The Lights on Knockbridge Lane (Garnet Run 3)

Charlie turned away and pulled out his phone, and Adam considered the conversation over.

But a few minutes later, Rye, Charlie’s partner, breezed through the door, dark hair flowing around his shoulders, kohl-rimmed gray eyes snapping.

“I received a bat signal?” he said.

Charlie cleared his throat.

“Oh,” Rye said, and grinned. “I mean, oh, look, I’ve shown up here completely coincidentally and for no particular reason whatsoever.”

Adam laughed.

Charlie shook his head and pulled Rye into his side with a fond expression. Rye patted his chest placatingly and smiled up at him.

“Tell us the whole story,” Charlie said.

Adam blinked at him, overwhelmed by the generosity he was offering, and at work, no less.

For a moment, he couldn’t speak for fear of crying again. Rye hummed absently and waved to an older man in the paint aisle.

“Keeping out of trouble, son?” the man asked.

“Never,” Rye said with a grin. “You?”

“Naturally,” he said, but winked at Rye with a twinkle that made Adam wonder.

“Okay, hit me,” Rye told Adam.

Charlie swatted him playfully on the ass and Rye turned a wolfish look up at him, raising one eyebrow.

This. This was what Adam wanted. A partner. Someone he had rapport with. Someone he could joke around with, depend on, call and know he would show up.

“I’m falling for my neighbor and I’m scared it’s gonna be a total disaster,” Adam blurted, then clapped his hand over his mouth.

Falling for him? Oh, shit, I am falling for him, Adam thought.

“Back up,” Charlie said.

Adam blew out a breath and told them the whole story.

“He’s incredible,” he said. “And Gus already worships him. And that’s what I’m afraid of. What if things don’t work out and she gets attached and then we’re living right across from this man who she loved and now he doesn’t want anything to do with her? I can’t do that to her again. Not after Mason,” he added under his breath.

Charlie and Rye were telegraphing over Adam’s head, and even Marie’s expression had softened. Less Your choices will wreak ruin and misery now, and more Oh, you poor fool of love; I pity you and your daughter.

“Ah, at the risk of overstepping,” Charlie began, then seemed to reconsider, and didn’t finish his sentence.

Rye rolled his eyes.

“You’re not talking about Gus; you’re talking about yourself,” Rye asserted.

Adam froze.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s true about Gus too. I get it. But this is definitely about you.”

Marie gave the tiniest nod, and it was like a judgment from on high.

Adam looked to Charlie, who seemed like someone who’d never been afraid of anything.

Charlie said, “I know you’re worried about your daughter. You’d never want to set her up to be hurt. But part of being a parent is trusting that you’ve raised a person who can handle negative emotions, not be drowned by them. And you’ll be there to support her if she’s upset. I agree, the real issue is you.”

The Real Issue Is You: The Adam Mills Story.

Adam sighed, but wasn’t Charlie right? Wasn’t Gus already hurting from everything with Mason, and wasn’t she dealing with it beautifully? He was helping her, and she was doing great. He was the one who couldn’t sleep, had abandoned his passion, and was attempting to make pie.

Rye chimed in, “I don’t know shit about kids, but I bet your daughter would want you to be happy, wouldn’t she?”

Adam knew that was true. It was Gus, after all, who’d stopped him from selling his camera in Colorado; Gus who’d told him he loved taking pictures, so he had to keep it. It was Gus who, River had confided in Adam, had confided in River that she was worried Adam was sad because he’d left his friends behind.

His daughter was a sweet, empathetic person. She would absolutely want him to be happy.

Rye leaned in, expression mischievous.

“You’re welcome. Also. Have you f—”

“Rye!” Charlie barked.

Rye grinned and shrugged. Then winked at Adam.

“Okay, but how was it, though?”

Adam let a slow, appreciative smile spread across his face.

Chapter Thirteen

Adam

“Daddy, don’t be mad, but...”

Adam opened his eyes. Apparently he’d managed to sleep through the night, which was wonderful.

The beginning of that sentence, however...

He was instantly awake.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I’m fine,” she said instantly. “It’s just... It’s Bettie...”

Panic struck Adam.

The night before, in the spirit of facing his fears, being bold, and living expansively, he had said yes when Gus asked him if Bettie could have a sleepover with her, even though the idea of the tarantula in the house horrified him.

He’d instructed Gus explicitly on being responsible with Wes’ pet—and, fine, had taken Wes aside to say, “Are you absolutely, positively sure you want an eight-year-old in charge of Bettie?” in the hopes that he would see reason and change his mind.

He had not.

Adam had spent the last several days worrying about starting a relationship with Wes. But if Gus had hurt or killed Bettie, he could stop worrying about that, because Wes would probably want nothing more to do with them.