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“Pearl, put those fingers down. You wouldn’t know honor if it hit you upside the head,” Chip howls.
She swats him with a towel, laughing. “You be quiet.”
I lift a brow, watching them tease each other. Something’s different between the two of them. They’re flirty.
“You miss this,” she says, filling up Chip’s coffee mug.
He winks at her. She blushes and my emotions go wild. I love this. It’s like Mom and Dad are getting together.
“I do. I’ll come back and see y’all.” I’d say I’ll come back for the wedding, but I don’t want to jinx it.
She waves me off. “Don’t you dare come back to this dump. We’ll come and visit you in the city. Won’t we, Chip?”
He grumbles something about hating big cities, making us chuckle.
My eyes scan the packed diner. These are people I’ve known my whole life—workers from the nearby warehouses, stay at home moms with their children—some I went to school with, neighboring shop owners, and the local church choir group. I’ve been gone three months, and I haven’t thought of them once. The people that are important to me are the three I already talked to. Pearl’s right, I don’t need to come back here. This might be my home, but my heart isn’t here.
I need to find a place for my heart to call home.
CHAPTER 28
Paxton
“Go away!” I scream at the incessant pounding on the front door, shoving a couch pillow over my face. It doesn’t stop.
“Don’t you talk to your grams that way,” comes the stern voice from the other side of the door.
Fuck.
I lost my woman. Lost my dog. I’m afraid if I open that door, I’ll lose my grams too. She doesn’t deserve to be caught in the wreckage of my life. But she’s a stubborn old lady who flew across country to be here. I jump when there’s a knock on the window next to my head and come face-to-face with her.
“I see you, Paxton Reagan. Open the door now, or I’ll break this window and crawl through. I didn’t come all this way for you to tell me to go away!”
With a groan, I scrub my overgrown beard and swing my legs off the couch. This is why I should’ve answered her calls. I unlock the door, open it a crack, and shuffle back to the couch.
It’s been a week since my life imploded. Breaking Kali’s trust and seeing the pain in her eyes nearly destroyed me. But I swear I’ll win her back. I know I lied. I messed everything up. There’s no doubt about that. She just needs time, and I’ll give her that.
“Jesus, have you eaten anything but pizza in the past week?” Grams asks, staring at the pile of boxes by the couch. Be happy I was eating anything. She walks to the kitchen, shaking out a large black garbage bag. The clinking of the beer bottles echoes through the room as she fills the bag. I close my eyes, not wanting to see her judgment in hers. It’s bad enough she felt the need to come.
“They took away my dog,” I snap, still angry about it. I know he’s not mine, but he’s a part of me. We have a connection no one will ever be able to replace, and they’re punishing him for no reason.
I hear her sigh. I open my eyes, and she has her hands on her hips, giving me that look—the one filled with pity and disappointment that cuts deeper than any words. “Talk to me, Pax. They’re going to clear you and give you Riggs back.”
I can’t sit up fast enough. “He probably thinks I deserted him. He doesn’t understand that it’s temporary.” She lifts a brow at my sharp words. Bring it down a notch, Pax. She’s not the enemy. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Grams.” I blow out a harsh breath and stare up at the ceiling. “I’m just not in a good headspace.”
“Have you tried to call Kali?”
I stare at my phone across the room on the floor. Where it fell after throwing it against the wall yesterday. Her eyes follow, and then she walks over to pick it up. She holds it up. “Cracked, but still works.”
“Sounds like me,” I say snidely.
Her eyes glance around the room. “I wouldn’t call this working. Sweetheart, you need to pull yourself together. Because she will call you back. Eventually. And…how do I put this in words you’ll understand?” She pauses, tapping her finger against her lips. “Get off your ass and grow a pair of balls.”
My eyes bulge out of my face, staring at my sweet, innocent sixty-five-year-old grandma. Did she just say that?
The chuckle comes out on its own. “Wow, Grams.”
She shrugs. “Do I have your attention now?”
