Free Off the Hook by Laura Drewry

couldn’t school us himself, so…”
    She didn’t need to know about the times Da had been too drunk to come back for them, leaving them to fend for themselves. More often than not, they’d found a boat at the dock that was unlocked, so at least they had shelter, and after the first time he’d left them there, hungry and scared, they were always sure to pack an extra-big lunch in case they needed to feed themselves dinner, too.

    “How did it work when you wanted to play ball? It’s not like you could’ve ridden your bike to practice if your dad was busy.”
    “When I was little, I stayed over at a friend’s place whenever we had practice or a game.” Liam shrugged. “Once I turned sixteen I could boat over myself, so that made everything easier.”
    “Hmm,” she murmured. “Nothing about that sounds easy to me, but I guess when you want something badly enough, you do what you have to do, right?”
    “Mm-hmm.”
    There it was, the perfect moment to tell her why he’d left her in Vegas, but he didn’t. Instead, he just kept his head down and tried to keep his shingles in a straight line. It was tedious work, yet Kate never once complained.
    He hauled another couple of stacks of shingles up the ladder and dropped them near the point. Without any hesitation, Kate pulled the utility knife out of her tool belt, opened both stacks, and went straight back to work while he set to cutting down the ones they needed.
    “What do you do with the old ones?” she asked.
    “There’s a place over in Hardy that recycles them into asphalt.” By the way she was nodding, he knew he had at least some of her attention, even if she didn’t meet his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
    Two words had never terrified him so much, and why? He’d apologized for plenty of things in his life, and yet this was the first time he remembered being scared.

    “What for?” She didn’t glance up, but there was something in her voice that made him think she already knew the answer to that.
    “Kate.”
    He waited a second or two for her to stop and look at him, but when she did, he instantly wished she’d look away. Tiny bursts of amber lit up her hazel eyes, exposing the same raw trust that drew him to her that night at the roulette table. Only this time she blinked and the amber light dimmed.
    “I’m sorry,” he repeated. It wasn’t as loud as the first time, but it felt stronger, and she seemed to almost believe it the second time around. “I, uh… Shit .”
    He took a couple of steps toward her, then stopped when her eyes widened.
    “I’ve had ten years to figure out how to say this and I’m still going to screw it up.”
    When she didn’t respond, he scrubbed his sleeve across his cheek, careful not to shoot himself with his nail gun, and sighed.
    “What we did—getting married like that—was stupid, right?”
    It took a second, but Kate finally lifted her right shoulder in a slow shrug. “Wasn’t one of the smartest things I’ve ever done, no.”
    Relief began to seep through him; at least they agreed on that.
    “Still,” he went on, “what I did, the way I treated you, leaving like that, was…well, it was—”
    “Dickwad-ish?” she offered, reaching for another shingle. “Yup, it was.”
    Heat burned up his neck and across his cheeks, but he forced the words out one more time. “I’m sorry.”

    It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds that they stayed like that before Finn’s voice split the air, making them both jump.
    “I hope the slowdown means the dickwad’s finally apologizing.”
    Eyes closed, Liam dropped his head forward, wishing the nail gun could fire far enough to reach the little shit. He was almost ready to shoot it over there anyway, but the sound of Kate’s soft laugh stopped him.
    “He’s workin’ on it,” she called back. “Give him a minute.”
    The chuckle escaped Liam’s throat before he even looked at her. Head tipped a little to the side, her mouth curled slightly, and those