Blossom Street Brides (Blossom Street #10)(33)

“Did you feel that same kick in your stomach when you met Lauren?”

Rooster shrugged.

“Come on, be honest.” Max pushed his empty plate aside. The bartender collected both their plates and refilled their mugs with beer.

“I thought I did,” Rooster murmured. “My mistake.”

“Any hope of repairing the damage?”

“None.” Rooster wasn’t interested. Lauren had tried several times to reach him by phone, but he’d ignored her calls. She’d sent him a text, but he hadn’t read it. As far as he was concerned, any further communication would be a mistake.

“It isn’t all rosebuds and bliss for Bethanne and me,” Max said. “Relationships aren’t always easy. You, more than anyone, have seen our struggles. Living apart this way has taken a toll.”

“I thought you kissed and made up.”

“We did,” Max said, “and it was good for a while. Neither one of us is comfortable when we’re at odds.”

“What happened?” Rooster couldn’t help being curious. He’d seen the way Bethanne had practically thrown herself into Max’s arms the instant they’d entered the yarn store. The entire store had, and it seemed the shop had given a collective sigh of approval.

Max seemed reluctant to explain. “Bethanne and I were having dinner at the house when out of the blue Grant arrived.”

“Really?”

“He had a key to the house.”

Rooster’s brows shot up; no wonder Max was upset. “Bethanne gave it to him?”

“As best Bethanne could figure, Annie did. She said she’d handle it, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I wouldn’t put it past Grant to have had a spare key made. Bethanne wasn’t keen on the idea, but I spent the morning changing the locks.”

“I wouldn’t trust Grant Hamlin with a dime, let alone my wife.”

“You and me both,” Max agreed. “Which is why I asked Bethanne to move to California.”

It went without saying this would be a difficult decision for her. “How’d that go over?”

Max shrugged. “Like a bucket of cement to the bottom of the Columbia River.”

“You’re asking a lot,” he felt obliged to remind his friend.

“Don’t I know it.”

“What did Bethanne have to say?”

Max took his time answering, as if weighed down by the question. “Not much. She promised to consider it, and really that’s all I can ask for at this point.”

“It’s a huge decision with lots of ramifications.”

Max agreed.

Rooster studied his friend and sympathized. If the situation was reversed, if it was someone he loved as powerfully as Max did Bethanne, then Rooster was convinced he’d feel the same. “This thing with Grant and the house key is what prompted it?”

Max nodded, sullen and silent.

“You want to take her away from her family?” That was the crux of the matter, as far as Rooster could see.

“Not her children,” Max snapped back. “Just Grant.”

“Because you don’t trust Bethanne?” Rooster was willing to ask the hard questions. According to his business partner, Rooster had always been the one Max could trust to dig at the truth. Sometimes it angered his friend, and at other times, like now, Max grew quiet and solemn.

“I trust Bethanne; the one I don’t trust is Grant.”

“What you’re really saying is you aren’t sure about Bethanne, then, either.”

Max looked ready to argue with him. Rooster was in no mood to get into a verbal exchange with his best friend. “I don’t want to bicker over this. Just think about what you’re asking of Bethanne,” he said, without giving Max time to counter. “What I’m hearing is this—in order for you to feel secure in your marriage, you need to have Bethanne in California. If that’s the case, you’re saying that you aren’t sure about her feelings toward her ex.”

Max straightened as if he was prepared to rebut the point and then seemed to change his mind. “Maybe. I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

“Maybe you should.”

Unexpectedly, Max turned his attention away from Rooster and toward the front of the tavern. “Well, I’ll be,” he muttered, sounding both surprised and amused.

Rooster turned to look at what had aroused his friend’s interest and his eyes widened. Lauren? It couldn’t be her. It didn’t seem possible she would accidentally stumble upon him and Max, especially at a place like Hog’s Hideout.

For what seemed like several minutes she remained framed in the doorway as if she wasn’t sure it was safe to venture inside. Bright light surrounded her as though she was an angelic being. Rooster wasn’t the only one who noticed her, either. Every man in the Hideout seemed to have his gaze riveted on her. A muscular biker, who had a cue stick in his hand and was bent over the pool table, froze.

“You see what I see?” Max asked in a low tone.

“Yeah.”

“That’s Lauren, isn’t it?”

“Looks like it.” Unwilling to be caught in her spiderweb, Rooster turned away and took a deep swallow of his beer. He was going to need the fortification to withstand the strong emotional pull he felt for her even now, knowing what he did about her.