Chapter Twenty-Six
When they arrived at Trip's office on Tuesday morning, Emmett looked over at Blane. "Thanks for bringing me, bud. This should be the last time you need to play chauffeur."
He had to laugh when Blane scowled at him. "I'm not playing at it, and I'm not sure I'm ready to give the job up just yet. Let's get in there and see Trip, but even if he clears you, says you're good to drive again yourself now, don't think you're getting rid of me."
Brooke greeted them with a smile when they walked into the reception area. "Hey. Trip should be out with you soon, Emmett. How are you feeling?"
"Better every day. Almost fixed now," he told her with a smile.
She turned to Blane. "And how about you, big brother?"
Emmett loved the way Blane smiled whenever he saw Brooke.
"Get your ass out here and give me a hug, and I'll tell you," he told her.
Brooke came out from behind the reception desk, and Blane wrapped her in a hug, kissing the top of her head before letting her go again.
"I'm good. I'll be better if you want to hang out with me this weekend."
Brooke narrowed her eyes at him. "Why do you say that?"
Blane scowled back at her. "Because I want to hang out with my little sister. Why? What's going on?"
She rolled her eyes. "I'm not here this weekend, I figured you must have heard that and were checking up on me."
His expression grew darker. "No, I hadn't heard. Where are you going, and who with?"
Emmett was relieved when Trip's office door opened and he stuck his head out. "Oh, hey, there you are. Come on in."
Brooke shot Emmett a look, but he shrugged. "Sorry, Brookie, I can't help you with this one."
She blew out a sigh. "That's okay. I can handle him myself. It's just that he tends to be more reasonable with you around."
Emmett chuckled and followed Trip into his office.
"How are you feeling?" Trip asked.
"Probably better than Brooke is right about now."
"Is Blane giving her a hard time?"
"Not exactly. You know what he's like. He just wants to protect her. And I think she's going away to some concert this weekend—she mentioned it a while ago."
Trip chuckled. "We're better off in here out of the way. How's the shoulder, and how are the ribs? You know I'm not just going to clear you because you want me to."
"I know," said Emmett, "but honestly, I'm doing way better than I was."
"Yeah, but that's not saying much," said Trip. "Up you get." He indicated for Emmett to sit on the exam table. "Let's see your range of motion in that arm before we do anything else." He pursed his lips at Emmett. "If the arm looks like it's up to the job, then we move on to the ribs."
Emmett shook his head. "I'm fine. I can drive. And…"
Trip paused and met his gaze. "And what?"
"And I need to drive again now."
"No, you don't. You've got Blane. And we both know he'd rather I didn't clear you just yet."
Emmett chuckled. "I can still keep hanging out with him, just not all the time. There's some driving that I'd like to do myself."
Trip gave him a knowing smile. "You mean you don't want him playing third wheel with you and Harper?"
"Exactly."
"Okay, then. Let's see how you do."
By the time he walked out of Trip's office, Emmett felt as if he’d been granted his freedom. Being dependent on anyone other than himself—even Blane—didn’t come easy to him. The smile on his face told Blane the news before he could.
Blane got to his feet, which was probably a welcome relief to the older woman who'd come in and was sitting in the waiting area—a scowling Blane was a scary sight.
Brooke held her hand up. "How did it go, Emmett?"
He nodded happily. "I'm good to go. He says I can drive again."
"Oh, that's great." She made a face at Blane. "But don't think you'll be getting rid of him that easily."
Emmett laughed. "That's okay. I wouldn't want to."
Brooke rolled her eyes. "I don't want to get rid of him either, but I don't need him breathing down my neck the whole time."
"Not breathing down your neck," Blane grumbled. "I just wanted to hang out with you this weekend, that's all. But if you're going off with some guy that you won't tell me about, what am I supposed to do?"
Brooke shook her head with a smile. "Come over tonight, I'll make you dinner. How about that?"
Blane grinned. "Okay. I'll be there at six. See you then, little sis."
"See you then, big bro."
When they got back to the truck, Blane reached for the passenger door, but Emmett opened it himself. "I'm good, thanks. I want to get back to normal."
Blane cocked an eyebrow. "You want to get back to normal, or you want to move on to something new?"
"You're right, I want to move on to something new."
"Get in then," said Blane. "Let's talk on the way."
Once they were back on the road, Emmett turned to him. "It's not like we need to talk about it. You already know where I'm at, and you know how I feel."
"I do. And in case I haven't said so yet, I'm glad. You deserve it, Mitty."
"Thanks, bud."
"And in a couple of weeks, she's going to move back in with you guys. And then your something new will be underway, right?"
"Yeah, it will."
Blane glanced over at him before turning his attention back to the road. "You planning to marry her?"
Emmett shook his head slowly. "Not yet. If ever. I don't know if she'd even want to."
"Yeah, but do you?"
"I don't know how the girls would feel about that. It's something for down the line, anyway."
Blane turned and glared at him for a moment. "I didn't ask about Harper. I didn't ask about the girls. I asked about you."
Emmett wiped his palms on his jeans. "I know, bud. And I think I'm avoiding answering myself even more than I'm avoiding answering you. But… yeah, I think I would like that. Someday, somewhere down the line, you know?"
"It's what I expected," said Blane.
"You did?"
"Yeah, it's who you are. You and Emily were great. But it's more than just Emily. You… You're a good dad, a great dad—but more than that, you were a good husband—it suited you. You should marry her if that's what you want."
Emmett chuckled. "Thanks, bud. But like I said, there's a lot more to it than how I feel. I don't even know if Harper would want to. And there's the girls."
"I know," said Blane. "So you're just gonna move her in and that's it?"
Emmett thought about it for a few moments. "I've been toying with an idea."
"What's that?"
"You know how when the guys met their women and they wanted to propose or whatever, they went to buy a ring in town?"
Blane grunted. "Yeah, they all go shopping like a bunch of women."
Emmett laughed out loud. "Yeah, that."
"What, so you're saying you want to go shopping? You want to buy Harper…? What? Oh, wait—are you going to do what Trip did and buy one of those eternity rings? So it's not an engagement, but she still gets a ring?"
Emmett shook his head slowly. "I might have done that if Trip hadn't landed on the idea first." He chuckled. "The girls helped him with it, you know. They taught him about different rings and different cuts of diamonds."
"Yeah, they told me all about it. So, what do you want to go shopping for?"
Emmett wasn't sure he wanted to admit it, but when Blane turned to him again, he blurted out on a laugh, "I want to buy her a teddy bear."
"What the fuck, Emmett, a teddy bear? The rest of them get diamonds and you want to buy Harper a teddy bear? Even I know that's not…"
Emmett laughed out loud. "It's not about a competition, it's about what it means."
"Oh shit, right, yeah, the whole Mama Bear thing, yeah."
"Exactly," said Emmett.
"Well, in that case, I'll round the guys up. Figure out when everyone can make time for this shopping expedition, okay?"
"Thanks, bud."
"Hey, it's my pleasure. In fact, it'll be a real pleasure. I'll get a kick out of telling them that we're not buying diamonds, we're buying a teddy bear."
Emmett just smiled. "You know me—I do things my own way."
Blane shot him a quick look. "I do know. It's one of the many things I love about you."
~ ~ ~
Shelley slipped her arm through Harper's as the two of them walked the driveway from the cottage toward the barn. "I'm glad we finally get to do this," said Shelley. "I feel like we've barely seen each other for the last few weeks."
"I know, sorry."
"No, I wasn't complaining. And besides, it's not just you.
I've been busy too." Shelley smiled. "I know you're back here at the cottage now.
But I have to tell you, it seemed to me and to everyone else that you and Emmett were a real couple at the play on Friday night.
And the girls as well. The four of you were like a family. "
Harper smiled. "It was good, wasn't it?"
"It really was. And you said that you only came back here to make it easier on the girls?"
"That's right. Although we're now talking about me moving back in with them in a couple of weeks. It was Alana who wasn't sure. And to be honest, I don't blame her. But moving forward, we'll see how it goes."
They walked in silence for a little while. Harper just enjoyed being with her friend again.
"Will you make me a promise?" Shelley asked after a while.
"That depends." Harper gave her a sassy smile. "What are you after?"
Shelley slapped her arm. "You know damn well I'm not after anything other than trying to look out for you."
"So, what is it that you want me to promise?"
"That we'll do a better job of keeping up with each other?
I know life gets busy, and I'm sure it’ll be even busier once you're back at Emmett's place.
But we need to catch up at least once a week.
I'd love to think that we could have lunch or go for a walk like this, but even if we can't manage that, promise me we'll make time for a phone call. "
Harper squeezed her arm. "I promise you that I'll make lunch with you a priority in my schedule every week. How about that? We might be busy, but I don't want to let this slide. I only moved out here because you’re here."