“So you—?”
“Yup. Lover, business partner, thief, cheater, you get the idea.” He picked up a pebble and threw it on the water, making it skip. “It was eight years ago, and Mom helped me pick up the pieces. I owe her everything. That’s why, when Dad up and left her a few years back for some big-breasted gold-digger, I stepped in to help her. I used my savings and together we saved this place from going under. It’s a huge change from the frantic pace I used to have back then, but I would do anything for that woman.”
“I…the only person in my life like that is Bambi. Like Ian, my cousin, we neither of us have family anymore, though he seems to have landed just fine, whereas I’ve been punishing myself for years, thinking that things would change. They haven’t so far.”
“Tell me more,” he urged, picking up a stick and throwing it for Bambi to fetch.