Long Road Home (The Barker Triplets 4)

Shane frowned. The old guy was strange, no doubt about it, but there was an intensity to him that drew Shane in, and he found himself engaging, when under normal circumstances, he probably would have passed Manly off as nothing more than an eccentric soul who meant no harm.

“I guess you could say that the thing I’ve lost has found me,” Shane replied, surprised to hear the words fall from his lips.

“That so.” Manly pursed his lips and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Out here in the bayou?”

“Crazy,” Shane muttered, thinking of the shock and surprise on Bobbi’s face when she’d walked into the B and B. “My wife and I split a couple of months ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Honestly,” Shane shrugged, trying to clamp down on the pain and anger that was always there, just beneath the surface, “I don’t know what happened. I thought we were good. I mean it wasn’t perfect, but what marriage is? Then one night, it all went to shit. She left the next morning, and just…nothing.”

“I don’t pretend to know more than most folks do when it comes to the complexities between a man and a woman, but in my time here, I’ve learned a few things, and one of them is that even the little things you think of as nothing mean a lot. If you don’t mind my saying, maybe there were a lot of little nothings, and all those little nothings have a nasty habit of adding up to a big pile of something.”

Shane couldn’t argue with the man, so he remained silent.

Manly scratched his head. “You love this woman?” The question was personal, something Shane would never expect a stranger to ask, but here underneath the wide branches of an old oak tree that had seen more than Shane would in three lifetimes, it felt like a perfectly normal question

“Yeah.” Throat tight, Shane took a moment and looked away and murmured, “I’ve loved her since the day I first saw her.”

“And she’s the thing you lost? The thing that’s here where you are?”

Shane nodded.

Manly offered a small, kind smile. He slapped the front of his thigh. “Well, aren’t you a lucky son of a gun. You’ve been given a gift, that’s for sure. A second chance, so to speak.”

Shane didn’t bother to share that he’d already had his second chance seven years ago. This conversation was already strange enough.

“The question is, what ya gonna do about it?”

Shane shook his head and swore. “I don’t know. I had no idea she was here when I got to Belle Adair last night. Didn’t know until I laid eyes on her an hour ago.”

“I take it your running into her didn’t go well.”

“You could say that,” Shane admitted. “I took one look at her, nearly lost my shit, got on my bike, and wound up here. I was blindsided and never saw it coming.”

“Well now, seems to me that you’ve got some ground to cover.” Manly paused, his face serious. “Don’t waste this chance, son. Don’t let time pass and think things will work out, because time has a habit of making liars of most of us. She’s a tricky thing, and no way, no how can you manipulate her.” He glanced back at the tombstone and whispered, “Before you know it, time’s up. Don’t let pride get in the way. If you love her, fight for her, because if you don’t, you’ll regret it until you’re six feet under. Mark my words.”

Manly turned away from Shane to face the burial plot, and, feeling a bit awkward, Shane left the man alone. He hadn’t sketched a thing, but wasn’t feeling it. He headed back to his bike, stowed his pad and pencils, and was about to snap his helmet into place when his cell vibrated in his pocket.

It was his sister. He shoved the phone back into the pocket of his jeans. He’d deal with her later. He pulled his helmet on and glanced back, his intention to wave goodbye to Manly, but didn’t see him. After a few seconds of searching, he gave up and climbed onto his bike and left the cemetery.

He didn’t head back to Belle Adair because he still needed time to deal with the crap in his head and heart. He needed to get hold of his emotions, because if he didn’t, he knew he’d only make things worse. His temper was legendary, and so was Bobbi’s. A nice long ride should do the trick.

As Shane headed down a country road that led to nowhere, he knew that he and Bobbi were going to have a conversation when he got back to the bed-and-breakfast. He was done standing on the sidelines. Done watching life pass by while he wallowed in self-pity and booze.

Shane Gallagher was ready to fight for what he wanted. For that one piece of his soul that was missing—the piece that had walked out of his life three months ago.

There was no other woman for him. He wanted Bobbi Jo and would do whatever it took to get her back in his bed where she belonged. And he’d damn well bulldoze his way over anything or anyone who stood in his way.

Chapter Seven

Bobbi heard Shane’s bike rumble on the night air. Her heart sped up, and sweat broke out on her brow at the sound. And even though she wanted this—him coming back to her—she was afraid because she had no idea where his head was at, and she certainly had no idea what to say to him if, in fact, he wanted to talk. For all she knew, he was back to pack up and leave and say to hell with Bobbi and a past that had fallen away from them both.

It was still humid and warm, but she shivered and drew the wrap around her body, then sank deeper into the shadows of the gazebo. Twilight washed the night sky with the last remnants of sun, and a glow over the tops of the trees spread like magic.

She kept her eyes on them, teeth chattering a bit as she did her best to get hold of her emotions. Coral sat across from her, hair piled up with large rollers, the plastic kind, and a fluffy pink housecoat done up to her chin.

“He’s back,” Coral said.