Chapter eight
Theo
When I arrived at Cal’s house, I gave myself a good minute in the truck to calm down. The roads were icy as fuck, and I’d white knuckled it the entire drive across town.
The front door swung open and Cal stuck his head out. “Are you coming in or not?”
Skye shoved between his legs and barked with enthusiasm. Cal caught her collar as she tried to dash onto the porch. I climbed out and Skye wagged her tail so fast it blurred.
“Hurry up before she breaks free or bruises me,”
Cal said, but he laughed.
“Go back in. It’s icy as shit out here. I’m taking my time.”
The smile fell from Cal’s face. “How bad is it?”
“Black ice everywhere. I slid three times.”
Just as I spoke, Aiden’s truck skidded to a stop an inch from my bumper.
“I hate winter,”
he said, climbing out. His feet slid out from under him, but he caught himself on the open door. “Hope you left the sheets I used last night on the guest bed, Cal. No way in hell am I driving again until this melts. You should take the couch, Theo.”
I nodded. If I couldn’t walk home, I’d rather sleep on a sofa than drive in this shit. “Need a hand?”
I asked Aiden.
“So you can use me to break your fall when your big ass goes down? No, thanks.”
By the time we shuffled up the sidewalk, Cal had pulled Skye back inside and was shaking Morton’s table salt on the porch steps.
“What are you doing?”
Aiden asked as Cal tossed a handful of salt at his feet.
“This is all I’ve got. I’ve been salting the steps every morning for Rowan. I meant to grab another bag of ice melt yesterday and forgot.”
Aiden sighed and turned back around. “Buckets of brains and not an ounce of common sense. Why were you salting before? It hasn’t been icy like this in days.”
“I didn’t want to risk it. Where are you going?”
Cal asked.
“To get the ice melt I keep in my truck, so your fiancée doesn’t bust that fine ass of hers on the steps later,”
Aiden shouted without turning around.
I gripped the railing and pulled myself up the stairs. “Rowan’s coming over?”
“She’s inside, but she thinks she’s walking home after the game starts.”
“I don’t think. I am,”
Rowan said, joining us on the porch as I finally made it up the stairs. “I have a batch of brownies and popovers to bake. Hey, Theo.”
“Rowan, I wanted to—”
She held up her hand to stop me. “I owe you an apology. You’ve been a great friend to Poppy this past year, and I realized you didn’t mean anything offensive when you compared her with Skye. I feel terrible you left early last night.”
“If anyone put their foot in their mouth, it was me.”
“Can we just hug and forget it happened?”
I held open my arms, and she wrapped hers around my waist, squeezing tight. I only returned half the pressure when I bent down and embraced her, but knowing how much she hated being treated like something fragile, I lifted her slightly. She giggled like she always did when I erased the height difference between us. She used the same lavender shampoo as her sister and the smell felt like a punch to the stomach.
Poppy’s hair had been slightly damp when she stopped by this afternoon. Her sweet scent had equally calmed and frustrated me the entire time. Not to mention her ponderings on topless sculpting and the way she’d looked at me when I opened the door half dressed. I’d had to shove my hands in my pockets to stop myself from touching her.
“You give the best hugs,”
Rowan said, squeezing me again after I placed her gently on the porch.
“The best, really?”
Cal said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders the moment she stepped away from me.
She shrugged. “You can’t be best at everything, Caleb.”
“He’s certainly lacking on the emergency prep,”
Aiden said as he shook ice melt onto the sidewalk.
“Would you mind salting Rowan’s sidewalk and steps after you do mine?”
Cal asked.
“Chris has several bags of ice melt,”
Aiden said, working his way up the staircase. “I know because I made sure he did in November. I texted him earlier to put it down. I assumed you were old enough to know how to prep for a storm. Guess I gave you too much credit.”
“I meant to,” Cal said.
Aiden rolled his eyes and dropped what was left of the bag by the door.
“How’s the apartment hunt going?”
Rowan asked me.
“Nowhere,”
I said as Cal held open the door for her. Skye let out a bark and galloped toward me. I opened my arms and caught her when she leaped at my chest. “How’s my girl?”
I asked, nuzzling her ear. She licked my face and wiggled so much I had to put her down.
“You know,”
Aiden said, from the opposite side of the porch where he’d pressed himself against the railing. “If you bought a house, you wouldn’t have to worry about pet policies and could get your own.”
“You’re letting out all the heat,”
Cal shouted as he flopped on the couch and pulled Rowan onto his lap. Skye shot off toward them and did a few circles before collapsing at Cal’s feet with a contented sigh.
Aiden and I hung our coats in the closet by the door and kicked off our shoes. I liked that Cal never treated me as a guest in his house. Perhaps things would change once Rowan officially moved in, but I hoped not.
The coffee table was already set up with snacks and drinks. So far, the better food selection had been the only change to our game-watching nights since Rowan came into Cal’s life. I wasn’t complaining. The smell wafting from the kitchen made my mouth water. My stomach grumbled, and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything except a protein bar all day.
Rowan had started making different flavors of sparkling water for me whenever I visited, and I had to admit, I was looking forward to trying something new. At home, I stuck with tap water, but it’d be rude not to drink what Rowan set out. I poured myself a glass from the pitcher on the coffee table.
“To Logan,”
Aiden said, raising his beer.
We all raised our drinks and sipped. The moment the water hit my tongue, I knew it was my new favorite.
“How is it?”
Rowan asked as she slid off Cal’s lap to the cushion beside me.
“It tastes like summer.”
She smiled, and yet again, I was struck by the similarities between the Stevens sisters. Poppy didn’t smile as often, but when she did, the resemblance between her and Rowan was uncanny.
“It’s watermelon lime. I really love the flavor combination. I’m thinking of doing something in a custard.”
“That sounds amazing,” I said.
“Is that seven-layer dip?”
Aiden asked, rubbing his hands together as he sank into his favorite chair.
“Yep,”
Rowan said. “I even found those blue tortilla chips you like. There are meatballs in the slow cooker for subs later.”
“You didn’t need to do all this for us,”
I said to cover the loud noise my stomach made.
“You know,”
Aiden said, grabbing a chip. “If you had a house, Theo, you could host sometimes.”
“You have a house, and we still always end up here,” Cal said.
“Yeah, but I can’t cook for shit, and no one delivers that far out.”
“We could pick up something on the way next week,”
Cal said grinning at me. “Right, Theo?”
It’d been almost two years since Aiden bought his farmhouse on the outskirts of town, and Cal and I had yet to be invited inside. Cal was offended until one of Aiden’s sisters told him none of the O’Malleys had been allowed in either. It was odd, but I’d known Aiden long enough to figure he had his reasons. I worried he was hiding something. Of the three of us, he’d been the first to attempt to move on from the accident, but it seemed unhealthy to me that he chose to live next door to where Logan spent his last night alive. He even bought the neighboring farm and cleared a view to the barn where we partied before the accident.
Aiden shook his head. “It’s still a construction zone. I keep getting sidelined by other projects. Like the house on Maple.”
“What house on Maple?”
Cal asked as I reached for a chip and loaded it with whatever heavenly concoction Rowan had put together.
“There’s a little rancher for sale that I’d love to flip,”
Aiden said with his mouth full. “Only problem is most of my guys take off in the winter since work usually slows down. Damn, Rowan. That’s good.”
“Is it livable?”
Cal asked.
Aiden nodded while he worked to swallow a huge mouthful of chips and dip. “Outdated as all get out, but it’s built solid. Little old lady who lived there decided to go into a retirement community after her husband passed.”
“Mrs. Jenkins?”
Rowan asked.
Aiden nodded.
“That’s the house right behind Principal Twillings. It’s practically next door,”
Rowan said, gripping Cal’s arm.
“You want to move?” he asked.
“Not me, Poppy,”
she said. “She wants a place of her own. Too bad Mrs. Jenkins is selling now. In a year or two it’d be perfect, but I doubt she could swing it yet.”
“Maybe Theo could buy it,”
Cal said, avoiding eye contact. “Renovate it with Aiden and then sell it to Poppy in a few years.”
They all paused. I looked between them. I finished chewing the chip and dip, which was delicious. Then I took another sip of water and let the silence settle around the room. “How many times did y’all practice that performance?”
I asked once they all looked good and nervous.
Rowan winced. “A few times. But come on, Theo, it’d be perfect.”
“We went over this last night,”
I said. “Banks don’t like lending to felons.”
“Max thought you could get a mortgage,”
Aiden said, leaning back in his chair. “He knows a couple bankers and said he’d write you a glowing letter of recommendation. We all know you don’t spend shit on yourself, so I’m guessing you have enough for a pretty good down payment.”
I did. But that didn’t mean I wanted to buy a house. “When did you talk to Max?” I asked.
“Well,”
Aiden said, stretching even further back in the overstuffed chair. “After you ditched us last night and left little Max’s picture behind, we decided to take a trip to your boss’s house this morning to deliver it before we called you to bring back our keys.”
“He loved the picture, by the way,”
Cal said. “T-Rex holding an umbrella.”
“That was a T-Rex? I thought it was a gecko,”
Rowan said.
“Definitely a T-Rex,”
Aiden said. “My nephew draws them the same way.”
“Did you go with them?”
I asked Rowan.
“I drove. Plus, I had to make sure they behaved themselves. They got a little heated last night after you left. I told them they needed to give Max an opportunity to explain why he evicted you before they went all alpha hole on your behalf.”
“As usual, you were right,”
Cal said, kissing her neck.
“To get to the point before kickoff,”
Aiden said. “We all agree it’s time you got a decent place to live.”
“Max didn’t mention it,”
I said, rubbing my forehead. We’d worked hours together and talked about everything except the eviction. I’d even noticed the new dinosaur picture at his station, but figured it was a gift from one of his girls.
“My realtor showed me a few places today,”
Aiden said. “The one on Maple is the cheapest because it needs the most work. Plus, it’s already vacant. It will take more than a few weeks to get a mortgage, but I’m sure Mrs. Jenkins would be OK with you renting for a bit while the paperwork goes through.”
“She even left behind some furniture, so you wouldn’t be starting from scratch,” Cal said.
I frowned at the three of them. “Did all y’all go and look at it?”
“Well, it’s basically next door,” Cal said.
I wanted to ask if they’d dragged Poppy along as well but mentioning her would just unleash the usual ribbing about our friendship. “Thanks, but I doubt I’d get a decent rate from any bank willing to give me a mortgage. I just need to find somewhere to rent.”
“Yeah,”
Aiden said, taking a sip of his beer. “I figured you’d say that, so I put in an offer this afternoon. Got the call right before I came over that Mrs. Jenkins accepted it. Now all I need is someone to rent it from me until I can do the flip.”
“What the hell, Aiden?”
I yelled. Cal and Rowan seemed genuinely surprised, so I assumed their involvement ended with the house tour. “What if I don’t want to live there?”
“Then I rent it to someone else,”
Aiden said with a shrug. “It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
“Bullshit,” I said.
“I own a construction company, Theo. I buy houses and flip them all the time. It was a solid business decision for me. Period. If it helps you out, good. And if Hell Cat wants to buy it someday, even better.”
“On that note,”
Rowan said, standing. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a few hours of baking ahead of me.”
“I’ll walk you,”
I said as Cal started to stand. “I need some air.”
Cal looked uncertain, but then settled back on the couch. “Thanks, brother. Kickoff is any minute, and I’d hate to miss it.”
Skye whimpered when Rowan kissed her goodbye but then rested her head on Cal’s knee.
Cal did love football, especially the playoffs, but I knew what he was doing. He wanted me to know he trusted me with the most precious person in his life, that I was worthy or some shit. I wasn’t. I’d still make sure Rowan didn’t fall.
“Thanks, Theo,”
Rowan said as we both pulled on our coats. “I’m glad you’re coming to the house. I took a stab at baklava this afternoon and hoped you’d try it.”
My stomach grumbled again. “I haven’t had baklava since—”
Instead of finishing that sentence, I threaded my arm in hers and pulled the front door shut. “I’m happy to try it.”
“I think it got colder out here,”
Rowan said, shivering. She gripped the railing, and we walked slowly down the steps, which were thankfully clear.
“How’s the back?”
I asked as we inched down Cal’s sidewalk. Ice hit my face like pin pricks. We both stopped at the curb and looked at the slick pavement.
Rowan glanced up the street toward her mother’s house. “I’m not letting it get in my way,”
she said, stepping onto the grass. “I think we better cut across the yards and cross the street at my house.”
“Yeah, if we go down, I don’t want Cal to see,”
I said, glancing back at his house. Cal was pressed against the picture window, like I expected. Rowan and I waved at him.
“Positive thoughts only, Theo. We’re not going down.”
I tightened my grip on Rowan’s arm and took a tiny step forward. Thankfully, we were both in boots and walking slightly uphill, but if we kept at this rate, it’d take half an hour to get to her house. The icy grass wasn’t as slippery as I expected. Rowan let out a relieved breath and walked a little faster.
The ice pinged down, coating my beard. “Days like this, I wish I was in Greece,”
I said. I’m not sure where the thought came from, perhaps from painting Mana this morning or the mention of baklava, but it was out of my mouth before I could consider the conversation I’d invited.
“You haven’t been in a while, right?”
Rowan asked, trying to sound casual even though I’d never spoken about my family with her before. Everyone in Peace Falls knew what a mess my life became after the accident.
“Not since my senior year of high school. My passport expired a few years ago, and I’ve never tried to renew it.”
“Why?”
Rowan asked softly.
“No reason to,” I said.
Rowan squeezed my arm but didn’t say anything. We crossed another yard in silence, both of us focusing on our steps.
The front door to Rowan’s house opened and Chris came out carrying a large disc. “Hold on, Ann,”
he shouted to Rowan. “Don’t cross the street without me.”
“Is that a sled?”
she asked and laughed.
“Sure is,”
he said, just as his feet slipped on the road. In a show of impressive agility, he managed to catch himself before he fell.
“You expect me to sit on that?”
Rowan asked, eyeing the blue plastic disc.
“Can’t fall if you’re already on the ground,”
Chris said. “I’ll pull you to our driveway. I salted everything earlier, so this is the last part we need to worry about.”
“This is ridiculous,” she said.
I looked at the solid sheet of ice covering the street and gripped her arm tighter. “I think you should ride the rest of the way. Cal would never forgive himself if you hurt your back more, and neither would I.”
She nodded and I helped her lower herself onto the sled after Chris pushed it to the pavement beside us.
“Hey, Theo,”
he said. “Mind holding onto me while I pull Ann? Might improve my chances of getting there without wiping out.”
“Oh my gosh, I should have stayed at Cal’s,”
Rowan said. “I’m sorry I put y’all through this.”
“I bet your family is happy to have you home, and I needed some space from Aiden.”
“What he do?”
Chris asked as he gripped my arm with one hand and pulled the sled with the other.
“He bought a house because my boss evicted me.”
“He bought you a house?”
Chris asked.
“No,”
Rowan said. “He bought a house and offered to rent it to Theo, but only if he wants to live there.”
“Where is it?”
Chris asked.
“Behind Mr. Twillings.”
My boot slipped, and I pulled out of Chris’s grip. If I was going down, I wasn’t taking him with me. “Fuck, that was close,”
I said, straightening.
“How bad do you want to watch that game?”
Rowan asked with a nervous laugh.
“Couldn’t care less,”
I said, taking Chris’s arm again. We’d made it halfway across the street, but a sheet of black ice stood between us and the Stevens’s driveway.
“Well, I’m still sorry to be so much trouble,”
Rowan said. “I know you were looking forward to the game, Chris.”
Chris shrugged. “I’ll make sure you get in the house. Then I’m taking this for a spin down the street to Cal’s since Poppy won’t let me watch the game on the living room TV. Unless you want the sled, Theo?”
“You have half a chance of not going airborne in that thing. No way I’m making it.”
“Great,”
Rowan said as Chris pulled her to the edge of the road. “You sled to Cal’s and watch the game, and Theo can taste test the baklava. Hopefully, they’ll plow or drop some salt before long.”
Chris and I helped her stand on the driveway, which was starting to accumulate ice despite the salt. Once Rowan was safely on the porch, Chris started toward the road with the sled.
“Think about renting that house, Theo,”
Chris said. “It’d be nice to have you in the neighborhood.”
I nodded and waved goodbye.
“I can’t watch,”
Rowan said, turning to face the house as Chris shoved off down the street towards Cal’s. He laughed as he picked up speed.
“Shit. How’s he supposed to stop?” I asked.
Rowan turned and let out a gasp as Chris careened toward the intersection of Sullivan and Broad. Just as he reached my truck, he tucked and rolled off the sled. The plastic disc shot off through the stop sign, collided with the curb on the other side of Broad Street, and flew into someone’s yard.
Chris stood and gave a loud whoop. Rowan sighed beside me.
“Come on,”
I said taking her elbow. “Let’s get inside so you can text Cal before he tries to climb up the street.”
Rowan swung open the front door just as Poppy appeared at the top of the steps in the smallest pair of pajamas I’d ever seen.
“Theo,”
she said and smiled.
Her shorts ended just below her ass and were loose enough I could see the creamy skin of her inner thighs as she walked down the stairs. Her thin top left little to the imagination. She shuddered when she reached the bottom of the steps and hugged herself, but not before I saw the outline of her pert nipples.
“Crap on a cracker, y’all must be freezing. Head to the kitchen. It’s so hot back there I had to change.”
I tried not to look at her ass as she walked past us, but I still dropped my boots on the wood floor before placing them on the doormat to dry.
Rowan stifled a giggle and held out her hand. “Give me your coat. I’ll toss it in the dryer.”
“That’d be great,”
I said, peeling off my thick winter jacket and handing it to her. The entryway had several puddles where the ice had dripped from us. “I’ll grab a paper towel and clean this up.”
“Thanks.”
She headed upstairs with our coats while I tried to brace myself for the smoke show in the kitchen.
“Sorry to leave you out there,”
Poppy said when I walked in. “It was colder than a witch’s tit by the door.”
“I, um, need to clean up some water,”
I said, turning my back to Poppy and tugging off half a roll of paper towels.
“Do you need a mop?”
she asked as I practically ran from the kitchen.
“I’m good,”
I yelled. I wasn’t. I needed to leave before I did something stupid, like lift Poppy onto that stainless-steel table and pull off those little shorts with my teeth.
“Fuck,”
I breathed, hitting my forehead against the front door.
“Don’t worry,”
Rowan said, starting down the stairs. “I brought her a sweater. I don’t want to see my sister’s nips any more than you do. But for different reasons, obviously.”
I could feel my face growing red, so I started wiping the water from the floor. As I finished cleaning up, Rowan’s words sank in. Did she understand my reasons for not wanting to see so much of Poppy? Cal knew I hadn’t been with anyone since committing to the straightedge lifestyle a few years back. I guess he’d told Rowan. Or maybe Poppy had. I’d never discussed my decision to abstain from sex, but I figured Poppy knew enough to interpret the Xs on my hands. What other reason could I possibly have for not asking her out yet? Anyone with eyes could see I was attracted to her. I balled up the soggy paper towels and squeezed them so hard I dripped water on the floor again. I was in for one hell of a wet dream tonight.
When I returned to the kitchen after cleaning up the hallway a second time, Poppy was wearing a thin gray sweater and humming as she put the finishing touches on a miniature cake. My dick throbbed to life in my jeans. Nope, the sweater didn’t help. If anything, it made me imagine how it would feel to slip it off.
“Do you want coffee?”
Rowan asked. “I don’t usually drink caffeine this late, but I’m freezing.”
“Sure,”
I said, looking around the kitchen for a place to sit while I got my body under control, but finding none.
“Sorry, there’s no place to rest your ass in here,”
Poppy said, with a sigh. “We need a bigger space. We saw a shop on Main that would be ideal. Aiden even drew up a design, but Rowan is too chickenshit to pull the trigger.”
“I think you meant fiscally responsible,”
Rowan said, dumping scoops of ground coffee into the machine on the counter.
I leaned on the table by Poppy. Why? Because I liked to test myself sometimes. Maybe torture myself a little. “Aiden had a busy week.”
“Oh yeah?”
she said, gripping an icing bag. It shouldn’t look sexual, but as I watched her talented hands at work, my jeans got tighter. “What’s he been doing other than helping us and bothering Lauren at Karma every morning? He said his business slowed in January.”
“You don’t know about the house on Maple?”
I asked, doing my best to calm my body. Rowan’s shoulders bunched around her ears.
“What house on Maple?”
Poppy asked, putting down the icing bag, thank fuck.
I glanced at Rowan and waited for her to say something. Poppy glared at her sister who kept fiddling with the coffee maker like it was a delicate espresso machine and not a standard Mr. Coffee drip brew.
“Will someone tell me what’s going on?”
Poppy snapped.
“Aiden is buying the Jenkins’s house on Maple. He wants Theo to rent it from him until he’s ready to flip it,”
Rowan said in one breath.
“That’s awesome,”
Poppy said, smiling at me. “You’ll be right around the corner.”
I shook my head.
The smile dropped from her face. “Unless you found something else?”
“No,”
I said, rubbing my forehead. “But I don’t need Aiden’s charity.”
“Doesn’t sound like charity to me,”
Poppy said, grabbing the icing bag again. “You’d be helping each other.”
“He only bought it because I need a place to live.”
“Sure, he did,”
Poppy said with a laugh. “Aiden is growing on me, but I doubt he’d buy a freaking house just because he’s worried you might have to sleep in Max’s guestroom a few weeks.”
“He mentioned maybe selling it to you after it’s fixed up,”
Rowan said, throwing herself into the conversation now that Poppy was clearly on her side. “Assuming Theo doesn’t want to buy it.”
“I’m not buying anything,” I said.
“Shut the fuck up,”
Poppy said, her eyes wide. “Aiden did not say that.”
“He did,”
Rowan said, bouncing on her feet.
Poppy slammed down the icing bag. Finally, someone other than me realized how idiotic this entire plan was. “Rowan, you know how I feel about getting my hopes up,”
she said, pointing her finger at her sister. “Now I’m imagining all my future little nieces and nephews darting to Aunt Poppy’s house whenever they want. Do not dream dangle.”
“I swear on my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. Aiden’s offer was just accepted. Cal and I went to see the whole house today. It’ll be cute as a button after a little cosmetic work. I bet you could pick out all the finishes. Theo, back me up.”
I nodded.
Poppy let out a squeal and threw her arms around me. I patted her awkwardly on the back and stepped away as soon as I could. No way could I take anything from Poppy. If someone other than me rented the house, she wouldn’t be able to plan the remodel the way she wanted since no other renter would let her in and out of the space anytime she liked. She looked up at me and frowned.
“Aiden didn’t talk to you before he put in the offer?”
“No,”
I said, gripping the table to keep from reaching for her. Each time she read one of my silences correctly, I ached to hold her, to show her how she made me feel not only seen but understood. “I haven’t even seen the place.”
“Ok, that was a dick move,”
she said. “But honestly, it sounds like a decent solution to your problem, and I’m not just saying that because selfishly I want to live next door to my sister but can’t afford it right now.”
I blew out a breath. “You’re right.”
“Yes!”
Poppy and Rowan screamed. Thankfully this time they hugged each other.
Rowan’s cell started ringing on the counter at the same time mine vibrated in my pocket.
“Oh shoot,”
Rowan said, fumbling for her phone. “I forgot to call Cal. Do you want to give him the good news or should I?”