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With that, I turned on my heel and went back inside. The wind blew so hard, cold rain stinging my exposed skin. The covered porch was doing nothing to keep me dry. The glass door slammed shut behind me, banishing the turbulent weather—and my past. I was done with Grace. That chapter of my life was over and as I lifted my gaze from the floor, I found the next one watching me from the couch.

When Ryan looked at me with those hypnotizing eyes, every ounce of worry I’d ever felt in my life faded away. Peeling off my wet clothes, I happily joined him, simply enjoying the feeling of him in my arms.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I’d never gotten along with Grace’s parents—not entirely. Nothing would ever be good enough for their “little girl.”

Have fun with Sawyer Huxley for a son-in-law…

All that to say, I enjoyed having Marisol around. Outside of the fact that I’d never eaten so well in my life, we easily got along.

But realistically, we knew she couldn’t stay forever. The moment the storm cleared, she made her plans to return home. She had an army of kids and a job to get back to, so Ryan and I soon found ourselves alone.

Though the phrase that Marisol whispered as she kissed Ryan goodbye stuck with me.

“Es un buen hombre. Él te ama. Dejalo.”

When I asked him about it, Ryan only said, “Maybe you’ll find out some day.”

My dad had found Charlie help in the shop, so I chose to stay home a while longer—at least until Ryan could get in and out of bed without help.

Even though I pre-made meals for him and made sure he wouldn’t have to reach or bend down for anything, I still worried.

Being late to work had become a terrible habit of mine, but Charlie learned to expect it. Had he had the strength, I’m sure Ryan would have shoved me out the door every morning.

If I'd been blind to the rampant bigotry in our town, I wasn’t anymore. Typically, I loved the customer-facing part of my job. But the more time went on, the more I was resigned to working exclusively in the garages. It stung, but it wasn’t always worth the fight. I heard the comments made when people thought I wasn’t listening—or fully didn’t care that I was. I felt the glares behind my back.

Ultimately, it was my dad’s reputation that saved me. Because of him, no one would lay a hand on me, but I worried every day about Ryan. Sawyer had been in jail since the attack, but that did little to ease Ryan’s anxiety.

After an exceptionally rough day, where I’d had slurs hurled at me through the garage doors, I was eager to get home. The door opened, and Charlie poked her head out, asking to talk to me. There was nothing good about the tone in her voice.

“What’s going on?” I asked, closing the office door behind me.

“Sawyer got his hearing.”

“And?”

Charlie got right to the point. “They’re releasing him on time served.”

“What?” The fucker was getting out? Charlie went on to explain: Instead of the felony assault charge he should have gotten, it was dropped to a low-level misdemeanor that would probably be wiped from his record.

“You’re fucking joking, right? There’s no way they would let him go after that.”

“I wish I was.” Ryan and I weren’t the only ones affected by what happened. Charlie stared at the ground, a look in her eyes like she worried that she’d never be okay again. “He’s using the gay panic defense.”

“What the hell is that?”

Charlie took a deep breath and collapsed into the chair. “He said that Ryan came onto him, and he acted in self-defense.”

“That sounds archaic.”

Charlie nodded. “I did some research on it when I found out. It’s been banned in some states… but Georgia isn’t one of them. I don’t know how Sawyer found out about it. It couldn’t have been on his own—he ain’t that bright.”

I leaned back, tugging on the ends of my wild curls. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to go home and tell Ryan. He’s still not sleeping well. I hated leaving him alone today. He’s been my rock for months, but I don’t know how to help him feel safe. I’ve never seen someone so scared. Charlie—what do I do?”

She picked her head up from the floor, a look in her eyes that I hadn’t seen the entire time we knew each other: defeat.

“I…” She blew out a frustrated breath and snatched her old baseball cap off her head. “Genie, I don’t know. I can’t imagine what Ryan is going through right now. The only thing I know to tell you is to love him like I know you can do. You’ve always put one hundred percent of yourself into everything you do and loving him shouldn’t be any different. Have you told him yet?”