The Best Goodbye

by Abbi Glines

  What? I stared up at the man, wondering how he could be that attractive and scary as hell all at once. And how he knew about my neighbor and my kid.

  “We need to go. Get your girl taken care of, and let’s move,” he said with authority.

  “Excuse me, but who are you?” I asked, taking a step back, with my hand on the doorknob.

  He sighed as if I was exhausting him. “Knew I should have sent Alexa,” he grumbled. Then, with an irritated glance, he pointed to the bedroom where Franny was sleeping. “Your daughter needs your neighbor to stay with her. I need to take you to the fucking hospital, because Captain had some bad shit go down tonight. When he wakes his ass up, he’s gonna want to see his woman. Now, would you please do as I tell you, and stop asking me a million damn questions?”

  Two things I never wanted to hear in my life were “Captain” and “hospital” together in one sentence. Maybe it was stupidity, or maybe it was fear for Captain . . . or maybe I just couldn’t imagine that someone who wanted to harm me would talk to me like a disobedient child, but I pulled out my phone, keeping my eyes on the large man the whole time, and dialed Mrs. Baylor’s number.

  “Better be your neighbor you’re calling,” he muttered.

  Diana answered on the second ring. “Rose, you OK?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Baylor, I’m fine. But I need to visit a friend who has been put in the hospital. Could you please come stay here with Franny? She’s already sleeping.”

  I could see the relief on the man’s face as he nodded and walked back into the darkness to a black truck that I almost couldn’t see, even in the moonlight.

  “Oh, my goodness. I hope everything is OK. I’ll be right there.”

  “Thank you,” I replied before hanging up. I walked out onto the porch. “How do you know Captain?” I asked the man.

  “Worked together.”

  I couldn’t picture this man working in a restaurant of any kind, but then, Captain didn’t really fit into the industry himself, either. “At the restaurant here?” I asked, knowing that if he said yes, he was lying.

  What sounded like a muffled chuckle came first. “Fuck no” was the only response I got before he climbed back into his truck.

  Mrs. Baylor hurried across the yard and patted my back when she got up the porch steps. “I got her. You go see about your friend.”

  I thanked her again with a hug and hurried down the steps to the truck—and a stranger I was choosing to trust completely.

  • • •

  Once I was in the truck, I buckled and turned to study the man already pulling out onto the road.

  “Just because she looks harmless, that doesn’t mean she’s not a smart woman. Don’t think she didn’t take in the make and model of this truck and look at your license plate before we drove off. If I don’t come back, she’ll report you to the police.”

  A very small, almost elusive smirk touched the corner of his mouth. “Good” was his only reply, before his face went back to complete neutrality. As odd as he was, that response was comforting.

  “Could you tell me your name, please?” I asked.

  He scowled. “Cope.”

  Cope? Was that a name? “Cope like Copeland?” I asked.

  “Cope like Cope” was his reply.

  Well, OK, then. “Nice to meet you, Cope. I’m—”

  “Addison Turner. You lived in River Kipling’s home as a foster child for four years. His mother was batshit crazy and abused you. I know everything about you, so save it.”

  My mouth dropped open as I listened to this man sum up my whole past with River in four sentences. How did he know this? Was he really that close to River? “So Captain is really in the hospital? This is true?”

  He nodded and kept scowling.

  “He’s going to be OK, though?” I asked, my heart starting to beat faster and my fear clawing its way to the top. Although I had gotten into this truck, I wasn’t so sure he was being honest with me.

  “Fuck yeah. Cap’s survived more than a flyaway bullet to the leg. He’ll be fine, but he’s gonna want you.”

  Flyaway . . . “What?” I asked, grabbing the handle of the door as the word “bullet” sank in. Someone had shot him? How? Why? He was at work tonight.

  “Reckon ain’t my shit to share with you. Cap will have to do that. But yeah, he’s gonna be fine. He’ll even get to keep his leg. Clean shot through.”

  Keep his leg . . . clean shot through. Oh, dear God.

  I didn’t say much more as I watched him drive in the direction of the hospital. A very large part of me was thinking I’d rather he had come to abduct me than escort me to the hospital where Captain was lying, shot up half to death.

  When he pulled into the parking lot, I almost jumped out of the moving truck.

  “Whoa, woman. Seriously, chill the fuck out. I’ll get you up there quick,” he barked at me when I started to open the door.

  “I need to get to him,” I snapped back.

  “And I’ll get you there. Jesus,” he grumbled, as he opened his truck door and I jumped down from my seat.

  This guy had better hurry, or I was leaving him here and heading straight for the information desk. I didn’t have time for him to take his time.

  “Room 345. Go on. I need coffee,” he said, as if he could read my mind.

  I didn’t even turn back and look at him before I broke into a run.

  Captain

  Keeping my eyes open was fucking hard. The pain meds they had me on were intense. I’d felt the bullet tear through my leg when the jackass went down with one last pull of his trigger. My mind hadn’t been on the fact that my leg was shot though. All I’d cared about was that I was going to live. I wasn’t leaving Addy and Franny.

  It wasn’t the first time I’d been shot, but it was the first time I didn’t want to die. I had something to live for now. That changed everything. I had killed two men tonight. Cope had taken out the third when I’d gone down with my leg.

  This was my end to it. I had a family now, and this life was not what I wanted for them or for me.

  “Addy is on her way up,” Alexa said, rising from her chair. “I’m gonna go find Cope and help him get some coffees. He had to deal with the police questioning, but he’s handled it, and they’re gone now.”

  I couldn’t nod, because my head felt like it weighed a million tons. “Thanks,” I whispered. I didn’t want Addy walking in here with Alexa sitting by my bedside. She didn’t understand this world or what I had done.

  I was going to have to come clean, though. If I’d died tonight, she wouldn’t have known why. They would have never explained it to her. My secret would have died with me. Addy needed to know. She deserved to know.

  I had to trust that she loved me enough to forgive me for all I’d done.

  Alexa walked to the door, then stopped and looked back at me. “She got into a truck with Cope, a guy she’d never met, just because he told her you were in the hospital. She took a chance with her life because she was so worried about you. And we both know how Cope looks. She’ll forgive anything.” She headed out the door without another word.

  They all knew my past with Addy now. I’d had to clue them in, but Cope had already researched her and knew everything. He’d even known Rose was Addy before I had. Bastard was a fucking genius.

  The door had only been closed a few moments when it opened up again, and Addy came into the room, her eyes wide and her face flushed, like she’d been running.

  “River,” she said breathlessly. Then her hand covered her mouth, and she let out a small sob as she walked over to me slowly.

  I wanted to get up and pull her into my arms, but I couldn’t move.

  “Come here,” I said, using all my strength to lift my arm for her to come lie on my chest.

  She didn’t pause before doing exactly what I wanted.

  I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I’m OK,” I assured her.

  “You were shot,” she said on a choked sob.

 
This was why I had to tell her. She needed to know. I had to face it, but at least it was done. I was done. This would never happen again. Benedetto had promised me that. “Yeah, but I’m going to be fine. I promise.”

  She sniffled. I hated that she had been crying. “What happened? Why weren’t you at work? Or were you?”

  When I’d gotten the text, I’d known I had to deal with this shit before it touched her or Franny. “I didn’t go to work. At least, not the work you know. This was from before. The life I lived before I came to Rosemary Beach. The reason you couldn’t find me for the last ten years.”

  She lifted her head off my chest and looked at me. Her eyes were full of concern. Telling her this was fucking terrifying. I didn’t want her to walk away. Fact was, I’d chase her and beg her to stay if I needed to. But she had to know.

  “It’s a long story. Begins when I thought you were dead and I left my dad’s. I was lost and homeless for a while, until I met a man. He gave me a home and a way to fight the pain and horror that consumed me. I want to tell you everything, but I’m fighting to stay awake on this medicine . . .” I didn’t realize it until I said it, but suddenly, I was drowning in waves of drowsiness.

  She reached up and ran her hand over my head, brushing my hair back gently. “Rest. I won’t leave. I’m not leaving you.”

  My eyes drifted closed as she continued to play with my hair. “When I tell you . . . you might try. But I’ll follow you,” I said with a heavy tongue.

  “Good,” she replied, her words close to my ear.

  Knowing she was there and not leaving was all I needed in that moment, and I let sleep pull me under.

  • • •

  When I opened my eyes again, I didn’t have to look to find Addy. Her head was beside me, and her hand was tucked into mine as she slept. She was sitting on the chair she had pulled over next to the bed. I gazed down at her and enjoyed the view. She’d always been so peaceful when she slept. I loved watching her. Knowing she’d stayed close to me like this while I slept made me smile.

  “She’s been asleep for about an hour now.” Blaire’s voice startled me, and I turned my head to see my sister sitting on the other side of the bed, looking at me closely. “Major called Mase, who called Rush. Glad I got to hear it through the grapevine that my brother had been shot and was in the hospital.” Now she looked annoyed.

  “Guys I used to work with didn’t know to call you,” I told her.

  She arched her eyebrows. “But they knew to call her?”

  I glanced back down at her. “Yeah, they knew to call her.”

  Blaire let out a soft laugh so as not to disturb Addy. “I’d be hurt by that if I wasn’t so happy to see someone as sweet and kind as her holding on to your hand like you were her entire world. I like seeing that.”

  She made everything right.

  “You gonna tell her about this? About why you’re in here?” Blaire asked. There was the flash of sisterly worry that I expected. But what exactly did she know about why I was in here?

  “What do you mean?” I asked, watching her closely.

  She leaned forward and held my gaze. “Do I look stupid to you? People do not just get shot in this town. Something else is happening here. You go away to Dallas and meet Mase and Reese. A man who deserves to die threatens Reese, then ends up dead himself. After that, you come here. I’ve thought about it, and something is off. You don’t look or act like a man who wants to work in the restaurant business. You look like a man who knows how to handle a gun. So you getting shot in the leg doesn’t add up with what you’ve been telling me. And just to be clear, you don’t have to tell me anything. I just want you to know that I know something is up with you. Your past is sketchy. We don’t know much about your adopted parents, and you don’t talk about them. So yeah. Are you going to tell her the truth, at least?”

  I nodded. Because I was, but that was all she would ever know.

  Blaire smiled and stood up, then walked over to me and put her hand over my empty one. “Good. She’s the one person who needs to know you. The real you. To make this work, you can’t keep secrets. Trust me, I know.”

  “Thanks. I agree with you.”

  Blaire smiled and squeezed my hand. “If you need anything, call me. When you’re ready, I want to bring Nate up here to visit. I’d stick around, but I think you have all the help you need, and you probably want some alone time with her, too.”

  “Yeah, I do,” I said.

  “It’s going to be OK. She loves you,” Blaire assured me, then turned and left the room.

  Once she was gone, I turned my attention back to Addy as she slept. It was morning now, and although I knew Addy well enough to know she had everything handled with Franny, I was still concerned about the girl waking up to her mom not being there.

  Soon she’d have both of us there every morning. She would also have her own room, and I’d drive her to school every morning. I wanted to make up for all those years I’d lost with both mother and daughter.

  Addy

  I heard deep voices talking quietly as I slowly opened my eyes. I could feel the warmth of River’s hand as it enclosed mine. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep, but when I woke up, I discovered his sister, Blaire, had been there. I’d never met her, but before River had figured out who I was, I had seen her visit the restaurant before.

  Now it sounded like he had more visitors. I felt River’s hand tighten over mine.

  “Good morning,” he said raspily.

  I blinked and focused on him. “Hey,” I replied, hoping I didn’t look a mess.

  His smile softened even more, and my heart did a little flutter in my chest. “You need to crawl up here beside me next time you sleep. You’re going to be stiff and achy now.”

  I straightened up and stretched. “I’ll be fine. You needed your sleep. I would have bothered you.”

  He shook his head. “No, you would have felt so damn good I would have probably slept longer.”

  I felt my cheeks warm, and I wanted to lean up and kiss him.

  Someone cleared their throat behind me, and River’s mouth turned into a smirk as he lifted his eyes to the other people in the room. I’d forgotten they were there.

  “Addy, I’d like you to meet some friends of mine,” he said. I turned around, surprised to see a man with a woman beside him. Her long dark hair was in stark contrast to the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. She was holding the man’s arm, and a kind smile was on her face. The bump under the sundress she was wearing made it easy to see that she was pregnant.

  “Hello,” I said, with a smile in her direction.

  Her face broke into a pleased grin as she held out her free hand to me. “Hello, I’m Reese. It’s so nice to meet you,” she said, then turned her gaze back to the man beside her. “And this is my husband, Mase.”

  Husband. Oh, I liked that even better. River had married friends.

  Mase was tall, with dark hair just long enough to keep pulled back in a low ponytail. His worn jeans fit him nicely, and the plaid button-down shirt he wore was long-sleeved, but he’d rolled them up to his elbows.

  “Glad this one found a woman who can put up with him,” Mase said.

  My back stiffened, and my smile vanished. I decided I didn’t like this Mase guy very much. “Excuse me?” I snapped, ready to defend my guy.

  Reese laughed and hit Mase’s arm. “Stop it before she takes a swing at you.” She looked at me. “He’s teasing. We’re both very happy that Captain has found someone who cares about him like you obviously do. We want him happy.”

  Mase made a sound in his throat that sounded like he might not agree, but he didn’t say more.

  “You’ll find I’ve got a colorful group of people in my world I call friends,” River said from behind me.

  I reached back and held on to his hand while studying these two so-called friends of his.

  “Stop it, you two. She’s going to hate us, and I want her to like us,” Reese said with a worried frown. “These
two didn’t always see eye-to-eye on things, but in the end, they became friends. We live in Fort Worth, and the second we heard about his accident from Blaire, we got on a plane.”

  “His dad’s private jet,” River said with an amused tone.

  Mase rolled his eyes, and Reese just smiled bigger. “OK, fine, it was a private jet, but we were in a hurry.”

  These two had a private jet? He looked like he belonged in Texas but not like he should have a private jet.

  “Mase here is Kiro Manning’s only son. He hates to admit it, but he is,” River explained.

  I knew that name, but who was it? I had heard it before. I just wasn’t sure where.

  Reese giggled and looked up at Mase. “See, she doesn’t even know who Kiro is, so you’re safe. No fangirling.”

  “Fangirling, my ass. Even when she realizes who he is, she won’t be fangirling your ol’ man,” River said, sounding annoyed now.

  I glanced back at River.

  He grinned. “I fucking love that you don’t know who Kiro is. You know that, right?”

  Dangit, who was Kiro Manning?

  “Slacker Demon, baby. His dad is Slacker Demon’s lead singer.”

  That was when my jaw dropped. Because I might not remember the band members’ names, but I sure as heck knew who Slacker Demon was. River squeezed my hand and frowned.

  “His dad is in Slacker Demon?” I asked in a whisper, even though they could hear me.

  “Yes, and he’s not nearly as impressive as you’re thinking,” Mase replied.

  “Yes, he is,” Reese piped up.

  I was slightly overwhelmed. How did River know these people?

  “I own a ranch and raise horses. I’m not some damn rocker’s kid.” Mase sounded annoyed.

  Reese patted his arm. “I know, baby. You’re nothing like him.”

  “What the fuck ever,” River said behind me. He was enjoying this, apparently.

  “I think we’ve visited enough. Let’s give Captain some rest, and we’ll call to check in later. Rush and Blaire have been at us to visit for months, so we’ll be there if you need anything,” Reese said.