“Yeah,” Brent agreed. “Yeah, and I feel like I should forgive her for what happened. It hurt, but…”
“But she was being manipulated,” Riley said. “Sure, yeah. I get it.”
Riley didn’t sound happy, but maybe he was just tired. Maybe he wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Brent’s heart hurt.
This wasn’t exactly how he’d pictured today going. He’d planned to wake up, make Riley breakfast, and spend the whole morning telling him how happy he was that he’d decided to stay.
Pretty much the opposite of what was actually happening.
“I’m gonna help her deal with it,” Brent said. “She’s pretty sure she wants a divorce, and that’s hard to go through.”
Brent’s feelings about the whole thing had changed overnight. He’d gone from not understanding what had happened, to blaming himself, to blaming Rose.
Now that he understood, he couldn’t blame her anymore. Tom was at the center of this.
Brent should have known. He was smarter than that.
Or maybe he wasn’t, considering what had happened.
“You’re a good man,” Riley said. “Better than any of us deserve.”
Brent shook his head. “I’m no better than anyone else. I’m just trying to do the right thing. You taught me that.”
Riley gave him a look that Brent couldn’t quite decipher. Something between fondness and sadness, something he wasn’t sure he’d ever really seen on Riley before.
Despite knowing him for more than twenty years, Riley was still capable of surprising Brent.
“I never taught you anything you didn’t already know,” Riley said. “Nothing important, anyway.”
Brent wanted to object to that, but he knew Riley wouldn’t hear it. Riley had made him the man he was, been there for him while he grew up from a shy, awkward teenager into a very slightly less shy, awkward adult.
Maybe it didn’t seem important to Riley, but it was important to Brent.
“So, uh…” Brent cleared his throat. “You’ll be back soon, right?”
He didn’t want Riley to go, didn’t want to lose whatever they had between them, but he knew there was no point in arguing with that, either. Riley was a wild bird. He would have withered in a cage, lost his song.
“Well, Charlie’s getting married in a few months, so I have to come back for that. You know me. I can’t miss out on a good wedding.”
“Sorry you didn’t get one this time,” Brent said. “I know how much you love them.”
“It’s okay,” Riley said, glancing over Brent’s shoulder at the house. “Listen… no regrets, okay?”
Brent swallowed. He knew what Riley meant, but he already felt as though he was drowning in regret.
Not regret over what they’d done. Not regret over being with Riley.
Regret over losing him.
He wasn’t sure he’d be able to forgive himself for that. He wished he could tell Riley to hang on, he’d grab a few things and go with him, if Riley would have him, but it wasn’t that simple.
Emily still needed someone to come back to. Brent’s life would always be in Hope Springs.
And Riley’s never would.
“No regrets,” Brent agreed, struggling to get the words out without his voice cracking.
