“Thank you. And I’ll always be there for you, too. Promise,” Riley said. “Even after we go home, this… whatever we’re doing right now doesn’t mean that will change, okay? Your secret is safe with me, and I willalwaysbe your friend.”
Brent nodded, looking away from Riley and out into the woods beyond the bounds of the cabin grounds. This place might have been creepy alone, but with Brent, it felt tranquil. Riley couldn’t remember being this at peace in a long, long time, despite the reason they were here.
It was a shame they couldn’t just hide away like this forever.
“Can I tell you something?” Brent said after a few moments of silence.
“You can tell me anything,” Riley responded automatically.
Brent wet his lips, pausing for a moment before opening his mouth to speak again. “I was relieved. When she didn’t show up, I mean. I was… a lot of things, but one of them was relieved. I rushed into it. I just… couldn’t stop thinking about how Emily’s leaving for college soon, and how I’m gonna be all alone, and I didn’t… want that. But…”
“But some part of you knew that you weren’t standing there for the right reasons,” Riley said. “I’m glad it happened, then. I know it still hurts.”
“It does still hurt. But it hurts way more that she didn’t justtellme, even if it’d been two minutes before. It hurts that she ran instead of talking to me. I don’t… I’m not sure if I was in love with her, but I was pretty sure we were friends.”
“You know, I bet she was scared,” Riley said.
Hearing that Brent wasn’t in love with her had instantly improved his opinion of Rose.
He hated that. He hated the way jealousy felt, like grit in his mouth that he couldn’t spit out. He hated that he couldn’t be fair and honest about another person because he thought they had something he wanted, even if he knew that it wasn’t his to want.
“I thought you were on my side.”
“I am. I don’t think the way she handled things was right, but you know, none of us always make great decisions. And I’ve been known to run the hell away from a situation I didn’t want to deal with, so… I dunno. I think I’m starting to understand how all this happened.”
Rose was probably feeling pressure to get married, too. Riley didn’t know her well enough to be sure, but she was twenty-seven and single, from a reasonably traditional family. Her parents would want grandkids. More than that, they’d want to see her with a nice, stable husband.
Brent would have been the perfect choice. Brent did the taxes for the family horse agistment business. He was solid and reliable and had proven experience in being good with children.
It wasn’t impossible that Rose had been pressured into giving Brent a chance, at least, and then found herself trapped.
As much as Riley couldn’t imagine a better husband than Brent, he was aware that love was weird. Not everyone was going to fall in love with the same kind of person.
That was probably for the best.
“Me too,” Brent said after a long pause. “I get it. I’m coming to terms with it.”
“Good.” Riley relaxed, letting himself sink deeply into the warm water. “You’ll come out the other side of this stronger. Promise.”
Brent snorted, but Riley could see him relaxing, too.
He’d come out the other side of this, and he’d be fine. Brent was the most resilient person Riley had ever met.
“I’m not surprised it was Tom,” Brent said after a moment. “I don’t… for a while now, I’ve been getting weird vibes from him. I guess this was why.”
Riley made a sympathetic noise. Brent and Tom hadn’t exactly been best friends, but they’d gotten on well together, built their accounting business together. That had to sting as well.
“I always wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Brent continued. “Because he seemed like such a nice guy, but… now I’m thinking he really onlyseemedthat way. There was always something… off, y’know?”
Riley barely knew Tom, had only seen him on a few occasions, so he hadn’t had time to form a useful opinion. Whenever Brent was in the room, all Riley’s focus was on him. That meant he had trouble judging most of Brent’s friends.
“I know the kind of thing you mean, but I don’t know much about Tom at all,” Riley said.
“The thing is…” Brent took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Neither do I? I didn’t realize until now that I really don’t know the guy. I don’t just mean in terms of his character, I mean… I don’t know if he’s got siblings. I don’t know his parents’ names. I don’t even know what town he grew up in, just that it wasn’t Hope Springs.”
Riley had no idea what to say to that.
“You think I’m an idiot,” Brent said.
