Hands pulled at the two of them, shouting to calm down.

“What the f**k?”

“You just gonna stand there while the best thing that ever happened to you walks away? What is wrong with you, Joe? You said you came back here to start fresh. You’re acting like such a dumbass.”

“I…”

“I told her, damn you. I told her that you were worth fighting for. But that if you didn’t wise up I was going to have to punch your face for making her sad. I also said I’d hate to do it since you were my best friend and all. But you’re making me regret that last bit.” William’s eyes had narrowed.

Nathan sighed as he put a hand on his brother’s shoulder a moment before speaking to Joe. “Originally, I tried to warn Beth off. I told her you weren’t the kind of dude she needed to be with. She told me what she thought of you. And through her, I realized that maybe you were what she needed. You came here and helped out your family. Oh get that look off your face. We know what’s going on. I know she told you about our childhood and I know you pushed her out the door after that. She risked something and you rejected her.”

It hit him then and he swallowed back nausea. He shook his head, hard. “I didn’t reject her for that. That’s not true. I’d never do that. Does she think that? If she did, why did she keep coming around to check on me?”

“She loves you for starters. And she doesn’t think you rejected her because of that. Though I think she might have thought it for a while. You tell me, Joe Harris. You think long and hard and you tell me what other woman on this planet who’d be better for you than Beth. What woman would support you and help you? She’s there for you. You and I both know it and you let her walk out those doors. I don’t know what your problem is. But I will tell you this is go time. Either go get her, or let her go for good.”

Joe put his cue back and grabbed his coat, heading for the doors. Not to go get her, but to take a ride. Yes, he needed to get the hell away from town and all the Murphys for a while.

He drove back home to grab his gear. When he opened the closet, he saw her helmet on the shelf next to his. He grabbed his and Buck barked.

“What?”

The dog sat, his tongue lolling as he took Joe in.

“I’m going for a ride to clear my head. It’s dry enough.”

Buck just kept looking at him.

“It’s a good thing she’s moving on. I mean, I’m not what she needs.”

Buck snorted, got up, gave Joe his butt and walked away.

“Whatever.”

He was arguing with a dog. This is what his life had sunk to? He got the bike out, driving slowly out of town before opening her up and roaring through the night.

She needed someone else. Hadn’t he told her that?

Of course she’d argued that he was the one for her. And he’d refused her. She’d sure moved on easily enough.

Okay, that wasn’t fair. He knew she’d tried to get him back. But if she was dating now it meant she’d accepted that they couldn’t be together. It was what he wanted.

Maybe.

Maybe it was more about what she needed. Right? Shouldn’t he be the bigger person here and do what was best for her? He had baggage.

She was a beautiful woman. Successful. Family centered. It wasn’t hard to see why a guy like Trey would be interested in her. It was good she was getting past Joe. There were men in Petal who could give her what she needed.

She needed…

He thought back to Beth telling him she needed him. Who was he to tell her what she needed when she seemed to know so strongly?

The truth was, he needed her. He could admit it as he rode alone in the dark. Needed her so much just the thought of her got him through many a rough spot in the last month.

She made him laugh. She didn’t take him seriously when he was pissy. Took a strong person with a sense of herself to blow off someone’s mood the way she did. It disarmed him.

He thought about her sense of humor. Bawdy. He loved that part of her. When it was just the two of them, she could be so dirty. Carnal. He was sure he’d never laughed so much and had so much great sex too.

More than that and just in general, she had a quick wit. An easy way with her siblings and friends. She was the one who tended to run interference when tempers flared. She diverted anger and annoyance and teased it away. William or Nathan got gruff and she handled them. They knew it, of course, but she was impossible to resist. If Beth wanted you to smile, it was pretty hard not to.

He growled inside his helmet.

Beth Murphy was a strong woman. A helpmate, his mother would have called it. She was the kind of woman a man could come together with at the end of the day and share with.

The kind of woman who’d kick a man’s ass six ways to Sunday if he acted a fool, but who’d defend him to the death when he was right. She was ferocious when it came to the people she cared about.

Strong. He’d never looked at her as another responsibility. Though he cared about her, she didn’t need him the way his mother did. She was her own person. Independent.

The way she’d gone out and done all that research, how she’d contacted Trey’s sister to get him more information about mental-health treatment and resources—it had touched him then, and over the month they’d been apart, he’d thought about it more and more.

She’d seen a need and had jumped to fill it. Though he’d dumped her. She’d done it, had brought him food. Had made him dinner while she had opened up some really private parts of her life to make a point.