Page 49 of The Moment They Can Never Forgive
“And neither Leah nor Cassie had any idea their father was going to be arrested?” Ryder asked.
“None.”
Ryder whistled.
“I couldn’t tell her in case she tipped her father off. Then the feds arrived because we’d told them we were taking him into custody, and all hell broke loose. We lost control of the operation, and they took over,” Dan said.
He’d never forgotten the look on Leah’s face when he walked her father out of the house in cuffs. She’d been devastated, pale and crying, and all he could think was that she needed him, and he couldn’t go to her.
“Well, you need to talk this out with her now, bro. You and her, you have this connection. Anyone can see it, and Birdie is making my life hell because of it,” Sawyer said.
“Yeah, I can see how fucking hard this is on you, bro,” Dan drawled.
“Look. All we’re trying to say,” Ryder, the peacemaker, said, “is that you and her could have a future, and clearing the air is the way to make that happen.”
“Is that what we’re saying? Man, we’re good at this shit,” Brody drawled.
“I’m not talking about the rest of this with you. If I talk to anyone, it will be Leah.”And he would be talking to her.
“Has anything gone down between you two since she came back?” Sawyer asked, giving him a look he’d perfected by watching Uncle Asher.
Dan was a grown-ass adult and a deputy who had been making his own decisions for years. But he couldn’t stop the color that started in his neck and climbed into his face at his big brother’s words.
“No way!” Ryder said and then whistled.
“What?” Brody asked.
“I thought she hated you?” Sawyer said, ignoring the question.
“It’s complicated, and this discussion is over,” Dan said, picking up his beer and drinking deep to hide the color in his cheeks.
“Aww, come on, we need to live through you now, seeing as we’re happily coupled,” Ryder said.
“What did I miss?” Brody demanded.
“You are not that dumb,” Sawyer said.
Brody frowned and then smiled. “Oh, I get it now.”
“Happily coupled?” asked Red, who was pouring two beers. He’d been listening to everyone’s business for years, and probably knew more about the residents of Lyntacky than anybody else in town. “Is that one of those new things?”
“New things?” Dan looked at Red. “What new things?”
“New phrases like flexitarianism?”
The Dukes all looked at him blankly.
Red settled a beefy arm on the bar. “It’s like a halfway thing between eating meat every day and being a vegetarian. You still eat meat, but not all the time, which I personally think is a cop-out, but what can you do?” Red added.
“You’re shitting me?” Sawyer said. “And I’ll add, how do you know this crap, Red?”
The big man smiled. “Kids, bud. You have to keep learning so when they throw something at you, you’re prepared.”
“How did a word like flexitarianism come up in conversation?” Brody asked.
“One of the kids is dabbling in becoming a non-meat eater,” Red said.
“So, a vegetarian, then?” Dan said.
