Page 10 of The Rule of 3

Brandon marched into the room, all smarmy smiles and looking sweaty. “Tan, my man! Good to see you! Hi, baby!” He leaned down and kissed Zoë. “Can we eat soon, ZoZo? I’m starved.”

ZoZo? Oh. My. God.Tanner’s stomach turned to acid, and he thought the cheap bourbon was about to make a second appearance. Putting his hand to his forehead, he realized he was getting a migraine.

Standing on unsteady legs, Tanner announced, “Zoë, Brandon, I’m afraid I’m going to have to take a raincheck on dinner. I’m suddenly feeling rather ill, I’m afraid. And, Brandon, it’s Tanner—not Tan.”No one is allowed to call me that except Eli. “I’ll say good night to y’all now. I’m sorry.” Without a backward glance, Tanner beat it out the front door and drove away.

He didn’t want to go sit in his lonely house, and he didn’t want to grab a drink at the Sundance Bar where he might have to talk to people, so he drove aimlessly around listening to music for an hour. Finally, when his stomach began to feel better, he called in an order to the Sock Hop for one of their great burgers, picked it up and went home to eat in solitude. Once he felt a little more human, he made a call.

“Eli, it’s time to go fishing.”

With no hesitation, Eli answered, “Okay. I know just the place. Drive up to Lexington on Friday, and I’ll have the plane come pick you up. I’ll text you the time when I get the schedule figured out.”

Relaxing even more, knowing he’d see Eli, Tanner sighed happily. “Thanks man. You have no idea how badly I need you.”

“I can’t wait.”

Tanner thought he would hear about a house sale closing shortly after his aborted dinner with Zoë and Brandon, but the sale must have fallen through. Nothing showed up.

Chapter 11

The next couple of years were brutal. Tanner ran into Brandon all over town. Brandon unfailingly tried to cozy up to Tanner and act as though they were longtime buddies. Because they were in public, Tanner had to keep his cheerful mayor face on and smiled at the guy with absolutely no sincerity whatsoever. And all the time, his insides seethed at the thought that Zoë could stand to be around the creep.HisZoë.

The only thing that kept Tanner feeling human during this brutal attack on his heart were the weekends he spent every couple of months with Eli. Each time they went fishing, it was to a different—and very remote—cabin that would be fully stocked for their convenience. Eli was the ultimate planner and organizer. They would arrive at some idyllic location where they spent the day fishing and the night making love. Eli became a decent fisherman and actually enjoyed it, and Tanner felt as if he could breathe in Eli’s company. Being mayor was great, but it was also exhausting in a town that made your business everyone’s business.

But in Honeybee Hollow, something slowly became apparent to Tanner as he observed Brandon go about his daily routine. The jerk seemed to act like he was incredibly busy all the time with his real estate sales, but Tanner saw very little evidence of properties actually changing hands. Once in a blue moon, a house sale would close, but certainly not at the rate that would make anyone rich as an agent.

Tanner managed to “bump into” Zoë now and then. Each time he asked her in an offhand, friendly way how life was going with Brandon. She always gave a similar answer. “He’s working really hard, and things are fine.” She still wasn’t wearing a ring, and Tanner liked that a lot. Maybe he could play the long game after all.

Since Tanner was burning up with curiosity about what Brandon actually did all day, he finally hired a private investigator to check him out. It only took three weeks for the detective to furnish Tanner with enough evidence to bury the creep. Brandon wasn’t breaking the law, but he was lying his ass off to Zoë. Armed with photos, Tanner now had a big decision to make. After stewing about it for another couple of weeks, he finally dialed her number.

He was gratified when Zoë answered his call cheerfully. “Tanner? Hi, how are you?”

She sounded good, and he hoped she wouldn’t kill the messenger. This was not going to be easy.Maybe I should have just left the photos in her mailbox anonymously. Taking a fortifying breath, Tanner asked, “Zoë, do you think you could meet me somewhere? I have something really important to show you.”

“What?”

“I think it’s better if you see it before we discuss it. Can you come over to my place after school tomorrow maybe?” He didn’t want her to be out in public in case she got really upset.

“Your place? Tanner, what is it?”

“Look, Zoë, it’s something you really need to know about and I think you’ll want to have some privacy.”

In a no-nonsense voice, she asked, “Does this have to do with Brandon cheating?”

“Wh.. youknew?”

Sounding relieved, she answered, “Let’s just say I suspected. Do you have some kind of proof?”

“I have photos, and they’re pretty damning.”

Much to Tanner’s surprise, he heard Zoë burst out laughing. “Hallelujah! Tanner, are you home right now?”

“Uh… yeah.”

“I’ll be right over.”

Chapter 12

Tanner couldn’t believe his ears. He looked down at his wrinkled clothes and ran to grab a clean shirt at least. Thinking fast, he brushed his teeth and gargled some mouthwash to get rid of pizza breath. Then he dashed around his living room picking up random detritus like dirty plates, coffee cups and drink glasses. By the time he’d made two trips to the dishwasher to get rid of the evidence of bachelor living, he heard his doorbell ring. He and his house weren’t perfect, but they’d have to do.

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