The sun was dropping behind the trees, casting long shadows across the field. Fireflies had started blinking to life in the tall grass, and everything felt still and quiet. It had only been a week since his last speech, but I took a deep breath to prepare myself for another.
“You gonna tell me what really brought you home tonight?” Gramps asked, voice low and casual. He didn’t expect an answer, but I knew he would sit there until I gave him one.
I took a sip of the tea, then let out another slow breath. “I needed to get out of the city.”
“That ain’t the same thing as coming home.”
I didn’t respond. Mostly because I didn’t know how to explain that I had imploded my entire afternoon over a single sentence I couldn’t take back. That I was already preparing to lie again, to invent a woman and a love story and a future just to secure a deal that had nothing to do with either.
I’d never lied like that before. Not in business. And sure as hell not about something as big as a relationship. But I also couldn’t admit that I was unraveling. Not out loud. Not even to Gramps.
So instead, I gave him the only truth I could offer. “I just needed to breathe.”
Gramps nodded, slow and understanding, in the way that always made me feel like a little kid again. But then he tilted his head toward me and added, “Breathing is easier when you stop running.”
My jaw clenched. Anger started coming to the surface, but it was mostly at myself. Had I not lost control of myself, I wouldn’t have been there in the first place. I’d have waited until Sunday dinner to come into town, and having everyone around would have been enough of a distraction to keep Gramps off my back.
“I’ll head over to the lake house,” I said instead of arguing as though I hadn’t just been emotionally cornered. “Appreciate the tea.”
Gramps didn’t argue. Didn’t tell me to stay. He had seen Marcus, my driver, making his way down the long drive and knew I’d have an escape in a matter of seconds anyway.
“You know where to find us,” he said.
Always.
Before Marcus even had the car in park, I jogged down the steps and slid into the front seat. Technically, it wasn’t protocol. He hated when I sat up front, saying it wasn’t safe. But it wasn’t like I was high on any hit lists. Or at least, I hoped not.
Marcus, ex-Secret Service and built like a human wall, didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. Nor did I. He knew when I took off from Atlanta that he would have to come find me, and he knew exactly where to look and where we were going.
Times like this made having multiple properties in the area a real advantage. I usually flipped them fast, but the lake house was one I’d kept for myself. Quiet. Secluded. Mine.
I’d only stayed there once before, a few weeks back when Miles was spiraling over falling in love, and I needed to be close.
The house sat on the edge of Echo Lake, with a dock that creaked when you walked on it and a hammock that had never been used.
Lonely.
When we arrived, I punched the code to the front door and dropped a bag Marcus had brought me inside. Then I immediately went out to the back deck, where the stars felt closer than they ever did in the city.
I should’ve felt peace.
Instead, I stood there pretending I wasn’t the one who set the fire burning under my own damn feet. Pretending I wasn’t the son who blamed himself. The man who lied to get what he wanted. The guy who didn’t believe he deserved real happiness, but still wanted something that didn’t feel so damn empty.
The guy who hadn’t just told a bold face lie to get what he wanted from a man he respected.
It was too much, and before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed my jacket off the chair in the living room and ran toward the door.
“Marcus,” I yelled, hoping he was still nearby. “I need to get out of here.”
Chapter Three
BLUE
Every day,I told Dad I was headed to the job I loved.
Every day, I lied.
And every day, I moaned as I drove to Fiddlers with the weight of that lie pressing harder with each passing mile.
