Prologue
Back in the day
Kindergarten Playground
“Hey, Lizard, I’ll trade you my grapes for one of your chocolate chip cookies.”
“Stop calling me that.”
Tate sat next to Liz, rolled his eyes, and stuck his tongue out at her because she told him that all the time. And he ignored her all the time.
Liz handed over the cookie and popped one of the grapes into her mouth. She’d rather have the cookie but didn’t mind sharing with Tate—even if he did call her names. He didn’t mean it.
He’s weird.
But she liked him. He always picked her first to play a game, let her ride the pony at his birthday party before anyone else, and always sat with her to paint during free time and at lunch. She liked that. Daddy picked Mama to do everything with him, too.
Tate stuffed the whole cookie in his mouth, and Liz announced, “I’m going to marry you.”
Tate stopped chewing and stared at her. “Na-uh.”
“Yes I am.”
He shook his head. “Na-uh.”
She smiled, confident she knew better. “You’ll see.”
Chapter One
Today
All Grown Up
Mostly
Tate walked into the Backroads bar ahead of his brother Declan and spotted the woman who’d been dodging him for weeks. A you-done-me-wrong country song blasted through the overhead speakers as he closed the distance, his eyes locked on the girl he’d known since preschool but who couldn’t be bothered to call him lately. It used to be all he had to do was think about her and the phone rang. But ever since her parting “you just don’t get it” shot weeks ago, he’d heard nothing from her. And he wanted to know why.
He wanted things to go back to the way they used to be.
“What the hell, Lizard?”
She turned on the stool, her head tilting to look up at him, fiery dark red hair falling over one shoulder, down her arm, and brushing the tabletop. “What do you want?” Not an ounce of welcome tinged those words or filled her annoyed green eyes.
“I want to know why I haven’t heard from you.”
Her head fell back with her exasperation and those green eyes that always saw everything about him narrowed. “Have you missed me?”
The question set off an alarm in his head, but he didn’t know why. Answering her question seemed like stepping on a land mine, so he evaded it. “Why are you avoiding me?”
“After our last conversation, I thought that’d be clear.”
He tried to remember what they’d talked about. But the last few weeks he’d been distracted—his ex-military brother, Drake, had fallen into a dark place, but Adria helped him claw his way out, then her twin sister, Juliana, had died of an overdose. The man responsible for Juliana’s death faced off with Drake and Adria, though it didn’t end well for him, and they took Juliana’s death hard. It was a lot to deal with, and the whole thing had been traumatizing. He’d been so happy for his brother when Drake and Adria worked things out and ended up engaged. At the time, everything else in Tate’s life had faded to the background—until recently, when he woke up and realized he hadn’t seen Liz in weeks.
“Lizard, you know I’ve been helping Trinity and Adria get their business up and running. And the situation with Juliana turned tragic. I lost track of everything and had to focus on my family.”
Sadness and regret filled her eyes. “That’s just it, Tate, you unloaded all that on me at the time, yet you can’t remember what I said to you.”
He thought back and recalled the thing that stuck with him. “You told me that if things were meant to work out, Drake and Adria would make it happen. They did. They’re married and expecting and Drake’s happier than I’ve ever seen him.”
For the first time since he walked in a soft smile tilted her lips. “I’m happy for him.”
Of course she was. Their lives had been intertwined forever. She knew everything that happened in his life and with his family.
“So what’s the problem?”
“You,” she snapped. She never raised her voice to him. “And me for hoping for something that is never going to happen because you’re you.”
He held his hands out wide, then let them fall and slap the sides of his thighs. “What the hell does that even mean?”
Before he got an answer, some dude with dark hair and a fuck-off look in his eyes walked up and inserted himself between him and Liz.
Tate immediately hated the guy.
“She’s with me.”
That’s what you think.
Liz was his best friend and no one got in between them.
Tate glared at the guy in the odd-for-a-honkytonk-bar tie, button-down shirt, and slacks and took a step closer. But the guy stood his ground and didn’t move out of Tate’s way.
Liz slipped off the stool, linked her fingers with the guy’s, and leaned into him. “Clint, it’s okay. Tate’s an old friend.”
One of Uptight Dude’s eyebrows shot up at that. Liz looked a little sheepish.
Tate refocused on Clint. “I’m her best friend.”
Clint’s stance relaxed even if he didn’t back down. “Ah. She told me about you.” Whatever Liz told him obviously didn’t impress the guy.
Tate couldn’t care less. “Then you’ll excuse us while I have a word with her.”
Liz spoke before Clint said anything. “I said what I wanted to say the last time we talked.”
“And you haven’t said anything since,” he pointed out, his gut tight. Obviously, he’d missed something big. From the sound of things, it just might cost him the person who knew him better than anyone and who had always been there for him.
“It’s not like you called or came to see me in the last six weeks.”
“It hasn’t been that long.” They never went more than a few days without talking or seeing each other. Maybe it had been a couple weeks this time, but not six. Right?
“You’re busy doing your thing. It’s time I did mine. If you’ll excuse us, we’d like to get back to our date.”
What the fuck?
Liz dismissed him and turned to take her seat again.
Tate couldn’t let things go on this way. They definitely didn’t end this way. “Wait.”
Clint put his hand on Tate’s chest to stop him from touching Liz’s shoulder.
Tate went still and pointedly looked at that hand on him. “You want to keep it, you’ll take it back. Now.”
They locked eyes and the energy around them became charged with animosity.
Clint dropped his hand but still didn’t get the hell out of Tate’s way. “You didn’t want a shot with her, so I took it. Back off. She wants to be with me.”
Like she didn’t want to be Tate’s friend anymore. What the fuck was going on?
Tate felt Declan come up behind him before Declan’s hand settled on his shoulder. “Come on, bro, let’s get a beer and leave Liz and her date alone to enjoy their evening.”
Tate glared at the back of Liz’s head. She sat there not saying a word. She wouldn’t even look at him.