Chapter 19
Nineteen
Brax shut the door to the truck and eyed the bakery building with some apprehension. “Are you sure you’re up to this? It’s only been a few days. Nobody would blame you for taking more time.”
“I’m going completely stir crazy at home. I need to get back to work and get your renovation back on schedule.” Without hesitation, Mia strode toward the front door.
He couldn’t decide if she was amazingly resilient or just stubborn. But he followed her, wanting to be there in case she had a bigger reaction to being back in the place where she’d been held at gunpoint.
The body had been removed and police had finished processing the scene, clearing them to get back inside. It occurred to him, as she unlocked the door, that he didn’t know whether processing the scene involved cleaning up the blood. He should check. She sure as hell didn’t need to see that.
“Mia, wait a minute.”
But she was already tugging the door open and stepping inside.
The interior was dim, with little of the early morning light filtering in through the windows. It smelled of sawdust, with a faint underlying odor of bleach. But there was no lingering scent of blood or gunpowder. No hint of death in the air.
Brax switched on one of the work lights in the corner. The concrete floor was free of bloodstains. Though whatever had been used to get it up had left the concrete where the body had lain paler than the rest. Maybe the Sheriff’s Department had brought in someone to clean up after all. Or maybe Jonah and Holt had been in?
Mia stood staring at the spot. Remembering?
He laced his fingers with hers. “How you feeling? Are you gonna be okay to work here?”
“I’m… okay. I don’t know if I’ll ever be all right being alone here again, and I certainly won’t be bucking to stay late. But it’s not as bad as it might be. It helps to know that Abruzzi isn’t going to come after me.”
They’d talked about so many things in the past few days, but this hadn’t been one of them. “Is that a problem for you? That I killed a man to save your life?”
She turned into him, dark eyes searching his face. “No. I’ve always known you were willing to do anything to protect me. I’m hardly going to criticize you for doing what you’ve been trained for.”
“It doesn’t bother you?”
“I’m no stranger to violence, Brax. If you’d hesitated, I might be dead.” She took his other hand. “Does it bother you that you had to kill someone outside the line of duty?”
“I’ve always considered your safety my duty. I’m not losing sleep that there’s one less scumbag in the world.”
“Good.”
There’d been no further developments in the case. No one had been able to track down who Abruzzi had been working for, and so far, there’d been no further disturbances to suggest someone had been hired in his stead. But it would be a long damned time before any of them let their guard down again.
The door swung open, and Jonah strode in with Holt. “Well, you two are here early.”
“Somebody’s eager to get back to work,” Brax explained.
“I hate to break it to you, babe, but you’re married to a workaholic.”
Holt’s mouth curved into the barest of smiles. “Does that mean the divorce is off the table now?”
“Oh, yeah.” Brax held up Mia’s left hand where she’d put on her wedding band again. “We burned the paperwork. Had a ceremony and everything.”
The whole thing had made him think about other ceremonies. His own silver band felt heavier now than it had years ago. He couldn’t help remembering how he’d promised her he’d get her something better when they could afford it.
Jonah grinned. “Good to hear it. I feel like we should have drinks or something to celebrate.”
“Well, it’s not drinks, but I brought sourdough breakfast sandwiches for everybody on the crew this morning. They’re in the truck.”
“Is there bacon?” Jonah asked, ever hopeful.
“Is the sky blue?”
He did a fist pump.
Mia had gone quiet. “I need to ask all of you something before everyone gets here.”
Her serious tone had Brax going alert. “What is it?”
“Much of this renovation has been a disaster because of me. No, I didn’t do the damage myself, but the fact remains that you’ve had theft and vandalism, and a death on the premises that wouldn’t have happened if not for me. We don’t know if this is over yet. I’ll understand if you want someone other than Mountainview to finish up the project. I have some recommendations?—”
“Don’t be an idiot, Mia.” Jonah’s tone was mild, but his green eyes were sharp. “We chose your company and your designs because they were the best. So, we’ve had more than a few hiccups along the way. Shit happens. Doesn’t mean the job you’re doing is poor. We expect you to finish things out.”
“Unless you being here is causing undue anxiety,” Holt added. “We understand, if that’s the case.”
Her eyes were just a little over-bright. “I’m fine. And if you’re still okay with it, I’d appreciate the chance to see the job finished.”
“Then it’s settled.” Jonah headed for the door. “Now I want to get my hands on those breakfast sandwiches before the crew gets here and they disappear.”
The sandwiches did, indeed, disappear. The Mountainview crew fell on them like a pack of ravening wolves, with a chorus of pleasurable moans that rivaled an adult film.
“Dude, where have these been the whole job?” Brandon demanded.
“I mean, breakfast wasn’t part of the contract,” Brax pointed out.
“Totally should be,” Wally insisted, making no effort to hide it as he peered into the cooler for another.
“Maybe they just wanted to give you guys a taste of what’s in store once the bakery’s open,” Mia suggested. “You are going to have something like this on the menu?”
“Don’t know yet,” Brax admitted. He’d hardly given a single thought to menus the past couple of months. “We’re still working on that part. I expect there will be some experimentation to see what people like around here.”
“Consider us all one hundred percent on-board with including these breakfast sandwiches.” Brick stuffed the last bite into his mouth and brushed off his hands. “Now, where do you want us to start, boss?”
“Bathrooms. I want to get those tile floors in today. The sooner that’s done, the sooner we can install all the new fixtures that came in. Go check to see where we are on the uncoupling membrane.”
“You got it.”
Brax was cleaning up the parchment paper wrappers from the sandwiches when Brick came back out. “Uh, boss, you need to see this.”
Her face went white. “Oh, shit. Now what?”
“I, uh… You should just come.”
Brax stayed right on her heels as she hurried inside. Wally stood in the open door to the women’s room. He ducked out of the way as they approached, and Brax caught and held the door.
“What the hell?” Mia muttered.
The bathroom was finished. All the tile had been laid. The new toilets were installed. The new sinks and faucets. Even the hand dryer had been hung on the wall. She ducked around him, opening the men’s room. It had also been finished.
“How?” Brax muttered.
“Luca,” she murmured.
They hadn’t heard a word from him since he’d left the house days before. He hadn’t responded to Mia’s texts, and when she’d gone by to check on him, she’d found that he’d moved out. Brax assumed that meant he’d finally accepted that Mia would never return his feelings, and he was getting the hell out of Dodge. Brax was completely okay with that. He knew Mia had complicated feelings about all of it. She still felt the sting of betrayal over everything Luca had revealed. But he’d been her best friend for ten years, and she’d been worried about him. The lack of contact had unsettled her. And apparently, somewhere, in the midst of all of it, he’d come back to do this work.
“Why?” Brax asked.
She pointed to the post-it note stuck to one of the mirrors. I’m sorry. “A peace offering.”
Brax didn’t know whether Mia would ever be able to fully forgive him. After how things had gone down, he wasn’t even sure if she’d ever hear from Luca again. He didn’t blame the guy for not being able to face down seeing the woman he loved day after day, happy with someone else. But as gestures went, it wasn’t a bad one. It put to rights the last of what had been damaged.
“Hey, where’s Luca?” Brandon asked.
“He’s gone to pursue other opportunities.” She gave one more long look to the sparkling bathroom. “Okay, since this is out of the way, let’s get to the lighting. I’m gonna go call the tin roof guys.”
And just like that, she was back to being the boss.
“I knew there were original hardwoods under this carpet,” Mia crowed. With fresh enthusiasm, she attacked the hideous shag with her razor knife.
Brax yanked a section free of the carpet tacks, giving her some heavy side eye as he dragged it back. “Remind me never to piss you off. You’re a little too practiced with that knife.”
She laughed. “I have a great deal of experience hacking up horrible carpet, and I’ve been dying to get to this part of the house. The sooner we get rid of the carpet, the sooner we can get to work on the fireplace.” And she had such big plans for the fireplace.
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m kind of gonna miss this carpet.” He waggled his eyebrows and shot her a heated look that had her insides turning molten.
She pressed her legs together as all the memories of that day they’d finally come back together scrolled through her brain. “I feel confident we can christen every room in this house without keeping the shag carpet.”
He dropped the hunk of torn carpet and reached for her hand. “I vote we start with the kitchen. Those counters are exactly the right height for?—”
Mia covered his mouth with her hand. “I know exactly what you’re thinking, and I’m entirely on board. Later. Work first.” Work had to come first, or they’d never get finished with this house.
He nipped her fingers. “Slave driver.”
“You love me.”
“Damned straight.”
He hauled her in for a kiss that curled her toes inside her work boots and left her swaying.
“Mmm.”
“Incentive to work fast,” he declared.
“You are a wicked, wicked man, Brax Whitmore.”
He flashed her a grin that proved her point. “You love me.”
“God, I do.”
She was still grinning foolishly after him when he carried out the first roll of carpet.
Over the past month, they’d finally finished the renovation on the bakery, with no further disruptions or delays. All had been quiet, and she was slowly starting to relax. To live normally again. It would still be months or longer before she stopped looking over her shoulder, but maybe she was finally free of the secret that had haunted her for years.
Next week they’d be down to the punch out work at the bakery. The place looked fantastic, if Mia did say so herself. The guys had gone with a deep forest green for the siding, which set off the silver, tin roof and the natural cedar posts of the porch. Inside was exactly the rustic industrial look she’d planned. The pallet-board shiplap was accented with open shelving built from iron pipe and reclaimed wood. She’d convinced them to let her add a narrow counter at bar height along the front walls to provide additional seating beyond the tables that hadn’t yet come in because the crew’s response to what they’d sampled had proved people were going to be showing up in droves. The guys were still rounding up the rest of the commercial appliances for the kitchen, but the walk-in cooler had been installed, as had the used commercial ovens they’d nabbed from a sandwich shop going out of business in Nashville. She and Brax had left Holt and Jonah to argue over placement of the new stainless steel worktables, and who got what workstation, so they could come out to work on their house.
Their house.
It had a long way to go, but they were enjoying the hell out of the process of turning it into the dream they’d shared so long ago. Mia hoped to get it to the point of being livable by the end of the year. Maybe faster, as Jonah and Holt had expressed a willingness to lend a hand, and she knew Porter would pitch in, if she needed him.
If there was still a faint shadow on her heart over Luca, it couldn’t be helped. She’d finally gotten a postcard from him last week.
I just wanted to let you know I’m okay. Or I will be. I need time and space to figure myself out on my own. I’m sorry I hurt you, and I wish you all the happiness in the world.
He hadn’t even signed it, but she knew his handwriting.
That was the best she could expect right now. Maybe someday they’d reconnect, but she knew they’d never be the friends they once were. It would take a long time to overcome the grief of that. She hoped he found someone who’d love him the way he deserved to be loved, who’d cherish and appreciate his big, grumpy caretaking heart.
She went back to work on the carpet, ripping up the next piece herself.
“Hey, Mia! You gotta come see this.” Brax’s voice floated in through the open living room windows.
Abandoning the carpet, she headed outside to find him standing on a massive rock at the edge of the property.
“What is it?”
“Sun’s going down. Check out this view.”
More than willing to indulge him, she took the hand he offered, letting him pull her up. The rock made for a high point, overlooking the valley housing Eden’s Ridge below. To the west, the sun had dipped below the ridge that gave the town its name, painting the sky in a brilliant wash of color. They stood, hand in hand, watching as those colors deepened, edging toward evening.
“It’s a helluva view,” he murmured.
“Yeah. I thought so when I first saw the house. But it’s better with you beside me.” Mia tipped her head to his shoulder, comforted by the solid feel of it.
His sigh was contented as he pulled her against him. “I never imagined we’d get here. I wish we hadn’t missed all those years. That neither of us had to go through all the hurt. But all of it makes me appreciate finding you again in a way I’m not sure I would have fully done otherwise.”
“The lack of something makes it easier to appreciate when you have it. I don’t think either of us will take each other for granted again.”
“No. And that’s had me thinking.” He tugged her to face him. “Nothing about our relationship has been normal. We didn’t do anything the usual way. I didn’t even ask you to marry me. I told you we should. Gave you a boatload of reasons why it was a good idea. But I never asked. You deserved to be asked. To be romanced.”
Confused, she looped her arms around his shoulders. “If you’re under the impression that I’m upset about that, I’m not. I married you because I loved you. I wasn’t fussy about how we got there.”
“Still. You missed out on a lot because of our circumstances, and I want to make that up to you.”
Loosening her hands, he stepped back.
“What are you…” But she trailed off as he dropped to one knee in the mountain twilight.
The corners of his mouth lifted as he pulled a small box out of his pocket. “I promised you years ago, I’d get you a better one of these when I could. We’re still not doing anything the normal way, but as we start out on this new leg of our lives together, I want to do it right.” He opened the box to reveal a white gold band with a diamond solitaire in a bezel setting.
Mia covered her mouth to hide the tremble there as he continued.
“So, Maria Isabella Ramirez Whitmore, I’m asking you to marry me. Again. Will you renew your vows with me in the big white wedding I couldn’t give you before, in front of all our friends and found family?”
She blinked back tears as she stared down at the tough, protective man with the secretly romantic heart as he knelt before her. “You want to marry me again?”
“I’ve never loved anyone else the way I love you. I want to build the life with you we always wanted. Make a family, in whatever form that takes. And I want you to know, every day, that you’re cherished and the best part of my world. Another wedding seems like a damned fine way to do that. But if you’re not into all that, you could just wear the upgraded ring.”
Reaching down to frame his face, Mia bent to brush her mouth to his. “I would love to marry you again, with all the bells and whistles.”
His lips curved under hers. “Good.”
They both watched as he slid the ring onto her finger against her original wedding band.
“A perfect fit,” she murmured.
“Just like us.” Brax lifted her hand to brush a kiss over her knuckles.
“For the record, I’m really enjoying this secret romantic side.”
“Then you’re really gonna love this.” Without warning, he scooped her up, bride-style, and strode toward the house.
“What are you doing?” she laughed.
“Carrying you over the threshold.”
“Isn’t that getting ahead of things?”
“We’re already married. I figure we can do this part in whatever order we want. Starting with the kitchen.”
And she was happy to let him convince her that the horrible shag carpet could, in fact, wait.