He claps Hunter on the shoulder before leaving us, placing his cowboy hat back on his head as he leaves. Jackson stops briefly alongside Diamond on his way, and then he’s gone.
“So…” Hunter shifts his full attention to me now. “The last time we talked, you weren’t in a great place. Since you’re here now, can I assume you’ve left it behind and are ready to move on?”
I hate talking about my past and what I allowed people to get away with, but with Hunter, I know he understands.
“Yeah. I took your advice.”
“Did they cut you out?” Hunter asks, and it’s so gentle I squeeze my eyes closed.
“I cut them out. It’s…I think I did the right thing.”
His hand briefly squeezes my arm before dropping away. “If it helps, I know you did the right thing. I wish I had the guts to do it all those years ago.”
Hunter’s words carry a tone I know well. A longing for things out of our control now that they’re in the past.
“Do you ever wish you could go back and change things?”
He shakes his head. “Not really. I mean, it sucked. I made so many mistakes and hurt many people, including myself, but I wouldn’t be where I am now if I changed things. I know that’s contradictory, but it wouldn’t be me I wished had changed.” He absently spins the wedding ring on his finger. “Can I give you more advice?”
“Of course.”
He puffs a long breath, like the words he’s about to deliver might be hard to say.
“Hard things don’t have to make you hard. You can still do the hard things without changing who you are.” He turns his gaze to focus on Diamond across the room, serving a customer and laughing before turning back to me. “I know you’re not an asshole. Just…don’t take shit out on Diamond.”
Hard things changed me. He’s not wrong.
Diamond just has me…I don’t know, off-centre for some reason.
“I’m not usually like that. Honest. He’s just…anyway…” Clearing my throat, I reach for my mug. “It was just an off moment.”
Hunter’s stare is heavy. “Believe me, I understand.” He reaches for his cowboy hat and, after fiddling with the edges for a moment, he places it on his head. “What I said the other night about the door always being open still stands. No judgment if you ever want to talk, and it stays between us.”
“Thank you.”
He stands and nods. “See you later… and Rhett?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re a good person.”
Hunter says nothing more and leaves the coffee shop. Just like Jackson did earlier, he pauses next to Diamond while he cleans a table to say goodbye. They share a laugh, and he’s gone.
The Thirsty Cow isn’t empty. A few tables of customers still sit with their pastries and coffees. People come and go for takeout orders. Diamond greets nearly everyone by name with a smile. A few men flirt back, and a few more touch him. Not inappropriately, but more like they can’t resist touching him. A hand on his arm or shoulder with a laugh or a smile. Like it made their day to be near him.
Not a single person puts the look on his face the way I did, and I’m not feeling too good about that right now.
With a sigh, I drain the coffee I didn’t even want to drink and grab my hat from the sofa.
You can do hard things and not change who you are.
My steps take me across the room, and like everyone else who has come here today, I pause until Diamond turns from restocking the bakery case to notice me.
I want to tell him so many things. Like how I like his smile and the way he bubbles around his friends. How his jean shorts and boots suit him, and that I bet he can dance, or even how great the simple black coffee was.
But I say none of that because Ihavechanged, whether I like it or not.
Instead, I nod, and he nods back in a perfectly professional way. Then I leave.
