Page 70 of Rules to Love By

“One more question.”

Marcus shrugged.

“If you could, would you find your sisters?”

“I guess Tris told you about them?”

Ozzy nodded.

“Nobody ever told me where they ended up. I’d have never lost them if I’d had a choice.”

Ozzy touched his knuckles, the gentleness of the contact shocking him into releasing his hair. “Maybe don’t be too angry with your father, or your grandfather, until you know iftheyhad a choice.”

“What?” Marcus stared up at him, where he was once again leaning on the edge of the desk.

“It’s just a thought. All your life, you’ve been wearing the shoes of the lost little boy. Which is fair. That’s who you were. But it’s only part of you. You’re also the big brother who wanted something different. Something you were never given the choice to have. What if your father isn’t just the guy who knocked a girl up, but the father who was never given a choice? Or your grandfather was the son who was bullied into a life he wouldn’t have chosen for himself? All I’m suggesting is that you consider things from other angles.”

“You think Aunt Iris was wrong about her own parents?”

“I guess we’ll never know that. But maybe she wanted something for Johnathan that no one else offered him.”

“He’s not a good man, Ozzy.”

“I didn’t say he was. That’s not for me to judge. She could have wanted something for him that he didn’t want for himself. Maybe even didn’t deserve. Just don’t be so angry with her over him, you lose sight of the life she gave you. The life she wanted you to have. She raised you, her brother’s offspring. Maybe she wanted to see the same good in his other son that she knew was in his grandson. And maybe it was a wasted effort, but at least she tried.”

“You think I should try to find my family?”

“I think you should seriously consider things before you write off the last connection you have with them.”

“The diner.”

“Not everyone’s family is good. Not everyone should be in your life just because you share blood. So your family tree is a little gnarled. Maybe don’t cut down the whole tree because one branch is punky.”

“I don’t know how to do any of this.”

Ozzy patted his shoulder. “I know. And that’s okay. Finish your work on the barbershop. Learn some stuff. Get a bit of stability.”

“And if Johnathan sells the diner in the meantime?”

“You tell Madeline you don’t want that to happen, and I bet she finds someone to start digging into things.” He straightened from the desk, tugging at his belt to situate his jeans more snuggly on his hips. “Those lawyer types know all sorts.”

Marcus nodded. “I guess I’ll call her.”

“That’s a good idea.” Ozzy sat back in his chair and perched the glasses back on his nose. He didn’t even look up when Marcus eventually took his coffee and wandered out.

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

Why Ozzy couldn’t have stayed just Tris’s grumpy, silent tree of a boyfriend, Marcus didn’t know. He had to go and offer advice. Be nice. Care, even.

And Marcus couldn’t gripe to Tris about it, because it was Sunday, and on Sundays, Tris ran the B and B’s kitchen, with Jake helping him out with the dishes and Jake’s girlfriend, Lucy, waiting tables and manning the counter. Well, he could gripe, actually, even if he couldn’t do it privately.

“And that’s what I’m going to do,” he told himself. “And if he doesn’t want to hear me bitch about it, next time, he can tell his stupid boyfriend to mind his own business.”

Mind made up, he stomped over to the Oaks’ spacious kitchen where delicious smells of Tris’s baking filled the room.

“Hey.” He threw himself onto one of the stools across from where Tris ran a silicone spatula around a bowl, urging a silky chocolate concoction into a pan.

“Hello to you, too.” He set the bowl and spatula aside, from where Jake whisked it away. Tris grinned at Marcus. “Wow. Super-grumpy face. What’s up?”

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