Page 86 of Silver Sanctuary
“You have been here for a really long time,” Embrie teased.
“Yeah, yeah. You and your mom really like the old man jokes don’t you?”
She nodded, the genuine smile on her face replacing her worry.
“It’s never about the number of friends you have, Embrie. It’s about the quality of those friendships. Onefriend who sees you for who you truly are and loves you for it? That’s worth more than a thousand surface-level friendships.”
She nodded. “I only have two surface-level friends.”
“Maybe you’ll make some new connections today.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Her shoulders and back straightened, lining up in determination. “You’ll be here at one-thirty to pick me up?”
“I will.”
Embrie nodded before she swung the truck’s door open, scooting to the edge of her seat. “Oh…”
“You oka?—”
Embrie turned and launched herself into his chest.
“Thank you, Nash.” Her arms squeezed as she rested her head against his heart.
“Anytime, kiddo.”
Someone was walking down the hall at Montgomery Defense, jingling their keys on the way to their office. Nash lifted his head, waiting to see which of his buddies was also in on the weekend trying to get ahead with work.
“What are you doing here?” Stone leaned against the door frame to his office.
“My girls are both occupied, so I figured I’d hang out here until one of them was back.”
“God,” he scoffed.
“What?”
“Nothing, man. It’s just… being married to Lacy… stepping up for Embrie in a fatherly way—fuck. I’m just happy for you.”
Nash nodded, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him. It was one thing to know how special Lacy and Embriewere to him. It was a completely different thing to have someone outside of his little family acknowledge it.
“Thanks.” Nash cleared his throat. “You here cause Mae’s at lunch with the girls?”
“I fear I’m probably the reason why a girls’ lunch is being had.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mae and I… we aren’t really…”
He groaned as the sad look on his buddy’s face became all too understandable. “You fucked up.”
“What?”
“Stone. In no world do you ever do better than Mae. You are the biggest idiot?—”
“I didn’t want to end things with her!”
“Oh. Then she did? Why?”
“Fuck. Itwasme. I love her, but she deserves someone who can love her out in the open. Who can put a ring on her finger, make her a wife, give her lots of babies. I’m staring down five, ten years of schooling to follow my dreams, and she’s, what? Going to sacrifice all of hers just to be with me? I can’t let that happen. Besides, I’d kind of like to keep my head, and once Hawk found out about us, I’m almost certain he’d make sure I didn’t.”
