Cade stood to help. “I think I prefer fishing.”
“I preferanythingto the girl talk Delia wants us to have.” Linc grabbed three plates at once and set them on the mat. “Are we going to get it over with or what?”
Noah followed suit with a twenty-five-pound weight. “Does this forced intervention have anything to do with the fundraiser?”
“Not exactly.” Cade debated his options. He couldn’t tell them about Rosalyn—not without breaking his word. But if he took the easy way out and blamed his stress on Magnolia Days and the circus, they’d butt in and try to help again.
That left one other reason that was still true. He took a breath. “This is still confidential, but…my dad is retiring from office this year and he wants me to run for mayor.”
“Wow.” Noah tilted his head. “And you’re having second thoughts?”
Cade scoffed. “I wasn’t given first thoughts.”
“I assumed you’d always take his place one day.”
“That seems to be the trend.” Cade forced a laugh. “I guess I didn’t think ‘one day’ would arrive so soon.”
“We’re wasting time.” Linc frowned. “If you don’t want to be mayor, don’t run.” He jammed the last plate on the rack and stepped aside. “Now try again.”
Cade resumed his place on the bench. “You don’t understand. I don’t have a choice—I owe it to my dad.”
“Mayor Landry doesn’t seem the type to make his son do something he hates.” Noah’s voice sounded behind him.
“That’s exactly his type, if it’s for a greater good.” Cade gripped the bar. “I was always in trouble growing up. You remember how often I pranked people?”
Noah laughed. “I remember the Jell-O.”
“That was you!”
“Onetime. Not the others.”
True. “Ninth grade was the worst.” Cade adjusted his grip, knocked out three reps. “I got suspended.”
Noah peered over at him. “I was already in Shreveport then. I don’t know that I ever heard that story.”
“Well, that’s partly because Dad worked hard to hide it.” Cade reached up to the bar again. “I was caught fighting.”
“Slap fight?” Linc snorted.
“Funny. Can you add ten pounds back on?” Cade sat up and waited. “It was over Rosalyn.” Which made two bullies he’d saved her from so far. “And I didn’t get busted for fighting, I got busted for paying a football player to fight.”
“That makes more sense.” Linc chuckled.
Noah ignored him. “Who was the punk?”
“Justin Davies.” Cade cracked his neck. “Who happened to be the principal’s son.”
Linc winced. “That probably didn’t go over well.”
“Dad pulled a lot of strings to bail me out. Then he told me that wasn’t the way a Landry acted.” Cade lay back on the bench. “He said we use words to solve problems, not fists—whether hired or our own.” Even now Dad’s words echoed in his memory. A fair lesson, but the look on his face…
“I can’t even imagine this scenario.” Above Cade, Linc shook his head, man-bun wobbling.
“Justin was talking trash about taking advantage of Rosalyn after a dance. At the time, it felt like the right move to defend her.” Cade lowered the bar into position. “I asked Simon, the massive linebacker, to scare Justin. I didn’t mean for him toactuallybeat him.” Even if the jerk had deserved it.
And then the irony of the situation slammed into his chest. He’d put himself on the line to defend Rosalyn from sleazy guys twice now—once in school, and once at the Lazy Spoon.
So why hadn’t he responded the same way when she told him her story about Blaine? Rather than giving sympathy for a horrible situation, he’d doubted her.
