Page 70 of A Love So Sweet
“I called you a few weeks after you went to school and said I couldn’t do it.” Rex’s eyes shot darts; every word was laced with venom. “Hugh was pulling away, and Savannah had disappeared for the weekend with her friend. I didn’t know what to do.”
“What? When?” He vaguely remembered a call about Savannah. It seemed like a hundred years ago. “Was that the time when you said Savannah went to a party and you couldn’t find her? I left my date and went back to my dorm and called every one of her friends’ parents. I was going frigging crazy looking for her from a million miles away, and you called me a few hours later and said she was back home, that her friend had lied about it to get her in trouble.” Treat took a breath and tried to bring his anger down a notch. “I thought it was fine after that.”
Rex huffed, rage simmering in his eyes. “Nothing was fine.”
“How could I have possibly known? I was a kid, too, Rex. What would you have had me do? Quit college? Give up everything Dad said I had to accomplish? Is this what you’ve held over my head forever? Isn’t this exactly what I apologized for last night?”
They stared at each other, posturing, silently banging chests and measuring feathers. And then, with the force of a bullet train, Treat realized what this was really about. Rex was younger than Dane, but even as kids, after they’d lost their mother, Rex had watched over Dane just as Treat had. And when the pressures of trying to be something neither he nor Treat could became too great, he’d fall apart and Treat would put him back together.It’s no wonder you felt abandoned. And no wonder I felt like I abandoned you.
“Boys!” Hal’s stern voice broke their match. “You want to blame someone? Blame me. I wanted Treat to excel. He was too academic and had too much to accomplish in life to run the ranch. He’d have had me buying up more ranches by the time he was fourteen if I’d let him, and maybe if I had listened to him, we’d all be even richer. And, Rex, you were born to ranch and you know it. The day you started walking, you wanted to follow me all over this place. You’d sit with me while I ran the finances and rode with me on nearly every ride. The ranch is a heck of a lot of responsibility, and I don’t blame you for resenting your brothers—all of them—for taking off.” He put a hand on Rex’s shoulder and spoke calmly. “But, son, I gave you the same choice I gave them. How many times did I say, ‘Go out there and get your own ranch, or find something else that you want to call your own?’”
Rex looked away.
“When I’m talking to you, son, you keep your eyes on mine.”
Rex met his gaze. “I didn’t want my own ranch. This is family. This is where Mom is.” He slid an angry look to Treat.
To a stranger, the two angry men staring each other down would mean fists were going to fly. But Treat knew what they looked like to his family. Two brothers fighting to find their way back to each other.
His father placed a hand on each of their shoulders and said, “Now that you’ve had your say, let me tell you how it’s gonna be. You want to blame someone for all of this? Blame me. I’m the one who led you all those years. Grief is a terrible and powerful thing. I thought you’d each grow out of missing your mama, but that was a fairy tale. If anyone knows that, it’s me, and I’m sorry. We all did the best we could.” He looked around the table, and then he settled compassionate eyes on Rex and Treat. “We did better than any family could. If Treat had stayed, I’d have felt guilty for not cutting him loose. And, Rex, you’ve always been the cowboy, not the rodeo clown. I guess I always knew you could handle it, and yes, I knew you were carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, but you were unwilling to part with it.”
Rex’s gaze shifted away.
“I’m sorry,” Treat said to both of them. “I was a kid trying to keep my own head above water. It’s true I abandoned everyone because I felt guilty, but, Rex, you have to believe that if I had known you felt that lost, I’d have come running back. After Savannah came home, I figured it was just more of the same confused, angry kids that I’d left when I went away to school.”
Rex continued looking away for the longest time, and when he finally brought his attention back, it was his father’s eyes he met, not Treat’s. “Sorry I ruined the afternoon, Dad. I’ve got to go check on Hope.” He headed for the barn.
Treat took a step toward him, but his father held him back. “Leave him. This is how Rex operates. You remember this pattern, don’t you? He’ll work out his frustration. It’ll take time, but now you know what’s what. It may not be today, and it may not be next week, but at some point this’ll come out in the wash.”
Treat sat at the table, but he couldn’t eat. He knew Rex would eventually come around. There was no avoiding it now that Treat was home. He might buy a place nearby, and he might have to travel and set up an office, but he wasn’t going to abandon anyone ever again. And he was done waiting for Max. It was time for him to set his future in motion.
“Sorry I was such a jerk when I was a kid,” Dane said.
“You were just a kid.” Treat pushed to his feet again. “I’ve got to go take care of something.” Without another word from his family, he headed into the house.
A few minutes later, he was in the car, pulling down the driveway when Rex rode up on Hope and stopped in his path. Treat slammed on the brakes and jumped from the car. “What are you doing? Trying to get Hope killed?”
Rex settled Hope from her startled shuffle and said, “I know all that crap you said back there. I’m not an idiot.”
“No. You’re not,” Treat said.
They stared each other down again. Treat had a feeling they’d be doing that a lot.
“Just like you’ve been carrying that baggage around with you all these years, so have I.”
Treat nodded. Honesty was difficult, and he wasn’t about to get in Rex’s way.
“I know you didn’t abandon me. Or Mom or Dad. I get that,” Rex admitted. “The truth is, I wouldn’t have wanted you to give up what you were destined to do. I was just…”
“As messed up as the rest of us?”
Rex held on to Hope’s reins, and Treat had the overwhelming urge to hug him, but he was afraid to move. Rex had a shell that was thick as a brick, and Treat knew just how much this breakthrough meant to their relationship, which might not be anywhere near normal for years to come, but this was a start.
Rex nodded. “I’m glad you’re home, but I’m still running the ranch.”
“Okay.”
“You’re far from in shape for this kind of grueling work,” Rex said gruffly. “It’ll take you months to get back up to speed—physically anyway.”
