“I have full custody, not that my ex tried or cared.”
“That’s a dick move,” I commented.That poor girl.
“Yeah. And what about you?” Harley asked, changing the subject.
“I’m single,” I said it before I could stop myself. That wasn’t at all what he was asking.
“Me too,” he replied quietly.Oh.He was single.
“That’s…um, that’s good.” Apparently, awkward was on the menu for our breakfast this morning. Out of all the things we could’ve discussed, our relationship statuses shouldn’t have been on that list. My mind struggled to recover, pulling at the first things I could think of. “I don’t have kids. I do have a dog—Duke—but you know that already.”
At the mention of his name, Duke’s head popped up with a little whine. I reached down and scratched him behind the ears.
“He’s a great dog,” I continued. “After Frank had a stroke, he gave his business to me. I rebranded it toTorque & Timber. We still do cars and house repairs. We have a few holiday community programs that Roxy helped me build.”
“You and Roxy got close?”
“Oh, yeah. I spend a lot of time with her and Carson, my nephew.”
“Carson?” Harley repeated. “And I’m assuming he’s in first grade?”
“Yeah.” I nodded slowly. “Why?”
“My daughter decided Carson is her best friend on their first day of school.”
Small fucking world.
“Well, he does need a friend.”
“And she tried to set me up with Roxy,” he continued. At that, I burst out laughing, making him smile.
“Oh, she’d eat you alive!” I said between laughs. That was a pairing I couldn’t even begin to imagine.
His laughter joined mine, and with it, the seriousness of the conversation faded. We fell into an easy back-and-forth that only paused long enough for a waitress to take our order and bring our food. There was a familiar comfort in the conversation with him, accompanied by a new sense of peace—not the old weight of what we had been to each other or the ache of everything that had gone wrong between us.
No, this felt lighter than that.
Sitting across from him, watching him shake his head at something stupid I said with that big smile on his face, I realized the ghosts of our past were gone. They weren’t hanging around, trying to redefine every interaction between us.
What remained was simpler. We were just two people who had moved on and were learning how to exist in a world where the past didn’t have its claws in us.
And somehow, that felt like its own kind of peace.
CHAPTER 84
maverick
Breakfast ran long, but sitting there with Harley was easy. Even after the food was gone and the dishes were cleared, we sat there with a cup of coffee just talking. I caught him up on seven years of Wilde Bay gossip—most of which I got from Eduardo—and he talked a little bit about his life with his daughter over the years. I could tell he was holding back, but I honestly couldn’t blame him. I wasn’t exactly divulging my personal details either.
I paid for breakfast, and he didn’t fight me. He did say something along the lines of getting the next one, which made me smile.I liked the idea of having breakfast with him again.I liked the idea that Harley and I could make being friends work.
Hands in my pockets, I walked with him across the parking lot. The hardest part of leavingThe Boathousewas always the moping that came with Duke having to leave Millie, and that was why he had a brand-new bone in his mouth.
“Are you traveling back and forth?” I asked, finding ways to extend our time together.Was it silly?Absolutely, but oh well.
“Back and forth between where?” Harley replied.
“The city,” I said. “I know your family’s business is there. I just need to figure out what days I can’t be on the farm to do work. It helps me plan my schedule.”
