Chapter Twenty-Four
On the walk home after lunch with the Jules family, Brent was full, and happy, and generally a lot better than he had been all week, with the exception of his few days of respite with Riley.
As soon as he walked around the fence, heading for the front of the house, all of that changed. Brent’s stomach bottomed out at what he saw on the porch.
Rose was sitting on the steps. The steps that Riley had so lovingly put back together, sanded and stained to a beautiful finish.
She was crying.
Brent froze, unsure what to do. What the hell was she doing here? Why was she crying?
Why him?
Just as he was starting to feel like he could get over all this, move on… the universe apparently had other ideas. Or at least, Rose did.
Brent felt Riley’s hand touch the middle of his back, Riley’s palm flat against it, the warmth of his skin soothing Brent through his shirt.
“I can handle this,” Riley said softly. “If you don’t want to.”
Rose looked up at Brent, her teary eyes meeting his. Brent swallowed.
No, this was something he had to handle. Whatever it was, this was his problem, and he couldn’t just pass it off to Riley. Riley had done more than enough.
“I’ll handle it,” Brent said, his voice cracking. He wasn’t sure he could, but he was sure he had to. He couldn’t just pretend nothing had ever happened between them.
He’d been ready to spend his whole life with Rose. She’d been willing to throw it away without telling him anything, and Brent had felt more loved and cared for by Riley over the last few days than he had by Rose over the entire time they were dating—maybe eight months, which he also realized now was too short.
Brent could see the mistake he’d made, but he liked Rose. He didn’t want to send her away, or ask Riley to, while she was upset.
Taking a deep breath, Brent marched to the porch, doing his best to keep his posture open.
He didn’t want Rose to be here, but if she was here, then it must have been important.
As soon as Brent approached, Rose sprang up from the steps and hugged him tight around the neck. Brent hugged back automatically, holding her as she burst into ragged, heart-wrenching sobs.
He might have been mad at her, but he couldn’t leave her like this.
“I made a huge mistake,” she choked out between tears.
The phrase you don’t say flitted through Brent’s mind, but he didn’t voice it. She was upset. There was no point in being petty.
Riley would have been kind. Riley was always kind.
If Brent was going to be more like him, if Brent wanted him to see that he was worth staying for, then now was a good time to show some compassion.
Brent could feel Riley’s presence beside him, keeping him grounded.
He’d been so ready to sit Riley down and stumble over his words as he told him how he felt. Now, that would have to wait.
“Tell me what’s wrong, and we’ll fix it,” Brent murmured.
“I don’t deserve you,” Rose sobbed. “Tom is such an asshole.”
Again, the first thing that came to Brent’s mind was you don’t say. He would have thought that anyone who’d intentionally run away with someone else’s fiancée would have thrown up red flags all over the place.
But then, there’d been a lot of red flags with Rose, too. Brent had chosen not to see them, because he was so desperately afraid of being alone.
Maybe Rose had been afraid, too.
If that was true, then Brent was responsible. Not wholly responsible. Not even equally responsible.
But it was a mess they’d both gotten into together, and if that meant Rose was in trouble now, he had to help her.
“Come inside,” Brent said, regretting it the moment the words were out. He didn’t want her to come inside. He wanted her to go away so he could curl up on the couch with Riley again.
But that was selfish, and he couldn’t quite bring himself to turn her away. Despite what she’d done.
Rose sniffed, nodding against Brent’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Brent murmured. It wasn’t okay, but there was no point in saying that. It’d just have to be okay.
“I’ll… put some coffee on,” Riley said after a moment.
“Can you get a blanket, too? She’s cold.”
“Of course.” Riley patted Brent’s shoulder on his way past. “Anything you need.”
That was why Riley was a keeper. Even faced with Brent’s ex, he was being kind.
“It’s gonna be okay,” Brent promised Rose. He backed off, taking her hand and tugging her inside. “Whatever’s happened, it’s all gonna be okay.”
Rose followed him into the kitchen, where Riley pulled a chair out from the table and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders, tucking it into her lap with all the gentleness and sympathy of a man who’d dealt with his share of broken hearts.
Brent remembered him doing almost exactly the same thing for him just eight days ago. It was amazing how far they’d both come in that time, but it wasn’t as though it was coming out of nowhere, either.
Riley had always been the one. Brent should have seen that before now.
“Thanks, man,” Brent murmured, touching Riley’s arm.
“No problem. Do you want me to get out of the way, or…?”
“Stay?” Brent asked. “Please. I don’t know if I can cope with this on my own.”
Riley smiled a small, tired smile at him. “You can, but I’ll stay anyway,” he said.
Brent breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank you. Seriously. I’ll make this up to you.”
“It’s okay,” Riley said. “This is what friends are for.”
Brent wasn’t sure that just any friend would put up with quite this much crap, but Riley was special. Riley had always been special.
Keeping him was the best thing Brent could imagine doing with his life.
As soon as he dealt with whatever Rose’s problem was, he intended to tell him that.