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I felt like I couldn’t trust ht, when it see Maybe I didn’t feel like I deserved the kind of noroodness that was inme closely, I was also stuck in place where I would wonder what I’d done right to deserve this new life I didn’t feel like I’d done a single thing to earn it

The group broke up shortly after that and h as I made my way to the little coffee shop that was on the corner down the street fro where we met Happy yipped at the end of his leash and danced up on his tiny hind legs as he saw y with too ht of the excited puppy and the welco did wonders towards lightening my heavy mood

Sayer Cole was Rowdy’s older sister I considered her soel and she was most definitely ave my father a run for his money when it came to emotional manipulation and cruelty, but she was now happily settled with a greathim raise his son She just happened to be Wheeler’s best friend frooing by to see Wheeler after the ht little circle of friends and fa was up and I didn’t have it in et their hopes up or give Wheeler shit I had no clue what I was doing and there was a good chance I was about to crash and burn, taking Wheeler doithher nose was a little pink from the cold Like a lot of coffee shops in Denver this one was dog-friendly, so there was no reason for Sayer to be sitting outside

"Why aren’t you inside? Was the puppy acting up?" As soon as I was sitting, the dog scra to be picked up I lifted the warue i to watch him for me for the hour"

She waved a hand and smiled at me "I had to ly custody case and she needed to be talked off the ledge I came out here to take the call The puppy was fine I think I should talk to Zeb about getting a dog for Hyde Little boys should have a dog to play with" She shivered a little and I kneasn’t from the cold when she muttered, "My father refused to let me have a pet I wanted one so bad after my mom died I was so alone in that house with him I think a pet would have saved my sanity"

I made a noise in my throat and buried my face in the puppy’s scruff "Saood enough job cleaning the house as it was It was bullshit My le day He just didn’t want us to have so we didn’t have a pet He would have used it against us to get his way"

Sayer nodded soleed the subject "I’ up dinner for my boys on the way hoet his hands on that little guy" She pointed at the dog I was cuddling

I shifted roan SoWheeler secret If I told her I had plans she would think I was regressing and avoiding spending time with other people, and I didn’t want that She’d offered iant of a o back to work and forced myself back into society I saw the way he ith Sayer, watched him break down her walls and build her back up I realized I couldn’t hidethat really wanted in, nothing would keep them out

"I have plans tonight Maybe another night this week I can coaze as she froze and blinked at me like an owl

"You have plans?" She sounded stunned and I couldn’t bla that I understood her surprise

"Yeah I uh … actually got the puppy for Wheeler to help hi for Dixie when all of that started to go down, so I inadvertently ended up with a front-row seat to all the carnage I told him I would help him train Happy until he was ready to be left on his own I’ dinner with him" The words sounded weird as I said the ti like that I didn’t really knohat to do with it, and clearly neither did Sayer She kept staring atdinner with … Wheeler? Just the two of you?" She blinked slowly and tilted her head to the side "Well … that’s surprising I didn’t even know you knew him"

I clearedput on the spot "He sold o and then he was next door a lot when Dixie was in Mississippi Our paths kept crossing" I shrugged a shoulder "I guess I got used to hihtly and her blue eyes sparkled with huot used to him?"

I nodded a little and lifted hed and shook her head "Nothing, you just uy you greith The one ould die for you, the one ill uy who you also still flinch around, the guy who you still struggle to hug back, the guy who you can’t look in the eye half the tiuy you cancel on at least once a ht hurt his feelings if he knows you’replans with anotheralone with him" Roas her little brother; of course she would immediately think about how hard it was for me to be around him and how deeply that hurt him

I peeked at her over the top of Happy’s head "Wheeler hasn’t seen me at the lowest points in my life Rowdy has" He was there to pick e jock destroyed me and when Oliver nearly killed me "I love hi to be anyone but that girl