Everything to Lose (Moonlight Dating Series #2) by Natalie G. Owens Page B

open, plagued with pride and secrets. She had her own perceptions of how things should be. She liked to organize things, make plans, and he went with them. That’s why she didn’t take kindly to him uprooting their lives so often. She lost control, and she wouldn’t adapt. Then he wouldn’t give in.
    Pride and Prejudice wasn’t a book. It was their life.
    The uncomfortable expression on the man’s face tugged at his heartstrings.
    Taking pity on him, he extended a hand. “Long time no see, Uncle Fred.”
    Fred returned the shake. “You recognize me.”
    “Yeah. It’s been a long time but you don’t look much different, except that Italian food seems to agree with you.”
    “It’s that blasted olive oil, buddy! Nothing like it.” He patted Dane’s shoulder and motioned to a table. “Come have a sit down, son. We have to play catch up. This pretty place here belongs to a friend of mine. He’s letting me use it until they open at noon. Between you guys and me,” he winked at them conspiratorially, “I come here sometimes when I’m sick of my own food.”
    After he sat down, Lissy put her hand on his shoulder. “I’ll leave you guys to it , then.”
    Dane gripped her hand to prevent her from leaving. “Please stay,” he asked.
    “I think you guys have a lot to discuss. There’s a lot to keep me busy here. Be back in an hour, okay? I’ll be outside just a ways down at the intersection,” she said, gently prying her hand away and stepping out.
    Dane heard the door swing closed then hesitated and looked around. “There won’t be any more ghosts from the past dropping in here, will there?”
    His uncle’s eyes filled with pity. “No , son, there ain’t. Your daddy’s long gone now.”
    A mirthless smile escaped him. “Where? Living it up in the tropics?” Dane said sarcastically.
    “Gone as in dead gone, son.”
    Dane felt the blood drain from his face.
    Fred took the chair to his right .
    “It’s been twenty-three years now.”
    He made a mental calculation. Twenty-three years means I was f our teen – the last year I saw him.
    “Mom said he left us. He didn’t want us.”
    “Your mother was a woman scorned, Dane. Your father died doin’ the wrong damn thing. He was fixin’ ta have a bit of fun with some hussy he met at one of them beef production companies he worked with.” 
    “That’s impossible. My father didn’t condone adultery.”
    Uncle Fred grabbed his wrist and hooked his gaze. “Yer dad was a man, son. He had a heart attack in the motel room. He was butt-naked. The girl panicked and called management. Management called the ambulance but it was too late. Then the police came. It was a cluster fuck like you never wanna see. Your mother couldn’t take it , God rest her soul .”
    Dane blinked. “So she made up that he’d abandoned us to continue to hate him, to make me hate him.” He swallowed the bile that rose to his throat. Memories came back – Mom selling the ranch afterward and moving them from Smiley, Texas , to Birmingham, Alabama where her sisters lived. His stomach clenched and rolled and he had to beat that wave down so he could speak. “She ruined my life.”
    “Let that go, boy,” he said sternly. “She’s dead , too , now and she can’t defend herself. You will respect her and you will respect your father. Everyone makes mistakes in this crazy world .”
    Uncle Fred had moved to Houston a few months after his dad… died. He had to get used to thinking that. His mother died four years later, leaving him enough money to finish c ollege and get the hell out of D odge. He’d never seen his other family since then – his three surviving aunts, his cousins and their children. He’d lost a whole family through hate and regret and practically messed up his own life, too.
    His mother had felt something else apart from resentment – the humiliation of knowing her husband died while having sex with another woman.
    “How did I never find out?”
    “They