Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
CALDER
I follow Meredith to the bar. She stops to push in chairs and collect rumpled napkins off the tables.
“What did you mean with that comment about Dad?”
All I’ve been told since I arrived is how much Meredith meant to him.
How important she was to him. She’s even said so herself.
Now she admits to doubting her place with him.
Is it because of her history with her parents?
Mama used to rant about Holly and Meredith’s separate irresponsible fathers.
Holly’s dad divorced their mom and never wanted any kind of relationship with Holly, and Meredith’s father felt like he was too old to start again when Meredith came along unplanned, so he and her mom just left, abandoning Meredith with Holly to raise all on her own.
I didn’t pay much attention back then, but I’m really fucking interested now.
“Nothing. It’s just fact.” The aloofness in her tone can’t be hidden.
“You just said it’s my dad’s fault you dated a douche like that.”
She spins. “Really? I revealed part of myself, and that’s what you took from it? You think I’m blaming him?” A frustrated noise escapes her lips. “You were perfect. You know that? To Ransom, no one could come close to you. The eldest son. The self-made man. He talked about you constantly.”
I scoff. Dad barely knew the adult version of me. “What’d he have to say? He only started calling a few years ago.”
“He kept track of all your deals and your net worth. When you started CFC, he gushed about you for weeks. ‘He’s the man in charge, just like I knew he’d be,’” she mimics in Dad’s deep rumble.
Acid chews right through my stomach lining. Why the hell wouldn’t he try to reach out earlier then? Tell me he wanted to be a part of my life? Invite me back home?
“We had a name for you.” She props her hands on her hips. “Me and Sawyer.”
I cock my head, waiting for her to tell me. Dreading it.
“McBossy.” She lifts her chin. “It fits.”
“I like it better than ‘slick.’”
She blinks, and that plump lower lip sticks out. My thumb twitches to caress over it, test the firmness. I could sink my teeth into it and find out how sweet she tastes, but there’s no way I’m getting close enough to her for that.
“My brothers?” I ask. “Do they have nicknames?”
She considers it. “McNerdy and McModel.”
I tip my head back and let laughter pour through me. I haven’t found something this funny in weeks. Damn. Years. Wait until I tell the guys. The names fit them perfectly—fit us perfectly. We can’t be upset at the girls for coming up with them.
She’s stunned, staring at me, her lips parted. A pink hue dusts the apples of her cheeks.
The last bits of a chuckle leave me. “Cat’s gonna get your tongue, rosy.”
She snaps out of her stupor. “Rosy?”
Two steps are all it takes to close the distance between us. I brush the backs of my fingers down her face. “You’re flushed. Just like the roses my mama used to grow.” I’m not supposed to be mere inches from her. I shouldn’t be touching her soft skin, but I can’t stop.
“I don’t get you.” Her voice is almost a whisper. “You give off major asshole energy. You want to sell and abandon your mom’s hard work and the place that’s been my life’s work for most of my adult years. But you want to have a beer with me and chase off my ex?”
“He was manhandling you.”
“What if I liked it?”
My right eye twitches. Not with him. “You didn’t. And I didn’t like him touching you.”
Surprise flickers in her shining eyes. “Why not? Why do you care?”
We’re a breath apart. I’m towering over her, yet she does not back down. This woman is challenging all my nonsense. It’s exhilarating.
She’s even closer now. I can count every single freckle sprinkled across her nose. “I’m not one of those girls who comes in and bats their eyes at you. I’m not gonna hang on your every word or flash my cleavage at you.”
“You’d have to wear something other than those hideous polos.”
Her indignant gasp prompts a smile.
“Don’t get me wrong, rosy. You don’t need to flash anything for me to admire your curves.”
Her eyes flare again. The flush in her cheeks deepens. I enjoy shocking her. I’m starting to crave eliciting all sorts of responses from her.
She gives herself a shake and tears herself away, one step at a time. “You’re messing with me, and I have a bar to clean up.”
I stay rooted in place. “I never mess with a woman.”
“Trust me,” she says with a chuff. “You do.”
I was honest with my partners. “How would you know?”
“Tanner would make the same claim.”
I rock back on my heels. “I’m not a cheater like Tanner. Or my dad.” My code of honor considers me to be better than him. I could be more honest with a casual fling than he was with his wife at her weakest.
She continues down the hall to the storage closet. “And I’m not my sister, falling for a Cross.”
Why not? Thank fuck I keep that question to myself.
She’s quiet while we do a quick sweep and mop. I just want to get her to the house, sit at the table, and… When the hell did I turn into an old married man?
Just because those evenings eating a very late dinner with her right next to me, talking shop and having a beer, have been more pleasant than any date I can remember…
Shit. I need to watch myself, or I’ll trade everything I built to move home and get laid.
Not even Dad did that. He just gave up his three kids to keep a woman in his bed.
She flips her ponytail over her shoulder. “I closed out the financials and sent the report. Everything’s done.”
The dark circles under her eyes are back, and she’s probably hungry, but her comment summons my discussion with Bea about the books.
“Bea said you didn’t do any of the bookkeeping.”
She shakes her head. “No. I offered, but you know how your dad was.”
I’ve only skimmed the surface, but there have been enough signs of trouble to let me know I’d have to have a long talk with my brothers. Balances delving into the red until there’s a massive influx of cash. Loans or borrows from the ranch side of the house.
“So you have no idea how stable the financials are?”
A slight crease forms between her brows. “Ransom told me it wasn’t my place to worry.”
I let it go, but only because he told me the same thing once. Not as nicely.
Regardless, it’s time to go. I get to the exit first and peer outside. No vehicles other than her SUV and my Escalade. That fucker Tanner is nowhere in sight.
I hold the door open farther. “After you.”
She tucks her chin down and scurries toward me. I don’t move out of the way, but she sidles by without touching me. Damn.
I follow her home. As she pulls into the garage, I park in my typical spot and beat her inside, beelining to the kitchen. Tonight, she’s wearier than any other night. We have to hire more people—she’s going to run herself into the ground.
Except we’re selling. Maybe the new owners will hire her…
I wouldn’t. When I take over a business, I don’t want any previous managers or supervisors in their old positions. They can stay at the job, but they lose the title. Keeps my authority strong.
My acid fires up again. Heartburn’s a thing for me now? Is my past coming back to haunt me in the form of a weary brewmaster with bags under her eyes? No. It’s just from being home. When I return to my regular life, my stomach will calm the hell down.
I cross to the fridge as she’s taking off her shoes. “Want a sandwich?”
Her features are strained. She shoves a hand in her back pocket, making her breasts jut out. “I’m just going to hit the hay.”
Intense disappointment wrenches my gut. “You didn’t get a dinner break.” I give her a pointed look. “Or eat lunch.”
She shrugs, and my gaze dips down. If she ever showed off her cleavage like some of the customers did tonight, I’d forget every damn order.
“I had a late breakfast.”
I don’t have to ask if it’s me she doesn’t want to be around. Why am I trying to make nice? She’s not my family, and she’s not my job. She doesn’t want to be around me, and I need it to stay that way. It’ll be easier in the end, but it’s harder now.
“Night, Meredith.” I open the fridge and dig out ham, cheese, and lettuce, and I feel like a jackass the whole time.
When I turn around, she’s gone, stealing upstairs so quietly that not a stair creaks.
Her light footsteps move around above my head, and the comfort of hearing them loosens the knots in my muscles.
I’ve gotten used to hearing her in this house that used to be such a big part of me.
But the shriek of my name from upstairs as I linger in the kitchen is entirely new.