Page 26 of Talulah's Back in Town

“I am now.” Physically, anyway. Inside, he felt like shit—had no idea how he’d repair his relationship with Charlie.

Lines of consternation appeared on Kurt’s forehead as he put his hat back on. “What was it you ran into? Because it looks like you hit your face, too.”

“I smacked into the ceiling of the basement. The damn thing was too low. Charlie did the rest.”

Kurt forced his horse’s head back up, which made Fancy prance around. “Did you sayCharlie? Was it an accident?”

“It was intentional. But I don’t want to make a big deal of it.” Eager to get into the house, if only to avoid more questions, Brant tried to go around the horse and his brother, but Kurt urged Fancy forward, cutting him off.

“Dude, how is it not a big deal that your best friend punched you in the face?”

“I dodged the brunt of it,” he replied. “Didn’t even hurt.”

“What made him mad in the first place?”

“Finding my truck at Talulah’s.”

“You didn’t tell him about the concussion?”

“Didn’t have the chance.”

“He wouldn’t even let you explain? What an asshole!”

Brant hated playing the innocent. Kurt was only making the guilt he felt worse. He didn’t want his brothers rising to his defense when he reallyhaddone what Charlie was upset about. But he kept going back to that conversation with Talulah and telling himself that handling the situation as she’d requested would hurt Charlie less, even though it made him feel like the biggest jerk on earth. “He’s not an asshole. I can see why he’d be mad.”

“Why? You didn’t sleep with her, did you?”

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore, Kurt. Will you get out of my way?”

His little brother’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Youdidsleep with her.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“But that’s why Charlie’s mad, isn’t it? Has he even spoken to her since she left?” He leaned on the horn of his saddle, rubbing his beard growth with one gloved hand. “Jeez, I was, what...ten or eleven when that whole thing went down. He still cares that much after so long?”

“Obviously.” He gestured at the damage to his truck. “He backed into the front of my truck on purpose, too.”

Kurt’s jaw dropped. “Oh, man, I’d kick his ass.”

“He’s my best friend.”

“I don’t care who he is. That right there would be the line.”

“I’m not going to kick his ass. Will you move?” he asked again.

“One more sec,” his brother said. “Are you and Talulah together now?”

“Of course not,” he replied. “She’s only in town for her great aunt’s funeral.”

“So...you and Charlie will be able to get beyond this?”

“I hope so,” he said as Kurt finally allowed him to circumvent Fancy. But there was no way to be sure. He’d never seen his friend quite that upset, not since the wedding.

He’d been a shortsighted idiot. But that didn’t change the fact that he’d enjoyed every second of it.

Talulah sat on the floor of the basement, hugging her knees to her chest in front of the portable air conditioner. She was trying to block out the thoughts bombarding her brain by simply listening to the whir of the fan. What had she been thinking? Why had she allowed herself to get involved with Brant? While she and Paul weren’t officially together, she knew he wouldn’t be happy about her sleeping with another man.

And there was Charlie, of course.

---