Chapter 11
[Tate]
Her sob stabs deeply at my chest.
Neve has this shield around her. A veneer as thick as the rocks circling that old well in Lovewell Landing, and it wrecked me to hear her let out a wail and then cry.
I was so stunned I didn’t know how to respond. Or what made me react the way that I did, but as Neve leaned toward Lumi, I wedged between them, tugging her against me.
The need to hold her was overpowering. Overwhelming. I just wanted to take the pain from her.
Lumi shifted behind Neve, her eyes wide and bright blue like Neve’s, only darker. Above those eyes is a deep scowl of concern and wonder.
Who did I think I was hugging her sister?
I didn’t have a chance to answer this hypothetical question before I’m shoved so hard it throws me off balance.
Hugging Neve was already a little off kilter as her belly hit just below mine. I couldn’t get her as close as I wanted, so at the odd angle when she pushed me, I faltered back from the force.
Neve rebounds in the opposite direction. Before I can grip her arms, she moves her arms up and away from my touch. Thankfully, her sister catches her before she falls.
Lumi continues to glare at me, like I have a bull’s-eye between my brows.
Then Neve went into that tirade about who I am.
I’m not a buyer for Bucky Beaver directly, but this isn’t the time to explain how Hessfield Holdings works. The truth will only stab at an already open wound and I can’t do that to her right now.
Neve continues to mumble into her sister’s shoulder. Something about only another month and close the shop, and I just wanted more time.
I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t have stopped, but I was passing by and saw Neve standing here, staring at this dilapidated building.
Then the red-haired woman joined her, and I just followed the pack.
Call it curiosity. It’s probably called something other than that.
I’ve been in a tailspin since Saturday night when I learned I’m going to be a father.
I’m going to be a dad.
It might sound crazy, but this is something I’ve longed for. Not in a my-whole-life kind of way, just more a past-decade kind of yearning. When I neared forty, I felt like falling in love and getting married wasn’t ever going to happen.
Then I met Lisa. Then I unmet Lisa. And all those hopes were shattered again.
It was one reason Neve had been so refreshing, so surprising. Even if I wasn’t a one-night stand kind of guy, she wanted me, and call my fragile ego delicate, but I wasn’t in a good state of mind during the past holidays.
My heart was a bit battered, so the desire in Neve’s eyes lit something inside me.
She’d quickly become more than a fleeting moment.
Neve’s presence in my thoughts lingered long after I left Lovewell Landing.
Work got in the way, as it always does, but Neve was still in the recesses of my mind, like a whisper, like something waiting.
And I’ve been cursing myself since Saturday that I didn’t try to find her sooner.
“And you.” Neve breaks from her sister’s arms and points at me. “Why are you always being so nice to me? Are you trying to butter me up? Grease the axle so we’ll sell?”
“I . . . uhm.” I glance at Lumi, then back at Neve.
I’m not being overly nice to her. I don’t have a hidden agenda. I’m genuinely intrigued.
Hell, I haven’t stopped thinking about her since New Year’s Eve. And with this new development, I’m more invested than ever to get to know her.
She’s the mother of my child. Our child.
Did my world tilt on its axis when she told me? It sure did.
But it wasn’t like her pregnancy was hidden. Like she’d only just found out, and the reality of her condition hadn’t settled in. Neve was so obviously pregnant and beautiful with it. She glowed.
And I only wanted to bask in that light with her. With them.
Little Wrench. We definitely need a better name.
I hate how she spat out that I was the father, like it was an insult. Like she doesn’t know she’s giving me an incredible honor.
Then again, she couldn’t know that because we hardly know each other.
Sure, I know the way her lips feel against mine. And how she makes these sweet little sounds when I touch her in certain ways, in certain places. And that she smells like sea air and summertime.
“Tate Love.” I extend a hand toward her sister, feeling like we need to rewind this moment.
Lumi shakes my hand, then pauses, still gripping my hand. “Love? As in a Lovewell Love.”
Neve snorts, flinging her arms to her side and then slapping them against her thighs.
She’s wearing fashionable overalls that apparently fit a pregnant woman with a white tee underneath and a flannel shirt over the collection.
Her hair is clipped at the sides. Her short, wavy bob blows with the slight breeze.
“Of course. And he wears fucking khakis.”
She’s clearly offended by the type of pants, and I glance down at mine. I’m not wearing khakis. I’m wearing Brooks Brothers dress pants, and they are light tan.
Lumi’s brows angle upward in surprise. “But you aren’t from around here.”
It’s said matter-of-fact, like anyone local would know every Love and Wells family member.
“My dad is a doctor, and he left the area before I was born. He’s a brother to Elias Love and Charlamaine.”
I swipe a hand through my hair.
“Oh, God, not the swiping,” Neve groans.
“What swiping?” I glance at Lumi, clearly missing something.
She turns toward her sister, speaking as if I’m not standing here. “He does this swiping thing through his hair when he’s . . .” She grimaces. “When he doesn’t like touching you.”
“What?” Lumi’s eyes pinch as she glances back at me, seeking confirmation for this absurdity.
“What?” I snap as well. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“It’s how you reacted when you first came here and didn’t want to shake my hand,” Neve begins, squaring off with me.
“You didn’t want to shake mine,” I remind her.
“And then at the lighthouse when you held my hand,” she continues.
“He held your hand?” Lumi turns toward her sister, as confused as I am.
I distinctly remember taking her hand to help her stand and holding it a little longer than I thought she’d want to hold mine. I got the hint when she released me.
“I—”
“And at Chug-Along, when you—”
“Just stop,” I cut her off, holding up said hand. “I want to hold your hand. Hell, I’d be happy to hold your hand.”
I keep my focus on her face, where her nose wrinkles, but her eyes flare.
“And I’m happy to be a father, so don’t say it like that disgusts me. Or you.”
I point between us. “We were both there when it happened, and if I recall correctly, you enjoyed it.”
“I don’t think I need to be here for this,” Lumi says, holding up both her hands and glancing at her sister.
“You stay,” Neve demands, looking at Lumi. “You go,” she says, glaring at me. Then she takes a deep breath, setting her hand on her belly. “And if I recall, you enjoyed it, as well.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” I counter. “We enjoyed each other, so why would I ever not want to hold your hand?” I step closer to her.
“He has a point,” Lumi says, her attention pinging from me to Neve.
“Whose side are you on?” Neve counters, aghast by the apparent betrayal.
“Hers.” She nods toward Neve’s belly.
Neve’s shoulders fall, and she glances down at her stomach. She rubs both hands protectively over her belly.
As I stare at her stomach as well, I try to recall what she’s talking about. At Chug-Along the other night, I desperately wanted to take her hand. She seemed so nervous, anxious about whatever she had to tell me, and for good reason.
She’d been keeping a secret from me for nine months.
“I’m sorry if I didn’t respond the way you thought I should have the other night. I needed a minute to process that I was going to be a dad. I’d had ten seconds to accept something that already had nine months to incubate in you.”
Neve wrinkles her nose again.
“Not the best choice of words,” Lumi mutters.
At the time, anger rushed through me, but it quickly dissipated because I couldn’t rectify the past. She hadn’t reached out to me. Driver. Rosie. No promises made. No numbers exchanged.
And I hadn’t been here for her, because I didn’t know.
But now that I did . . . I refuse to leave.
“I want you to go,” Neve says, still glaring at me.
“Well, too bad. Because I’m her dad.” I nod toward her belly. “So you’re just going to have to get used to seeing me.”
“I might like him,” Lumi says toward her sister.
“Don’t get any ideas,” she argues back.
I stand my ground for another second until both women are looking at me again.
“You’re still here,” Neve says.
“I’m leaving. But not because you asked so nicely. I’m going because it appears you need another minute with this place and maybe a chat with your sister.”
“About the sale?” Neve spits.
“About me.”
I’m not so obtuse as to think that they won’t be talking about me the second I walk away, and my ears ring all the way to my car, until I glance back at them to see Neve watching me.
A tight expression on her face. One almost as painful to witness as hearing her sob.
Her words filter back through my head.
I hate saying goodbyes. They always hurt so much.
Well, like I told her . . . she better get comfortable saying hello.
To me.