1. Noah
1
Present
“Where do you see yourself in five years?” my father asks, lurking around my usual booth.
I shut my laptop and glare at him.
His not-so-innocent eyes widen. “Sorry son, was that important?”
"Kinda, Dad. It's one of my city clients. He's selling his business and needs me to review the contract.”
“So no one's going to jail?”
“No,” I bite. “I’m not a criminal attorney.”
“No, no,” he agrees, casually taking the seat across from me. “Just an overworked one. Can we get back to my question then?”
“Also no.” I start to pack up my things from the booth I’ve taken up at my father’s inn. The place he bought several years ago, shortly after mom’s death and retiring from his boxing career. It was threatened to be shut down by local officials for tax defaults, so Dad paid it off and purchased it from the previous owners.
My brothers and I thought it was a great idea. At the time, we were under the impression it would give our old man something to do.
Boy, were we wrong. Because he still pesters the shit out of each one of us.
Not so much my younger brother Chase anymore. Not since the bastard found himself a bride. Literally.
Pepper Woods—his old high school crush—rode back into town last fall in the form of a runaway bride, with a veil tucked in her backpack and running shoes on her feet. And my self-centered, grumpy little shit of a brother somehow managed to woo her off her feet and onto his Harley.
Now that he's practically married, Aiden Reeves—world champion boxer turned hotel owner—decides to make me his problem-solving victim.
Unfortunately for him, I don’t have problems.
Dad holds up his hands. "Don't pack up, I was just making conversation."
I sigh and sit back. “Where do I see myself? Well, probably not coming over here since the staff is getting nosy.”
He jerks. “Who, Tessa? Ethan?”
“You, Dad.”
He chuckles. “Alright, I’ll go. But I will say one thing. You’re working yourself to the bone. You need to stop and take a breath. Take a vacation. Pick a legal practice area. You’re taking any case you can get, and we know it’s not for the money, Noah.”
I shrug. “Maybe I’m saving up for a boat.”
He sighs. “Your Denver clients are enough. Why do you insist on taking pro bono’s in town? We do have other lawyers, you know?”
My pro bono cases have taken center stage at Sunday dinners and if I’m growing tired of anything, it’s my family's concern for my workload.
“Dad, I grew up with half these people, I can’t turn them away because I’m too busy making rich people richer.”
“I get it,” he whispers gruffly. And I know he does. It’s why he saved this Inn from becoming a pile of rubble. Tearing down the only hotel in town would have devastated Hideaway Springs. It would only be a matter of time before a bigger, fancier hotel would be built that would change our quaint little town forever. “But something’s gotta go. Just think about it.”
I nod once to get him off my back. “Seed planted.”
“Can I get you anything?”
“Another espresso wouldn't hurt.” And some peace and quiet.
He hesitates. “You really should slow down on those. I don’t think they’re good for—”
“Water, Dad. I’ll take water.”
“How about a nice, iced tea?”
I growl and he holds up his hands in defeat. “I’m going. I’m going.”
I get a total of five minutes of peace before my younger brother strolls into the inn, takes a seat across from me and sets his motorcycle helmet beside him. “Speak of the devil,” I mutter, keeping my eyes on the screen.
I’m told his gaze is slightly more powerful than mine, and it’s times like these, that I believe it. “What?” I grit, pushing down my screen.
“Oh good, you’re done. Can we chat?”
“Chase, I charge over six hundred dollars an hour for my Denver clients, which you’re interrupting.”
“I need three minutes. And you can send me a bill.”
“This about our case?”
“Sort of.”
I push my computer aside. “How sort of?” A few months ago, I agreed to take on a personal case outside my expertise when he asked me to help him find his fiancée’s parents.
The ones who supposedly faked their deaths nearly a decade ago, leaving her alone at just seventeen. Due to her father’s indiscretions, she started a new life in New York and changed her name. None of us heard from her again until the news of her engagement to the president’s son popped up on Dad's television a year ago.
Six months later, she raced back into town looking for a room at the Inn. Enter my younger brother and his unconventional arrangements to keep her in hiding and here we are.
Pepper’s story is unfortunately— or fortunately—far from over since I’ve been hired by my brother to help find her parents who, as Pepper confessed, weren’t the couple found in that burnt vehicle.
It’s been five months, and we keep hitting dead ends but Chase refuses to give up.
“Well… it’s about Pepper.”
I sigh.
He twines his fingers in front of him and looks to the side, but I know this look; he’s either about to threaten me or hustle a deal. “In a couple of days, Pepper is going to ask you and Charlie to be in the wedding party.”
My chest tightens but I keep my expression even. The way I’ve trained it to when I hear her name.
The name I gave her .
He turns back to me—this is the part where the threat comes.
“You’re going to act excited .”
“No.”
“Happy, even.”
“Unlikely.”
“You’re going to tell her you can’t wait. You’re not going to stare blankly at her the way you are at me, and you’re going to come and have a good fucking time, understand?”
I stare blankly at him. “Are you done?”
He sits back with a warning glare. “No. Drama. Noah. If Pepper’s best friend runs out on her wedding day because you said something stupid, I will hurt you.”
“Got it.”
“There will be blood and it won’t be mine,” he adds.
“I said okay. I won’t utter a word. And what would it matter? She’s going to be paired with Levi. Isn’t he your best man?” As the oldest brother, Levi would be the obvious choice.
“Levi isn’t my best man. You are.”
“Me?” My brows shoot up.
Chase rolls his eyes. “Don’t let it go to your head. You’re my second choice.”
My eyes dip as I realize who he’s referring to.
Elliot.
The youngest of us Reeves brothers died two winters ago in a skiing accident. Chase and Elliot were closer than any of us have ever been. Levi and I were older. Our relationship with Elliot was a mixture of nurturing and teasing. He was only twelve when Mom died. Levi and I were in college. If we weren’t raising him when Dad wasn’t around, we were teasing him because well, he was the baby.
I nod, glancing up at my brother. “I’m touched,” I say dryly. “Truly. And you don’t have to worry. Charlotte and I are adults.”
He narrows his gaze warily. But doesn’t push his hesitation. “Thanks.”
My eyes lift to his again. “How is she?”
Chase shifts uncomfortably, almost like he wants to say she’s doing well but doesn’t believe it.
Charlie’s mother, who’d been ill for the last two years, passed away earlier this month. She was the last person Charlie had left in this town.
Until Pepper came along last fall.
My brother gives me a pointed look that I take as ‘How do you think?’
We’ve been there. We should both know exactly how she’s doing.
But I don’t.
Is she lonely? Scared? Confused?
Does she have a plan to leave town?
I went to her mother’s funeral three weeks ago but didn’t approach her. When I lost the people I loved, I didn’t want chit-chat or condolences. Or people for that matter. I’m quiet by nature and a funeral isn’t exactly the place I liven up.
Besides, Pepper didn’t leave her side all day—and that girl and I didn’t exactly get off on the right foot when she came to town.
“Pepper invited her over tonight. Charlie’s still refusing to have us come help her pack things up, so it might be good to get her out of the house for a bit.”
I shake my head at my ex’s usual stubbornness. “There’s a lot of shi— stuff in that house. She needs help. Can’t you just… show up and insist?”
Chase pins me with his eyes. “Would you want that?”
I release a breath. “No.” I refrain from asking questions but I feel like I’ll come out of my skin if I don’t. So I lift the screen of my computer and pretend to be engaged in business.
Chase grabs his helmet and stands. “Oh and try to act honored and shit when Pepper asks. Not like she’s a nuisance.”
I perk a brow at my little brother. “I don’t know. Treating her like she’s a pain in the ass seemed to work wonders for you.”
He shoots me a cocky grin. “What can I say? Chicks dig hockey and motorcycles.”
“Pretty sure she’s marrying you despite those things.”
He grabs his takeout order and I’m suddenly less inclined to go back to work right now.