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Ethan kicked his chair back and raised his hands "Hey, I was joking with you"

Brody leaned toward Tori "A little sensitive, isn’t he?"

"I’ deaf, you idiot"

"I mean it, Brody," Tori said "You need to leave this alone This is Wyatt and Calliope’s business Not ours"

Ethan shrugged "Who a to tell? Besides Riley, of course And she’s out of town"

"It’s not a big deal"

"Do you like her?" Brody asked

Tori stared at him He knew Tori and Calliope were friends He’d have to be careful what he said "Again, none of your business"

He knew this was going to be a proble his ex-wife’s sister people would start talking He could trust his brothers and Tori…but other people? He didn’t want to deal with the gossip The talk after the divorce had been bad And since he hadn’t bothered to say anything, people had made up their own minds about what had happened between him and Cassandra None of it had been true

People could think whatever the hell they wanted to think, but he didn’t want the shit about Calliope It was best they didn’t know about the two of theot out of hand, before people found out

They finished the rabbed his stuff

Brody stopped him

"Hey"

He turned to his brother "What?"

"You knoere teasing you in there If you want to see Calliope, that’s your business"

Wyatt nodded

"If anyone’s entitled to a life and soo for it"

"It’s not that simple She’s Cassandra’s sister"

"So? If she’s the one you want…"

"Again, not that simple"

"Why? You worried about what people will think, what they’ll say?"

He didn’t say anything

Brody frowned "Screw that We’re behind you Faether and we’ll kick anyone’s ass who has so to say about it Calliope’s cool And damn, man, you’re the most relaxed I’ve seen you in years It’s about time you went out and had some fun If she’s the reason behind it, then don’t let anyone stop you"

He nodded "I’ll think about it Thanks"

He headed out the door and clier seat

Maybe Brody was right Maybe he orried too ossip was like He knew his family would rally around hi people had to say, any whispers and innuendos ater off a duck’s back to him He’d heard it all after his divorce

But Calliope was building a business She dealt with faossip could hurt her and her business

And that he wouldn’t tolerate

Calliope stood and laid her hands at the sht lad it was Friday and the as over All she wanted was a hot bath, a good e by said ive her a back rub Maybe she could use her fele a back rub out of hiet nad That should convince hiht, or for the weekend She’d assumed they’d see each other He’d coone to his after work aluys had left the addition about an hour ago, so she assu some paperwork She locked up the center and headed that way, frowning when she saw all the lights out in the trailer She pulled on the door It was locked

Huh She walked around to the front of the trailer and didn’t see his truck

He’d left Without saying anything to her

Okay, so ency and didn’t have ti was okay

She drove horabbed her phone, dialing his number as she kicked her shoes off

He answered on the third ring

"Hi," he said

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah Why wouldn’t it be?"

"I looked for you after I closed for the day I thought you ht be in the trailer but you had already left"

"Yeah Cut out on tie Had to head back to the office"

"Oh, okay" She took a seat at the kitchen table "So what are your plans for tonight?"

"I thought I’d work on the car"

"Oh" She heard the definite brush-off signals in his tone of voice "What about to to see"

"I don’t think so I have a few things I need to catch up on"

Pain and irritation swirled around in her e her nauseous

"Sure I understand I’ll see you on Monday, then"

"Okay See you"

She clicked off the phone and slid it across the table, angry with Wyatt, and with herself

No Not with herself Definitely with hiether every day for three weeks That allowed her to make assumptions He’d been happy, dammit He couldn’t just make an about turn and suddenly blow her off without an explanation

An explanation she deserved

She went into the bathroo off the day and some of her annoyance with it By the time she’d dried her hair, she had the phone to her ear and Tori on the line

"Are you busy tonight?" she asked

"I was going to do a ho than that"