Page 40 of Golden Rule

“Eh, yes and no. But the thing is, I’d only ever want to relive those days if I could have my partner back. So…”

He trails off there, and I imagine his thoughts are on Detective Roby—his former partner, Dez’s late father. He used the word partner, but they were much more than that. They were friends.

“There’s also the fact that I’m not exactly a young man anymore, so I think I’ll stick to hanging drywall.”

He smiles, and I get the impression that, despite his comment about how he maybe misses being a cop, he’s genuinely content.

“What about you, West? Ready for the season to start? You’ve got training camp starting soonish, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir. And with any luck, we’ll be all settled into the new house by then.”

“New house?” Dad passes a look toward me. “Scar mentioned you guys were looking, but…”

“Yeah, we just found it. We’re calling our agent to make an offer tomorrow.”

His eyes light up. “That’s wonderful! When you two get ready to move in, call me. I’ll bring my dolly.”

The sweet gesture brings a smile to my face. “Sounds like a plan.”

He reclines in his seat, reaching for a can of soda resting on the end table. “I’m proud of you two.Damnproud. Scar, too.”

“Thank you, Sir,” West says.

My dad nods, then pauses to send another text, but his praise of me and Scar has me thinking of the sibling hedidn’tmention.

“Heard from Hunter lately? Getting him on the phone for an actual conversation is nearly impossible.”

“Yeah, same here. And when hedoespick up, it’s to give me attitude,” he adds with a sigh. “But from what I gather, he’s doing well, just hardheaded as they come. He’s had a tough time getting on his feet, but the guy just won’t accept anyone’s help. He’s hellbent on doing it all himself, but I keep telling him that life doesn’t always work like that.”

“Well, if you get a hold of him before I do, let him know it’d be nice if we got to see him sometime.”

Dad smiles. “Will do. Maybe knowing the message is fromyouwill actually light a fire under his ass.”

He reaches for his phone again, sending a third text. I lock eyes with West, and he seems to notice how every chime of my dad’s notifications steals his focus. It has to either be a work thing or a woman, but before I can think on it deeper, I’m distracted by the sound of a door slamming down the hallway. Then, the next thing I hear are my sister’s familiarly heavy footsteps bounding this way.

“Any chance Hannah’s stopping by tonight?” Scar asks, stepping into the living room in an oversized, pink bathrobe, a towel over her face as she dries her hair. “I think I can touch up her color in the morning if she still wants me to. I’m?—”

Her words cut off when she lifts her head, laying eyes on me and West. She smiles, seemingly happy to see us, but then she casts a look toward our father. And I’m pretty sure I know why.

“Hannah?” I ask as Scar mouths the wordwhoopsto Dad, then slowly drops down on the other end of the sofa.

The room is completely silent for a solid ten seconds, like someone’s sucked out all the air.

“Yeah.” Dad shoots an annoyed look Scar’s way for having just blurted out that name.

“Hannah’s just?—”

“I’ll take it from here, Scar,” he says, cutting my sister off as her face reddens. “So, Hannah isn’t a secret per se, but this didn’t really seem like the right time to bring her up. She’s been in my life about six months now, and I guess you could say things are starting to get serious.”

My brow shoots up with that word.

Serious.

I can feel the smile frozen on my face, and I’m not sure why I can’t speak. I’m not some child, holding out hope that my parents will get their shit together and reunite. Actually, together, they were the definition oftoxic.I suppose I’m just… concerned. He’s dated other women casually, and I haven’t had much to say about that, but knowing he’s thinking it’s different this time does make me a bit nervous.

Things going bad with Mom is what drove him to the bottle in the first place. Who’s to say a rough patch with whoeverHannahis won’t have him back at the bar, a slave to the bottle, breaking my sister’s heart.

Again.

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