The house was still.
It was quiet.
Nothing.
All good.
Rhonda was sorting her shit, helping out. She’d even worked with Della to crate Dusty’s pieces that week.
Debbie was disabled.
McGrath was in jail.
Audrey seemed to be keeping her shit and making inroads with Rees.
With four people working the farm, the corn was nearly finished being planted.
Nothing bad.
All good.
Mike stood in his living room looking out the doors to the deck at his moonlit backyard.
Nothing out there either.
All was still.
Quiet.
Good.
“So why in the f**k can’t I shake this f**kin’ feeling?” he whispered to no one.
Unsurprisingly, he got no answer.
So with the weight he’d been carrying in his gut for a while still heavy, even after Rhonda was shaking it off, Audrey stepped up, Debbie was sorted, McGrath was put out of commission, Mike walked back upstairs and to his room.
He closed the door and carefully slid back in with Dusty, fitting his front to the curve of her back and snaking his arm around her waist.
She hadn’t woken.
All good.
Except it wasn’t.
And he knew it.
He just didn’t know why.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Games of the Heart
Late May…Saturday…
I was walking from the barn to the house to get a drink when the backdoor crashed open and a nanosecond later, Rees flew out, face red, wet and ravaged. Hair flying, she dashed down the steps and headed immediately to the field toward home even though Fin followed her and shouted, “Reesee!”
At this dramatic display, I had stopped and, weirdly, Fin did too. His eyes were glued to her departing back and his body was still as a statue.
I started out of my halt and moved quickly to him.
I was hesitant when I called out my stupid question, “Everything okay?”
It was a stupid question because clearly, everything wasn’t. And seeing as these were teenagers, no matter that they were mature ones, butting my nose in would probably not be welcomed.
But Rees’s face and Fin’s body did not bode good tidings.
Furthermore, something had been going on with them for a few weeks. Rees started whatever was going down acting the same as ever but Fin was different. He got quieter and quieter until he was brooding even worse than after his Dad died. Rees responded to that also getting quieter and quieter, more watchful then, lately, hesitant and unsure of herself like she had been when I first met her. And this was something she had blossomed out of entirely by the time Jerra and Hunter came with their kids for a visit.
And whatever was happening between Fin and Rees was the only thing that was of concern the last month. Everything had settled. Life was good.
No. Life was great.
Now this.
Shit.
Fin’s eyes sliced to me and he growled the obvious answer, “No, everything is not f**kin’ okay.”
Then he shared no further, turned on his boot and stalked into the house, slamming the door behind him.
I followed him much slower, hit the kitchen and saw Rhonda pressed into a corner, her wide eyes on the doorway that led to the hall, her hand at her throat.
Rhonda had pulled it together in Rhonda’s way. She was still Rhonda but at least she wasn’t moping and vacant anymore. She was back to the old Rhonda if a melancholy one.
“Did you hear what happened?” I asked and her eyes came to me.
“He broke up with her.”
My mouth dropped open as I felt my chest compress.
Then I pushed out a weak, “Sorry?”
“He…he…they were in the livin’ room. They had the doors closed but I heard Rees shoutin’. I didn’t hear what Fin said but she kept shoutin’, ‘I can’t believe you’re breakin’ up with me! I can’t believe you, Fin! I can’t believe you’re breaking up with me!’ over and over. I think he tried to get her to calm down because she shouted, ‘Don’t get near me!’ and took off.”
My eyes drifted to the doorway as I whispered, “How could that be? They’re…they’re…”
“Meant to be,” Rhonda finished for me on a whisper and my eyes moved back to her, now doubly shocked she’d gotten herself together enough to cotton onto that obvious, bedrock fact that every one of us knew but no one was talking about.
“Do you know what’s been eating him lately?” I asked.
Something shifted in her face that wasn’t pleasant to witness and she replied quietly, “Fin doesn’t talk to me much, Dusty. Never really did but now…”
She let that hang and I felt for her but I didn’t have time to deal with that.
I moved toward the hall.
“Don’t!” Rhonda cried and I looked to her.
“What?”
“Don’t go to him. Leave him be,” she said.
“Why?” I asked.
“He’s…well, he gets that from his Dad. When Darrin got angry or in his head about somethin’, he needed quiet and he needed time. You need to give my boy quiet and time.”
I studied my sister-in-law, seeing her for the first time in a long, long time with new eyes.
Maybe she didn’t drift, protected every second by Darrin, through life.
Maybe shit penetrated.
She proved this by advising, “Go to Rees. She was in a bad way. Fin won’t want you up there but she needs you.”
Shit penetrated with Rhonda. Definitely.
Good to know.
I nodded and swiftly retraced my steps, went out the door, jogged down the steps and kept jogging as I made my way across the field, through the back gate, up the yard and through the door. I got no greeting from Layla and I’d know why when I got through the house and hit the top of the stairs. There I saw Layla’s body moving agitatedly outside Rees’s closed door, Rees’s sobs could be heard and No was standing in the hallway with the neck of his guitar in his hand, face pale, eyes wide, concern easy to read on his face.
“What’s goin’ on?” he whispered. “She shot in here, slammin’ doors and wailin’ loud. Layla’s freaked.”
One look at his face, I knew No was too.
“Your Dad still at the gym?” I asked.
“Far’s I know since he’s not here,” No answered.
I didn’t know if that was good or bad. What I did know was that Mike had left a while ago so he could be back at any time.
Whatever I was going to do, I needed to do.
“Right, keep Layla away from the door, I’m going in,” I told him.