Chapter Nineteen
He's So Bad ~ late August
“ I see you’ve found the correct grandson’s lap this time.
” Lois Prewitt fixes me with a knowing stare as she folds one hand over the other on top of her signature bejeweled cane.
My face flames hotter than the sun high above us as I sit halfway on Noah’s lap.
I didn’t intend to sit this way, but when I went to sit beside him on the edge of the hourglass-shaped saltwater pool, he tugged me close and wouldn’t let me go.
Naturally, I didn’t put up a fight. Look at him! He’s golden and glistening from the water. He smells like sunshine, salt, and citrus. Like happily ever afters are real.
But Lois’s comment has me inching away, and Noah lets me this time, though my hand stays firmly locked with his. Lois and Link weren’t out here earlier when he plopped me down like he was my personal throne.
This is the first time I’m seeing the Prewitt family after finding Noah, and I fretted as I drove all the way here, wondering if they would fully accept me into their family.
I had feared for nothing.
The moment my old truck pulled into the driveway, Branda was racing to open my door, pulling me into a tight hug as her bangled wrists dug into the bare skin on the backs of my shoulders.
“We’re, like, sisters now!” she’d shouted.
I couldn’t fight the smile off my face if I wanted to as she had led me toward the door where Noah had stood with crossed arms, pouting about how he was supposed to greet me and not his sister.
Noah’s deep voice brings me back to the present. “Is there something I need to know about?” I don’t turn around to see his eyes, but I surmise they’re bouncing back and forth between me and Ashton, who is setting the water volleyball net up with Branda’s and Vance’s help.
“It was an accident, Ashley. Chill,” Branda retorts, using his middle name as she often does when she wants to pick at him.
“I second the statement,” I say, raising my eyebrows at Lois who simply shrugs and hobbles over to take a seat in one of the white reclining chairs under a huge tan umbrella.
Beside me, Noah rises. From my seated position on the pool’s edge, I watch as he stretches, momentarily entranced by the way his muscles ripple.
My eyes flick down to a barely visible scar on his side, a faint white color against his sun-darkened skin.
A swell of gratitude blooms in my chest, the same one I get every time I remember what he did for me over a year ago.
God, help me remember it, I pray silently.
But I know that even if I never fully remember my time on Bora Bora, Noah is helping me trust that it’s probably for the best. While I wrote the attack scene fairly accurately, Noah says it was much darker than the hazy images my brain conjures when I attempt to recall the moment.
But he still won’t tell me the details; he only shudders, kisses my forehead, and says that it’s best I don’t remember.
We are still working on getting him to stop taking others’ burdens. It’s a slow process. His ability to care for me and others with such a huge heart is part of the reason I’ve fallen in love with him.
But then I hear Ashton, in a cautious warning, say, “Don’t you even think about it.”
Noah looks down at me, wearing a mischievous smile that says Ashton isn’t going to like whatever is coming to him in a moment. Burdened to help my friend, I place my hand on Noah’s calf, capturing his attention. “Leave the poor man alone. It was my fault. I tripped and fell on top of him.”
“But she lingered,” Lois pipes up, wearing a wicked smile.
And this is how I know I’ve been fully accepted into the family.
Noah’s lip twitches before he bends down and swoops me into his arms. His drying black curls hang loosely in his face as his hazel eyes twinkle. “I can’t let you off the hook, now can I?”
“Noah Ashley Prewitt. Don’t you—”
He kisses my forehead and chucks me into the water, the second Prewitt man to do so. It kisses my hot skin before warming around me as I kick my way to the surface, preparing to find Noah and… Well, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Maybe I’ll bide my time.
Good choice, my little author. We can seek revenge in the confines of our book, fictional Noah states. He doesn't talk to me much these days; it’s bittersweet.
As I break the surface, I’m met with a monster of a splash. In front of me, Ashton and Noah are wrestling, creating a maelstrom in the water as they go round and round. Vance decides it’s a good idea to join them.
Definitely will seek my revenge at a later date.
I swim away to the shallow end where Branda looks upon her brothers and friend with disdain. She sighs as I stand beside her in the chest-deep water. “Every time they want to play water volleyball, this happens. And I’m left with setting up the net all by myself.”
“Hey, I’m here.” I bump her shoulder. Branda’s dejected look instantly shifts.
“I’m so glad another woman is in the picture.”
I comb my fingers through my hair, pushing the soaked brown strands out of my face. “Put me to work, boss.”
Within minutes, we finish setting the net up and exit the pool as the men continue to go at each other playfully.
I can’t lie; it’s a sight that warms my heart.
Being here, sitting next to Branda and Lois under this giant umbrella, while Link grills under the pavilion across from the pool, is like being home.
Like I found people who were never supposed to be mine but, somehow, they are.
“I’m so glad you found my boy,” Lois says as she stares at the brawling group. She tsks and continues. “He scared me.”
“I’m glad we found him, too. I know it wasn’t easy for you all. Did he tell you his reasonings?”
Lois shakes her head. “He didn’t, but he doesn’t need to. He broke and needed to disappear.”
“He needs to let us in,” Branda comments, aggression in her tone. “I wish he knew he never has to struggle alone.”
“I think he knows that.” I take a sip of sweet tea then set it down inside the cupholder.
“Ashton might technically be the oldest, but Noah is right there with him. They’re twins.
Ashton handles burdens differently than Noah, I think.
Ashton holds things close to his chest, while Noah masquerades with humor and levity.
He carries the burden of making sure you all are well. ”
“But Esme, we never asked him to do that.” Branda sits up as Lois removes her sunshades. All three of us make eye contact, and I know this conversation is headed somewhere only Noah can provide the ending to.
I release a breath. “I know, Branda. My brother is the same way. He’s the oldest, keeps his true emotions to himself, and looks after me even when I don’t need nor want him to.
My brother is more stoic than Noah, even more so than Ashton, but it’s still the same concept.
It’s just a thing older siblings do, and I know it would be hard for Noah to shake that feeling of responsibility. ”
“It just—” Branda pauses, her brows scrunching together. “It hurts. That he doesn’t trust us enough to be by his side in his pain. He’s always there for us. I want to be there for him.”
Lois replies, “I don’t think it’s a trust issue, dear.”
I nod. “And I think it would be best if you spoke to him about it. His story—his doubts, fears, and burdens—aren’t mine to tell.”
A few minutes of silence pass between us, and I fear I may have made a mistake. But the guys finally call truces, and Noah saunters my way, breathing heavily with droplets of water rolling down his cheeks, his jaw, his chest…
“My eyes are up here, sweetheart,” he jests, moving to stand beside me before leaning down and kissing my forehead. I catch Branda’s overthinking, concerned gaze, and make an impromptu decision.
“Lois, would you mind showing me all the flowers in the front garden? There were some I’ve never seen before and would like to learn about them.”
Smart as a whip and intuitive to a fault, Lois catches what I’m throwing and slowly works herself up to her feet, cane in tow. “I’d love to show you my marigolds. Are you allergic?”
“No ma’am,” I reply, rising to my feet. I stand on my tiptoes to hug Noah and whisper in his ear, “Talk to your sister about what happened. You have to let your family in.”
I pull away, take in his furrowed brows, kiss his cheek, and follow Lois across the grass and around the side of the huge white house. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen.
“You’re good for him,” Lois says as we approach the sprawling garden full of every color imaginable.
It’s nestled between the edge of the front porch and an ancient-looking magnolia tree.
The sunlight streams through the leaves, giving the shaded garden enough light for the flowers to bask in the golden glow.
“He’s good for me.” I tug at my swimsuit cover-up, which is clinging to my damp high-waisted two-piece underneath. “I think he’s slowly showing me that good men who want to love a woman well exist.”
“His grandfather was the same way.” Lois smooths the sides of her silver hair as if it wasn’t still in a perfect, tightly wound bun, not a strand out of place. “His name was Ashley, you know?”
I palm the bud of a red rose. “No, I didn’t. Could you tell me about him?”
Lois’s eyes light up, and for the first time, the put-together, sassy yet stoic grandma looks on the verge of tears.
“I’d love to tell you all about how Noah is a replica of my late husband.
Starting with that necklace you’re wearing around your neck.
It was a gift from an Alaskan alchemist, or so the legend goes… ”
For the next twenty minutes, we check flowers, talk about her beloved, and brainstorm business ideas for bejeweled canes (as I promised Grannie back in Whitney).
Lois reminds me so much of Grannie Bertha back home, and I hope to introduce the two of them soon.
In fact, I want the Prewitts to meet my entire family.
I want joint-family cookouts and vacations and parties.
The thought startles me.
In the past, I tried to keep Lane away from my family.
Bryan’s parents obviously know mine, but Mom has told me before that they didn’t do much with us, and even then, I kept Bryan away from them except on special occasions.
Why did I do that?
I guess I won’t fully know unless my memories return, but as for Lane…
I kept him away because I was embarrassed of him.
Embarrassed of the way he treated me. Embarrassed that I let it happen. Embarrassed that I was settling even though I didn’t want to admit it to myself.
“Burgers are ready!” Link calls from around the house, and Lois and I make our way back there to see Branda and Noah hug, Vance slap Noah’s back, and Ashton remaining off to the side with a faraway look on his face.
As we all come together to help Link set the table under the pavilion, Noah meanders toward me, carrying a jar of pickles, and whispers, “Thank you, Esme.” Then he bumps my shoulder, almost dropping the jar in the process.
“Careful,” I say through a laugh as my hands wrap around the jar to steady it. “It’d be a shame to lose the pickle.”
Noah, in all of his roguishness, waggles his brows.
As soon as he opens his mouth to comment, I nail him with a warning glare.
He swallows the retort. “Right. I’m working on not letting my sexy inside thoughts out until we’ve said our vows.
Sorry, sweetheart.” He kisses my cheek then goes on about his business.
I stare after him, taken aback that he shifted gears so quickly.
And with respect and sincerity. When I used to address Lane (because I guess I have a thing for the flirty rakes of society), he would brush me off and say that I needed to grow up and not be such a prude.
He didn’t respect the fact that his sexual comments turned me on and made me want things that I wouldn’t allow myself to have until marriage due to my morals.
But Noah?
He’s respecting me. Cherishing me. Showing me just how much he loves and cares for me by honoring my requests.
Snapping out of my comparison monologue, I rush to where he’s cutting the pickles into circular slices. I wrap my arms around him from behind and rest my face against his back. “Thank you, Noah. Now let me go help Branda whip up the Orange Julius. It’s still your favorite drink, right?”
Noah grins a megawatt smile. “Indeed. It’s almost as sweet as you.”
I roll my eyes, but the blush coating my cheeks over his cheesy line follows me all the way inside.