Chapter 4
“How would you like to go for a swim in the lake after work?” Reese asked Leah as they locked up the café.
She looked up at him. “What about dinner?”
He grinned. “I’ve got that covered. I’ll throw a couple of steaks on the grill.”
She nodded. “And I can make a salad.”
“Sounds good.” They had reached her car. “Drive carefully and I’ll see you at our place in an hour.” Although she was still living in her parents’ home, whenever he mentioned his house, he referred to it as theirs. To him, it was theirs.
“I will.”
“And bring your bathing suit,” he said.
“Alright.”
He stood there and watched her drive away. It was only then that he went over to his truck, pausing before opening the door when his cell phone rang. From the ringtone, he knew it was his mother. “Yes, Ma?”
“I want to invite you to dinner. Danny, Rita, and Lil Danny are here, and I thought it would be nice if the five of us enjoyed a meal together.”
From the way she’d placed emphasis on the word five , he knew that Leah was not invited. He tried not to let it bother him. Deep down, his mother was a good person–loving and kind-hearted. She was also fiercely loyal and protective of her sons.
“Thanks for the invite, Mom, but I’ve made other plans.”
He had a feeling she wasn’t happy with his response because she knew his “other plans” included Leah. Then she said, “I’d like to see you, Reese.”
“Okay. I can drop by now.”
“No, tomorrow evening will be fine. I love you.”
“And I love you, too, Ma.”
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As Reese watched Leah dive into the lake, he knew he only had himself to blame for asking her to bring her bathing suit. He hadn’t forgotten how gorgeous she looked in one; he just hadn’t expected seeing her in it would rev up his testosterone to such a degree.
After making a pit stop at the grocery store to grab a sack of potatoes and a few ears of corn, he headed home. By the time Leah had arrived with the salad, he had the meat, potatoes and corn on the grill. While waiting for the food to cook, they sat in lawn chairs by the lake, sipping their beer.
She told him that Jocelyn had gotten adjusted to the fast pace of Charlotte and was pondering over an offer Cameron Cody had made to her. A friend of the Steeles, the man was a self-made millionaire who had a knack for investing in profitable ventures. His latest was construction, which was the reason he’d been able to make Jocelyn such a good offer for their father’s construction company.
According to Leah, Cody wanted to start a new construction company in Charlotte and had offered Jocelyn the position of general manager. Presently, Jocelyn was teaching at the local college, but wasn’t loving it. Cameron’s job offer seemed to have come at the perfect time for Jocelyn.
He couldn’t help but agree with her. Jocelyn loved construction work and would be good at any position. She knew it all.
Deciding to dive in the lake with her, he pulled his t-shirt over his head and removed his shorts. So, she wouldn’t be surprised, he called out, “Ready or not, here I come,” as he raced toward the lake.
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Leah wished things could be different as she watched Reese dive into the lake. He’d done so with such agility and graceful ease, and he had a body any woman would drool over. Even with all her inhibitions regarding intimacy, she could feel her mouth watering. Deciding to take her mind off how great Reese looked in his swim trunks, she gazed out at the lake. It was so huge that it flowed through all four thousand acres of Singleton land. It was a shame Jamison and Bertha Singleton never had children. This would have been a wonderful place to grow up. But Jamison had died two years before Bertha, and the older woman had passed away a few years after Leah’s mother.
She thought back to the time when a developer had come to town, trying to force the Singletons to sell their property so that a huge resort could be built on the land. The older couple had refused. The townspeople had admired them for not giving in to corporate greed and the millions they’d been offered.
Her heart kicked up a notch when Reese began swimming toward her. He stopped right in front of her and held out his hand. “Let’s swim a few laps together.”
They did, and she really enjoyed it. She enjoyed being with him. She always had, and she knew she always would. A part of her didn’t want to allow the unknown about their future dampen their relationship and wanted to believe, like he did, that everything would work out.
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The following evening, Reese knew something was wrong the minute he walked into his mother’s home to find his brother Daniel there. This was his bowling night. There was barely a year difference in their ages and he and his younger brother had always been close. As far as he was concerned, they still were. They never saw eye-to-eye on everything but were always able to find a middle ground when they didn’t. However, what was straining their relationship now, namely Leah, wasn’t anything Reese could or would compromise about.
He moved his gaze from Daniel to his mother, who at forty-two looked good for her age. He loved her and would always admire the decisions she’d made in life for her sons.
Reese, his mother, and Daniel had always been close-knit and supportive of each other. Even when he’d brought a seventeen-year-old Leah home to meet his mother and brother for the first time and told them what she meant to him, they had accepted her into the family with open arms. Unfortunately, now those same arms seemed intent on pushing her away.
A pregnant Rita came out of the kitchen holding Lil Danny’s hand. Before opening the front door, she stopped and gave Reese a kiss on the cheek and a look that basically said, I’m not involved in this .
He liked Rita, even though he still didn’t know her all that well yet. He hadn’t met her until he’d returned home after two years in the military to find his younger brother had gotten married. She’d moved to town with her parents when her father had been called to pastor one of the churches in town. She was everything Daniel needed, and she and his mother got along wonderfully…just like she and Leah had initially. The one thing Reese knew about Rita was that she was a fair person who didn’t take sides. More than once, she tried to get his mother and brother to accept Reese’s decision regarding Leah and stay out of their business. The two were still refusing to take her advice, from the looks of things.
When Rita opened the door, Daniel asked, “Where are you going, Ree?”
“I’m taking Lil Danny home. I have a feeling there will be arguing, and he doesn’t need to hear it,” she said of their five-year-old son.
When the door closed behind her, Reese glanced at his mother and brother. “I’d rather not argue,” he said. “You called yesterday, Mom, and said you wanted to see me today. What’s this about?”
“Leah,” his mother said, as if the name was distasteful in her mouth.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “What about Leah?”
“I just don’t understand how you can take back up with her after everything she did to you, Reese. She left, without even telling you what she was doing. She broke you down so badly that you had to join the military. For a while, I thought you would never return to Newton Grove because of her. Now you’re putting her before us.”
Reese dropped his hands to his side after running a frustrated hand down his face. “And how am I putting her before my family?”
“Because you’ve made it clear that she’s now your family. It’s like you’re afraid to let her out of your sight. You bought that big warehouse right beside her café. You spend practically every minute you get with her on weekdays and weekends. We barely see you anymore.”
“Mom, I still come by here often, and both you, Danny, Rita, and Lil Danny, are welcome in my home at any time. I still live on Singleton land, you know.”
“I refuse to drop by knowing she’s there.”
“Leah and I don’t live together, Ma. She’s living in her parents’ home. However, she’s welcome at my house at any time. You accepted Leah as the girl I loved and would marry years ago. Why can’t you do the same thing now? Nothing has changed.”
Rachel Singleton frowned. “Maybe not for you. But it has for me. I could never accept her in this family again, Reese. I just wanted you to know that.” She then got up and walked out of the room.
Reese glanced at his brother. “You feel the same way?”
“Any reason I shouldn’t?” Daniel asked sharply.
“Yes, because I am asking you to be fair to Leah, the way Rita is being.”
Daniel shrugged. “Rita wasn’t around to see how Leah’s leaving town nearly destroyed you. Me and Mom were. I honestly don’t think Mom will ever come around. When Leah hurt you, she hurt Mom as well. Mom loved her like a daughter.”
“What about you, Danny? Will you ever come around?”
His brother didn’t say anything for the longest time, then muttered, “I’m not sure, Reese. Maybe one day some of Rita’s ‘turn the other cheek’ attitude will rub off on me, but I can’t guarantee it.”
Reese nodded. “As much as I love you and Mom, I won’t allow the two of you to cause Leah any undue pain. She’s been through enough.”
“She’s been through enough? Like hell she has!” Daniel said loudly, quickly easing off the sofa with anger etched on his face. “Now you’re making excuses for her skipping town and leaving your ass the way she did. I never thought I’d say this, but you are pathetic, Reese.” Then he stormed out of the house and slammed the door behind him.