Page 82 of Hotshot

“No,” I replied quickly. “Hank and I—this isn’t…possible. Not really.”

“Oh, Den. Anything is possible. You should know that by now. Anything at all.” She squeezed my arm. “By the way, I loveyou to pieces, but I think it’s time we officially broke up. You don’t need me anymore. Not like that.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “Thank you for looking out for me. You’re pretty fucking amazing.”

“I am, aren’t I?” Mary-Kate tickled my side till I squirmed and put her in a headlock.

She wriggled away and changed the subject to fuck knew what as I melted into the bench beside her.

I just came out.

Okay, it was to one person, and she happened to be someone I trusted emphatically. And yes, it was as weird as I’d thought it would be, but it was freeing too, as if a heavy weight had shifted, cracked, and fallen from my shoulders. Mary-Kate was right…I was happy.

Happier than I’d allowed myself to be in ten long years.

20

HANK

The temperature cranked up a few notches in August. If you weren’t hanging out at the ice rink, you were probably at Lake Norman, jumping from docks or zipping across the water on a boat at top speeds on your day off.

Me? I was at the mill.

“What time can we expect the delivery tomorrow?”

I blew my cheeks out like a chipmunk and slumped in my chair. “What time do you need it?”

“Seven a.m.” Glen Ackerman of Wood Hollow Construction was my new least favorite person.

“Seven? That’s a little early, Glen, and it’s a huge shipment.”

“That’s what I paid for. Prompt delivery of a lot of lumber. We broke ground last month, concrete has been set, and we’re rolling. You have the wood, don’t you?”

“Yeah, we have it. I’ll do my best to get it to you early, but there’s a fair chance you’ll receive part of it at noon and?—”

“Not acceptable,” he barked. “Listen Cunningham, when you took over for the Larsons…”

I tuned him out. I wondered how long it would take for locals to stop referring to how the Larsons did things. It wouldn’t doany good to remind them that the Larsons had literally done business in the middle of a forest and couldn’t supply half the lumber we’d delivered.

I’d been working my ass off for months, and nothing moved fast enough in a town with one fucking streetlight. Go figure.

“Glen, I understand where you’re coming from. We’ll do our best.” I hung up on the man sputtering indignantly on the line and reached for my Stetson. I needed a breather.

My cell buzzed with a new text and an incoming call. I read the text from Denny first.

Meet me at the Black Horse after work? I have a friend in town who wants to meet you.

I sent Denny a thumbs-up emoji and answered the call.

“You’re alive!” Cassy shouted into the connection. “How’s it hangin’, Hankster?”

I chuckled. “Not bad. How’re you?”

“Peachy. I wanted to give you an update on the Crane kid. Better yet, I’ll send you a video in three, two, one—check your messages. I have a kid from Golden starting next week and the hospital referred me for an outpatient gig, so I guess I’m calling to see how long you’ll be stuck in the trees doing tree things.”

I moved to the doorway and looked past Emily’s desk to the controlled chaos of the mill. Cooper spotted me and tilted his head in a friendly acknowledgment. Everyone else ignored me…including Emily. Just another day at the office, wishing I was at the stable, hanging out with the horses.

A call from home reminding me of what I’d given up couldn’t have come at a worse time.