I screw up my face. “No one’s dueling.”
“Another bad joke.” Duke runs a hand up the back of his head. “Sorry, y’all. I’ll just…see myself out. Or in. Or whatever.”
My brother disappears inside the house, leaving Colt and me alone with the elephant in the room.
“I’m sorry,” he repeats.
Running a hand over my scruff, I eye him. “I love Billie, Colt. Simple as that. I’m tryin’ my best to be the man she deserves?—”
“You are. You already are the man she deserves.”
Then he lets it all out in a torrent: how he overhead me supporting Billie during her pitch to their parents. How that made him realize that he was holding a grudge not because we betrayed him, but because he’s lonely and heartbroken. Try as he might, he couldn’t be happy for us before.
“You are now, though? What’s changed?”
Colt sniffs and lifts his shoulder. “I miss y’all too fuckin’ much. My grief is my problem, not yours. I’m working on it. And I think…My therapist said something interesting the other day about life not being a zero-sum game. Just because you found your person doesn’t mean I won’t find mine again. In fact, by supporting y’all—being happy for y’all—I’m putting out good vibes to the universe. I’m letting it know that I want what you have. She said jealousy isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s justpointing us in the direction of something we really, really wish we had. Something we should be working toward.”
My eyeballs nearly pop out of my head. “Are you talking about manifesting shit and…shit?”
“Sure am,” Colt says with a scoff. “Trust me, I can’t believe it either. But the way I’m doing things ain’t exactly working out how I wanted it to, so why not believe in some of this woo-woo stuff? Can’t hurt.”
Climbing down the steps, I take the knife from Colt. “So you didn’t come to stab me with this thing?”
“Not this time, no.”
“Ha.”
“So many bad jokes today.” Looking down, he kicks the gravel at his feet aside. “Y’all hurt me, so I did the childish thing and hurt you too. I’ll always regret that, Ryder. That’s not the man I wanna be. Not the man I wanna raise either. Dean won’t quit askin’ when he gets to see Uncle Ry again.”
I grin. “I was just sayin’ inside how I’m everyone’s favorite uncle.”
“You gonna make me an uncle one day?” He looks up, still squinting. “Dean’s only been waiting on a cousin for, oh, six years now. Bless my brothers, but they don’t seem to be anywhere close to that finish line. You and Billie, though? Y’all are the real deal.”
The fact that Colt can talk about this so casually?—
That he wants me and Billie to have babies?—
That he can’t wait for that to happen?—
NowI’mthe one who’s giving a bear hug. I’m squeezing Colt so hard he’s wheezing, begging for mercy, but I give him none.
Instead, I thank him over and over again for letting me in.
For opening up to me. Because I finally have an appreciation for how difficult—and how rewarding—that can be.
“So we gettin’ the families together or what?” he asks when I finally let him go. “We gotta make this shit official.”
I’m smiling so hard it hurts. “How does tomorrow sound?”
CHAPTER 31
Rose and Thorn, Part Two
BILLIE
“Y’all didn’t.”
I stare, eyes welling, at the second farm table that’s magically appeared in the New House’s kitchen. Like the table beside it, it’s beautifully set with blue and pink china that matches the block print tablecloth. Huge floral arrangements occupy the center of each table, along with candles that wink from mercury glass votives.
