Hot Shot (Hot as Puck Book 2)

35. Blake

Landon has shut down. He’s here but not. Going through the motions of spending time with us.

No one pushes him. But Corbin is never far from his side and Bran seems to gravitate close too.

“He’s not going to be ready before they leave.”

I glance at Mom. “What?”

“Landon. He won’t be ready to talk about Laura before tonight when they have to go back to New York.”

“No. He won’t.”

“Will Branton be okay with that?”

“Yes. They talked. Landon asked for time to process, Bran’s giving it to him. If anyone knows time is needed to deal with this, it’s Bran.”

“True.” She taps my left hand. “Want to tell us about that? Maybe give us all something to focus on other than…”

“Ah, sure. We aren’t really hiding it. But I think Bran wanted to talk to Dad first.”

“Even though he already put a ring on your finger?”

“Yes.” Bran slips an arm around my waist. “The ring is a sign of my seriousness. And I don’t need either of you to give me permission to marry Blake, that’s hers to give, but I would like your blessing.”

“You have mine. I think Andrew is in his office. Said something about preparing for negotiations with an agent,” Mom says with a smile at Bran. “I believe the agent he’s referring to is yours?”

“Ah, yeah, with everything I totally forgot about that.”

“Well, why don’t you go deal with that”—Mom raises my hand to highlight my ring—“and this. Blake and I will get brunch set up on the patio. It’s a nice morning to eat outside.”

“How long do I have?” Bran asks.

“Let’s say fifteen minutes.”

“See you then.” Bran gives me a side hug and drops a kiss to my forehead before letting go.

I don’t see him walk away because my gaze is on Landon.

My brother is standing in front of the wall of photos Mom continues to add to. From the time Mason was a baby until now, every few months there’s a new picture on display.

The sadness on my brother’s face makes me want to hold him. “I’ll just go talk to Lan?—”

“Nope.” Mom grips my hand. “You’ll help me get brunch on the table.”

“But—”

“You can’t fix this for him—them. No more than I can. And I’m the mom. My need to fix anything wrong for you kids is next level and as much as I want to go over there and talk to him, I’m not going to. He’ll come to me when he needs, if he needs, and I’ll have to be happy with that.”

“Oh.”

“He’ll go to Corbin first. Then your dad. Bran for information the other two can’t give him.”

“I can’t stand to see him hurting.”

“Wait until it’s your child hurting. You’ll be crawling out of your skin.”

Slipping an arm around Mom’s shoulders, I lean my head on hers. “I’m here if you want to talk.”

“Thank you. But your dad’s pretty good at listening and you need to concentrate on you and Branton.” She grins at me. “And a wedding.”

My gaze find hers. I want to see her reaction to what I say next. “Bran wants to get married sooner than later. He wants to start a family too.”

“What do you want?”

“The same as him. We’ve waited a long time to get to this point.” I glance down at my hand, at the ring. “It’s his mother’s ring.”

“I thought I recognized it.”

“I was beginning to think getting married and being a mom might not be in the cards for me.”

“You’re not that old.”

“No. But I never thought about marrying anyone else, being a mother to anyone else’s children. Even when I thought he was in love with another woman and having a baby with her, finding someone else to do those things with never crossed my mind.”

“Well, as much as I’ve pressed for years for more grand babies, I know I’m—we’re—lucky to have Cash. Emma could have not told us about him. Any more in our future will be a blessing.”

“I’m sorry her and Mason didn’t stay together.”

“I’m old, not stupid,” Mom laughs. “I know they were never together as a couple.”

I cringe. “Sorry. I like to think of it like that because the idea of my brother hopping from bed to bed…” I shudder.

“I know. I’m his mother, it’s ten times worse.” Laughing she tugs me toward the kitchen. “Now help me get this food outside.”

“I need to research what we have to do to get married here.”

Mom’s gaze snaps to mine. “Here? As in here, here? This house?”

“Oh, no. Well, maybe.” I shrug. “I don’t know. Bran wants to get married as soon as we can, and my only request is we do it in Canada. Can we do it here at the house? Where we met and fell in love?”

“Did you fall in love here?”

“Ah, me, no. But Bran did. And I think it would be a nice way to circle back to us. Make our union official in the place we’ve spent a lot of time together. Plus, this is the last place he was close to his mom.”

“All right. We’ll get brunch set out, then you and I will get on my laptop and see what we can find out.”

“You’d let us get married here?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t we?”

“I don’t know. I never thought about it until you mentioned it and I’m wondering if maybe we should wait, do something bigger where everyone has time to travel, to get here, and Dad can give me away.”

“What do you want?”

“Something small. I liked what Oakley and Walker did. It was just the two of them, Pa and Micky and the officiant. The officiant’s wife as a second witness.”

“Okay, then you’ll have that. Or your version of it.”

“Down by the pond?”

“You don’t want it somewhere… Never mind. Down by the pond would be perfect for you both.”

“Is it still frozen? Maybe we could get married in our skates.”

“You want…?” Mom shakes her head. “Of course you do.”

“It’s fitting, right? We spent a lot of time out there skating.”

“And if not out there, you were in the basement.”

“Now that I think about it, we could do it downstairs on the rink. No worries about the pond still being frozen.”

“No. Your father keeps the basement frozen twenty-four-seven-three-sixty-five.”

“He only defrosts it once every four years?”

“What? No, he leaves—” I duck, Mom’s hand barely skimming to top of my head. “Smart ass.”

Laughing, I dance away. “Sorry. Couldn’t resist.”

“Here.” She opens the oven door and pulls out a tray filled with blueberry pancakes. “Take these out to the table, put them in the warmer.”

“Bran and the twins will demolish these in seconds. What are the rest of us eating?” I take the pan, the metal slightly warm against my skin.

“I’ve got another couple of trays in here. Bacon. Cinnamon rolls. Those mini egg muffin things I used to make you all for your early morning rides to the rink.”

“You’re spoiling us.”

“As is my right.”

“I’ll take these out then go round up everyone while you get whatever else you’ve got prepared on the table.”

“Take that tray then find the twins, send them in here to help. I’ll give Bran another few minutes with your father before I rope them into helping too.”

Light flashed on my hand catching my eye. “Should I take off my ring?”

“No. Don’t you dare hide your excitement because of what’s happening with your brother.”

“I just thought it might not be the best time?—”

“It’s the perfect time. It’ll give him something else to focus on.”

“Oh. You’re right. And that gets me thinking.”

“Always a dangerous thing. Last time something got you thinking, you ended up owning an NHL team.”

“Ha! True. But haha. How do you think Mason and Sutton would feel if Bran and I got married with the twins here and not them?”

“What exactly are you thinking?”

“Well, you said it would give Landon something else to focus on and I thought maybe I could ask him to stand up for me and Corbin to stand up for Bran.”

“You don’t want to get married as soon as you can then?”

“No, I still want that.”

“The twins leave at seven tonight. When did you think you could slide in a wedding between now and then? Not to mention we don’t know if you have to wait or can get married the day you apply or get a license or register or whatever it is you need to do.”

“You don’t remember?”

“Honey, I hate to break it to you, but your dad and I had a shotgun wedding in Vegas.”

“You did not! You had that beautiful ceremony in the park where you met.”

“Yes, we did have that, but it was all for show, not a legal wedding. And that was after Mason was born. Our first anniversary to be exact.”

“Why do I not know this?”

“Because your grandmother was ashamed of us getting pregnant out of wedlock and to appease her, we never talked about our real wedding. Besides, we have no pictures of our official day except one with Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton.”

“You got married in Vegas by Elvis and Dolly?”

“Yep.”

“Oh my god! I have to see that picture.”

“You have. It’s in your dad’s office. On the bookshelf behind his desk.”

“I thought that was when you went to Vegas for Uncle Dan’s wedding.”

“No. He might have gotten married in Vegas but he didn’t do it in an off the strip chapel with celebrity impersonators. His wedding was a huge flashy affair at the Bellagio. And it was six years after us.”

Shaking my head I walk toward the glass doors to the patio. “I can’t believe I’ve never known any of this.”

“Let’s get brunch on the table and everyone’s plates filled then I’ll tell you how your grandmother forced your father to make an honest woman out of me with a pitchfork.”

I almost trip over as I step outside. “A what?”

“A pitchfork. You’re going to love this story.”

“Sounds like it.”