Hotshot and Hospitality by Nora Everly

Chapter 30

Garrett

I’d blown it. I pushed too hard and ruined everything. I’d felt the pieces of my life start clicking into place, and instead of waiting for her to fit in on her own time, I tried to force it to happen. Maybe I was an idiot for leaving like I did, but the look on her face was killing me. It was a mixture of pity and fear that no man ever wanted to see.

I had rushed her; I knew it now. When we reconnected, time had ceased to matter. I’d been too busy falling in love with her to notice how much of it had passed. Or too little, as the case may be.

I got into my new truck and drove. I had to get away from her.

The sun started to set and I realized I’d been driving for hours. With a turn of the wheel, I headed for Barrett’s house. Wyatt and Everett were both too happy with their wives to understand how I felt and I didn’t want to be around either of them.

We could watch something historical and violent on Netflix. Maybe a war documentary or one of the Captain America movies. I could order a pizza and Barrett almost always had beer in the fridge.

It was okay. I swiped beneath my eyes with my wrist.

Shit.

Everything would be fine.

Probably.

I’d see her tomorrow and we’d be back to normal.

Maybe.

I pulled into Barrett’s driveway and knocked on the door. He had a big house in town— four bedrooms, three bathrooms, huge yard—bought back when he and his ex-wife had planned on filling the place up with kids. Back before she cheated on him, then moved to Knoxville with her boyfriend. Now his daughter was in Knoxville too, and he missed her every day.

“Hey, man.” His head drew back as he studied my face. “Catching a cold? Your eyes are all red.”

“Uh, yeah. I must be.” I swiped at my eyes again with the back of my hand.

“What’s up?”

“Uh, wanna hang out? We could order pizza—”

He stepped aside with a knowing smile. “It’s your lucky night because pizza is already on the way. Go sit down and I’ll grab us some beers.”

“Seems like we’re in similar moods.”

“We might just be. Hit play. I’ll be right back.” I headed toward Barrett’s living room while trying to force Molly out of my mind.

Impossible.

I was keeping it together. Right until I saw what Barrett was watching. Avengers: Age of Ultron. He was right at the part where goddamn Captain America was standing in the doorway of Hawkeye’s house on that fucking farm in the middle of nowhere. Cap knew he’d never have anything close to what he saw right there in that living room. No family. No home of his own with kids and a wife or a fucking dog to run around and play fetch with.

Stan could use a mother, damn it.

I was motherfucking Captain America right now. I was all alone because I screwed everything up.

Shit.I pressed my palms to my eyes as my emotions started to leak out.

The bottom of a cold bottle pressed into my temple and I opened my eyes. “Bro, you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s, uh, the movie. This part always gets me. Fucking Captain America . . .” My eyes burned; more tears pricked at the back, but I managed to hold them at bay.

“Maybe you have something in your eye?” Barrett suggested gently as tears started to spill over in earnest.

Shit. “Uh yeah, I had the windows down when I was driving over here, maybe some pollen or dirt or something blew in . . .” I sniffled. Barrett knew I didn’t have something in my eye. He even knew that my tears had jack shit to do with Captain America. Maybe he already knew it was all about Molly. My heart felt like it had been through a meat grinder. It fucking hurt.

“Here. Give it a minute. Take a deep breath.” It sounded like he was telling me to shake off a basketball to the face or a fall off a bike like when we were kids, totally cool, like everything was normal. He passed me a box of tissues, then sat down next to me on the couch.

He flicked the movie off and switched it to ESPN. One deep, shuddering breath later and I felt like I could breathe again, sort of. “Thanks.” I took the tissue box and grabbed a handful to wipe my runny nose.

What the hell was wrong with me?

“You know how she is, man. Whatever happened tonight, you just have to ride it out. You know that, right? That girl is yours and everyone knows it. She even knows it. You’ve been talking about her like she’s some kind of princess since you were toddlers. And she’s always looked at you like you were her big hero. Always. We all saw it.” He was right. Of course. Part of my heart had always been hers. No wonder I had lost my shit—there were women and then there was Molly. I let my head drop forward, digging my hands into the back of my neck as I inhaled a huge breath.

“Yeah, okay. You’re right,” I managed to choke out.

He patted my back, then left his hand there. “She’ll come around. Ride it out, Garrett. You’re okay for now. You can crash in one of my many empty bedrooms tonight, yeah?”

Of course he’d figured me out. That’s what made him a great big brother. I nodded. “Yeah, thanks. Ride it out. Yeah, I can do that,” I agreed and wiped my eyes with another handful of tissue.

“It’s all you can do, really. Pushing too hard always ends up pushing them away. You gotta keep that in mind . . .” he mumbled, more to himself than to me.

“I won’t do any more pushing if it ends up like this. Fuck, man, this sucks.”

“Shit, I know it.”

“Don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”

“To the grave, Garrett.”

“Thanks.” We ate pizza, finished off a six-pack of beer and mindlessly watched ESPN despite the fact that neither one of us were sports fans until bedtime. Not one more word was spoken about Molly, but I felt much better.