Page 12 of Back To Our Beginning

“Yeah, like Chloe did all those years ago. Think of how you would have felt if you had bashed his head in. Trust me, it was better that Beau intervened.”

I thought about that time at the lake, and I had to agree.

“Okay, so Beau’s a protector. He’s still the asshole who didn’t call me after he came to town. He’s also the asshole who never called or wrote after he left town.”

“That’s not true. He wrote you a letter,” Evie protested.

“One letter in fifteen years. Be still my heart.” I hated hearing the bitterness in my voice. But I couldn’t help myself.

“It’s a letter that is practically falling apart since you’ve read it so often. Don’t you still carry it in your wallet?”

“Not that he wrote much,” I grouched.

“Yeah, but you still have it, right?”

I flopped onto my couch with a groan, pressing the cold spoon to my forehead. “Evie, you’re supposed to be helping me figure out how to get rid of him, not making it worse. He’s still calling. He’s left at least five messages. He said, and I quote, that our first date was a bust, and I owe him a do-over. He’s delusional.”

I got up and threw the empty carton in the trash and dispensed a big glass of water from the refrigerator.

“So, go on the date and tell him to stop bugging you. It’s simple.”

I set down the glass with a thump. “That’s a shitty idea. I don’t know why I called you. I expected something innovative, or at least sneaky.”

“Okay, here’s something else. Find out from Vic the next time he shows up at Maverick’s and confront him, just like you did last time. Tell him you don’t want to see him. How about that? Is that innovative?”

“Yeah, but I’ll have to see him. I’ll have to talk to him,” I whined.

“Since when did my sister turn into a wimp?”

I sighed. She was right. I needed to do something. Beau was driving me batshit crazy. The problem was I was dying to spend time with him, but I was beyond hurt that he hadn’t reached out to me as soon as he’d come home to Jasper Creek.

“Okay, that’s not a terrible idea.”

“See, aren’t you glad you called?”

“Maybe,” I admitted. “So, when are you guys coming to visit?”

“We’re working it out, I think, next month.”

“It’ll be great to see you and the boys. I adore them, and I love you so much.”

“We can’t wait. Love you too, Maddie. Call me after you confront your Raider.”

“He’s not my Raider,” I protested.

“Yeah, sure,” Evie laughed, then hung up the phone.

I stuck my tongue out at the dark screen.

I saw I had a text that had come in during my marathon call with Evie, so I opened it. It was from Fran Patterson. That woman was amazing. She and her husband had fostered Eli two times before this latest incident, and when I called from the hospital, they dropped everything and came to his side.

She’d sent a picture of Eli asleep, cuddled next to Nate Patterson on the couch. It made my heart melt. Maybe, just maybe, this time Eli had finally found a home worthy of him.

I sat back in the leather seat of my Jeep, glaring at the glowing sign of Maverick’s Bar and Grill as if it personally offended me. Because tonight it kind of did.

“Damn it, I’m not nervous!” I yelled out as I wiped my sweaty palms along my jeans. I bit my lip. If this went wrong, I was going to kill my sister.

Evie. That’s what I was going to do. I’ll call Evie. I reached over and plucked my phone out of my purse. I started to push in Evie’s number and then grimaced.