Finding Eva (Highland Creek Series) by Marie Garner Page A

off the porch “…I have to go and finish some stuff at the office. I will call you later.”
    “Ok.”
    He slapped her ass before he walked back to the truck.
    “Hey, Aaron!”
    “I have to go to the office!”
    “I know, I was just going to tell you I still need to get in the house.”

A aron walked into Bryan’s house later on that evening desperate for a beer, food, and some conversation with his brother. He had gone back to the office after calming Eva down, but he was unable to get a lot of work done before he finally threw in the towel. Bryan met him at the door with an open beer, knowing exactly what Aaron needed.
    “How are you?” Aaron asked after they sat down on the couch to get comfortable. He really wanted to know about the divorce, since that was the only real issue going on with Bryan at the moment.
    “Good, better than I was. The lawyer told me that we should be done in the next little bit. I know that’s why you’re asking. It’s the only reason anyone asks how I am doing these days. I have suddenly become that guy whose wife left him. No one knows what to do or say. They think I will get offended if they mention it because they think I must have done something wrong to make her leave. Little do they know what it was really like living with Ashley.” He clenched his jaw, reaching for his beer.
    Aaron shook his head ruefully. “Well, I do know. I remember what it was like for a while, so I don’t know if I should be sad for you or congratulate you.”
    “It is what it is so I tend to focus on the positive. I have my baby girl who loves me unconditionally, and I didn’t get scalped in my divorce. I just want to raise my daughter. I can’t help that her mama is crazy as a loon, but she can have one parent that’s stable.” He drank deeply, needing a beer to get through that next statement.
    Aaron was proud of him. Bryan had always been a great older brother and he always looked up to him. He always took any situation and made the most of it, something he was clearly doing by taking care of Kelly by himself.
    Bryan held his hand up, stopping the conversation about Ashley; he always did that when anyone asked about his marriage. “Enough about me. I get so damn depressed thinking about my life right now. What’s up with you? How’s your girl?” It wasn’t what he said but the way he said it that had Aaron thinking he was fishing for information.
    “Did you talk to Conner?” That was the only way he would know about Eva’s freak out.
    “Yeah. He came by the office after he left you two. He told me a little bit about what was going on and that you were trying to calm her down. He is really worried about her and said this wasn’t something he expected from her.” Connor and Bryan worked together at Highland Creek Construction, with Conner focusing mostly on the plumbing work, so it made sense that Conner would see Bryan.
    He shuddered when he remembered the sobbing mess he encountered when he got to Eva’s house. “She was pretty scary when I got there, but I was able to calm her down. All this stuff with her mom is really getting to her and I think it just came to a head today. I don’t know what to do. I offered to help her but she told me no.” Aaron shook his head, drinking his beer as he thought about her refusal.
    Bryan paused mid-drink, knowing Aaron’s personality. “What do you mean you offered to help her?”
    “I told her the other night at dinner that I would go through her mother’s house with her and try to find out why she left her daughter.” Bryan stared at Aaron before he started laughing.
    “You can’t help yourself, can you?” Bryan asked after he was able to compose himself.
    Aaron cut his eyes at him, not seeing anything amusing about his previous statement. “What are you talking about?”
    “You are always butting your nose in other people’s business. I got a phone call today from Reagan about the very same thing; she said that you were