Mountain Delights (Wild Mountain Men 2)

“It was complicated.”

“It was life,” I countered. “You had a wife, a child. You should’ve manned up. Got a job at the fucking Quickie Mart by the highway.”

His dark eyes narrowed and my heart skipped a beat, recognizing the same gesture in myself. “I did. I manned up. I let you two go. I wasn’t worth it.”

“She worked two jobs. Two.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“She worked herself to death.” I pointed at him, let my arm drop. “And you… you’re still alive.”

His lips pursed, but said nothing.

“Why did you say you killed Erin Mills?”

“You asking or is Lucas?” He tipped his chin in Lucas’ direction.

“Everyone in Montana’s asking. I figure I have the right to know more than any of them.”

“I manned up.”

I stared at him, waiting for more. “What the fuck does that mean?”

He shrugged his bony shoulders.

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

“That’s it.”

I took a step back, stared at the man. He was a stranger to me.

“You have nothing else to say?”

He blinked, then again. “Cyrus, you won’t believe me, but I’m proud of you. I’ve followed you, watched you turn into a man. A good man.”

My heart ached. Not for the stranger in front of me, but for the father who had disappeared, who I’d hoped to have had. Who’d never existed.

“Because of Mom.”

A tear slid down his weathered cheek and he wiped it away. “All because of her. You might look like me, but looks aren’t everything. You’ve got her heart. Her soul.” He cleared his throat. “Goodbye, Cyrus.”

He shifted, then closed the door.

I stared at it, realizing I’d gotten jack-shit out of him. I still had no idea why he’d claimed to have killed Erin. Glancing over my shoulder, I looked to Lucas. He hadn’t moved. Should I bang on the door, force him to tell me? He was weak and pathetic. I’d beat the words out of him in seconds.

I’d gotten closure with the guy. He was nothing like I’d been hoping he’d be. Still thirty-seven years old and full of life and loving my mother, being a father to me. He hadn’t been that man for a long time.

I mourned the loss of the father who had disappeared, but I didn’t want who he’d become. My mom had been better off without him. Maybe he’d known that and stayed away.

I turned on my heel, walked back to my truck.

“Well?” Lucas asked.

I shook my head. “He wouldn’t say.”

I wasn’t going to tell my best friend that my father had told me he’d falsely admitted to murdering his sister because he’d manned up. What the fuck did that mean?

“Don’t you want to find out?” he asked.