Page 91 of The Moment He Saw Her

“You want to talk about anything?”

“No.”

“You were always the one who worried me the most.”

“What?” He turned to face his uncle. “Why? Surely I’m the one who caused you and Mom the least amount of trouble.”

“You hold everything deep inside you, and it festers and grows. You hold onto your pain and your sadness. Your brothers may do that, too, but eventually they either get it out with a fight or an argument. Not you, though. You were always the easygoing one. The peacemaker who wanted things to run smooth.”

“We’re all made different,” Ryder said.

His uncle came closer and sat on the high stool he’d set up by one of the benches for Meadow because sometimes her back was sore.

“I used to watch you when they were arguing. You didn’t like the raised voices as a kid and always tried to make them stop by doing something to distract whoever was arguing.”

He remembered those times. It wasn’t that the fighting or the raised voices scared him; he’d just hated it when his family was at odds with one another.

“I told you once that it wasn’t a realistic expectation for everyone to get along all the time. You said you knew that, but you wanted them to,” Uncle Asher said.

“Is there a point to this, Uncle Asher, because I have things to do.”

“Not right now, you don’t,” he said in a voice that as kids had had them standing to attention.

This man was father and uncle to the Duke kids. He’d given up his life for them and his sister without hesitation. Ryder remembered his dad but not the person he’d been. But he knew Asher Dans. Honorable, loyal, and mean when he needed to be.

“Ryder, you’ve spent your life?—”

“Drifting. I know, but that’s changed.”

His uncle studied him. “You think you were drifting?”

He nodded.

“Never that, Ryder. You were just a little late to the table on what lit your fire, but you were never aimless, bud.” He withstood the look his uncle gave him because he’d been the recipient of it often in his life.

One of Uncle Asher’s best interview techniques, according to Dan, was his ability to stare a person down with a look and a loaded silence.

“I’ve always admired your ability to walk into a room and set people at ease, Ryder, and maybe I should have told you that before now. Always admired how you command respect with little effort on your part. And you were never just drifting, Nephew. You always had a direction, no matter how big or small. I’ve always been proud of you, and the man you’ve become and a little jealous at your ability to read a situation and say exactly what needs to be said. There was a time I wanted you to join me in the police force.”

“Really?” That shocked him.

“Really. You’re a good man, and someone your mom and I are very proud of. Never forget that, Ryder. And I think Libby is a good person, too, or she wouldn’t be someone you care about.”

“She’s been playing us,” Ryder said, his tone hard.

“Perhaps, but you have to ask yourself why that sweet girl was forced to do something like that,” his uncle said as he got off the seat. “And she is a sweet girl, Ryder. You know that deep inside.”

He said nothing more, and his uncle left.

Too much emotion is never good for anyone—his brother Sawyer always said so. But Ryder had always liked to feel them, good or bad, even if he didn’t show it. But right then, he hated the sudden tightness in his throat at his uncle’s words and the deep, heavy ache inside his chest when he thought about Libby,

She’d hurt him with her lies because he’d fallen hard for her… or the woman he thought she was.

Has she already left town?

Chapter27

Libby had grabbed her things after Ryder walked away from her and left the cafe, not wanting the mess that was about to unfold between the Caldwells to ruin the party going on upstairs.

---