breakfast this morning, but otherwise she’s good. She’ll be at your parents’ today for a bit while I take care of a few things at the shop.”
“Need me to grab her? Maybe I can take her out to the new house.”
“No!” she shouts then quieter she says, “No. She’s fine at your parents’ house. I want to be with her when she goes to the new house.”
I scrunch my eyebrows and sit quietly. Something’s up with her, but right now with Tyson breathing down my neck, I’m not about to beg her to open up to me. She’ll do it when she’s ready. Or, when we’re alone tonight I’ll pull it out of her.
We say our goodbyes and I set my phone down in the cupholder next to my Coke.
“Everything all right?”
“Yeah. Family stuff.” I know I’m being a little cagey, not wanting to give him all the information, but why would I open up to Tyson about anything? We haven’t been friends or even spoken since the night I found him having sex with Lizzy. I may not care about it anymore, but that doesn’t mean I want to become close buddies with him again. I might have asked him to help me move, but it’s not as if I’m actually planning on following through with that.
His expression falls and he nods. “Still want to meet up?”
“Not tonight. I’ve got somewhere I need to be. I’ll text you.”
He looks at me like he doesn’t believe I’ll follow up with him and honestly, I don’t really care. Right now, I have a meeting with the bank and then it’s time to figure this out between Addy and me. Maybe she’s going to tell me that she’s okay with me being around Zoey but I’m pushing too much with her.
“Oh my gosh!” I hear screeched and I wince. “Beau and Tyson? It’s my lucky day!”
Tyson’s eyes are wide and panicked. “No way. She’s here?”
“That she is.” Since I’m already in the driver’s seat, I slam my door shut and grin at Tyson. “Enjoy the reunion. I’m sure Lizzy missed you.”
“So that’s how it is, huh?”
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted her so badly. Go get her.”
He mumbles, “She was never the one I wanted.” And I know I wasn’t supposed to hear it, but I did. But I also know exactly his meaning.
It took me a few years to figure it out, and I probably wouldn’t have, if it hadn’t been for Suzie telling me Tyson was in love with Addy when we were in high school. He actually came to Suzie and asked for advice after asking Addy out on a few dates and getting turned down.
As I’m driving away, watching in my rearview mirror as Lizzy practically attacks Tyson, a memory surfaces that I haven’t thought of in years. The night that Addy and I caught Tyson and Lizzy together, she said something to me when I dropped her off and at the time, I didn’t think anything of it. The words vibrate in my mind, pinging around rapidly and settling in.
“There’s one thing you always had that he wanted. Even if you didn’t know you had it, it’s been yours all along.”
“Holy shit.”
“It’s been yours all along…”
“You always had that he wanted…”
“It’s been yours all along…”
Holy. Shit.
Chapter Thirteen
Beau
My knee bounces throughout my time at the bank, just wanting to be done with it already. I can’t stop wondering if she was mine all along. All that time I wasted not manning up and admitting my feelings.
Luckily, it doesn’t take us long to sign the documents and before I know it, I’m walking out the door with Grant by my side.
“Well, that was painless.”
“Says you. I’m the one who just bought half a company. When I wake up in the middle of the night in cold sweats, I’ll give you a call.”
He laughs, his hands resting on his slightly rounded stomach. “You’ll get used to the feeling. Trust me, boy, if I didn’t believe in the business and know it was successful, I wouldn’t bring you in.”
“I know. And I’m grateful for the opportunity and the faith you have in me that I’m not going to send your retirement into the shitter.”
“Sounds like it’s a good thing I have enough faith for the both of us. Everything else okay? You get a house settled yet? You got everything squared away for your crews to start next week?”
“Pretty much. We’ll have to do some back and forth traveling until we