Addison was clearly stunned. Her hand still on his, she looked at him, and he could almost see the gears turning in her head.

Was she reevaluating everything she knew about her boss? Did the truth about the past align with the man she knew Reid to be? Gage really had no idea what kind of a person his brother had grown into. He only knew the teenager that couldn’t wait to get out of Black Oak.

“So… when you said that he didn’t even bother to come to the funeral…” she trailed off.

“Our parents’ funeral,” Gage nodded. “Mom passed first. I think my dad just couldn’t live without her. It was as if he died of a broken heart. They died a week apart, and were buried together. The people here really rallied around me, helping me put together a service and all that. I graduated high school two months after the funeral.”

“I can’t even imagine going through something like that alone,” Addison shook her head. “And to think Reid didn’t even show up…”

“I called him several times when things started to deteriorate,” Gage replied. “He said he was busy with his studies, and that was that. I called him again after the will was read. I thought he’d be pissed the ranch was left to me, but he was just happy to get full access to his college fund, and we didn’t really speak after that.”

The hurt had been overwhelming at first. It was as if he hadn’t just lost both of his parents, but his brother as well. Gage could have forgiven Reid for running off to college and letting him deal with everything, but he couldn’t understand the utter lack of support that followed.

When it was clear mom only had weeks left, Reid still didn’t come home. The same went for her and dad’s death, and the funeral. Instead of his own flesh and blood, Gage was left to rely on friends and neighbors, while trying to figure out what to do with the huge farm he had just inherited.

In time, that disappointment and abandonment simmered and stewed, until it became the anger he knew so well now. But it was that anger that had driven him forward, made him work hard to prove himself and stand on his own two feet.

He hadn’t needed his brother’s support to succeed. Yet he would be lying if he said he still wouldn’t have preferred having Reid there by his side.

“Well, I can certainly see why you punched him,” Addison said. “I kind of feel like punching him myself, right about now.”

“He might be a different man than now than he was then,” Gage shrugged, surprised to find himself defending his brother, if only a little bit. “We were both kids back then.”

“Kids or not, he bailed on your family when you needed him the most,” Addison huffed. “My parents and I might have not had a lot, but at least I knew I could always count on them.”

“Easy there, counselor,” Gage had to grin. “This is still your boss we’re talking about here.”

With a sigh, Addison leaned back in her chair, her hands falling to her lap. She seemed conflicted as her shoulders slumped, a crease forming between her brows.

“He has always been ruthless in the court room. I even found that something to admire. But I never thought that kind of brutal focus carried over to his personal life as well,” she said.

“Do you know much about his personal life?” Gage asked.

He couldn’t help it. Some part of him was still curious, wanted to know about his brother’s life. Reid’s career had flourished, that much Gage was aware of. But he had no idea if his brother was in a relationship, or was planning on starting a family.

Wasn’t that the kind of stuff siblings knew about each other?

“No, not really,” Addison replied. “I kind of got the impression his work is his life. He’s always at the office, more than me. I’m used to being the first one in and the last one to leave, but I couldn’t keep up with him. There’s a couch in his office that I’m pretty sure he sleeps on at least a couple of days a week.”

That sounded like Reid. He had spread himself thin even in high school, taking on one extracurricular activity after the other while also somehow maintaining a perfect GPA. It wasn’t surprising that kind of work ethic had carried on to his adult life.

“How long have you two worked together?” Gage asked. “You said you’re his second chair, right?”

“I’ve only been with the company a little under two years,” Addison replied. “I knew I could advance faster somewhere else, but I wanted to learn from the best. But I have to say, I’m getting a little restless,” she admitted.

“You want to get out of Reid’s shadow,” Gage commented.

“I know I’m ready to take on my own cases,” she said. “But I think he’s gotten too used to relying on me.”

“What do you mean?” Gage asked. “Sorry, I’m not all that familiar with what kind of duties being second chair entails.”

“It’s all right,” she smiled. “It’s my job to know the case forward and backward. If Reid gets carried away in a cross, for example, and forgets to bring up some important detail, I’m the one to remind him. And I’m pretty much his eyes and ears at all times, looking at the reactions of the jury, the opposing counsel, all of that.

“Then there’s the more boring stuff, like preparing the exhibit checklist or making sure witnesses don’t bump into jurors, but that’s not what Reid keeps me around for.”

“You’ve earned his trust,” Gage said. “That’s not easy to do. And now he's grown comfortable with you always having his back.”

Addison nodded enthusiastically.

“Yeah, I think so,” she replied. “And while I appreciate his confidence in me, I didn’t go to work for him to be stagnant.”

Addison fell silent for a moment, her gaze falling to her lap.

“But after what you’ve told me, I’m not sure I respect him enough to work for him at all,” she said.

Despite his ill feelings toward his brother, it had never been Gage’s intention to drive a wedge between Addison and Reid. By all accounts, Reid was a great lawyer, and his past didn’t negate that.

And seeing Reid again had made Gage reevaluate some things. He was happy where his life had led him. Deep down, he had always known the ranch would be his home forever. And now it was clearer than ever that Reid was always meant for a different path.

“What’s done is done,” Gage ended up saying. “I’ve been holding this grudge for years now, and I’m only now realizing how little good it has done me. Reid followed his dreams, and that determination has paid off. Would I rather have had him stay here to help me and be miserable? I don’t know.”

With that question hanging in the air, they finished their coffees, changing the subject to lighter topics. As the they wound down, they finally got to the purported reason they had come into town in the first place – to get supplies.

With bags of groceries stacked high in the back of the truck, they headed back to the ranch, with a feeling of relief washing over Gage. He had held on to the pain his brother had caused him for so long, had refused to talk about Reid pretty much ever since his parents’ funeral, and yet it was his conversation with Addison that had made him see things in a completely different light.

The fact talking to her had felt so comfortable shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it had still caught him off guard. He hadn’t thought there was anything left of his instinct to defend his big brother, but on some level, it was still there.

It didn’t mean there was forgiveness in the cards, but maybe an actual conversation would help both of them move on. The way Reid seemed to be intent on pushing his buttons told him his brother might still be stuck in the past, too.

Addison regaled him with stories of her most interesting cases as he maneuvered the snaking roads leading to the house. As the trees thinned, he could see the lights were on downstairs, the darkness starting to encroach on all sides.

After parking the truck, he and Addison carried the bags inside, chatting about nothing in particular on their way to the kitchen. Reid was having a cup of tea behind the oak work table there, his trusty tablet at his side.

“Hey,” Addison chirped, but her smile stiffened a bit at the sight of him.

“You two were gone awhile,” Reid commented, steam twisting up from his mug.

Before Gage could say anything, Addison chimed in, sliding her hand in his as she spoke. He couldn’t help it as his brows shot up at the intimate gesture. Hadn’t she wanted to keep their relationship from Reid?

“We were,” she said simply.

Reid’s attention was now focused solely on them, and for once, the man seemed to be at a loss for words. When Addison got on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on Gage’s cheek, Reid’s eyes widened ever so slightly.

“I had a lovely time,” she said to Gage, making his bear let out a contented growl. “Good night,” she added, glancing over at Reid.

With that, she turned on her heel and bounded up the stairs, leaving the brothers staring at each other in the kitchen.

There goes the secrecy then.