Phillip? Out of her league? Never! “What the hell? If anything, you’re out of his.”
Rett patted the hand Lucky rested on Moose’s head. “Thanks, but I’ll never be the debutante his parents want for him.”
“Nope, you’re one hell of a lot better.” Why she stayed with such a loser as long as she had was anybody’s guess. The bastard was a fucking criminal, and Rett was class act enough to shoot her former lover to protect her kid.
A brief smile flitted over her lips. “Thank you for saying so, but his folks don’t agree. Another condition Mommy and Daddy put on helping him is that he can’t see me again.” She snorted. “His mother took great pleasure in telling me so. He didn’t even say goodbye.”
“Why that sonofa…”
Rett flopped against the back of her chair, staring at her hands as she twisted them together in her lap. “Wanna hear the stupid part?”
Anything dealing with a man dumb enough to dump Rett couldn’t get much stupider, could it?
She plowed on, not waiting for an answer. “The stupid part is that I knew I was only asking for trouble the first time I had drinks with him at the hotel when we both came here for training. Knew I should never have invited him up to my room. Knew with every kiss and—” she cut her eyes toward Lucky— “everything else, that we were riding a bus going nowhere.”
“Been there. Done that.” Usually by Lucky’s choosing.
Rett nodded and gave a sniffle. “Me too. Enough to have known better. But noooooo! I had to go and get involved with him, even though his parents didn’t like me.”
“What about your parents? What did they think of him?”
She gave him an “oh, please” face. “My mama said she done raised me right and trusts me to make my own decisions. She’s still there to help me pick up the pieces if things don’t work out.”
Sounded a lot like Lucky’s mother.
“Anyway, every time we went out I planned to break things off. I mean, he’s younger than me, comes from a whole different world, and it’d be hard for him to be a father-figure to my baby when, most days, Rone acts more mature.”
“You didn’t send him packing.”
Rett shook her head and stretched her legs out in front of her. “Here’s the reeeeeeeally stupid part. Even though my head said he was bad news, my heart…”
One moment they sat side by side. The next Lucky held an armful of weeping woman. “Oh, God, Lucky. It hurts. It hurts so damned much!”
Oh shit. He’d never been much good around people once the waterworks started. He hugged her, whispered, “It’s gonna be all right,” and ran a hand up and down her back like he’d seen his mother do to distressed folks back home.
His heart pounded. What could he do? What could he say? What would Bo do?
Bo’s voice answered in his head,“You don’t have to do or say anything. Just be there.”
Somewhere, mid-stroke, Lucky’s actions were no longer mimicked from his mother, nor the words taken from Bo. They were Lucky’s, soothing a friend.
“Yeah, we’re both gonna be all right.”
Epilogue
Lucky held a twenty-gallon trash bag in one hand, working his way through a living room that, no matter how hard he and Bo tried, never seemed to stay clean. Last night’s party hadn’t helped.
Bo hauled in an overflowing clothes basket and sank down on the couch. He folded a T-shirt with more skill than Lucky could have managed. Before Bo he’d simply tossed clothes into a drawer, considering wrinkles a given.
“Where’s Charlotte and Ty?” Lucky asked.
“Shopping.” Bo waggled his eyebrows. “Ty needed more school supplies.”
Lucky stopped mid-motion, as did Bo. Their eyes met and held.
Lucky dropped the trash bag, Bo tossed the T-shirt to the couch, and they both darted toward the bedroom.
“How long you reckon we got?” Lucky hopped on one foot while removing a shoe.
