Page 50 of Coming Home

I can’t help but laugh at Austin’s impatience. He never was one for numbers and doesn’t like to discuss them. “Yes, Walker did offer me a job, but I told him that I needed to say no… for now.” I look at all my brothers except for Beau. I don’t want to give anything away that I’m not supposed to. “That may change in the future, but for now, I’m going to be working here.”

Beau stands up. “Okay, my turn.”

The usually cool and calm brother pushes his chair back and starts pacing back and forth. My brothers are looking at him in surprise, and all I can feel is sympathy for him. Beau stops and crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m taking a month off.”

Ford leans forward. “You’re doing what?”

Austin and Lucas look between Ford and Beau, waiting for it all to play out. I lean back in my chair, waiting for my cue to step in.

Beau continues talking. “I don’t know how else to say it but to just say it. Natalie wants a divorce, and I’m going to do everything I can to stop that from happening.”

Ford is shaking his head. “Damn, brother. I knew you were having problems, but I had no idea—”

Beau cuts him off. “Yeah, it’s bad. But I can’t lose her. I won’t.”

Lucas and Austin look worried, just as we all are. It’s hard to see our brother hurting and not knowing what we can do to help.

“You’re not going to lose her, Beau. You’re going to work it out.”

He nods. “Are you going to tell them, or am I?”

“What?” Ford asks.

I look at Beau, and he nods his head. “I’m going to take over for Beau until he comes back.”

I wait for that bombshell to settle in, but my brothers’ only reactions are raised eyebrows. Another time, I’d probably laugh at their expressions, but now’s not the time. “He’s been working with me on the spreadsheets and showing me where I need to plug in numbers. Ellie is a whiz in spreadsheets, so she’s going to be helping me. But if anything comes up, I can reach Beau for help. I promise not to fuck it up.”

Ford nods his head. “Good. Sounds good to me.”

I rear back. “Sounds good?”

Ford rolls his eyes. “Huddy, you don’t get it. We all believe in you. To us, you can do anything. Of course we know you can handle this.” He turns to Beau. “Now for you, I’m sorry that you couldn’t talk about this with us…”

Beau has never been one to talk about his emotions, and this is no different. “It’s sort of hard to tell you all that my marriage is failing… that I’ve fucked up…”

Austin’s voice raises in the room. “Bullshit. Did you cheat on Natalie? No way. I don’t believe it.”

Beau looks almost pained when he answers. “No, of course I didn’t… but I did fuck up. Now I’m going to make it right. I have to.”

I’ve never seen Beau look the way he does right now. Truth is, he probably wouldn’t have confided in me, but I cornered him yesterday. I needed to talk to him after having to help his drunk ass home that night at the Whistler. I knew then that something wasn’t right. And I get why it’s hard to talk to Lucas, Ford, or Austin about it. Lucas and Ford are in brand-new relationships and involved in their own lives. I’m not sure what’s going on with Austin, but yeah, I sort of had to force it out of Beau.

“So we’re good with this?” I ask, trying to get the attention off Beau.

Ford nods. “Yeah, we’re good with this.”

As soon as the meeting is adjourned, I give Beau a big hug and make my way down the hallway. I stop in front of Ellie’s desk. “Do you have time for a walk?”

She smiles up at me. “A walk?”

I nod, and I must not be very good at hiding my worry because her smile drops, and she stands up. “Yeah, sure. I’ll just transfer the phone to my cell.”

Lilian waves her off. “You guys go. I have the phones.”

I grab on to Elle’s hand and thank Lilian.

Neither one of us says anything until we’re outside. Ellie tugs on my hand. “What’s wrong?”

I wrap my arm around her. “Nothing, I just wanted to be with you.”

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