Chapter 35
The sunset was turning the clouds into amber swirls, the way that teased a warm summer coming, but it was still just out of reach as the temperature dipped with the sun.
Gravel crunched under my boots as I walked up the empty driveway to the large shop hidden behind the trees. The huge overhead bay door was half open, and the sound of sandpaper on smooth wood drifted out into the night.
Brooks Restoration Services was painted over the door, and I felt the same sense of familial pride I always did when I walked into my brother’s hard-earned heaven.
Lucas was bent over the hull of a classic Chris-Craft boat, smoothing down the restored wood one slow, smooth stroke at a time. He was the oldest of us Brooks brothers, and by far the wisest.
Which was why I had wandered my way up to his secluded property with idle hands and a busy mind.
“The door was open,” I said as I walked in, announcing myself. An old FM radio played some classic cowboy song through the space.
“Always is for you,” he replied, steady as ever. “Unless it’s snowing sideways. And then you have to use the customer entrance.”
I walked deeper into the shop, hands in my jeans pockets, as the calm of the space instantly relaxed my shoulders.
Lucas was in his mid-forties, with two teenage kids and a wife who was more of a saint than a woman, and his shop was his perfect hideaway from the rest of life.
He was simply like that in a way, choosing quiet and hard work over modern-day chaos.
“Are you busy?” I asked after a beat.
Finally, he glanced up from the hull with eyes that looked a hell of a lot like mine, steady and true. “Door wouldn’t have been open if I were.”
That was Lucas in a nutshell. If he made space for you, it was intentional.
Everything he did was like that. He didn’t speak or chime into anything unless it was important, and growing up, I knew early on that he always said far more with way fewer words than anyone else. It was a trait he learned from my dad before he passed when I was a teenager.
“Mom said you were working on a special project for the town,” I dallied, nodding to the boat. “Is this it?”
“It’s part of their anniversary celebration this summer. They’re going to show off pictures of the progress at the charity hockey tournament to build excitement for the reveal.” He replied, eyes on the grain as he went back to sanding.
“That’s nice,” I agreed, crossing my ankles as I leaned back at the workbench. “Good for the town.”
“Hmm,” he hummed nonchalantly. “Mom said you were leading some Townhall meetings lately,” he glanced at me from the corner of his eye without stopping the steady glide of sanding. “That you had someone special up there with you when you did.”
“Are you more surprised that I was taking part in something important, or that I had someone with me?” I asked, although I knew the answer.
“I wasn’t surprised at all,” he replied. “You never do anything unintentionally.”
I smirked to myself at his non-answer and then dived right into it.
“I’m seeing someone.” I started.
“Hmm.” He said.
I rubbed my hand over the back of my neck. “Two people, actually.”
Lucas wiped his hands in a rag, slowly and methodically, before turning to face me, leaning back on the boat behind him. “Mom might have mentioned that too.”
I rolled my eyes at the way my mom always knew everything before anyone could fess up to it. I guess with six sons, she had gotten good at it over the years.
“It’s Goldie James.” I said, and he stared at me, unblinking. “And Rhea Dalton.”
Still, no reaction. “Is it serious?”
Nodding slowly, “Yeah, it is.”
He studied me, but there was no judgement there, just that familiar, steady appraisal of his. “Are you good to them? Treat them both like women you care for and not as toys or playthings?”
My brows rose and then dropped down over my eyes when I contemplated his words. “Of course.”
“Good.” He replied evenly. “Because you’re not just building something with two incredible women, Tanner. You’re building something that will change how people see you. Good or bad.”
I opened my mouth to tell him that I got that, but paused. Because he was right; the fact that I was dating Rhea and Goldie was odd, though not unheard of in Cedar Bluff. But how I dated two women would leave a defining impression in many people’s minds about me.
“I get that.” I finally replied, less cocky than I was going to the first time.
“Are you equal with them?” He asked again after a beat.
“Equal?” I questioned, and then scowled again. “Yeah.”
But he caught my hesitation. “That’s the part that will make you or break you, baby brother. A town this small, with two hearts on the line. You have to be honest and fair. Always.”
Sometimes the ease with which he said things felt a lot like riddles, though they were the simplest things to understand.
“I know.” I replied.
He nodded his head once and said, “Bring them up for Sunday family dinner this week.” Like it was the most natural thing in the world for me to bring my two girlfriends to our long-standing traditional family dinner.
To be honest, I’d been avoiding the get-together since I started dating Goldie.
In a way, I didn’t want to argue or explain the reasoning behind our relationship.
“They’re always welcome at my table, Tanner. Same as you.”
Relief hit me in a way I wasn’t prepared for. In a way, I didn’t realize I was even looking for until I found it. “Yeah?” I asked. “Just like that? That easy?”
Lucas smiled faintly, and the skin around his eyes crinkled slightly. “You’re the calmest, most steady person I know, Tanner. If you’re choosing something complicated and unusual, it’s because you’re all in and it’s important to you. Which makes it important to me.”
I swallowed, fighting down the lump in my throat at his easy confidence in me.
He went on, “But that doesn’t mean everyone will be so easy on you.”
“How so?” I asked.
“You don’t get to be half in, on anything.
Not with them. Not with the badge. Not anything.
People are going to watch you harder and expect more out of you.
” He started sanding again, “Like they are with this whole outsider business in town. People look to you for leadership, and they’re not going to give you any room on it. ”
The fire at the rink flashed through my mind. The rumors about it being intentional. The chatter about Rhea being a hero.
“I can handle it.” I replied evenly.
Lucas tossed down his paper and walked over to me, laying a heavy hand on my shoulder the same way he had when I was sixteen and thought I had ruined my life when I dented the tailgate of my late dad’s favorite truck.
“You don’t have to handle it alone, though,” he said.
“That’s the point of falling in love with someone.
To have a partner, or in your case,” he smirked. “Partners.”
“Hmm.” I hummed, taking over his usual response at the uncomfortable topic. “Mom really said something to you?”
He grinned and opened the fridge, pulling out a couple of beers and handing me one. “She said, and I quote, ‘My little Tanner is just glowing with pride and leadership, and I don’t care how many girls it takes to get him smiling like that.’”
I laughed, the sound echoing through the vast shop.
For the first time in days, the pit in my stomach that had been there since I realized I was head over heels falling for two incredible women and it was more than just exploring an idea with them, started to loosen.
I just had to refill my steady confidence to remind myself that it was worth the growing pains in a small town. Because Cedar Bluff was small, but it didn’t have to be small-minded about things.