Page 123 of Renewal After Dark

Her eyes got wide. “Is shehere? Now?”

Before he could reply, he was horrified to see tears in her eyes. What the hell was happening? “What’s going on, Sierra?”

“Nothing. I’ll go. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

She was out the door before he could stop her, so he followed her into the yard.

“Sierra. Stop.”

He honestly couldn’t believe what he was seeing when she crumpled before his eyes, dropping into one of the Adirondack chairs near his firepit and weeping as if her heart had been demolished. “Did something happen?”

She shook her head as she continued to sob.

Duke sat next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Tell me what’s going on.”

The Sierra he knew and loved didn’t cry. She made other people cry. He was truly unsettled to see her so upset, and he couldn’t help but wonder what McKenzie must be thinking after another woman had come barging into his home like she lived there at the worst possible time.

“They found Billy.”

Duke gasped. “Oh damn.”

As a daily regular at the gym, Sierra had been closer to him than Duke was. “I’m sorry. I was so hoping he’d be found alive.”

“I know. We all were. His poor brother. Did you know it was just the two of them? Their parents and sister all died young.”

“No, I didn’t. That’s so sad.”

A few minutes passed before Sierra had pulled herself together to the point where she could speak. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have barged in on you like that.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Is something else other than Billy upsetting you?”

“It’s going to sound so stupid.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“You have better things to do than listen to me freak out.”

They’d been friends for a long time, and he’d never seen her freak out, which was why it was so disconcerting to see her this way.

She wiped her face and seemed to force herself to look at him. “Remember that I told you this is going to sound stupid…” She took a deep breath and then released it. “As we get, you know, deeper into our thirties, I guess I had it in my mind that if it never happened for us, we might, you know, end up together.”

Duke stared at her almost as if he were seeing her for the first time. Her confession shocked him.

“It told you it was stupid. Seeing you with McKenzie kind of forced me to confront some things, and… I’m sorry. I never should’ve come here and barged into your house like that.”

“You’re welcome here any time. You know that.”

“I do. I know that.” She glanced at him through the loose strands of her hair. “I’ve made everything weird between us now, haven’t I?”

“No, but you’ve surprised me. I didn’t know you thought of me as your backup plan.”

“Don’t put it that way.”

“Isn’t that what it would’ve been, though?”

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