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Mike didn’t say anything right away. He just sat there with me in the dark, patient as anything, like he had all the time in the world and nowhere better to be than on a curb outside a diner at two in the morning with a man he barely knew.

“You want to tell me about it?” he asked finally. “Sometimes things get lighter just from saying them out loud.”

I stared up at the dark windows of the apartment one more time, wondering if West was watching, wondering if he even cared to look. Then I turned to Mike, and for reasons I couldn’t quite explain to myself, I found I wanted to tell him. Needed to, maybe, before the weight of it crushed me flat right there on the sidewalk.

“You know that thief everybody’s been talkin’ about?” I asked slowly. “The one Marcus can’t catch?”

Mike went very still beside me. “Yeah…”

“It’s me,” I said, before I could lose my nerve. “It’s been me the whole time.”

“Oh.”

“And when West’s daddy showed up tonight and threatened to ruin our lives, I took West to where I’ve been stashin’ everythin’ and told him the truth. Told him we could sell it and get out of here and never look back at this fuckin’ hell hole.” Tears ran hot down my cheeks. “I was bullied and beat up for bein’ gay before I even knew what that meant. That’s why I needed to get out of here. This town ain’t nothin’ but bad memories for me. But I didn’t have a truck and old Mr. Gilderoy don’t pay his ranch hands jack shit, so I thought my only way out was to steal, pawn it off, and buy my ticket out of here.” I buried my face in my hands, hating how my voice kept breaking as the sobs rolled through me. “And now West hates me. My best friend in the whole world thinks I’m a thievin’ piece of shit. And he’s right. I deserve it.”

Mike didn’t say anything for a long moment. I just sat there, bracing myself for whatever came next. The quiet talking-to, the disappointment, the slow drawing away that I figured I deserved. Hell, maybe he’d even call the sheriff right now and have me taken in. But when he finally spoke, his voice was just as gentle as it had been before I ever opened my mouth.

“Did he say he hates you?” he asked. “West, I mean. Those exact words?”

I wiped at my face with the back of my hand, sniffing hard. “No. Not exactly. He just... he gave me a choice. Said I could give it all back and stay in this town I hate with him, or sell it and leave. Alone.”

“That doesn’t sound like hate to me,” Mike said. “Sounds like a man tryin’ to give you a chance to fix what’s broken instead of walkin’ away from you outright. He must love you very much.”

“Doesn’t feel like it,” I muttered. “Feels like I’m losin’ him either way. If we stay here, his daddy’ll make our lives a livin’ hell, and he’ll resent me.”

“I don’t think West could ever resent you.” Mike picked up the flashlight and turned it over in his hands, not switching it on, just holding it like it gave him something to do while he thought. “Especially not when he still believes you’re capable of doing the right thing. A man who’d give up on you wouldn’t bother giving you a chance at all. He would’ve just walked away and never looked back.”

I hadn’t thought of it that way. I turned it over in my head, testing it against the ragged hurt still sitting in my chest. I found it didn’t quite ease the ache, but it didn’t make me feel quite so hopeless either.

“I don’t know how to give it all back,” I said. “The moment I go to Marcus he’ll put me in a cell and throw away the key. And I’ll deserve every bit of it.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Mike set the flashlight back down between us. “Marcus Webb’s a fair man, Rhett. Fairer than most folks give him credit for. And he’s dealt with plenty of hard things in his life too. I think if you went to him, told him everything, and showed him where it all was, it might go different than you’re imagining it.”

“Why would he go easy on me? I stole from half the damn town. From Aunt Dolly. From Xavier.” My voice cracked on her name again, thinking of her standing between me and West’s daddy with that knife raised like she’d die before she let anybody hurt either one of us. “She’s been nothin’ but kind to me since the day I was born, and I stole from her.”

“She loves you so much,” Mike said. “I’ve seen it plenty of times. She talks about you like you’re her own child. That kind of love doesn’t just disappear because a person made a mistake, even if it’s a bad one.”

“This ain’t just a mistake, Mike. I planned it. For months.”

“I know.” He didn’t flinch away from that, didn’t try to soften it into something less than what it was. “What you did was wrong, Rhett. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you otherwise, because you already know it. And lying to you about it wouldn’t do either one of us any good.” He turned to look at me then, his eyes kind in the dim light. “But wrong isn’t the same as unforgivable. And scared isn’t the same as evil. You did something bad because you were scared and didn’t think there was any other way out.”

I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes again, feeling the sob build up in my chest before I could stop it. “I don’t know how to undo it,” I said again, my voice breaking apart on every word. “I don’t know how to make this right without ending up in jail.”

“You won’t go to Marcus?”

I shook my head. “I can’t face him… not after all the things he’s done for me.”

Mike sat there for a long moment, his head tilted up toward the stars. “Well… then will you let me help you?”

I looked up. “Why would you want to help me?”

“You’re my friend,” he smiled, glancing back. “I told you. And I think you and West are meant to be together. I can’t stand by and let that fall apart over something as silly as money.”

“What do we do?” I asked, the barest glimmer of hope sparking inside me.

Mike smiled. “Cash isn’t gonna like it one bit, but I think I have a plan.”

Chapter 28