Page 38 of Mine to Love
He slipped into the booth, setting his cell on the table, face up. Not only did he want to know if Liberty texted, but the rest ofhis family. Chris Manzo had been looped in and he was working the night shift, so he would be the one keeping an eye on Charlie.
The bell over the door dinged.
Emmerson entered, proudly wearing his Lighthouse Cove police uniform. He stood a little over six foot and was a broad man.
Rumor greeted Emmerson by resting her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around his wife and held her close for a moment before kissing her temple. “Give me a few minutes with Miles, then I’ll take you home.”
“Hey, little brother.” Emmerson slipped into the booth.
Rumor brought over a cup of coffee for Emmerson and short glass with two fingers of bourbon for Miles.
“What’s up?” Emmerson lifted his coffee and blew before taking a small sip.
“I might as well jump right in.” He held his brother’s gaze. “You’d think I, of all people, would understand women, but I haven’t a fucking clue.”
Emmerson burst out laughing.
“It’s not funny.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s fucking hilarious.” Emmerson leaned back, lifting his arm over the bench, and grinned like there was no tomorrow. “You know how to charm a woman whom you want to sleep with. You’re an expert at keeping them at arm’s length when you’re with them. You know how to be cash register honest in the sense that you never promise anyone a rose garden. You’re even damn good at letting them down easy so somehow they remain friendly-ish. But you’re right, you don’tbelieveyou know dick about being in a relationship with a woman.”
“You really know how to make a man feel like shit.” Miles lifted his drink and took a gulp. “Is that really how everyone sees me?”
“Yes and no.” Emmerson folded his hands on the table and leaned forward. “You want to get real?”
“Sure,” Miles mumbled.
“The key word in my statement wasbelieve.Ever since you were little, you felt different.”
“Jesus Christ. I don’t need this fucking lecture.”
“Actually, you do. Same way I needed everyone in this family to tell me to stop closing myself off when Rumor walked into my life.” Emmerson tapped his finger on the table. “I’m not going to sit here and discount your learning disabilities. We all know those are real. And because of them, and perhaps the way Mom treated you, which sucked, that gave you a shit ton of anxiety. We all watched it and did what we could to help you. We supported you in your decisions and went to bat for you with Mom.” He raised his hand. “But not because you’re different. We did it because you needed to find your path. The one that would give you the successes and show you that you’re a fucking really smart man. Unfortunately, there are people who have put down your profession, which has only added to your inability to feel comfortable in your own skin.”
“I know I’m good at what I do. I’m just not good at some of the business side of it.” Miles stared at the cubes in his drink. It pissed him off sometimes that he couldn’t manage his own books. That he needed someone else to manage that part of his business. Rhett and Jameson had done it for years. And now Trinity was doing it. That had always remained in the family and he valued and appreciated it.
But it was a constant reminder of what he wasn’t capable of doing for himself.
“We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Look at me. There is no fucking way I’d ever make for a good chief of police. Nathan has always been a good cop, but he’s better in the stationmanaging people and doing the political side of this business. Can you imagine me doing that?”
Miles laughed. “God, no. You’d suck at it.”
“My point exactly. But let’s circle this back to women.” He arched a brow. “We can start with Trixi.”
“What does she have to do with anything?”
“Come on, man. You really liked her. More than any girl you ever dated. One could say you might have been falling in love with that girl. You can tell everyone else otherwise. That you let it go on too long and she got the wrong idea. But the real reason that ended was because her father didn’t like you. More importantly, he didn’t like what you did for a living. He called you a grease monkey. He constantly told Trixi that you weren’t good enough for his little girl and you let that get to you, especially when you learned he planned on cutting her off if she stayed with you.” Emmerson leaned forward. “And then you went and broke her heart.”
Miles lifted his tumbler but ended up setting it on the table instead of taking a sip.
Emmerson was right.
He could lie to himself, or anyone else for that matter, but the truth had just slapped him across the face.
There had been a part of him that had wanted to see if he could go the distance with Trixi. He had strong feelings for her and the wordlovetickled his brain during the time he spent with her. He had never been sure if it was real; he only knew he’d never felt like that with anyone else.
However, her damn father and his constant snide remarks about how Miles would never fit in with theirkind, whatever that meant, haunted his soul. In the end, he ended up hurting Trixi, and she deserved better than that.
“Don’t you have anything to say to that?” Emmerson asked softly.
