“It’s just because Evelyn is a particularly beautiful woman,” Hunter said. “And you were very uncertain with what you were going to do about all this at first. If you recall. The angriest I’ve ever seen a man be about being attracted to a lady.”
“Because it wasn’t that simple,” Sawyer said.
“Sure,” Hunter said. “What about you?” He directed the question at Wolf. “You mad about Violet being pretty?”
“She’s too young for you,” Wolf said.
Hunter snorted. “She’s too young foryou.”
“I’m two years younger than you,” he pointed out to Hunter. “And anyway, no, I’m not mad about it. I’m just waiting her out. Waiting the situation out. I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to do the right thing.”
They lapsed into silence, nothing but the sound of the rushing river, the creaking wooden chairs and the clink of beer bottles. “What is the right thing?” Hunter asked after a while.
Sawyer laughed. “I think in our case it’s basically the opposite of whatever happened in our family. Because that seems about right. Probably the best you could do.”
“Damn straight,” Wolf said, taking a swig of beer. “I think if we don’t look anything like our parents, we’re probably doing okay.”
“You okay?” Sawyer asked, directing the question to Wolf.
“What do you mean am I okay?”
“Look. Hunter and I never wanted this. Never wanted the marriage and kids thing. You did, though.”
Wolf gritted his teeth. “I’m not thinking about that. Got nothing to do with anything.”
“It does, though. Because as far as I can tell she has a lot to do with how you live your life every single day. So how can this be separate from it?”
“Because it is. I have to do right by Violet. No. I wouldn’t have chosen this.”
“And you’re not in love with her.”
Wolf shook his head. “No.”
“Okay,” Sawyer said.
They didn’t say anything, again.
“Are you going to tell Violet what happened? Because eventually, someone’s going to tell her. Town hall is in the next couple of days, and you know someone’s going to mention it.”
“Not a secret,” Wolf said.
“But you don’t talk about it. You don’t talk about it like it is a secret.”
“It’s not a secret. I’ll tell her. I don’t give a shit.”
Except he did. That was the problem. He just didn’t want to bring the past into the present. And he...
It was sacred ground. That was the thing.
He could talk about his mother. He could talk about all his anger at his father. But he didn’t talk about Breanna. Not unless he had to.
And sometimes he did. He put Brody and Hunter in their places a few weeks ago when they were badgering Sawyer about Evelyn. He had no problem with that. But they knew the story. They’d all been here. It was part of Four Corners. One of the tragedies. That was the thing about a property like this. A place like this. A place that had been around for so long. There had been births on this land, and there had been deaths on it.
It just was what it was.
Except, for him, it would never be that.
For him, it would always be the lesson he had to learn, whether he wanted to or not.