“Because I’m coming out.” I say it casually, like it’s no big deal. Because it isn’t. I’m allowed to have a life outside of cattle and tractors and bedtime stories.
Rebecca stares at me like I’ve announced I’m taking up competitive yodeling. “Out where?”
“To the Moonshine, where else? With you and Remy.”
Beck blinks. “Since when are you social?”
“Since Whiskey Wheelers are playing.” I cross my arms. “That a problem?”
“No.” My sister loads her plate in the dishwasher and goes back to sitting. “It’s just… you never come out. You’re home by eight, reading Rhys a story and falling asleep on the couch by nine.”
“The Wheelers don’t play in Blue Crescent Harbor often anymore. I figured I’d catch them.”
“Sure.” Rebecca studies me. “It’s just that I can’t remember the last time you went to a bar. Wasn’t it Travis Holbrook’s bachelor party? Three years ago?”
“Four,” Remy corrects. “And you left after an hour because Rhys had an ear infection.”
“Yeah, well, Rhys is fine now. And Mom’s got him. So I’m going.”
“You’re acting weird,” Rebecca insists.
I sneak behind her chair. “Maybe I want to spend quality time with my baby sister.” I wrap an arm around her head, pulling her into a noogie that has her shrieking and batting at my hands.
“Stop! Ryder, you ass, stop!” She fights me off, her elbow catching me in the ribs. “Gosh, you’re such a child!”
“Tell me how happy you are that I’m coming.” I release her.
“Fine!” Rebecca smooths down her hair, glaring at me. “I’m delighted.”
“You don’t sound thrilled. What’s the matter? You have a secret beau? Because Remy will bust his balls just as much as I would.”
“I can do my own ball busting, thank you. It’s not that.”
“What then?”
“Mmm… I might have mentioned to someone that you wouldn’t be there tonight.”
My pulse kicks up a notch. I hate that it does. Hate that I immediately know who she means without Becky having to spell it out. I lean against the counter, aiming for casual and missing by a mile. “Who?”
“Faye.”
I expected it, but the name still shocks through me like a cattle prod to the spine. “You’ve been discussing me with her?”
Remy smirks. “Eager much?”
“I tried to get her to rat on you about what happened at school.” Rebecca’s grin turns wicked. “But she wouldn’t budge, kept her mouth shut.”
Faye didn’t badmouth me to my sister. She could have. Hell knows I gave her enough ammunition. But she didn’t.
“Miss Rose is not a rat!” Rhys pipes up, without lifting his head from his drawing but letting us know he’s been quietly listening to the entire conversation.
“That’s not what ‘rat’ means, buddy,” I call back. But the kid is right in spirit. Faye Rose isn’t a rat. She’s… a fucking unicorn? I turn to my sister. “Why would you tell her I wasn’t coming?”
“Because she asked.” Rebecca shrugs. Then levels me with a stare. “But don’t start blushing again, she just wanted to be sure you wouldn’t be there before she agreed to come.”
Remy chuckles. “He blushed?”
“Last time he saw her.”
