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“He called him out as a loser and an asshole for abandoning his kids, and for what he did to Peyton.”
That was the thing about Kade—as intimidating as he was physically, his unexpected intellect inflicted more damage than his fists. He was one smart sonuvabitch, and Brodie missed him so much he ached. He could only imagine how Peyton must feel.
“It wasn’t long after that Kade told me they got Lang for not paying child support. Courts get after those bastards for shit like that,” said Naughton.
“She’s better off without him.”
“Yeah, but Kade told me she didn’t care about the money. What she cared about was her boys not having a dad.”
Kade would’ve filled the role, and now he was gone too. Shit. No wonder Peyton didn’t want his brother’s stuff.
When Naughton went inside his place, Brodie kept going. It was damn cold, but he needed to walk off talking about Kade. How many nights had he done the same thing, wondering if his brother was okay?
All of them looked up to Kade; all of them missed him in their own way. In Brodie’s opinion, there wasn’t a finer man to emulate than Kade Butler.
He was forty years old when he died and, as far as Brodie knew, had never been serious enough about anyone to talk about marriage until he met Peyton. Maddox and Naughton hadn’t been, either. Only Skye was married, and fortunately for the rest of them, she was pregnant with her second child. Her oldest was a girl, Spencer, and she’d recently found out she was having a boy. With one grandchild and another on the way, their mother had stopped nagging the rest of them as much.
Brodie had no idea what his next move would be, but he knew there would be one. Whether Peyton wanted his brother’s stuff or not, there was no way he could stay away from her.
Cracking open a bottle. Wanna join me? read the message he received from Naughton when he was almost to the door of his own cottage.
PEYTON
“Hey, Mom?” Jamison called out to her.
“Yeah, sweetie?”
“You forgot the juice.”
It was the third time Peyton had walked from one side of the little market to the other because she forgot something. And it wasn’t because she didn’t have a list.
“You okay?” he asked. Jamison was her sensitive child. Even subtle nuances didn’t get past him.
Right after they found out Kade died, Peyton had tried to hide her feelings from her kids. Then one day, it occurred to her that her sons would benefit more from her emotions than her lack of them. What was wrong with being sad because you lost someone you cared about? It was real, and that’s how she wanted her boys to see her.
“I’m slightly distracted. I saw someone from Kade’s family today, sweetheart.”
“Slightly?” He smiled.
Peyton ran her hand through his hair. “How come you’re so smart?”
“Genes.”
She pulled him close and hugged him hard. “I love you so much, kiddo.”
“Same.”
They found Finn another aisle over, talking to Louie. It was one among many things Peyton loved about their village. She didn’t have to worry if her son was not right beside her every minute. It wasn’t as though she’d let him too far out of sight. However, the locals knew her boys, and vice versa. At their young ages, they had more people looking out for them, and loving them, than most people had in a lifetime.
“Whatcha’ talkin’ about?” she asked Finn.
“Louie says R2-D2 is a better droid than BB-8. I say, no way.”
It figured Louie, who had to be in his seventies, would have Star Wars droids behind the cash register counter. It was the type of conversation they would’ve have had with Kade. The three would argue, but he was never impatient with them.
When Jamison joined the droid discussion, Peyton went to grab the orange juice she forgot.
“Saw you with Brodie this morning,” Louie muttered when she checked out.
