Page 78 of The Moment They Can't Forget

“At least talk to your brother, JD,” Robyn said. “I know your daddy isn’t well, and that’s a whole other matter, but you and Henry need to be friends again. Family is family, and unless he hurt you—and I won’t condone that, as you’re one of mine—you hear him out.”

He looked at her. “Not everyone has a family like yours.”

Age had done nothing to make this woman less beautiful. It had enhanced it.Would Zoe look like this one day?Sawyer had once told him he’d worried that his father’s death would break his mom, but it hadn’t. She’d rallied through her grief to be there for her children and never stopped.

“Go on now, and I’ll order you both coffees, and I think there’s hummingbird cake on the menu. I’ll get some of that brought out to you too.”

He leaned in to kiss a soft cheek. “Thank you.”

“You’re a good man, JD Hopper. Never forget that.” She hugged him again before leaving.

Pulling out a chair, he sat and wondered if Robyn Duke would think him one of hers if she knew he’d slept with her daughter.

“Sorry about that. I had to call Mom.” Henry pulled out the seat across from him.

“How is she?”

“Okay. Glad I made contact with you.”

JD should have made more effort to contact her. None of this mess had been her fault. More guilt, he thought.

“Thank you for helping me to bed last night. That whiskey was potent,” Henry said.

“It sneaks up on you.”

“I like this town. It’s odd but nice.”

“Really odd,” JD conceded. “But yeah, I like it too.”

“I never pictured you settling somewhere like this. The tattoos, all of it. I didn’t see any of that in your future.”

JD shrugged. “I needed to change.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t like who I was when I realized I was like our father.” JD wasn’t going to lie about this.

His brother studied him. “I’m sorry I took Dad’s side.”

Those words surprised him, but as Nancy arrived with their coffee and cake, he didn’t react.

“Well now, this is good,” she said, lowering the steaming mugs and plates to their table. “You boys go on and have a good air-clearing session. I’ll make sure no one bothers you.”

“Thanks, Nancy. This looks amazing,” Henry said.

“Suck up,” JD said when she’d left. “You were always way better at that than me.”

Henry’s smile was small. “I just knew how to play the game. You never did. You always said it exactly as you thought it needed to be said.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” JD looked at the cake. More sugar, just what he needed. He took a bite. It was good, but not on the same level as Ryder’s.

“The reason you never forgave Dad was because he broke your rules.”

“He stole from friends and embezzled, Henry. How is it you expect me to forgive him for that? The man I’d always looked up to was a liar and a cheat, and he never owned up to what he’d done.”

“I know, just as I know that wasn’t easy on you, because you were so honest. You did everything by the book, and Dad betrayed your trust.”

“Our trust,” JD added. It wasn’t lost on him in that moment that he was now betraying his best friend’s trust by lying to Sawyer, but he would deal with that later.

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