Page 81 of Lavender Moon

“He’s outsourcing parts?” I ask, having never thought of having to do things like that. I wonder what Pops did when he had to do that.

“Yeah, the guy has actually really turned this place around.” He has a seat on the edge of the desk. “Anyway, he wanted to know what you’d think of him buying the place from you.”

I feel my chin dip low as I try to process what I just heard. “Buy Shane Auto?” I ask for clarification, and he nods, thoughtfully. “Honestly, I think you should consider it. He has the expertise, he’s brought in more customers, our service is higher quality and more efficient than ever…” he counts off all the benefits on his fingers, nodding at me to get me on board.

“And that is all great, but, Jackson, what do you think I joined the military for? So I could go to school and be able to take over this place myself,” I remind him, holding my pocketed hands out.

“I know, and the nobility behind that is invaluable, but it’s at least a three- year plan. The shop is already doing so much better, and that has nothing to do with what you did or didn’t do. It just happened, and it’s been a godsend. Now if you don’t sell to West, I don’t think he’ll walk or anything, but–”

“So you’re asking me to sell to him and then do exactly what with my life?” I ask, pulling my hands from my pockets and crossing my arms as I lean back against the opposite wall.

“Anything you want,” he says with conviction as he pushes off the desk, holding his hands out. “You take the money and instead of taking over for Pops, you do what you want to do. You could open that tattoo parlor and pursue your passion!”

“Pops was all I had in this world, and now you want me to give up his shop?” My voice elevates as my emotions push my brain out of the way, taking the wheel on this one.

“He may be gone, but you have a wife now Kaleb. You two could do something great with that money together.”

The mention of Luna makes my argument with her earlier come roaring back to the front of my mind, cuing me to get something else off my chest. “Yeah, speaking of her, next time you need me for anything you can call me. You don’t have to go through her. I’m stateside and I’ve got my own damn phone.”

Jackson blinks at the change of subjects but goes with it. “Hey, I’m sorry, it’s just habit. She was here a lot while you were gone. She took care of Jacob so I could get more work done, and that made a huge difference.”

Too much is happening too fast on very little sleep and the screaming pain in my leg. My logic has left the fucking building, leaving nothing but a few petty emotions in charge. “Great, well it sounds like everyone has this under control,” I huff out spitefully as I push off the wall and head for the door.

“Kaleb, come on,” Jackson holds his hand out, trying to stop me. “You know damn well it’s not like that.”

“Glad I could help. Lemme know if you need me to go to war for nothing again,” I mock salute on my way out the door.

“Kaleb!” Jackson shouts after me, I keep walking back out towards my truck.

The thing is, I do know better. I know that no one is trying to box me out. I just feel so damn useless in every aspect of my life, and here Jackson threw one more at me. With the frustrations I’ve had reintegrating and how damn tired I am, my self-control has diminished. I need to blow off some steam and bad.

After sliding behind the wheel, my cell phone goes off in the console, and for a minute I ignore it. When it continues to ring while I turn the engine over, I finally snatch it up, intent on getting rid of whoever it is.

Imagine my befuddlement when I see the name Ryan on my screen.

What the… hell… does this motherfucker want?

He’s always been one of my “friends”, but he’s an uncouth asshole with no filter as we saw at the bonfire the night before I proposed to Luna.

I connect the call and bring the phone to my ear.

“Yeah?” I grumble.

“Welcome back, Private Shane,” he jeers into the phone before a fit of childish laughter like he took a hot minute to come up with that one.

“It’s Corporal, dipshit. What do you want?”

“Jeez, sensitive. Anyway, you haven’t been over since you got home. I’ve got a few of the high school clan over. Let’s knock a few back.”

I let out a heavy breath as I ponder this prospect but don’t take long as it feels like the fucking planets just aligned. “Ryan… your timing is fucking impeccable.”

36

LUNA

“What if I… just left?” I say my thoughts out loud into the phone as my eyes burn with the tears that have had enough of being told to hold off.

“I don’t know, sweetie,” Cassidy tries to comfort me from the other end. “I’d like to tell you to just do that, I mean we both know I had my reservations about this the day you got married. I guess I’ve just been hoping all this time that you’d prove me wrong.”

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