“Yes, Ree’s husband,” Brad said to Tate.
Tate looked down at me. “Thought you signed papers?” I nodded to him and he looked to Brad. “I think in the eyes of the law that makes you not her husband anymore.”
I looked at Mom and Carrie. “Tate would probably know; he used to be a cop.”
“What’s he now, hon?” Mom asked.
“A bounty hunter,” I answered.
Caroline’s eyes shot to Tate and she repeated, “Holy cow.”
Brad got even paler.
Mack chuckled.
Mom’s round eyes hit Tate and she whispered, “Oh my.”
Tate ignored all of us and told Brad, “So I’m thinkin’ Ace’s question is still pertinent.”
“Ace?” Brad asked.
“Lauren,” Tate answered.
Brad’s eyes narrowed on me. “He calls you Ace?”
I threw my hands up. “What are you doing here, Brad?”
Brad started toward me but stopped abruptly. He stopped abruptly because Tate moved in between him and me and planted a hand in Brad’s chest.
“That’s about as close as I want you to her,” Tate said low.
Brad took a step back and glared at Tate. “I get that you’re a big guy but I’d like to talk to my wife.”
“Then you shouldn’t have thrown her away when she was your wife. Now she ain’t. Now she’s somethin’ to me and I don’t let men I don’t like get close to her and I gotta tell you, man, I do not like you.”
Brad’s eyes came to me and he snapped, “Ree!”
I moved forward two feet until I was standing behind and beside Tate and I leaned beyond him to Brad.
“Are you telling me that you flew all the way from Phoenix to cause this drama when my father is in ICU just because you feel like a schmuck because you totally screwed me over and you didn’t get to make yourself feel like a good guy and say good-bye when I left town?”
“No, I’m telling you when I heard about your Dad I knew you’d be here and I flew all the way from Phoenix so I could tell you I want you back!” Brad returned and everyone in the room got very still except Tate and me.
Tate didn’t get still, as such. Instead, he got the definition of still. His body completely turned to stone which was good because my bones turned to water and I had to grab onto Tate to remain standing.
“What?” I whispered.
Brad took a step forward, Tate moved a millimeter and Brad stopped but his eyes stayed pinned to me.
“I want you back, Ree,” he said softly. “I made a huge mistake.”
“Yeah, man, you did,” Tate cut in and Brad’s neck twisted so fast he probably gave himself a hitch when he looked up at Tate.
“Will you stay out of it?” he clipped.
“She’s holdin’ onto me, bud. I’d say I’m in it,” Tate returned.
“Ree,” Brad said when his eyes came to me.
And when they did, it hit me, like taking a bullet that ripped through me, changing my life, altering my perceptions in a way I knew there was no going back.
“Go away,” I whispered.
“Him or me?” Brad asked, jerking a thumb at Tate.
“Not Tate, you,” I was still whispering.
“Ree,” Brad repeated.
“Honest to God?” I asked quietly and Brad opened his mouth to speak but I kept talking. “Do you know how beautiful my life is now, Brad? Can you even understand what a beautiful life is? It isn’t about the perfect house and a keeping-up-with-the-Jones’s new car every two years and having the right landscaper and bragging at parties that you have a house cleaner. Not when all that stuff is shit. It’s surface. There’s nothing underneath.”
I didn’t know where these words were coming from, I just knew it was someplace buried deep, someplace that had been longing to see the light of day, someplace that had finally broken through when that bullet tore through me.
“Ree –”
“You lied to me and all my friends lied to me for five years. You can’t do that and have a soul.”
“Ree –”
“Do you know what happened to me today?” I asked and didn’t wait for an answer, I just gave it to him. “I got a phone call from my sister that tore my world apart and I didn’t have to lift a finger. Betty got me dressed and packed my bag and even got my laundry from the laundry room. Ned put me and my bag in the truck. Tate got the tickets and got me on a plane and dropped everything to come with me. These people have things to do, they have lives. At work Krys and Wendy will cover for me even though Tate and I are gone just because that’s what you do when you’re a good person. That’s what you do when you have a soul. That’s where I am now, that’s where I live, that’s my life. Do you think, for one second, I’d leave something that beautiful and come back to you?”
He didn’t answer so I kept going.
“Even now, you’re not thinking about me. My father’s fighting for his life somewhere in this hospital and my family is scared out of their minds and you don’t care. You don’t give a f**k. All you care about is you and what you want. I’m standing by a man who dropped everything, and he’s been on the trail of a murderer for a month, and he did it just to get me to my family. Have you ever done anything like that in your life?”
“You love me, Ree, you told me you did even after I explained about Hayley,” Brad reminded me. “You said we’d find our way back, make it work.”
“I did,” I agreed, “because I was scared and I was blind. Blinded by hope. I’d waited for something special and convinced myself you were that. Then you proved you weren’t and taught me the valuable lesson that special isn’t out there. Special doesn’t exist. So the best you can do is find real. I found real, Brad, and I like it.” I let Tate go, straightened and moved to his side. “I guess I should thank you for being here so I can thank you to your face for teaching me that lesson. I wasted a lot of my life hoping for something special. Now I’ve realized I’m good with what I’ve got.”
I watched Brad open his mouth to speak but I didn’t get a chance to hear what he had to say. I didn’t get that chance because Tate tagged me with an arm hooked around my neck, he yanked me into him so I collided with his body and his head came down, his mouth on mine, and he kissed me hard and deep, with tongues.
Right in front of my Mom!