Page 93 of Echoes of You

Grae launched into all the reasons she and Caden shouldn’t be on the same team, but I was distracted by a figure hovering just on the outskirts of our group. I turned to face Roan. Something about the image of him on the outside made an ache take root in my chest.

It wasn’t because we didn’t invite him in. It was because he seemed more comfortable there. But every now and then, I got the feeling that maybe a piece of him longed to be a part of things.

I gave him a chin lift. “Hey.”

Roan simply nodded.

I waited, wondering if anything else would follow.

His hands clenched at his sides as if he were struggling for words. “You and Maddie. It’s good. I’m glad for you.”

It was possibly the most my brother had said to me in months, but I fought to keep the shock from my face. “Thanks. How are things with you?”

He looked at me as if I’d asked the question in a foreign language. “Good. Busy.”

Because Roan threw himself into his job with Fish and Wildlife. And when he wasn’t on the clock, he was tracking the animals near his cabin way in the middle of nowhere.

I knew I shouldn’t push my luck, but I did it anyway. “You should come over to Maddie’s for dinner.”

Roan swallowed. “Maybe.”

That was ahell no,but I just nodded. “You just let me know if you get a free night.”

He nodded, but then his gaze hardened at something in the distance. “Isn’t that…?”

I turned, and everything in me stilled. Ice slid through my veins, so cold it left behind third-degree burns. The man across the street stared straight at me, a deadness in his eyes. I’d have recognized him anywhere. Jimmy Byrne. Maddie’s father.

31

MADDIE

I placedthe treat in my fingers and slowly raised my hand. Clyde followed the movement like a champ and plonked his butt on the ground. I clicked the movement with the device in my left hand and gave him the treat. “Good boy. We’re gonna have you doing tricks in no time.”

My phone buzzed on the counter, and I picked it up, sliding my thumb across the screen.

Grae

I need a girls’ night and I’m not above begging. Take pity on your sole single friend and go to Dockside with me tonight? There’s a band… And I’ll buy your first drinks…

I didn’t have time to type a reply before another text appeared.

Wren

Only single friend? Uh, Maddie? Did you forget to tell us something?

I winced. I hadn’t exactly had time to bring Grae and Wren up to speed, and it felt weird to talk about all that with Nash’s sister.

Grae

Yup. Maddie’s on my schnitzel list, so that means she has to come. If she can stop banging my brother long enough to make it to the bar.

She inserted several very colorful gagging-face emojis after her text.

Me

Schnitzel list?

Grae

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