Page 66 of Cash

“Music?”

“Sure.”

He punches a button on the dash, and a Brooks & Dunn song starts playing from the middle. It’s just loud enough to hear over the roar of the open windows.

“Cassette tapes,” Cash explains with a shrug.

This old-school approach to driving is actually kind of charming. I hum along to the music as the breeze cools my skin and blows the hair back from my face.

Turning, I catch Cash looking at me.

“What?” I hold my hair back with my other hand.

He shakes his head, focusing his gaze on the windshield. “Nothing. You just look like your daddy, sitting like that.”

My heart squeezes. “I do? How?”

“He’d hang his arm out the window too. Although he’d sing a lot louder.”

I grin. “I inherited my mom’s voice. You do not want to hear me sing.”

“I heard you plenty back at The Rattler.”

“You didn’t run.”

“Don’t mean I didn’t want to.” He’s smiling, eyes liquid,and myGod, how does someone so handsome exist? “Your daddy did have a nice voice.”

“I remember that, yeah. Helovedmusic.”

“You do too. Y’all are alike—I can see that now.”

It’s a compliment. One that makes my chest hurt.

Cash is throwing me bones again. Glancing at him, I want to know why.

I want to ask the question that’s been banging around inside my head since we met.

“Why didn’t you come to the funeral?” I ask. “You say you and Dad and everyone else on the ranch were tight. But no one from Hartsville showed up.”

Cash’s chest rises on a sharp inhale. “We weren’t invited.”

My stomach lurches. “What? That’s not possible. Mom said she invited everyone Dad knew.”

“She didn’t invite us.”

“You sure? Maybe y’all missed it in the mail?—”

“No one got an invitation of any kind, Mollie.” He adjusts his hand on the top of the wheel. “I know, because I reached out to your mama after she sent those men to bring your dad’s body to Dallas.”

“You called my mom?”

“Garrett never lived in Dallas. He only mentioned it because it was where you and your mama lived. I knew he wouldn’t want to be buried there, so I reached out to Aubrey to tell her that.”

The saliva thickens inside my mouth. “What did she say?”

“Nothing nice.” He chuckles darkly. “When it became clear she wasn’t gonna budge on the location of the burial, I asked her to send me the details so we could attend. She said the service was for family only and to please stop calling her.”

Yep, now I definitely feel like I’m going to vomit.