Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82568 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82568 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“Dad, you should come home with us and hang out a bit,” Wyatt said.
“You know you’re always welcome,” Lindsey added.
Roe thought about it for a moment, but he was dead on his feet. “I know, but I’m beat. Gotta be up early in the morning. Another night.”
“Ah, come on,” Wyatt pleaded.
His insistence surprised Roe. It wasn’t that he and Wyatt weren’t close and didn’t spend a lot of time together, because they did. He just didn’t typically beg Roe to go home with him and his mama. Maybe he needed to talk to his dad about something. “You wanna come with me?” They were pretty lax in how they did things. Wyatt knew both Roe’s place and Lindsey’s were his homes and he could stay wherever he wanted. “You’ll have to come into town with me in the morning or hang out at the house until your mama can pick you up.” Lindsey lived close to downtown Harmony, and Roe’s place was farther out. At hers, it was easier for Wyatt to head out and meet up with friends.
“Nah, it’s okay. I’m supposed to hang out with Alec tomorrow.”
“All right, buddy. See you later, then.” Roe hugged him and kissed the top of his head before doing the same to Lindsey. He waited until they climbed into her Honda and pulled away before heading over to his truck.
He could make the drive home with his eyes closed. He could drive anywhere in Harmony that way. He knew every inch of the place, every fishing hole and swimming spot. Every park, farm, and anything else in town and most of Briar County. He didn’t know how he’d ever thought he could leave this for good. It was burrowed too deep inside him, part of what made Roe…Roe.
Fuck, he was being oddly emotional tonight. Maybe it was time to make a drive into Asheville. He loved the town, and they had gay bars there. On the other hand, it wasn’t his favorite place to fuck. He often drove into Charlotte for that—more options. But the fifty-minute drive to Asheville was a whole lot easier to manage than the longer trip to Charlotte.
He pulled onto the gravel driveway leading to his house. He had ten acres, with a barn, stables, chicken coops, and his goat pens. The property backed up to woods with some trails, where he and Wyatt often went to ride dirt bikes or four-wheelers.
To the right of the house, past the barn, was a small two-bedroom cabin. It was supposed to be a mother-in-law suite or some shit. Roe didn’t have one of those, but he liked having the house there in case he ever needed it. Maybe one day Linds and Wyatt would move there. He liked the idea of them close, but another part of him wanted more for Lindsey. It surprised him she hadn’t gotten hitched. It was different for him. When he left DC, there weren’t a whole lot of options in Harmony—in most of Briar County, for that matter. He had a buddy in Chelsea, and there was a man he thought swung his way in Everett, but they were slim pickings.
Sometimes he wondered if Lindsey’s relationship with him made it harder for her—if the single men of Harmony weren’t too fond of settling down with the woman who shared a son with the only gay man most of them knew, a gay man she had a close relationship with.
Hell, he was getting introspective again. He didn’t know what was wrong with him tonight.
His gaze traveled to the cabin. A soft light was on in the living room, but he also noticed the red glow of a cigarette on the front porch. Marilee must have taken up smoking. She had moved to Harmony a couple of years before, about the same time he’d come home for good. She was a nice lady, had a son, Sean, who was Wyatt’s age. Her husband had been a real piece of work, though. He’d gone through about every job in Harmony a person could get. Roe’s family had thought him crazy when he’d hired Adam at his store, Covington Supply Co. But Roe was the kind of guy who liked to give people a chance before he wrote them off; even more so, all he’d been able to think of was Marilee and Sean. They didn’t deserve to struggle because Adam couldn’t get his shit together.
The decision had come back to bite him in the ass, of course. Adam would show up late, call in and shit like that. The final straw was when he’d shown up to work drunk, then pocketed money from the till. Roe hadn’t turned Adam in for stealing, but he’d had to let him go.
Less than a week later, Adam up and ran, leaving Harmony, his wife, and his son behind. No one knew where in the fuck he was. Marilee had gotten evicted—Adam hadn’t been paying the rent with the money she’d given him. So Roe had offered his cabin for dirt cheap. It was the least he could do.