Broken Promises (Broken Series) - By Dawn Pendleton Page 0,25
some small town hillbilly.” I laughed at his hurt look.
“I could say the same to you about Mallory except she’s working at the bank.” He raised his brow at me and I knew he was right.
“We’re hopeless, you know that?”
He laughed. “Yeah, the only way we could be any worse was if we were hanging out with Gabby’s ex, and he was complaining, too.”
“Have you ever met Wolfe?” I asked.
“No, I don’t think so. He’s not from here, is he?”
“He’s from Florida, I think. He spent summers here as a kid, but he’s a few years older than us, so that’s probably why you don’t remember him. He moved here permanently when he started dating Gabby. I met him a few times and didn’t think he was a bad guy. I wonder what happened with those two?”
“Gabby is nuts. That’s what happened to them,” he said.
“Don’t be an ass. Every woman is crazy and that’s a fact.”
“Ain’t that the truth? We should call him up and have him join our ‘Love struck without a chance’ support group.”
“We should. I heard he’s still living here until after the divorce is final to make it easier on Gabby,” I said.
We both laughed, at him and ourselves. We’d all fallen in love with a woman who wanted nothing to do with each of us.
“Call him up and have him meet us at the bar tonight. Rainey is helping Mallory out with her dad, so we know they won’t be at The Landing tonight. I’ll ask Gabby to go over and give them a hand,” he said.
“That’s a great idea. And tomorrow, when Joe kills us for sticking him with three angry women, we’ll at least have had a good night of drinking to think on and decide it was worth it! I’ll call Wolfe a bit later. I have to get to the site and do some work today. You working at the site with me?”
“Yeah, I guess. I don’t have anything else to do until the bar opens at four.” Baker sighed.
He loved the bar, but it had drained him financially, so he helped out at whatever jobsite I was on whenever he could and J.P. paid him under the table. That’s the way it was done in a small town.
“Want to drive me in?” I asked. “I just need to change.”
He nodded and waited for me. On the way to the jobsite, I called Wolfe and he agree to come to The Landing, but only if we could guarantee Gabby wouldn’t be there. Baker called Gabby and she fell for his plan perfectly, so we promised Wolfe she wouldn’t be there.
We made plans to meet at The Landing at seven.
NINE
Mallory
I had a hard time getting my dad settled in. The fact that he wasn’t the same amazingly strong man I remembered was killing me. Rainey pulled up as close as she could to the steps of the front porch and even walking from the car to the living room seemed to exhaust him. It didn’t seem likely he would suddenly surprise everyone and beat the cancer. I was more worried about him with every step he took.
Luckily, our house was a single story, which meant he didn’t have to climb any stairs once he was inside. But he was still tired. He sat on the couch and rested for nearly an hour before he felt well enough to make the trek to his bedroom. Once Rainey and I got him settled in bed, he laid back and almost immediately fell asleep. I stood there, staring at pale skin that had once been tan, at sunken eyes that had once been vibrant and full of life, and my heart broke.
Rainey pulled me out of his room. “He needs rest,” she said.
Tears started to fall onto my cheeks but I couldn’t control them. Rainey pulled me into a hug and squeezed me tight. I started to hyperventilate.
“He’s so sick … I can’t do anything … I don’t … Think I can do this …” I stuttered between gasps for air.
Rainey didn’t speak right away, choosing instead to just hold me until I calmed. She pulled me down on the couch in the living room and we sat there in a hug for a long time. When my anxiety finally started to relent, Rainey pulled away from me. I was still shivering but I managed not to burst into tears again.