Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Leif
I stomped around the front yard, sprinkling grass seed using the hand spreader. I knew Lake probably wanted me to be a little more delicate, but I wasn’t in the fucking mood to care.
I wasn’t in any mood.
I had no idea what I had done to Brooke other than be myself. I didn’t know why she’d pushed me away as she had. Perhaps that was the problem. Maybe, just like before, she wanted nothing to do with me.
Oh, she might’ve liked that date and enjoyed that kiss, but that was it.
Because she had pushed me away.
And yet, I had to have done something. Brooke wasn’t irrational. She was the most rational person I knew. That meant it had to be me .
The dumbass who kept feeling a pull to a woman who clearly didn’t want me.
“Are you just going to growl at the flowers?” Nick asked from the front porch.
I flipped him off, then cringed as I looked around the neighborhood, worried that a kid had seen me do that.
“Very adult of you. I don’t see any kids out, but if they’re watching from the front windows, Lake will get an angry call about the big, bearded man scaring the innocent children.”
“She will just have her father show up, and then the parents will swoon over Uncle Liam again.” My uncle was a former model turned best-selling author. His books had been made into blockbuster movies, and most people knew his face.
Lake had been embarrassed as a kid when the parents and even some of the teenagers had swooned over her father, but now she was capitalist enough to use that to her advantage. And her father loved her enough to go with it if it meant annoying people and keeping them off Lake’s lawn.
“You could just take your shirt off and do the same, you know,” Nick stated, winking at me.
I scowled. “Stop hitting on me.”
“You’re like my brother. I would never hit on you, even though you are hot. The only other man in that house right now is Sebastian, and he’s way too young for me and is practically married to that girl.”
I snorted. “They do seem to be pretty serious, but he likes her, and I like Marley, too. You know there is someone else in that house. Just saying.”
Nick narrowed his eyes. “I may like any gender, but I’m not going to date your cousin.”
I raised a brow. “Which cousin are you talking about?” I teased.
“You are a jerk. You know I’m never going to date Lake. She’s just so… Lake . Plus, she’s taken.” He practically grumbled the words.
“What do you mean by that?” Lake asked, and I cringed again as Nick stiffened and turned slowly to see Lake standing in the doorway.
“That you’re taken? I thought you were dating that Zane guy.” Nick raised his chin.
“His name is Zach, and yes, we are dating.” She scowled before swallowing hard.
I wondered what that was about. Was it about her animosity towards Nick? Or maybe she and Zach weren’t doing well. I didn’t know, and it wasn’t like Lake told me things when it came to dating. Oh, she might want to get all the information out of me and who I dated, but she never told me anything. Her siblings probably knew more than I did, and there was an age gap there.
But that was Lake for you. She didn’t like to spill anything about herself, even though she pretended she was an open book.
“I was talking about what do you mean she’s just so Lake . How is Lake an adjective?”
“You know exactly what I mean,” Nick snapped before he walked past her, and she quickly darted out of the way so he wouldn’t crowd her in the doorway.
She glowered at me and I raised my hands up in surrender.
“Don’t glare at me. I have no idea what the hell is going on with him. And I don’t know what he means by that. Other than the fact that you two do not get along, even though you guys decided to go into business with me. That’s not awkward at all.”
“Nick and I get along. As friends. At least, we should be. We always have been. I don’t know why he gets so disgruntled whenever I’m around now.”
I wasn’t going to touch that with a ten-foot pole.
“Either way, thank you for reviving that part of the lawn that got screwed up with those anthills. I missed that big rain when I was out of town, and I didn’t have time to worry about it myself.”
“You do realize that our family has an entire landscaping division that can handle this for you.” I quickly put everything away in the shed next to the house and followed Lake back inside.
“I know. I just don’t like having to take up their time.”
“It’s not like you wouldn’t pay them. They’re a business. Yes, you would get the family discount, but we all decided not to do things for free for each other for things like that. Not when we didn’t want to feel like we were taking advantage of anybody, even though we totally aren’t.”
I didn’t give my family free tattoos, and I didn’t get free construction work from the other arm of the family. Nor did I get free surveillance equipment from my cousins that were starting up a security firm. Yes, the discounts we got were ridiculous, and we worked at cost as much as we could because we loved each other, but we were all business people and knew that we had rules for a reason.
“I know, I know. I just like doing things myself.” She shrugged, and I faltered, remembering how Brooke had said that.
“What is it with you guys? Why can’t you just ask for help? I don’t understand it. Yes, you can do things on your own, but it’s not your responsibility to do everything on your own by pushing others away who are clearly there to help with no strings attached. It doesn’t make any sense to me. You’re just kicking yourself in the shin instead of actually letting someone help you.”
Sebastian and Nick stared open-mouthed as Lake narrowed her gaze at me.
“I’m going to assume that has to do with somebody else, and you are not yelling at me in my own home after I allowed you to take care of the seeding even though I said I could handle it myself. You’re the one who did it, and I didn’t stop you. I didn’t jump on your back and try to strangle you down to the ground so you wouldn’t be able to do it. No, I said thank you, and I cooked dinner so that we could all eat together while discussing business. So, why don’t you tell me why you’re acting like such an asshole?”
I swallowed hard, then looked at Nick and Sebastian, who just shook their heads. Nick quickly took a sip of his beer while Sebastian did the same with his soda.
“Thanks for helping,” I called out.
Nick snorted. “I thought I was the one digging my own grave, but it seems like you are chugging right along trying to beat me.”
“You’re both getting on my nerves. I’m just now remembering why I work with women-owned businesses and not with my damn cousins.”
“You’re not my cousin,” Nick corrected Lake.
She flipped him off. “No, I’m just Lake . Too much of something for you.”
Sebastian whistled between his teeth before he went to the crockpot. “Why don’t I serve everybody this delicious meal that Cousin Lake made.”
“Suck up,” I mumbled.
“Hell yeah,” Sebastian said with a laugh. “You guys are getting her all riled up.”
“Oh, so I’m a woman, therefore, I get riled up?” Lake asked, even though her eyes were filled with laughter.
“Oh good, I seem to enjoy putting my foot in my mouth like the other two. At least we’re consistent.”
“Write this down for when you get married to Marley. When you continually eat your own foot, dig your own grave—whatever metaphor you want to use—just shut up. Say you’re sorry and move on. Things are so much easier when you just admit that you’re grumbly for no reason.” Lake reached out and hugged Sebastian, and it surprised me that Sebastian was so much taller than her.
He was a man, no longer a kid, easily above six foot like the rest of us, and broadening out with muscle nearly every day.
There was a reason he was here with us for this business meeting. He might not have bought into the company yet, but he would. This was what he wanted with his life, and we wanted him here with us.
We went over financials and projections and made sure that our business was where it needed to be. Sebastian had input as well. He might not be a voting member yet, but we trusted him. And he was a brilliant kid.
It was the fact that he wasn’t a kid anymore that was startling to me. Many of my cousins were now old enough to drink and start new lives. Lake and I were no longer the only Montgomery adult kids.
It was an odd transition in our lives, but I was grateful for it. No more dirty diapers, daycare, and afterschool plays. At least not until our generation started having kids.
It was such an odd thought, considering it had made up my entire life since I had joined the family, but I liked it.
Of course, that just reminded me of who lived next door.
A woman who might not have to deal with dirty diapers anymore, but she still had to deal with daycare and perhaps afterschool plays and meetings.
Things she could do all on her own because God forbid she ask for help. Or at least take help if it was offered without any strings.
“Where’s your head at?” Lake asked, pointing at me with her fork.
I looked over at her and shrugged. “Probably where it shouldn’t be.”
“At least you’re honest,” she said with a laugh. “Does it have anything to do with the fact that you haven’t told me how your date went with my neighbor other than okay ?”
“It probably has more to do with him seeing her in the parking lot today and coming back inside like a lion with a thorn in his paw.”
“Shut up, Nick,” I growled.
“I don’t believe I will.” Nick turned to Lake and Sebastian and grinned. “I don’t know what happened, but he saw her out there and decided to practically run to her like a kid seeing candy in the window. And then he came back in grumbling and was an asshole. He hasn’t stopped being one since.”
“That’s it. Our friendship is over.” I narrowed my eyes at my best friend.
“If that’s all it took for you to lose me as a friend, I’m surprised we lasted this long.” Nick laughed. “Honestly, what happened?”
“She had a flat tire and practically ripped my face off for offering to help. I don’t know what I did wrong, but in the end, she let me help because it was the easiest way for me to get out of her face. Apparently.”
“Oh, Leif.” The sound of resignation in Lake’s voice made me turn.
“What did I do?”
“Let me guess, she was out running errands, was tired, and she had a flat tire. Did you just show up and offer to help without her asking?”
“Of course I did. Even if we hadn’t gone on a date, I consider her a friend. I’d do the same for someone who could be my friend. Or a stranger who needed help. She literally couldn’t get the nuts off the tire. I wasn’t telling her she couldn’t do it, but she literally couldn’t. I just don’t know why she had to treat me like that.”
Lake shook her head. “Of course, you do. She was embarrassed. And she’s been a single mom for Luke’s entire life. She has no real friends or family out here, although we will change the friends part. She’s been alone and independent, doing things by herself for long enough that anybody coming into her space seems like a threat. You may not get it, but as a woman? I one hundred percent get it. I’m not saying that she is completely in the right here. But I see where she’s coming from and why she reacted the way she did. It’s not your fault, it’s not her fault, but it still is your fault,” she said, cringing.
“I hate the fact that I understood that,” I grumbled.
“Hold on, I need to start taking notes,” Sebastian said as he pulled out his phone.
Nick looked over Sebastian’s shoulder and shrugged. “Forward that to me.”
I looked at all three of them, knowing they were trying to lighten the mood, and I shook my head. “I hate that I screwed things up.”
“Are you sure you screwed things up? Or perhaps you two just need to talk when you’re not stressed out in a parking lot.” Lake squeezed my hand.
I sighed. “I think you need to start writing a book with some of our cousins so you can explain to us idiots how women work.”
“I would read it,” Sebastian put in.
“I’m fine,” Nick added, and Lake laughed.
“Sure you are, honey. Whatever you say.”
“Don’t call me honey,” he growled.
“Whatever, babycakes.”
“Do you call Zach those names?” Nick asked.
“I call Zach whatever he wants me to,” she singsonged and went to clear off the table. Sebastian immediately began to help her as Nick went to start the dishes.
“Leif, can you go take a look at the hose out back? I think it might be melded to the house because I left it connected too long. Don’t tell Dad.”
I laughed and did as she asked, knowing that she could do that on her own, but she was asking for my help—probably because she knew I was stressed out over the whole situation with Brooke.
I walked out to the backyard, undid the hose from the wall, and made a note to tell Lake to get a new one.
A soft sound hit my ears, and I turned to see Brooke pacing in the backyard, a glass of wine in her hand. She stared up at the sky, then back down at the ground.
It was late enough that Luke might be in bed, but I didn’t know the nighttime routine of a five-year-old. I just knew that looking at Brooke under the moonlight did things to me I didn’t want to name.
I walked towards the low gate in between the two homes and swallowed hard. I didn’t want to startle her, so I cleared my throat as I walked. She whirled around, sloshing wine out of the glass. I winced.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Brooke looked at me then and gave a hollow laugh before she took a sip of her wine. “I was off thinking about nothing, not paying attention to my surroundings.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket, checked the readout, and slid it away. “I have video alerts in Luke’s room. So if he moves a certain way, I’ll get a ping. Got to love technology, right? I don’t think they had these things when I was a kid. At least not as motion sensitive.”
“I don’t even think my mom would’ve done something like that if the technology did exist when I was five. I know Sierra did for the twins, though.”
Brooke smiled softly. “I’m glad that you have her. She was nice at the store.”
“She’s the best.” We were silent for so long that I was afraid she would walk inside and leave my life forever, but that sounded so dramatic that I pushed the thought away. I was an adult. I could use my words. I should just fucking say what was on my mind. “What did you mean about Paris before? In the parking lot?”
She froze and studied my face. I was so afraid she wasn’t going to say anything, that she would brush it off and walk away. But Paris lay between us. It always had, and it always would, no matter what we did at this moment. I needed to know what she meant, and I needed to know why. Because if I didn’t, I knew that nothing would come from today or tomorrow. And part of me didn’t want that, but part of me was so scared of what she might say, I didn’t even know what to think.
She let out a sigh. “I came back to Colorado, you know.”
I froze. Because she couldn’t be saying what I thought she was.
Brooke hadn’t come back to Colorado. I knew that as fact. It was the whole basis for having my heart ripped open all those years ago. She hadn’t come back to Colorado to see me after Paris. That had to be the truth.
“What?”
Brooke narrowed her gaze. “You know this. You had to have known this.”
“No, I don’t. What the hell are you talking about?”
“I came back to Colorado. I didn’t go directly to California. I came here.”
The for you was left unsaid, but I heard it nonetheless.
“Then why didn’t you meet me at Taboo?”
Because that was what the plan had been. We’d had hot and heavy nights in Paris, and I had fallen in love with the girl when I shouldn’t have. We had both been young, carefree, and about to start radically different lives. I shouldn’t have fallen in love with her, but I had. And she had told me she had as well. We were supposed to meet at Taboo on a certain day, at a certain time, but she had never shown.
So when I saw her at Taboo that morning years later, even after knowing she had moved back, it was like a blast from the past. I hadn’t been able to stay away.
That was why I had kissed her.
And that was why I still wanted to kiss her.
She met my gaze. “I went to Taboo. On the second. I stood there and waited, acting as if my heart wasn’t breaking because you didn’t come.” Her eyes were wet with the sheen of tears, but I stood there, shaking my head before I laughed.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Are you laughing right now? I waited for you, Leif. And you never showed.”
“I was there, you know. Every day as soon as I got back. I was there on April fourth. Just like we planned. And then I was there on the fifth. The sixth. I was there every day for a week, but you never came. I even told Hailey and the others what you looked like so they could call me and I could show up. You never showed. But it seems like I was days late.”
“Are you kidding me? No, it was the second.”
I leaned over the fence and cupped her face. “How did we miss out on so much because of a broken, bittersweet promise? How did I miss you for so long because we had the date wrong?”
She shook her head, her eyes wide. “Are you serious right now?”
“Apparently.”
“But if I had met you there, Leif, I still would’ve had to go to California. At least for the year before I came back for undergraduate. And then, I needed to go to California again to go to graduate school and meet Henry. Because I needed to have Luke. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“Damn it,” I whispered before I leaned over and pressed my forehead to hers. “Maybe we needed to walk past one another and not realize that we had been wrong. But now we’re back. So, what happens next?”
In answer, I leaned forward again and brushed my lips to hers.
And thankfully, she kissed me back.
I might have a few answers from the past and far more questions for the future, but at least I had this.
This moment. For now.