Page 35 of Secret Southern Promises

“Boone,” I called out, hating the way my voice wavered.

He didn’t stop, didn’t even turn around, but he shook his head. “Later, Dolly. Later.”

And just like that, he was gone, leaving me standing there in the middle of the street, my heart pounding in my chest, torn between the past and the present. I took a deep breath and forced myself to focus on what mattered most right now—Nash.

I climbed into the car and glanced over at him. He was leaning his head back against the seat, his eyes closed, but I could tell he was still in pain.

“How’s the arm?” I asked softly and reached over to touch his good hand.

“Hurts,” he admitted, his voice small and far more vulnerable than I was used to hearing.

“We’ll be at the doctor’s in no time,” I said, trying to reassure him as I started the engine. “They’ll take care of you.”

Nash nodded, but he didn’t say anything else. I glanced over at him again as we drove through town, my thoughts swirling like a storm. Boone knew now, and there was no going back. I’d spent the last fourteen years building a wall between my past and my present, trying to protect Nash from a truth I wasn’t surehe needed to know. But that wall had just come crashing down, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to pick up the pieces.

We pulled into the clinic’s parking lot, and I helped Nash out of the car, my mind still racing. As we walked inside, I tried to push thoughts of Boone away. I needed to be present for Nash, to make sure he was okay. Everything else could wait.

An hour later, the doctor confirmed what I had feared—a clean break in Nash’s arm, just like Boone had guessed. He’d need a sling and splint, not a cast, which seemed to be the only bright spot in Nash’s evening.

“See?” Nash said, shooting me a triumphant grin as the nurse helped him with the sling. “Told you I didn’t need a cast.”

I forced a smile, my mind still on Boone. “You were right, kiddo.”

Once we were done at the clinic, we headed home. The long evening pressed down on me as I drove through the familiar streets of Magnolia Grove, the town that held so many memories and secrets—both good and bad.

I was pretty sure I had kept the biggest secret the longest. Except now it was out.

I glanced over at Nash and sighed.

Yeah, what they said was true. Secrets always come to light, and they always hurt the ones you were trying to protect.

I wished I could take it back, but the only thing I could do now was just face it and ride it out.

Chapter Twenty-One

Boone

I sat there in my truck and gripped the steering wheel tighter than I should’ve been. My knuckles were turning white, and I couldn’t seem to loosen my hold. It felt like if I let go, I might lose my grip on the rest of it—the thoughts, the anger, the confusion.

Goddamn.

I had a fourteen-year-old son I knew nothing about.

Nash.

The name was still spinning around in my head, tangled up in all the years I’d lost. All the things I didn’t know—his favorite color, what made him laugh, hell, even what he looked like when he was a baby.

I glanced at my phone again. Dolly had texted me earlier, right after they’d gotten back from the doctor’s. Nash had broken his arm, she said. They were home. I stared at her message for a while but didn’t reply. What the hell was I supposed to say? I wasn’t ready. Didn’t have the words, or maybe I didn’t trust myself to put them together in any kind of way that wouldn’t end in me blowing up.

I pulled into her driveway just after eight with Nash’s bike in the back of my truck. The damn thing was busted—bent tire, scratched frame. He wouldn’t be able to ride it for weeks with his broken arm, and I was already planning on fixing it. It was the least I could do. Maybe the only thing I could do right now.

The porch light flicked on. Dolly stepped out with arms wrapped tight around her middle and stood in the light like a ghost from the past. Her eyes were on me, heavy with answers I wasn’t sure I was ready for. But I needed them. Needed the truth.

I climbed out of the truck, grabbed the bike, and carried it up to the porch. The tension between us was thick enough to choke on. I leaned the bike against the railing. “He’s going to need a new wheel. I already got one ordered. Once it’s here, I’ll fix it.”

She nodded. “Thank you, Boone. You don’t need to fix it, though.”

I clenched my jaw.

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