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“Right. I suppose I can do that this afternoon. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it before.”

Except that I know exactly why I didn’t think of it before. I’ve been ruminating on Callie and the fact that I have to let her go.

“I know this is a big mess,” Dale says. “Neither one of us has really been acting like ourselves.”

“You noticed, huh?”

“Yeah. I have to tell you, Ashley is keeping me very grounded. I’m glad I shared what’s going on with her.”

I say nothing.

“Don?”

“Yeah?”

“How are things with Callie? Is she back from Denver?”

“Almost. I just got a text from her. She’s about fifteen minutes out.”

“Good. I think you need a heavy dose of Callie Pike.”

“Funny you should mention that…”

“What?”

I sigh. “Dale, I have to let her go.”

“What?” My brother’s voice is almost shrill. He doesn’t sound like himself at all.

“You heard me. And I know you understand why.”

“No, I don’t understand. And I’ll tell you the reason why I don’t understand. Because a few weeks ago, I was exactly where you are now. I almost let the best thing in my life go, and it would have been the biggest mistake I ever made.”

“Dale, you and I have a hell of a lot of baggage. But now with these new developments—”

“So we have more baggage. So what? You have a woman who loves you and who you love in return. Don’t let all this baggage—”

I can almost see my brother’s air quotes.

“—lead you into making a bad decision.”

“I’m only thinking about her.”

“I get that. I’ve been there, like I said. Do I need to come over and pound some sense into you?”

I scoff. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Hey, I work out. I have a taekwondo dojang in my basement. You sit at a desk all day.”

My brother is not wrong, and he also has way more of a temper than I do. Still, we’re pretty evenly matched body-wise.

“Dale,” I say, “this is different.”

“How is it different?”

“This is some major family drama we’re uncovering. It could affect our finances. It could affect everything.”

“So?”


Tags: Helen Hardt Steel Brothers Saga Erotic