The McCree's Star Spangled 4th Read Online Free PDF

that’s all that
matters.” He glanced back at me with a reassuring smile. “Anything
worth having never is easy, and if it was, it wouldn’t be worth
much now would it?”
    I smiled, “Since when are you full of
all the good advice?”
    “ Oh, since my boss died and
his kid was in need of a little guidance.”
    “ Briar?” I heard Chase
calling for me in the yard.
    “ I’ll send him in,” Mac
climbed back down the ladder.
    “ Thanks, for
everything.”
    “ Anytime, honey.”
    Soon after he was gone, Chase’s head
appeared over the side, “My mom said you ran out on
her.”
    I shrugged, wiping my eyes on the edge
of the blanket.
    He didn’t move from the ladder and
rested his arms on the edge of the loft. “Care to talk about
it?”
    It was his mom. I didn’t want to ruin
what we had by forcing him to pick sides, even unintentionally. I
just wanted to live here with him and continue to be happy. “I’m
fine now.”
    He drummed his fingers on the top rung
of the ladder. “See, normally you don’t hide when you’re upset. You
come right out and tell me.”
    “ This is a different kind of
upset.”
    “ Yeah, I can see that, and
it’s got me worried.” He climbed the rest of the way into the loft
and sat across from me. “My mom thinks she may have said something
to upset you.”
    I snorted, “Thinks?”
    He didn’t say anything and
waited.
    So I told him what she said.
    And he was still silent.
    He stood and went back to the ladder,
climbing down, not a word.
    I had a feeling, and it wasn’t
good.

 
     
    Chase
     
    “ Thanks for coming.” I
glanced up from the safe in my father’s room. My mom was standing
in the doorway, looking around with a half broken expression. “Mind
if we talk?”
    “ No, I don’t mind,” She came
into the room, very hesitant, but still, she came. “Same
furniture.”
    I nodded, “Yeah, I’m not sure what to
do with it. Pack it up and put it in storage, or sell
it.”
    “ This should be your room.”
She went to the closet and gently pushed open the door.
“Chase…”
    My dad’s boots were where they’d always
sat on a low shelf towards the back. We’d cleaned out most of his
things over the years, but I could never get rid of his
boots.
    “ I miss him,” my mom turned
around and hugged her waist. “Sometimes it’s like I can feel he’s
around.”
    I felt the same, especially in this
part of the house. “He’s still here, I think.”
    She smiled. “This is the grandest room
in the house. He would have wanted you to have it.”
    “ Not yet.”
    She frowned. “Why not?”
    I kept my steady gaze locked with hers.
“Millie and Jerry will move back into their house, and Briar and I
will move in here together when the time is right.”
    She sank down on the edge of the bed,
“This is a little too soon to be talking about you and
Briar.”
    “ Briar is the most important
person in my life.” I braced my hands on my hips and stared her
down. This was going to be an adult conversation, whether she was
ready for it or not. “I can’t believe you said those things to her.
She didn’t deserve that.”
    “ That wasn’t nice of me,
I’ll agree.” She smoothed her fingers over the blanket on the foot
of the bed. “But someone has to give you two a reality
check.
    I shook my head. “Trust me.”
    “ Chase, you’re so young.”
She sighed. “Send her home, spend some time apart. You’ll see then
that you aren’t ready for such an adult relationship.”
    “ Mom, I stopped being a boy
a long time ago. Briar’s parents are too self-absorbed to give her
a second thought. She’d been here a month before they came looking
for her.” I’d been living the life of a man for a long time, since
the day my father died. I’d stepped up to take on a responsibility
that was so much bigger than me, that I hadn’t even understood yet.
“Yeah, we’re young, and we’ve still got learning and growing to do.
We made a decision to do it together.”
    “