like she’s emotionally had the shit kicked out of her.”
And damned if those earnest hazel eyes didn’t still pull at me.
Sawyer leaned back in his chair. “Means you’re still a better man than a lot of this town.”
