Page 92 of Lessons in Heartbreak

“Kids, go play outside while I talk to your uncle,” he said. It wasn’t just the even tone of his voice that had me sucking in a sharp breath through my nose; it was the absolute chilling fury in his eyes.

“Can we get back in the pool?” Maggie asked. They were still wrapped in towels from earlier, their hair damp and their cheeks flushed from being out in the sun.

Barrett gave her a short nod, and they ran off without a single worry that I was probably about to get my ass reamed.

I slid my hands in my pockets and rocked back on my feet while they disappeared, cutting a quick glance down the hallway, but there was still no sign of Ruby.

“What the fuck are you playing at?” my brother asked, lethally quiet.

My eyes snapped to his. “I’m not playing at anything. What do you expect me to do when they show up here unannounced?” I held my arms out. “Turn them away?”

“I expect you not to undermine me right in front of them,” he ground out. “If you had kids, you’d understand that what you just said made things ten times harder for me.”

“I’m not trying to make things harder for you. I’m trying to spend some time with my niece and nephew.” I exhaled harshly. “But that’s an easy card for you to play, isn’t it? I don’t have a wife, I don’t have kids, so it’s always going to be my fault.” I raised my eyebrows. “Right?”

His jaw hardened. “You have no idea what it’s like to be responsible for anyone but yourself. And half the time, you can’t even manage that without someone stepping in to fix things for you.”

I emitted a dry laugh. “That’s getting old, big brother. You haven’t had to step in for me in years, and even when you did, I didn’t ask you to. If you want to find a place to lay the blame, maybe you should look a little closer to home.”

“I won’t apologize for working hard. I work the way I do for them. So that I can provide them with the best possible life.”

“Yeah, every workaholic says the same thing when their life falls apart because everyone around them is miserable.” I held his gaze unflinchingly. “Like your wife was at the end, right?”

Or something stupid like that. Maybe emotional growth was a slow, subtle one, because the moment it rolled off the tongue, I had to bite down on the impulse to take it back.

He took a step toward me, hands curling into fists. “Speaking of easy cards to play, Griffin. Even you’re smart enough to know what a crock of shit that is. Rachel created her own misery. Showing up at your place when she knew I was less than ten minutes behind her is a perfect example.”

My jaw tightened, eyes narrowing as I tried to weigh the truth of that in his face.

Vaguely, I wondered what would happen if the two of us actually got into a fight. Barrett was strong. Same height. Same build. But I was the one still in the gym training for game day. When it came to sheer muscle mass, I had the edge on him, and he fucking knew it.

Barrett opened his mouth to say something else, but when the sound of quiet footsteps entered the room, his face went slack with shock.

I pinched my eyes shut, wishing I could magically make her disappear. Not because I didn’t want her around—fuck, if anything, her presence might keep me from taking a swing—but neither did I want her witnessing this.

“Hi, Barrett,” she said, hands clasped together in front of her. Ruby’s hair was pulled up off her face from being in the pool, and even though we’d never seen her in a swimsuit as a teenager, there was no denying it was her. “It’s good to see you.”

His brow furrowed deeply. “Ruby Tate? What the hell are you doing here?”

Briefly, her eyes met mine, and there was a moment where I couldn’t fight it even if I wanted to—my lips lifted in a badly timed smirk.

“I live here,” she said, then pinched her eyes shut. “In town, I mean. Griffin and I ... ran into each other when he first got here.”

“And you’re ... what? Hanging out with him?” he asked incredulously.

A short laugh escaped my lips, and I swiped a hand over my mouth to try and stem it. She gave me a look meant to chasten, but instead it just added to the utter absurdity of the situation.

My entire life felt like a fucking soap opera sometimes, and this was just one more thing added to the list. I knew what my brother would see right now—I was the big, bad wolf and she was the innocent maiden waiting to be ravished.

She sent me a tiny glare at my poorly timed laugh but shifted her attention back to my brother. “Yes,” she said evenly, raising her chin a notch. “I am.”

Barrett looked between us, back and forth and back and forth, finally shaking his head like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Then he tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling for a moment. “I feel like I’m in the fucking twilight zone right now.”

I slicked my tongue over my teeth. “When are you leaving?”

He glanced out at his kids, playing happily on a giant flamingo float, and he sighed, wiping a hand over his face. “I’d take them right now if I thought they’d ever forgive me,” he said tightly, cutting his eyes in my direction. “But you made sure I can’t do that, didn’t you?” Barrett shook his head. “You never think through the consequences of your actions. More concerned with being fun Griffin than anything—the mantra of your entire life, and the rest of us just have to deal with it.”

I exhaled a harsh, dry laugh.

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