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Bryan nodded at Adam. “He came to visit her almost every day while her ankle was sprained.”
“Adam’s on the outs too.” I didn’t like this direction. “Who’s the money really for?”
Bryan clamped his jaw shut and shook his head.
“All right. We’re going to go grab dinner.” I closed the register again and turned away. “Call me when you want to give me a real answer.”
“Fine, it’s for Paige, okay,” Bryan spit out.
Adam looked surprised. “I don’t think Paige is pregnant. Do you need the birds and the bees talk?”
The look Bryan shot him was deadly. “She’s only been with Jamie for a week, and she’s not pregnant.” He sighed. “She has a chance to apply for an apprenticeship on the other side of the country. She sent a video of her and the tank to a NASCAR pit boss, and he wants to talk to her. She has to go to the interview in person, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. She could learn from NASCAR people.”
“That’s fantastic.” This sounded more real to me. But why did it take him so long to get here?
“It is. Except”— Bryan let out another sigh—“she’s terrified of going.”
“How do you know?” Adam asked.
“She keeps making excuses and she made me swear on my life not to tell Mom. So Paige can’t afford to go. I figure if I give her the money for the trip, she’ll be out of excuses.”
“And if you tell us, it gets back to Brooke.” And if anyone asked, he could say we dragged the answer out of him, because we’d all but done exactly that.
Convoluted, but clever. He’d been watching way too many movies. Sounded like our kind of guy.
“You can help me clean up the shop tonight,” I said. “If you call your mom and tell her where you are.” I wasn’t putting Brooke in a panic over a missing kid again.
Bryan rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He grinned. “And thank you.”
I really wanted to make things right with Brooke, and this wasn’t the way to do it. Maybe I’d start with Adam and see if he was willing to forgive me for being dense, and then we’d talk to her.
Maybe.
THIRTY
BROOKE
“I’ll be home late,”Bryan said. “I’m working for Deacon now.”
When I heard that name over the phone, a fist clenched around my heart, leaving an ache in its place. “Let me talk to him.”
“What?” Bryan sounded surprised.
“You heard me. Put Deacon and Adam on FaceTime, so I know you’re really there.” And so I could hear their voices and see their faces. Mostly the first, but I hoped Bryan had learned his lesson as far as lying about where he was, so almost as much the second.
Bryan huffed. “Mom, I’m not lying.”
“So put them on.” If he was lying, I’d ground him for life. Maybe that was what he wanted? I didn’t know anymore.
The noise on the line changed, and a heartbeat later Bryan appeared on screen, next to Deacon, “Hi, Brooke.”
“Hello.” Adam was there as well.
They sounded so good. Better than should be allowed considering they hadn’t said much of anything. They looked better. “Hey. Are you sure this is all right?”
“Of course.” Deacon’s reply came without hesitation.
“As long as he can do math,” Adam said. “Apparently Deacon thinks a billion is the same as one and a half, so we need some help in the counting department.”
