“Okay,” I said softly, thinking that was nice and all but not entirely certain that it helped a whole lot.

Luckily, Lauren wasn’t done.

“That said, I’ll tell you about Tate and me. The part that coincides with what might be happening with Chace is that a long time ago, Tate’s life was derailed. Totally. It was unexpected and he didn’t handle it well. Not because he isn’t smart, strong or a good man, just because life can sock you in the gut, wind you and before you get your breath back, it can turn to shit and then two decades later, you find you’re still stuck in it. He got stuck. He pulled it partly together but he didn’t pull it totally together until he found me.”

I drew in breath and Lauren must have heard it because she went on quickly.

“This is not to say I believe only a woman can heal a man or at this early stage with things with Chace you need to take on the burden of healing his wounds. The man, or woman, has got to want a better life for themselves. They have to want to get past their issues. They also have to be willing to share that load. If they don’t, a woman can work and slave and she’ll never get anywhere. But if they want that better life and are willing to work at it, finding someone who genuinely cares, who wants to help, who is honest and thoughtful and generous and, Faye, the hardest but sometimes the most important of all, forgiving, can do wonders to assist along this journey. What I will say is that along the way that care, honesty, generosity and forgiveness can grow into love and love, honey, real, nourishing love, I truly believe, can heal anything. Because if you love someone, you’ll want a good life for them and for yourself and you’ll do anything to make that happen. That’s what Tate and I found. It wasn’t easy, we both had our issues, but we finally recognized it and I know he’d fight and die to keep it and I’d do the same.”

Wow. That was so awesome for her.

“I love that you have that, Laurie,” I whispered.

“I love it too, Faye,” she whispered back. “But I’m not done.”

“Okay,” I replied, pleased because all that was good too and I was glad she had that with Tate. I felt it kinda had something to do with Chace but I still was unsure.

I heard her take a breath then she said, “What happened to Tate was an accident. A fluke. What happened to Ty was not. He was purposefully targeted, had his power stripped and some men, that isn’t good. Some men, they don’t bounce back. Lexie has told me a bit, Tate is tight with Ty and he’s told me a bit too. I don’t know all that went down with that so I don’t know if what I’m guessing happened is what happened. But Lexie and Ty had some issues and this had to do with Ty struggling with having his power taken away. He’s a man and men think they have to do what they have to do even if it’s not the right thing to do. Some men lose sight of the fact that their women are there to support and protect them too. Ty lost sight of that and he nearly lost Lexie. I think what happened with Chace is more like what happened to Ty.”

I felt goose bumps rise on my skin and I asked, “How?”

She didn’t hesitate to answer.

“It isn’t a secret that he didn’t marry Misty for love. I don’t know what happened with that either. I just know it seems he was forced to do something he did not want to do. I don’t know Chace Keaton except in passing. But I live with a man like him and am surrounded by them. That could not have gone down very well. He had his power stripped too.”

“Oh God,” I breathed because I hadn’t thought of it like that but now, thinking of it, and kinda knowing him, I knew it could be true.

“Yeah but worse for him, he’s that kind of man and he’s also a cop. He’s taken an oath to serve and protect a bunch of people he knows and an even bigger bunch of people he doesn’t know. I think he’s established with what he’s done at the CPD that he takes that oath seriously. So I think we can take it as read that his protective instinct is finely honed. I think we can move on from that that regardless if Misty was his wife because she or someone forced that on him, she was still his wife. His. If a man like Chace Keaton puts his ass on the line to protect an entire town, I cannot imagine it sits well with him that, right under his nose, his wife was shot to death, he liked her or not.”

“Oh God,” I breathed again even though I already guessed this. Laurie saying it out loud made it clearer, harsher and far more sad.

“And the way he treated her, on top of his power being stripped as well as her being killed, I figure all of that is tied up with him feeling not a small amount of guilt that he didn’t look after her. When Dalton McIntyre was hunting women in our area and Neeta went down, Bubba lost it because he’d been partying so much, he wasn’t seeing to Krystal. Out of that came a reconciliation and marriage. You know Jim-Billy who comes into the bar?”

Everyone knew Jim-Billy. Everyone loved Jim-Billy. He was a sweet, old coot who lost his wife in a sad way, he never got over that so he spent nearly all his time at Bubba’s. He also almost lost his life saving Lauren from a psycho. Everyone loved him because he was a sweet guy but when he saved Laurie, everyone started to adore him.

“Yeah, I know Jim-Billy,” I told her.

“Well,” she went on, “Jim-Billy’s wife died in a house fire when he was on the road and he blames himself because he didn’t change the batteries in the smoke detector when no one knows if that would have helped, if she could even have been saved. I got over what happened to me easily because I had Tate but he beat himself up for a while because he felt he didn’t protect me. Men take this shit personally. They think they can stop it when they can’t. It’s likely what happened to Misty was going to happen no matter what Chace did. But Chace won’t see it that way. He liked her or not, he’s probably taking it personally.”

“So what you’re saying is, Chace has a lot of demons,” I surmised.

“Yeah, honey, that’s what I’m saying,” she replied. “But I’ll tell you more. First, a man like that is worth care, honesty, generosity and forgiveness. Second and most important for you right now, a man like that does not have a woman kiss him and he doesn’t like it and he kisses her back. If he doesn’t like it, he’ll set her away. If he likes it, he’ll kiss her back. He liked it when you kissed him, Faye. Maybe too much to deal with when he’s dealing with demons the size he’s got. But he most definitely liked it.”