35. Wyatt
WYATT
This house is too damn quiet.
Sprawled on the couch, I stared at the white ceiling of the living room and mentally noted the spots we had missed when painting. I needed something, anything, to keep me from thinking about Lark and how I’d pushed her to go for this job in the first place.
Summer break was coming to a close, and everything should have been clicking into place. I loved the thrill of a new football season. Everything was new and hopeful as the team had a fresh start with a new season. There was a buzz in the atmosphere—charged.
I felt none of it.
To make matters worse, campus reopened and Michael, Kevin, and Joey loaded up the car and moved back into an off-campus house.
They would spend their last couple of weeks with the team, and I could only hope they didn’t get hurt or into trouble.
I did my best to give a stern-but-supportive pep talk before they drove back to the city.
Watching them drive away was nothing like when Lark waved her arm out the window and disappeared around the bend in the road.
It was like the life had been sucked out of me when I watched her little gray car drive away. Plus, I refused to let her in on how things were really going here. What was the point? It would only make her feel terrible and second-guess her decision to take the job in the first place.
Her texts were brief but upbeat. I wondered if she was doing the same things as me—putting on a brave face and barely making it through the day.
I sighed again and was contemplating going for a run when a text came through on my phone. Hope leaped in my chest as I snatched the phone off the coffee table. Disappointment flooded me when I saw it wasn’t a message from Lark.
Duke
Heard Kate and Tootie stole Pickle for a girls’ night sleepover. Let me guess, you’re sitting alone and miserable? Crying yourself to sleep?
He wasn’t too far off, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.
Yes. Doing whatever the hell I want is really an inconvenience.
Duke
Meet Beckett and me at the Grudge. Have a beer.
I didn’t have a reason not to go, other than to sit in the dark and feel sorry for myself, so I sent him a quick reply and changed my clothes.
Tourist season had been in full swing for a while now, so the divide between the Sullivans and Kings was less apparent inside the bar.
I scanned the unofficial Sullivan side and raised my chin after I spotted Duke leaned against the back bar with his friend Beckett.
When I walked up, he slid a beer bottle in my direction.
“Thanks.”
“Hey, Beckett.” I shook his hand. “Good to see you again.”
Duke took a pull of his beer and rested his forearms on the bar. “Kate’s gonna be a problem.”
My brows knitted together. “Problem?”
Duke shook his head and sighed. “Surprised you haven’t already heard about the one-sided shouting match that happened over at the house. Our sister is less than thrilled with our choice in contractors.” He tipped his beer toward Beckett.
He wasn’t stupid enough to talk shit about our little sister, but I didn’t miss the way he tensed at her being the topic of conversation.
I still decided to poke the bear. “Think you can take her on? She’s a pistol, that one.”
Beckett’s throat bobbed and he nodded. “Yeah, it’ll be fine.”
I eyed him a second longer. He was quiet, but there was something about him that exuded confidence. Duke said he was the best, and if he was willing to help us out, despite our sister’s temper and foot stomping, then so be it.
We needed his help. We needed Katie to get Aunt Tootie on board to take care of the house before it collapsed around her, and there was no way we were hiring the Kings’ construction company and willingly welcoming them into her home.
Beckett was our guy, and she’d just have to deal with it.
I scowled at my beer and took another long pull. The bar felt crowded and too loud, and I just wanted to be home and miserable. I swallowed another gulp.
“You trying to get drunk or bail already?” Duke raised one eyebrow at me and made me feel fifteen again, the way only an older brother could.
I shook my head, unable to lie to my brother, and took another drink. “Hell if I know.”
Beckett stayed quiet in the background while Duke’s eyes scanned the crowd. They seemed to snag on someone before flitting away, and I couldn’t seem to figure out who he kept looking at. I tensed, hoping it wasn’t a King looking for trouble.
Duke shook his head. “Yeah, women will do that for you.”
I shoved one hand in my pocket. “It was stupid. I pushed her to go for the job, and now I’m not sure if she’s ever coming back.”
“So things are going well for her, then?”
“Sounds like it. She says there’s even talk about extending her part—writing her in as a more long-term cast member.”
Duke shook his head. “Shit.”
“Yeah.” I tried to ease the tension in my neck, but it was useless.
The knot seemed to be a permanent part of me now.
“The worst part is, she deserves this. What kind of asshole would take that away from her as soon as she got it? Mostly I just keep my mouth shut and tell her how happy I am for her.”
Beckett seemed to ease away, giving us space to talk privately. Duke turned his shoulders to face me. “You told her, though, right? How you feel?”
“I don’t want to hold her back. But I’ll be here if she ever does make it back to Michigan.”
“You know who’s great for advice?”
I groaned and rolled my eyes. I had been getting enough advice to make me sick.
“Dad.”
I huffed a humorless laugh. “I did talk to him.”
“And?”
“He said I let her go, but then”—I used air quotes to help illustrate how ridiculous Dad’s advice had been—“‘bring her pretty little ass back home.’”
Duke tipped his beer and nodded as if to say, See? There’s your game plan right there.
I sighed. “I don’t know, man. I have the season coming up, Penny’s going to start school in the fall... everything is just so much right now.”
Duke’s gaze fell over the growing crowd inside the bar. “You know, you’re a fucking moron. If I had the chance to be with the woman I loved, I sure as hell wouldn’t be sitting here crying about it. I’d be coming up with a way to make it happen.”
The woman he loved? What the hell does Duke Sullivan know about love and heartache?
Annoyed, I finished my beer and planted it on the wooden bar top with a clank. “Thanks for the advice, big brother, but I’m good.”
Duke laughed, and my molars ground together.
“You are so far from good, it’s not even funny.
Have you even seen yourself this summer?
You laughed. You got to know your family again.
Penny has a home here, and Lark was a big part of that.
Are you really willing to risk that because you can’t muster the balls to tell her how you feel? ”
I was beyond frustrated with my brother, but mostly because I didn’t appreciate him calling me out like that in the middle of a crowded bar.
“I gotta go.”
Duke scoffed and signaled the bartender for another round as I stormed out.
* * *
I couldn’t stand the thought of spending the rest of the night alone in the house.
Staring up at the dark windows of Lark’s apartment every night was torture enough.
Instead of going home, I headed toward the black waters of Lake Michigan.
Most of the little shops that dotted the marina were closed for the night, and only a few people walked down the pier or along the quiet beach.
I slipped off my shoes and let my toes sink into the wet sand. Lark and Penny had practically lived on the beach this summer, and I couldn’t think of it without it mingling in my mind with her warm cinnamon-and-citrus scent. Even my hometown had become a place where I couldn’t escape her.
I didn’t want to.
Somewhere along the way I’d shed little bits of my controlling nature in order to let Lark in. She took the little slivers I’d offered and wedged herself so deeply into my core that I couldn’t imagine myself without her. Her smiles, her laugh, the way she loved life and everyone in it.
Lark had willingly given herself, and I had slowly, reluctantly done the same. I shared more with her than anyone before, and while it was vulnerable and frightening in a way I didn’t like, it was also safe. Comforting.
After I’d walked a long length of beach, I looked up to realize I was near the dune on which Lark had gotten herself stranded. When it happened, I had hid my attraction to her with a gruff indifference. Even then I knew getting close to Lark had the potential to change everything.
I thought back to her offhand comments about love languages and realized exactly what I needed to do.
* * *
My fist pounded on Tootie’s front door twice before I turned the handle and let myself in. “Hello?”
“Back here!” Tootie’s voice was filled with laughter as it floated down the hallway.
My boots stomped on the creaking wooden floors as I made my way through her house. In the large living room, Tootie, Penny, and Katie were sitting on blankets and pillows with something that looked like green mud smeared all over their faces.
“Hey, Daddy!” Penny’s crooked white teeth were stark against the mask. “We’re beautifying.”
I smiled. “I can see that. I didn’t mean to interrupt girls’ night, but I needed to talk with Tootie.”
My aunt unfolded herself and groaned as she rose from the floor. I motioned toward the kitchen, and she followed.
As soon as we were out of earshot, I turned. “Can you look after Penny for a few days?”
Worry crossed her face. “Of course. Is everything okay?”
I sighed and ran my hand across my face. “No. But it will be. I need to go to LA.”
A huge grin spread across her face when she realized what I was implying. Her hands planted on her hips. “Well, it’s about time. Don’t worry about us. We’ll be just fine. You bring our girl home.”
Affection for my aunt filled my chest. I hugged her and stomped toward the living room. Penny was delighted to hear she would get a few extra days of girl time, and I assured her that I would head home as soon as I could.
“Will Lark come home with you?”
Unease rippled through me. “I’m not sure, sweetie.” My plan was only half-formed, and I hoped to work out the details on the red-eye to LA.
“Okay, well, don’t screw it up.”
I laughed and tension eased from my shoulders. “Thanks, Pickle. I’ll do my best.”