Chapter Twenty-Four #2
“For not coming home after Mom and Dad died.” He stared down at his hands for a moment. “I thought I was doing right by you, Brookie, and I’ve only figured out lately that I did the worst thing I could’ve done.”
“Oh, Blane.”
He lifted a shoulder. “I know. It was stupid.”
“No. I didn’t say that.”
“I always had it in my head that I’d die young, and with the kind of work I did…” He blew out a breath. “You took it so hard when Mom and Dad died. I didn’t want you to ever feel like that again. Especially not because of me.”
Brooke leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Maybe in hindsight it wasn’t the best plan,” she said softly. “But I turned out okay, didn’t I?”
“You turned out amazing, kiddo.” He wrapped his arm around her. “I don’t tell you enough, but I’m damn proud of you.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Blane. I love hearing that. Probably means more because you don’t say things like that very often.”
“I don’t, do I?” He frowned. “I’m sorry. I love you, Brooke.”
She rubbed her thumbs under her eyes and stared at him. “Oh my God, Blane. What is going on with you? You’re starting to scare me.”
He let out a short laugh. “There’s nothing to be scared of. I’ve just been doing a lot of thinking. I did things wrong with you, and I’m sorry. That’s all.”
She slipped her arm through his and gave it a squeeze. “I’m glad you feel like you can talk to me now. Not just think of me as your kid sister.”
He nodded slowly. “Yeah. I’m sorry for that, too. You’ve been your own person for years, and I still treated you like a kid.”
“You used to.” She smiled. “I don’t think you do anymore. And if you try it again, you’ll be in trouble.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. Okay.”
“Mind if I ask you something?”
“It’s only fair. Go ahead.”
“Is this because of this Bea woman?”
His eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean?”
“Hey, don’t get defensive.” Brooke held up a hand. “I only mean, are you thinking about how you feel about things now in a way you never really did before because…” She hesitated. “Because you feel something for her that you haven’t felt before?”
Blane stared at her, his jaw working.
After a few moments, she shrugged. “We can leave it there if you want. I just thought, since we were having a heart-to-heart…”
He let out a short laugh. “Damn, Brookie. You’re good.”
“I like to think so.” She settled back against the sofa, pleased with herself. “Glad you can finally see it.”
“I can.” He hesitated. “And to answer your question honestly, even though I really don’t want to…”
Her smile softened.
“Yeah. I think you’re right. I told Bea about you. Told her about my fucked-up reasoning for not coming home and being a real family with you.”
Brooke scowled at him immediately. “Hey. Don’t say that. We are a real family. You and me. Always have been, always will be. It might not look like everyone else’s family, but don’t ever say we weren’t one.”
He smiled. “Okay. Sorry.”
“And stop apologizing. It’s weird.”
That made him laugh out loud.
Brooke planted a hand on her hip. “That does it. You’re talking about feelings, apologizing, smiling, laughing. I don’t need to ask anything else.”
His smile faded. He wasn’t about to help her.
She stared at him for a beat. “Oh my God, Blane. Please tell me you know.”
“Know what?”
“That you’re in love with her.”
Hearing the words from outside his own head for the first time seemed to loosen something in his chest.
Brooke was watching him with wide eyes.
He wasn’t going to deny it. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “I am.”
Her whole face lit up.
“Not much I can do about it, though.”
“What the hell do you mean, there’s not much you can do about it? Get Cash to lend you the jet and go back and get her.”
Blane almost laughed.
“Why not? She might be English, but I’m sure she could get used to Montana. I’ll help her settle in, and there’s Shelley and Harper and all the other women. All your friends are with really great women now. They’d welcome Bea. She could—” She stopped. “What? What did I say wrong?”
He shook his head. “She spent most of her life married to a man who put his wants and needs ahead of hers. She moved to Crete because it’s the first time she’s ever had the chance to live where she wants, because she wants to be there.”
“But you love her, and I’m guessing she loves you too.”
“I think she does.”
“Then maybe she’d want to come.”
“That’s the problem, Brookie.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I think if I asked her, she would.”
Brooke frowned.
“And we’d probably both be happy with it at first.” He sat back, finally putting words to the thing that had been bothering him since he left. “But sooner or later we’d both know what she gave up. Not just Crete. The chance to build a life because she chose it. To be her own person in it.”
Brooke’s expression softened.
“I’m not saying people don’t make sacrifices for each other,” he went on. “Of course they do. But this would be different. She’s only just gotten that freedom. I can’t be the man who asks her to hand it over.”
“Even if she wanted to?”
“Especially then.”
Brooke looked down at her hands for a moment. “Don’t people do things like that for each other all the time?”
“Yeah. And sometimes it works.” He leaned forward, forearms on his knees.
“Sometimes it turns into resentment. I don’t think Bea would resent me.
That’s almost worse. We’d both know what she’d given up, and it’d sit there between us.
” He let out a breath and sat back. “So there you go. That’s what’s going on with me. Is that pizza ready yet?”
Brooke shook her head. “Not yet. And I can see what you’re saying. I really can. But I don’t think you should give up.”
“I’m not giving up.” He looked toward the kitchen. “Best thing I’ve come up with so far is maybe taking some teams out there to train this winter. Cash and I are still talking about it.”
Brooke’s eyes widened. “Oh my God. Can I come?”
That made him smile. “Yeah. Bea said I should bring you.”
Brooke narrowed her eyes at him. “I like her for saying that. But I’d like it better if you wanted me there too.”
“I do.”
“Good.”
“That part didn’t need Bea’s help.”
She smiled. “Even better.”
The oven timer went off, and she got to her feet.
“Before I forget, I brought you something.” He went back to the kitchen and picked up the little grocery bag he’d left on the counter.
“What’s this?”
“Baklava.”
Brooke opened the package and looked at him. “Since when do you go around buying pastries with fancy names?”
“Since Crete.”
That earned him another look, but she took a piece and bit into it.
Her eyes widened. “Okay. I officially approve of Crete.”
He laughed. “Figured you would.”
Later, after dinner, he sat in his truck for a minute and pulled out his phone before starting the engine.
Blane: Hey, darlin’. Had dinner with Brooke tonight. We finally talked about some stuff we should’ve talked about years ago.
He paused, then added:
Found some baklava in town and brought her some. She loved it.
A smile tugged at his mouth.
She says she officially approves of Crete now.
He stared at the message for a moment before adding one more line.
Wish I could’ve given her the good stuff.
Then he hit Send.
~ ~ ~
On her walk on Sunday morning, Bea stood for far too long at the point on the lane where she could see the sea.
And she really could see it today. It was a beautiful blue-sky morning, and the thin blue line sparkled in the sun.
She smiled sadly. Blane might have been right about it still being there even when she couldn’t see it, but it made her so much happier when she could.
She closed her eyes briefly at the thought that perhaps she might never see him again, then forced a smile and continued on her way.
This little life she was building for herself in Crete was turning out to be everything she’d wanted.
It was simply unfortunate that she hadn’t known, when she’d chosen it, that she wanted more.
That apparently, she also wanted a large, formidable-looking American in it.
She didn’t go all the way down to the bakery this morning.
She was trying not to buy baklava quite so often, and besides, she wanted to get going early.
She was determined to make it to the shelter today.
She frowned as she passed the shepherd’s hut.
She was still a little unsettled by what the lawyer had told her.
It wasn’t exactly a boundary dispute. Apparently, a man had come forward claiming that the parcel the shepherd’s hut stood on should never have been included in the sale of the property.
Her lawyer had been quite emphatic. The title had been checked, the land and its boundaries were clearly included in the registered documents, and the sale was complete.
Legally, there was no question that the hut and the land beneath it belonged to Bea.
But she still didn’t like it. Perhaps that was silly.
The lawyer certainly didn’t seem concerned.
But after nearly sixty years of living in homes that had somehow never felt entirely hers, she’d finally begun to feel that this one was.
For the first time in her life, she wasn’t living in Simon’s house or her parents’.
She had her very own home. And now, barely a month after she’d arrived, some unknown man was laying claim to a piece of it.