Chapter 4 #2
I turned to see Leif standing there, a slight knowing grin on his face. He had pushed his hair back and his beard was a little scruffy. His bright blue eyes were on my face, and I tried not to lick my lips or think about exactly what effect his voice had on me in the past.
I had just had an entire afternoon and dinner with this man, his cousin, and my child. I hadn’t reacted in any way then. I wasn’t going to do it now. Not in public, and especially not in front of his freaking aunt.
“Oh, it’s like that, is it?” Maya asked, laughter in her tone.
“It’s not like anything,” I blurted, and Leif raised a brow.
“Sure, Brooke. Whatever you say. Though of all the coffee places in the world, you have to walk into mine.”
“Oh good, I’m delighted that I get to hear these lines,” Maya said with a laugh.
“Your coffee and cinnamon rolls are ready,” Hailey said from behind me. I whirled and tried not to trip on my own two feet.
“Oh. Thank you. Seriously. It smells amazing.”
“No problem. But you do realize that you will have to tell us how you know our boy here.” She winked as she said it, and I swallowed hard.
“Your boy?” I asked, my voice squeaking.
Leif let out a rough chuckle that did bad, bad things to me. “I told you that we Montgomerys take over the world. You just happen to be on our street.”
Maya came forward and took her coffee and cinnamon roll as she raised her brow at Leif’s words. “Seriously, Brooke, is it? It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry that my nephew here is being a dork and not introducing us properly.”
I knew that there were other people in the café, but most weren’t paying attention to us. They either had headphones on and were working, or paying attention to what was in front of them rather than the antics of whatever the hell was happening to me.
It was as if they were used to this, and knowing Leif, and how he told tales of the Montgomery family, maybe they were.
“Seriously, is everyone I’m going to bump into related to you?” I asked, my eyes wide as I looked over at Leif.
“I don’t know who you’ve met yet. And technically, Hailey isn’t related to me, but she’s an honorary aunt,” Leif answered.
“I am an actual aunt,” Maya said as she held out her hand. “Maya Montgomery-Gallagher. It’s nice to meet you.”
I put my hand in hers. “Brooke Adler. It’s good to meet you, too. Are you Lake’s Mom?” I asked, trying to get the family tree right.
Maya raised a brow. “No, Lake is my cousin’s kid. But I think of her as my niece as well. Leif over here is my brother’s child. Austin, who owns the shop with me.” Maya pointed behind her towards the open door of the tattoo shop. “His mom owns Eden, the boutique across the street.”
I looked at the bag with my scarf in it and then up at Leif. “Your mom is that gorgeous woman with auburn hair, isn’t she?” I asked, feeling like a poor gazelle surrounded by a pack of Montgomery lions.
Leif grinned. “She is. Dad’s not working today because he’s off with my siblings at some parent-teacher thing, but Mom is on guard at the shop.
I just went to visit her, and she spoke of a lovely woman who was moving back to Denver and had bought a beautiful scarf.
She also mentioned that she was pretty, and I should find her and ask her out.
Because my mother is constantly trying to get me to settle down,” Leif mumbled.
Maya and Hailey both leaned against the counter, staring at us and our byplay.
I let out a slow breath. “I’ve always loved that shop. You didn’t tell me that your mom owned it.”
“I want to know what’s going on here, but I feel like if I ask anymore, Leif will pull you out of here and I’m never going to know.” Maya laughed.
“Brooke and I go way back,” Leif explained, and I was glad that was as far as he went. Because nobody else needed to know exactly how far back we went and what happened between us. I still couldn’t quite believe it. “She also just moved in next door to Lake.”
Maya’s eyes widened and she beamed. “Oh, you bought that house, my brothers built it, and my sister did the landscaping.”
I shook my head, rubbed my temple, and then took a sip of my latte.
“First, this coffee is amazing. Second, did I just step into a different realm I wasn’t aware of? What do you mean your family built it? Or do I want to know?”
Leif laughed. “Some of my family own a construction business, and they just happened to have built part of the neighborhood. Seriously, it’s just a coincidence.
And you happen to be on the one street in all of Colorado where many of my family members own businesses.
I swear you will not run into us in the grocery store or anywhere else around town.
You just happened to be where we’re mostly congregated. ”
“You mean on my favorite street in Denver,” I mumbled.
“Sweet,” Hailey said. She looked over at Maya. “I still have so many questions, but I think that we should leave these two kids alone.”
“I guess you’re right,” Maya said with a sigh. “Thank you for the coffee and cinnamon roll. And I’m serious. If you don’t want this big lug over there to do your ink, we would love to have you.” She turned to Leif. “Say hello to my boy later, and will we see you this weekend for dinner?”
“You know it. Now I’m going to take Brooke out of here, so she doesn’t run away screaming.”
“I don’t know if that will help,” I said with a laugh. I wasn’t joking either. I was just trying to keep up with everything.
Then Leif picked up his coffee, that I hadn’t even seen him order, and I walked outside next to him, with him holding my bag from Eden and me nibbling on my cinnamon roll as we walked in silence.
“So, your family does own everything here. And all of my favorite spots.”
“We own a lot of it. One of my aunts owns that bookshop, and a few of my aunts—that are technically second cousins or something—own places in Boulder, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs.”
I blinked. “How is that even possible?”
Leif shrugged. “I told you that my father had seven siblings, and they all needed jobs. They have lives, and nobody moved away from this area. My uncle Shep moved down to New Orleans at one point, but he moved back up here with his family later on. My cousins have moved around the United States for college and such, but we all end up coming back. This is home.” He met my gaze, and I swallowed hard.
“You know all about Colorado being home, right?”
“How is this even possible? I met you in Paris, Leif. Paris. I know we both said at the time that we were from here, but what are the odds? After all this time. How is this happening?”
I wasn’t even going to touch on the fact that I was still bitter. Still angry. It had nothing to do with what happened in the past five years. Nothing to do with Luke’s father, my new job, or the reason for moving.
No, it had all to do with what happened after Paris. Or rather, what hadn’t happened.
“I don’t know, Brooke. This is just my home. I don’t know what else to think.” He was standing in front of me, and I hadn’t even realized his fingers were touching my skin, trailing along my jaw.
“Leave.” It was the only thing I could say.
“Brooke.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
He hadn’t shown at the time, hadn’t met me as we had promised.
I should be angry, push away, and forget everything that happened. But I wasn’t that little girl anymore. I wasn’t a teenager who thought she was an adult. I was an adult, a single mom, and I wanted to know him.
That was the problem with Leif Montgomery. I had always wanted to know him.
So when he lowered his head to mine and pressed a soft kiss against my lips, it was as if everything came back in a heartbeat. Memories of who we were and what we thought we wanted out of life assailed me.
“Just like I remember,” he whispered.
I swallowed hard, licked my lips, and stepped back. “I’m not that person anymore, Leif. A lot of things have changed.”
He studied my face and I wondered what I meant by that. What did I want? I wanted a new life, a change. That was why I moved here.
Leif might be part of my past, but he wasn’t part of the past I was leaving.
I just didn’t know what that meant, and since everything was so confusing, I needed to breathe first. To take things slow. To make a list, go through all of my options and then decide. That was the only way I could function.
“Welcome home, Brooke.”
“To the same home you’ve always been,” I whispered.
“I’m not going anywhere, Brooke. I never did.”
“Are you sure about that?” I asked.
But he didn’t answer, and I wasn’t sure that he could. So we stood there on a busy street, one filled with so many memories, and yet, somehow, they were all tangled with Leif. I just hadn’t known it. Once again, I stood on a precipice, waiting to fall.
Knowing the landing could only ever end in heartbreak.