Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
ETHAN
Something soft and warm taps my chest. With my eyes still closed, I feel for Chloe’s hand, only to capture a tiny, hairy set of fingers instead.
My eyes flash open.
A pair of round, pale blue eyes study me.
“How did you get out?” I mumble to Kat, looking around for Chloe, who’s nowhere to be seen. “Did that girl from next door let you in? Watch out for her, she’s trouble.”
Kat settles on my bare chest, still pinning me with her intense feline stare. I don’t know how my brother interacts with these things on a daily basis. They’re all mixed up in a secret plot to overthrow the human race, I know it.
Kat reaches to paw my face, once, twice, and I roll away from her, lifting her off me as I go. What time is it? Chloe must’ve left before dawn if my alarm hasn’t gone off yet.
I reach for my phone.
“What the hell?” Sitting up in bed, my sleepy eyes blink at the screen. How is it after nine? Why didn’t my alarm go off? Opening my clock app, I find all my alarms turned off, right through to this afternoon’s reminder to call Wyatt for his birthday.
I face my phone to Kat. “Are you responsible for this?”
She licks the tip of her paw. A surefire sign of guilt.
Looks like the takeover has already begun.
I kick out of bed and head into the shower, a rush of memories from last night sending heat licking up the back of my spine.
When Chloe and I are together, it feels as if we could set the entire planet on fire. Just thinking about it makes me hard, and I have to relieve myself in the stream of water while imagining her pressed up against the glass wall of the shower, one leg draped over my shoulder.
Man… this woman does things to me.
I step into the kitchen, hair still dripping, and get hit with the smell of well-brewed coffee.
Kat’s food bowl has been filled too. Normally, I don’t like people moving my things around, but seeing Chloe’s little touches has my stomach flipping.
I pad around the kitchen, frying up some eggs and putting on an extra serving of toast. A postcard-perfect morning beckons through the window, so I carry my steaming plate and mug outside and shoot the girl next door a text.
Me
Morning… thx for feeding Kat
Chloe
Welcome. Didn’t want the pussy to go hungry.
Chuckling, I shake my head down at the screen. This woman has no shame.
Me
I promise to keep her well fed
Chloe
Good boy. You enjoy your sleep-in?
Me
Hated it
Miss Troublemaker doesn’t need to know that’s a lie.
How did u know my alarm didn’t go off this morning?
Chloe
Lucky guess?
A tiny huff escapes me as I stare down at the phone. So she did turn off all my alarms. I’ve got so much shit to do, and…
I take a deep breath and remind myself who I’m talking to. This really doesn’t need to be an earth-shattering event. Chloe would tell me to loosen up, which is probably why she did this in the first place.
A smirk tugs at my lips as I type something back.
Me
Lucky my ass
U at work?
Chloe
As always. What time are you popping in? :p
The back of my neck flushes at her message. I’ve got a few jobs left on the house, but zero motivation to do them.
The deadline I was working toward also means the end of whatever this is between Chloe and me.
Why the hell would I rush?
Just to get back to Philly?
Doesn’t sound as appealing as it once did.
There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m going to finish in time, so I do have room to enjoy myself a little. It would certainly appease Chloe… and Leo.
I could lay on the back deck with the ocean breeze and a few more chapters of my Mandela book. The thought alone makes my chest feel lighter.
Or, I could head into town and look at what I really want: blue eyes, sun-kissed hair, and a perfect smile.
I text Chloe that I’ll be in soon, then glance down at the kitten rubbing against my ankle. Kat rolls onto her back at my feet, her paws in the air.
“Another belly rub?” Spoiled girl. I crouch and graze my fingers over her soft stomach. She purrs, and I lift my phone to snap a photo.
I text the pic to Mom and then to my brother, Gray. He helped me out yesterday over a video call, checking the kitten over. He said Kat looks healthy, which was a relief, and told me to ring the shelter to see if anyone had reported a missing kitten.
So far, I haven’t heard back and, not gonna lie, I kind of hope no one calls just yet.
I scoop her up and hold her against my chest.
Mom replies right away with a string of heart emojis. I tap out of her message thread, and my gaze catches on Leo’s name.
After a brief hesitation, I text Leo the picture: Do u know what this hideous thing is? It came with the house.
Within seconds, my phone starts ringing. My throat goes dry. What if he’s got bad news about his health?
Answer the fucking phone, Ethan.
I press it to my ear. “Hey.”
“Ethan Davis, did you buy a cat?”
The easy smile in his voice relaxes my shoulders. “I found one. Actually, she found me.” I scratch Kat’s belly and give Leo the short version of how we became temporary housemates.
“Are you gonna keep her?” he asks.
“You know I can’t.” With the hours I work, she’d be alone all day.
“Well, if you take her to a shelter, just make sure they have a ‘no euthanasia’ policy.”
“I know, Gray told me.” This talk of leaving town is making my gut feel hollow, so I change the subject. “Hey, any word on that dispatch job?”
“Didn’t get it.”
“Shit, really?” My brow tightens.
“Yeah. I heard the owner’s friend’s niece got it. I don’t even know why they bother advertising these positions. It’s all who you know these days.”
“That’s too bad,” I mumble.
“Yep.”
If it weren’t for me, Leo wouldn’t even be trying for a role he’s never done.
It’s all a bunch of shit, which is infuriating. My job is literally to fix shit and when I can’t… I just don’t know what else to do with myself. “I should go. I’ve gotta get to the coffee shop.”
“Oh. Okay.” Leo pauses. “You wanna give me a buzz when you’re not busy having coffee?”
It’s a dig—one I deserve—but I just can’t seem to figure out how to be my old self around Leo. He pretends as if nothing’s changed, but it has, and the regret I feel over that is suffocating.
We hang up, and my chest burns all the way to Mugs.
Expecting to find a parking spot, I balk at the sight of every car ever manufactured taking up all the spaces.
What fresh hell is this?
Main Street is buzzing—sandy teenagers dart across the road, parents chase after kids clutching dripping ice creams, and couples stroll towards the boardwalk, funnel cakes in hand. Yesterday, Inner Shores was a sleepy little seaside town. Today, it’s a summer beach movie.
By the time I park Chloe’s car a few blocks away and get inside Mugs, I’m sweaty and huffing.
She eyes me from the counter, her warm smile taking some of the edge off. She says something to her friend Willow, then heads over to me.
“Looks like someone’s cranky,” she says playfully. “Should I get you a bowl of sunshine?”
She can keep her sunshine. What I need is my own damn parking spot. “When the heck did this town get so busy?”
“It’s Memorial Day weekend. What did you expect? This is the hottest spot around.”
“It is today.” I brush the back of my hand across my sweaty forehead, and she catches my cheeks between her palms, pulling my face down to kiss me there.
“Come on,” she says, linking an arm through mine. “I’ll get you a coffee, but first, I’ve gotta bring Harry this.” She holds up a steaming mug covered in green shamrocks. “His feud with Mrs. Fitzgerald has finally come to an end.”
I have no clue what that’s supposed to mean, but I guess I’m coming along on this mission. When we reach the outdoor patio, she hands the mug to one of the old guys who’s always hanging around Mugs—the one with the cane. I spot her dad, too, who’s halfway through building the pergola.
Chloe asks me if I want my usual coffee, and I tell her I’ll grab it inside in a bit. She gives me a soft smile that makes my stomach fizz, and then hurries back into Mugs. I linger just long enough to make sure her dad’s doing everything right, so fucking glad he’s actually doing something.
That is until I see him set the new post in a metal spike anchor.
Can’t he tell how crooked it is? Where’s his level?
Rick stands back and inspects his work, arms folded, like the post might straighten itself out if he stares at it hard enough.
Harry shuffles closer to me. “That thing’s leaning,” he says.
“Yes, it is.” I let out a deep exhale. “And that beam there is gonna sag before lunch if he doesn’t brace it.”
The old guy glances at me. “You build?”
“I build.” Usually, apartment buildings and skyrises, but the basics are the same.
Straight walls good. Crooked walls bad.
He lifts his mug, some of the coffee sloshing over his gnarled fingers. “I used to build too.”
I feel my brows lift. “You did?”
“I built the crab outside Grandma’s Crabs. It’s missing an eyeball, but that don’t bother me none.” He watches Rick heave up a crossbeam and wedge it into place. “That’s not how you—”
“Nope.”
“And he didn’t brace it.”
“Nope.”
“And the spacers don’t look right either.”
I close my eyes. “I’m hanging on by a thread here, Harry.”
He makes a raspy chuckle.
Rick hefts another post into place and drops it into the hole. It immediately tilts.
I mutter, “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Chloe comes up behind me, handing me a mug with an ugly dog on it.
“You didn’t have to bring me this,” I say, taking it from her. With the town this busy, she’s got more to do than hand-deliver coffees.
“It’s okay.” She smiles at me, then at her dad. Her gaze flicks to the leaning posts, and a look of alarm flashes in her eyes.
“Height good, sweetheart?” Rick calls out.
“Um… height looks okay. But, I don’t know. Does it look quite straight to you?”
Rick waves a dismissive hand. “It’ll be fine.”
My jaw tightens. Quietly, I say, “No, it will not.”
Harry snorts into his mug.
Rick straightens and shoots me a look. “You got something to say?”