Page 14 of The Moment They Can Never Forgive
“You’re skinny is my guess,” Sawyer Duke, the eldest in the family, said.
“You’ve still got that same stubborn streak in you, I see,” Birdie added. “Don’t let anyone see you need help. Don’t lean on anyone.”
“Birdie—”
“What state was that house in when you arrived?” Zoe Duke asked, cutting Leah’s words off. “Do you need us to come out and help you get it back in shape?”
“No. I’ve got it, and it’s clean now,” Leah said and could hear the defensive tone of her voice.
“It wasn’t an insult, Leah.”
She sighed. “I know, but the house is okay. I cleaned it up.”
She watched as the Duke family all shot one another looks.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Ryder Duke said quickly. “I own the cafe down the bottom of town, next to the pizza place. Come in there some time, and your first meal is on the house.”
“I don’t need charity, Ryder.”
“Do you need a friend?” Birdie demanded.
She ignored that and instead asked, “Why are you eating here if you own that place? It looks really nice.”
“It is really nice,” he said. “But I like the cinnamon toast in here better, and we also need to share the love around in Lyntacky. So once a month we all come here for breakfast.”
And that was a Duke through and through. They were good folks. A little mean when they had to be, loud and opinionated, too, but they were always there when you needed them.
Leah’s eyes went to Hudson, who was listening as Ally talked to him. It wasn’t about her anymore. She had him now, and if the Duke family took him under their wing, he would be safe and have support. So, she needed to suck up her pride and make that happen, even if with them came Dan Duke, that asshole who had broken her heart.
“So, Leah, you still playing ball?” Sawyer asked.
“I haven’t in a while.”
“Well, no time like the present. You can play for us.”
“Ooh, yes,” Zoe said. “We always have someone pulling out.”
“But right now you need to sit and talk to all of us. We want details of what’s been happening with you and to hear all about Hudson,” Birdie said, wiping the tears from her eyes. She’d always been the most emotional out of the two of them, and she loved Cassie just like Leah had.
They’d kept in touch on and off over the years, and Birdie kept her up to date on what was happening in Lyntacky. She’d planned to tell her about Cassie, but not found the words to do so because her pain had been so raw.
Sawyer put an arm around Leah and pulled her to his side.
Looking at the people around her, she saw they were all loved up now, and that made her both happy and sad. Pleased her friends were happy and sad she’d met no one since Dan, who’d made her want to be loved up. Shutting down that thought, she sat and got reacquainted with her old friends while Hudson made a new one.
Chapter 5
Dan drove into his hometown of Lyntacky with his niece Ally beside him. His hand was healing well, and the bandage was just a small square now that his mother insisted on checking constantly.
He’d been out of town for two days on a course. Though he’d enjoyed some of it, other parts not so much, but it was done. He’d also had too much time to think about Leah Reynolds.
She was back, and not alone, and he needed to be ready to see her with another man. Rationally he knew, she must have been with someone in the last seven years, but he was pretty sure he didn’t want to see them together.
“So did you miss me, squirt?” Dan dragged his thoughts back to the present and focused on his passenger. She shot him a smile. This kid, he thought. She was the best of all of them.
Two new babies had arrived in the family, and Dan loved them with everything he had inside him, but this kid was the first, and he’d played a hand in helping raise her. There would always be that bond.
