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“He’s been heartbroken. That’s his deal.”
My ears burned. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know who hurt him so badly that he decided being a jerk was the only way to keep people three feet apart at all times. “Heartbroken. Haven’t we all? It’s not an excuse to be mean. He’s put a target on me and I know that he tried to scare me on his bike on purpose.”
I stopped, shaking my head in disbelief. “I thought he was coming around, that he was being genuine at dinner. But then he went and threatened me, Hendrix.”
“Whoa, wait. He threatened you?”
I swallowed, nodding my head with force. “He told me I needed to leave town.” I glanced around the bar, making a show with my hands. “This is my life now. Whether or not you guys like it, I’m invested. This is my livelihood. If it fails, I’m fucked. So, I don’t appreciate him trying to scare me out of town.”
I dropped the paintbrush in my hand, fully irritated now. “I won’t be threatened into leaving.”
“And you shouldn’t be. I’ll talk to him. He probably is just worried for me and Parker. And he shouldn’t be. His experiences aren’t ours.”
That caught my attention. “Experiences? So he’s shared women too, then.”
Hendrix’s cheeks pinkened, and he turned his head. He was probably hoping I wouldn’t see but I did. I’d struck the Calder cord. My big, grumpy guy was hurting from something they did in the past.
“He has.” I nodded. “With you and Parker?”
He remained quiet, his head still turned. The silence was all the confirmation I needed.
“Right. It’s his story to tell, or some other bullshit,” I said, picking up my paintbrush and getting back to staining the countertop.
“Thea,” Hendrix sighed.
I could tell he was becoming exasperated. I didn’t want to argue with him, either. So, I shook my head. “No. I don’t want to talk about this.”
The strokes of the brush grew faster the longer I stewed about Calder. About what the fuck any of this meant. Or why I even cared. None of it mattered. None of it.
“So, what else is there to do?” Hendrix asked, peering up from his end of the bar.
“Just the roof and the kitchen. Maybe get some decor going on in here. And then I can work on the tables and chairs.”
“Nice. You’ll be finished here in no time. What do you think? Maybe two more weeks?”
I shrugged. “It’s possible. Especially if we can knock out the roof in half a day like you think.”
I finished my section and plopped the brush into the paint can. “Just in time for the fourth of July. Are there any fireworks around here?” I asked, though the thought of seeing them without Paisley was making my chest ache.
“There’s some in Jarlentown. It’s not far from here,” Hendrix said. We were getting closer, almost at the meeting point and we’d be finished soon. “We can take a hike before sunset and make a night of it. There’s a trail a few miles from your place that would lead us to the peak and give us a good view.”
“This sounds fun. Hiking and camping,” I said.
Hendrix smiled. “You, me, and Parker holed up in a two man tent eating trail mix, drinking beer and watching the fireworks. I can’t think there's a better way to spend Independence Day. Can you?”
I could, but I didn’t say that outloud. My smile faltered, the excitement from seconds ago gone. I cleared my throat, and shook my head. “That’ll be fun. Thanks, Hendrix.”
He flashed me that crooked smile, his eyes twinkling. “Of course, baby. We promised you a fun summer, we’re going to give it to you.”
He stroked the last bit of his section, then dropped his brush on the tin pan we were using for the stain. “We’d have done something sooner, but you’ve been working hard here. Will you take a break so we can go camping for a few days?”
He took a step closer, then wrapped his arm around my waist. His cedar scent filled my senses. Hendrix was already becoming familiar, already invoking a sense of comfort I hadn’t had since my dad’s death. I was alone, unable to navigate life.
The emotions I’d been feeling since I moved here had been pent up all these years. I was a mom, and I refused to let my daughter see me crumbling. I put on a brave face. A proud act that made me appear tough. Single moms couldn’t be weak. We didn’t have the luxury.
But my daughter wasn’t here now. And I was finally allowing myself to feel everything. The heaviness in my chest every morning when I woke alone, the sadness of my father’s sudden death, the heartbreak of a break up. Even if Kyle was a douche, he was my first love–the father of my child.
But all of those negative emotions weren’t there as Hendrix held me. I was… content. My heart pounded in my chest, his knuckle grazing against my check.
