Chapter 2
two
. . .
Dermot
“I don’t want your money, Dermot. I want my big brother.”
My stomach drops as the guilt slams into me.
At my feet, Kip makes a whining noise, totally attuned to my stress.
My Australian shepherd, with one blue eye and one brown, looks up at me as if to ask if I want him to bite my sister, causing my lips to quirk.
I pat him to reassure him I’m okay for right now before I lean against the glass doors of Tessa’s Cozy Cup, my sister’s drive-thru coffee spot in Lake Placid.
Her shop stays busy, which is why she’s able to close at one every day.
It leaves her the time and the ability to be creative at home with whatever ADHD-induced hobbies she’s doing at the time.
Right now? She’s making pottery.
Six months ago, it was diamond paintings.
She’s a wild one and doesn’t hold back at all.
“I know,” I say softly as she shuts and locks the door, the last customer driving off. “The clinic has been busy, or I would be around more.”
She gives me a sideways glance before rolling her dark-brown eyes that match my own.
Her dark hair is up in a curly bun on top of her head as she pushes her blue glasses up her nose.
I’m a full head taller than her, but my sister carries herself like she’s 6’2”.
She’s a little thing but, like a kitten, her claws are sharp.
Tessa starts to break down one of the two espresso machines with her back to me.
Her bright-yellow tee displays her business name, a business she built from the ground up.
On my dime. To make up for the fact that I left when she was thirteen and never came back, I constantly sent her money.
When I lost my grandfather, he left me a trust, and while Tessa wasn’t my dad’s, I have basically given her half since we were able to reconnect.
My grandfather is probably rolling over in his grave, but I don’t care.
While I didn’t speak to or see her for ten years, I have never stopped loving my sister.
It took her a while to realize it, because her mom is a fucking piece of work.
She did everything she could to extort money from me when my dad passed, and when I didn’t give in to her, she took Tessa away from me.
She bad-mouthed me, made me out to be the villain, the one who didn’t want to be in Tessa’s life.
By the time Tessa was eighteen, the damage was done, and she wanted nothing to do with me.
I’ll never forget the day she called and said that her grandma had told her the truth.
That her mom was the reason I wasn’t in her life.
Tessa didn’t make it easy, but she gave me a chance to be her brother.
It’s been tense for the last five years, but I’ve done my best. I knew she needed more, so I took a leap of faith, bought a practice from a retiring doctor in the next town over, and now I’m only forty minutes from her.
I needed her to see I was serious about us having a relationship.
But with how busy I’ve been, I’ve dropped the ball.
Plus, I do better when it’s just Kip and me.
He won’t leave me.
“I have seen you three times in the last two months, and each of those were holidays.”
I grimace. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“And instead of asking me, you just show up with a check for the app repairs.”
“I want to help,” I explain. “I’m proud of what you’ve built. I want you to continue to succeed, and you need the app, Tess.”
She rolls her eyes again. “I can afford it.”
“I know, but I can too.”
She leans into the silver counter, shaking her head as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Doesn’t make the fact that I haven’t seen you any better, Mot.”
I swallow hard at the nickname she used to call me before my dad passed. I lick my lips as I nod. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“I want weekly dinners,” she says after a bout of silence. “I don’t care if we go out, if we stay in, I’ll cook—I don’t care. I just need to see you.”
“Done,” I say without hesitation. “As long as you’re not dating anybody dumb as fuck.”
Her brows rise as she gives me a dry look. “At least I’m trying. Who are you dating, Dermot?”
“Touché.”
She’s got me there. I don’t even remember the last date I went on.
Wendy? Marie? Who knows. I have spent the last year making sure the folks of Holiday Ridge are healthy and happy.
Yeah, women have flirted with me, and more than one older lady has a granddaughter or niece for me, but I haven’t been interested.
I’d rather be inside with my books and my dog.
“Maybe if you grew some balls, you’d go next door and hit up your crush,” she teases with a waggle of her brows that has me quickly flashing her a dark look.
“I should have never told you about her.”
“You didn’t. I saw how your nose almost broke the glass of the clinic when she stepped outside to hang a wreath on her gate.”
Shit, my ears are burning with embarrassment. If Tessa saw it, then I know my office manager has. I can’t help it, though; my crush is one gorgeous lady. “I did not,” I lie, which Tessa just giggles at.
“You did. I don’t know what you’re waiting for.”
“Nothing. There is nothing to be said or done.”
She gives me a come-on expression. “Have you told her you’re her biggest fan?”
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter, much to her delight. “I would never.”
“Hey,” she says, still grinning like she is hilarious. “She could be into it. Maybe she’ll play doctor and patient with you then write about it.”
I groan inwardly, and she laughs. “Right, Kip? Dad should just go over and be like, “’I know you’re a writer. Can I spread your pages with my mouth?’”
“What the hell?” I shout, covering Kip’s ears. “He is a child!”
She snorts. “He’s like three. That’s twenty-one in dog years. He can legally drink.”
I gawk at her. “No, he is just a baby!”
Her laughter fills the small space as I rub Kip’s ears, kissing his head. When I look up, she’s watching me, the playfulness gone. I swallow, and then my eyes catch on the photo of us the day I left for college, before I look back at her.
“I hate watching you like this,” she admits quietly. “You’d rather live in a book than in real life.”
I shrug. “Book girlfriends don’t hurt me.”
Her lips turn down, and she shakes her head. “Not everyone wants to hurt you. Especially an author of romance books. I bet she’d treat you like a king and suck your soul out of your penis.”
My head falls back. “Please God, don’t say that again.”
She giggles loudly, and when I look at her, she gives me a tight-lipped smile. “For real, Mot. Start living again. Put yourself out there. So, you had a run of bad girlfriends—”
I bark out a laugh. “A run? I’ve been cheated on four times, while in four serious relationships.”
She cringes and then holds up a hand. “Yes, but all that was when I wasn’t in your life. Do you really think I’d let you date someone who would hurt you?”
I shake my head. “Tess.”
“I want you to find happiness outside of a book, Mot.”
I know deep in my marrow I want the same, but I haven’t had the desire to do so. To find that happiness she speaks of. I feel her eyes on me, and then, to my mercy, she says, “Fine. I’ll leave that alone, but I will not accept the excuse that you’re busy anymore.”
“I’ll be better.”
“You’d better,” she demands before waving me to her. “Come on. Help me break this down.”
I raise an eyebrow. “So I pay for an app, and I have to give you free labor?”
She winks. “What’s family for?”
I just smile at that as Kip barks loudly, as if to say he’s family too. I pat him again and then push up my sleeves to help. She’s right. This is what family is for, and we only have each other.
I took longer than I wanted for my lunch break to help Tessa, but I have no appointments this afternoon so the clinic is quiet when I come through the back door.
Tenille, my office manager, turns in her seat and smiles widely as Kip gallops to her.
She kisses his nose before he falls into his bed, acting as if he ran here from Lake Placid instead of snoozing in the back seat.
Spoiled-ass dog and, yes, I’m aware I’m the reason.
I lean on the long L-shaped counter behind Tenille. I push her favorite hazelnut latte over toward her, and she makes gimmie hands before picking it up, sighing after she takes a long sip.
“Sorry I took so long.”
She waves me off. “No worries. It’s been quiet, and I was able to get caught up on some insurance stuff without you and Kip bothering me.”
She waggles her brows at me, and I laugh.
Tenille was the office manager for Dr. Jacobs, the owner before me, and she reminded me of my grandma, so I begged her to stay.
She is a great manager and kicks ass at making sure everything is running smoothly.
The nurses love her and so do the patients, so it was a done deal for me.
“How is Tessa?”
I cup the back of my neck. “She gave me shit for not coming around enough. Told me to put down my book and enjoy the world.”
Tenille’s face tells me she agrees as she leans back in her chair. “Dr. Aldridge, I say this with love, but she’s right. You come here, you walk Kip, and you stay in your apartment. You don’t do any of the things young kids do around here.”
I scoff. “I’m not young, Tenille.”
She gives me a look. “You’re only thirty-three. You still have a lot of life to live.”
I look down at the counter. I know everyone is right, but it’s easier just to stay in instead of putting myself out there. If I did ask out my crush and she rejected me, I’d be devastated. And I know that my sister would have a bonfire with her books.
Books I love.
Books that give me hope.
Hope for what, I have no clue. It isn’t as if I’m out here trying to live one of the many love stories I enjoy.
“I hear you.”
She smiles and then makes the squeal that I’m starting to hate.
I look out the glass windows at the front of the clinic to see a man carrying a girl in his arms as she holds a lock.
Of all the places I could have bought a damn clinic, I chose one across from where people come to hang up and show off their declarations of love.
I don’t care for the lore of Lock Night. I think it’s dumb. Go get a lock and write on it, and “lock in” your love. I mean, come on. It doesn’t even work. I’ve seen plenty of people cutting their locks after a breakup. But…I’ve seen more unlock them in their wedding attire.
Living their love stories.
Trying.
Yet, here I am.
Hating the lore but wishing I were out there.
With a girl and a lock.
“Oh, I love watching this.”
“Yeah,” I mutter, exhaling. I tap on the counter. “Hopefully, we have a quiet afternoon.”
I should have known better than to say that, because not even the last syllable of the word has left my lips before the front door of the clinic whips open.
A teenager is standing in the doorway, tears streaming down her face as her brown eyes land on me.
“Help! We need a doctor! There is so much blood.”
I don’t even think. I just react. Kip is at my heels as I jump over the counter and rush out the door by Tenille’s desk to get to the teenager. I look the girl over and ask, “Where? Are you okay?”
“Not me. Come on!”
She takes my hand, and I look back to find Tenille with my emergency backpack.
I take it from her as she grabs hold of Kip’s collar.
I call out a thanks before the girl drags me out the door and down the sidewalk.
It’s covered in ice and snow. The January sun is bright in the sky, but it’s still colder than hell, so nothing will melt.
I try to be cautious, not wanting to bust my ass, but the girl won’t let up.
Before I can even ask where we’re going, she drags me into Promise Pond Books, and the air is knocked from my lungs as I take in the scene.
A woman lies on the floor, her peachy-pink hair dark with blood.
A stone dick is next to her head, and her mom is trying to wake her up.
My stomach flips as I take in her porcelain skin, the pink in her cheeks, and her parted mouth.
My eyes fall to her chest to make sure she’s breathing, and she is, thank God.
I’ve never been this close to her.
Maeve Lane.
Multiple best-selling novels, movie deals, and a Netflix series. My favorite author.
Or, as the town knows her, Maggie Welch.
Daughter of hockey legend and mayor, Alex Welch.
Also known as the woman I have had the biggest crush on since I first saw her laughing in a paddleboat in the middle of Promise Pond.
A crush that only grew when I learned she was the author of my favorite romances.
Someone I can’t seem to string together more than two words around.
Which are usually “Hi” or “See ya.” Or my favorites…ugh.…ugh…um.
Insert facepalm emoji here.
But none of that matters. I have to help her.
Not because of the oath, but because…I need to.