Chapter 4 The Eighth Chair
The Eighth Chair
Mom declared Thursday to be family dinner night shortly after Noelle and Hawkley tied the knot. Family included Mom, Dad, me, Hawk, Noelle, Noelle’s dad, Pat, and her brother, Max. This was family.
The last person I expected to see there was Daire.
Not once, in all these weeks, had Daire been here. Why was he here now?
He definitely wasn’t the one who was supposed to fill the eighth chair at the table, the one I mentally reserved for Hunter.
My heart dropped to my stomach, the sudden emptiness in my chest filled with familiar aching sorrow. I hated the idea of Hunter’s chair being filled by another. Especially not Daire. He elicited too many feelings inside me already. I didn’t need or want him in my family home.
As if he belonged there.
As if he could have belonged there with me.
I gave my head a shake. He was not the one for me, if indeed there even was one. He was simply a stupid teenage crush who grew into a truly beautiful man, and I needed to get over myself.
Fast.
Frowning, I turned away from the table only to be met by Daire’s steady gaze.
It was compassionate. As if he knew my thoughts. Anger that he might occupy Hunter’s chair, grief at the reminder of my loss, shame that I might treat Daire so unfairly, and embarrassment at being caught out stained my cheeks. I turned away from him and escaped into the kitchen.
Bracing my hands on the counter, I leaned against the sink and sucked in a breath.
“Just breathe, stupid,” I muttered.
The kitchen door opened, and I straightened, opened the tap, and began washing my hands. “How can I help, Mom?”
“I think she’s got it all under control.”
I spun around at the sound of Daire’s deep voice.
“Daire,” I breathed, the skipped beat of my heart lending fear to the mix. My brows lowered. “What are you doing here?”
My lips parted. My eyes widened. That sounded so much worse out loud than it did in my head.
He tilted his head to the side. “You seem to ask me that a lot. Do you mean here in the kitchen? Or here for dinner?”
I stared up at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like you’re not welcome. You are. I was just surprised.”
“It didn’t seem like a good surprise,” he murmured, studying me.
Tears sprang to my eyes.
“Ugh,” I groaned, my hands flying up to cover them. “I’m fine. It’s fine,” I muttered, digging my heels into my eyes.
Warm hands wrapped around my wrists. The shock of his sure touch startled me into allowing him to pull my hands away.
He held them firmly between us, somehow grounding me. “What is it?” he whispered, his eyes darkening with concern.
Looking up at him, the inherent kindness in his eyes reminding me so much of Hunter, I replied, “The eighth chair. It’s always empty. I can’t pretend Hunter’s on his way if someone is sitting in it.”
“Your brother.” His face softened further as he dragged my hands around his back and nestled me against his chest, one hand cupping the back of my neck, the other splayed across my back.
His heart thumped a steady beat beneath my ear.
I breathed him in.
Against my better judgment, my body melted against his.
What fresh hell was this?
My hands, rolled into fists, ached to touch him. To press against the planes of his back, knead the muscles aligning his spine.
The heat of awareness curled through my womb. My nipples tightened as I felt the shift in energy.
Did he feel it, too? Or was it only me?
Clearing my throat, I gently extricated myself from his arms. I glanced up at him without meeting his gaze and offered a bright smile. “Thanks for the hug. I needed that.”
He didn’t respond other than to stuff his fingers into the front pockets of his jeans.
My eyes dropped to his groin before skittering away.
Oh, God. Did he see that?
I swallowed. Nodded to myself. Blew out a breath. “Well! Uh, we should probably get back out there.” I laughed then cringed as it rang false. “We don’t want Max to eat all the good stuff.”
“No,” he murmured as I studiously avoided his gaze. “We wouldn’t want that.”
Stepping back, finally, he held out his arm for me to precede him.
Did I imagine the weight of his gaze on me? I tucked my chin to my chest and hurried out the door, feeling exposed and unworthy of his attention. I wondered if he found me wanting.
Returning to the dining room, my mom’s worried gaze resting on my face, and my dad so obviously assessing Daire, my inner teenager cringed.
I huffed out a laugh and shook my head.
My dad had the grace to smile, but I couldn’t fool my mom that easily.
In the end, it was Max who filled the chair at the end of the table that I mentally reserved for Hunter. Daire took the seat next to him. Across from me.
Conversation flowed freely, and I learned that Daire’s condo was only one block away from mine.
“What made you pick up and move to Sage Ridge?” My dad asked the question I’d endlessly obsessed over. “Do you have family where you used to live?”
Daire set his fork down and leaned back in his chair.
“Years ago, when I visited Max, I fell in love with Sage Ridge. I wanted a change, and after talking to Max, it seemed like here might be a good fit for me. As for family, it’s just been my mom and me since I was twelve.
She met a good man a few years ago. He has a home base in our town but spends the majority of his time in Greece.
When I realized I was the reason she wasn’t traveling with him, I kicked her out of the family nest.”
“You kicked her out of the nest?” I chuckled.
He grinned and nodded. “She mostly lived at his place but couldn’t bear to part with our family home.
It just sat there empty unless her partner was in Greece for an extended period.
She’d been waiting for me to get married and make a family of my own.
When that didn’t happen, she resigned herself to sticking close.
As soon as I realized what she was doing, I put my place on the market and then approached her about selling hers. ”
“How did you find out that’s what she was doing?” Max asked. “I know your mom. She’s pretty adamant you’re the best thing since sliced bread. I can’t imagine her giving off vibes like she wanted to get away from you.”
Daire grimaced. “It may have been because I approached her partner and accused him of stringing her along while he went about his merry life.”
Dad laughed. “I’m betting Mom didn’t like that overmuch.”
Daire shook his head, a rueful smile curving his lips. “He set me straight and now she’s living her best life in Greece for six months a year. Thankfully, he requested we keep that conversation between the two of us so as not to upset her.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “His idea, not mine.”
“But you didn’t argue,” Noelle teased.
He twinkled back at her. “No, I did not.”
A frisson of jealousy snaked through my heart.
Oh, no.
I was not having that.
All through school, boys befriended me in hopes of getting close to Noelle.
My first date was with a boy I thought was genuinely interested in me. I was thrilled when he asked me out.
Noelle and I spent hours choosing the perfect outfit. I even begged my mom to take me for a haircut, which she did.
But in the end, he spent the entirety of our date peppering me with questions about Noelle. Then had the audacity to expect a kiss goodnight.
He wasn’t the first or the last to use me to get to her.
And she had eyes for nobody.
Noelle and I had made it this far without letting some testosterone-befuddled male come between us and I was not going to start now.
I exhaled and purposefully relaxed my shoulders.
Noelle was married, happily, to my brother. And she’d been with my brother since she first breezed back into town. There had never been anything between her and Daire.
Not that it mattered.
I couldn’t imagine him being interested in me if he gravitated toward the likes of the Queen Bee Bitch of the Brady Bunch.
By the end of the night, I’d laughed so hard at Max and Daire’s stories from college that my stomach hurt. Who knew Max had once been so adventurous?
Noelle, too, sat with her mouth hanging open.
Max had always been the responsible one, next only to Hawkley who took his role as protector to the extreme.
Over the past decade, Max had slowly morphed into a pale-faced workaholic. This new version of Max, which was in fact a rebirth of a much older version, was unexpected.
And welcome.
Daire moving here was good for Max. Maybe Daire was helping him find his way back the same way Noelle brought Hawkley back.
Despite the less than stellar start, we had a great night.
I smiled to myself the whole way home. It wasn’t until I snuggled into my quiet, cozy nest, that the realization hit me.
I forgot to say goodnight to Hunter.
I always touched the back of the empty chair on my way out. Always. My lapse tormented me, the ache in my chest returning with a vengeance.
Because if there was one person who deserved my attention, it was Hunter.
I curled into the couch, pulled the blanket up over my shoulders, tucked my hands under my chin, and released a shuddering breath.
I could not forget about Hunter. Forgetting even once left a sick, hollow pit in my stomach. Forgetting meant carrying on as if he hadn’t been the brightest spot in my life.
The bright spot in all our lives.
Forgetting made him nothing more than a memory.
And he deserved better than that.