“Like your dad buying up commercial real estate.”
“No, like you. Building things.”
This kid gave him the lump-in-the-back-of-the-throat thing on a regular basis.
After a few minutes, Violet called for Dakota to take his shower and get ready for bed. Stone was instructed to go downstairs and wait for Autumn.
His sister arrived just as he descended the stairs. Dressed in a sage-colored peacoat and black boots, she looked sophisticated and fashionable.
“You look beautiful in that coat.” He took it from her and hung it in the closet.
“Thank you. It’s new. Trey spotted it in the window of a boutique and insisted I buy it. He said it matches my eyes.” Was it his imagination or had the sea air made his sister even prettier? Her fair skin looked dewy. She’d gotten golden highlights in her auburn hair that were very flattering. “What? Do I have something in my teeth?”
“No, you dork. You look great. I think Cliffside Bay agrees with you.”
Autumn punched him on the arm. “You’re biased.” She glanced toward the stairs. “Did I miss the kids?”
“Yes, Kyle and Violet are putting them to bed.”
“Oh well. It couldn’t be helped. Work was really busy. I guess cold and flu season is already here.”
They went into the kitchen, and he poured her a glass of wine. The kitchen filled with the spicy scent of the enchiladas cooking in the oven. While they waited for Kyle and Violet, Autumn told him a few funny stories from her day, as well as that of a young mother who’d cried when she saw the bill for her child’s medicine. “I wanted to cry, too,” Autumn said. “Deductibles bite.”
“That poor lady,” Stone said.
“I know.” She tapped a finger against her wineglass. “How did your night at The Oar end up?”
Startled at the abrupt change in direction, he shrugged. “Good. Why?”
“I had an interesting night.”
“Yeah?” It hadn’t seemed interesting. Much to his disappointment, the three ladies had eaten their dinners and left right afterward. The live music had started at nine, and he’d talked himself into asking Pepper to dance. Next thing he knew, they were gone. “You left kind of abruptly.”
“Sara’s sitter called. The baby had a fever.”
“Is she all right?”
“Fine, yes. Just a virus.” Autumn tucked her hair behind one ear. “However, I did a little intel on our friend Pepper.”
“What do you mean a little intel?” What had his sister done?
“Sara and I both think she likes you.”
A bolt of hope shot through him. “Yeah?”
Before she could tell him more, Violet and Kyle returned to the kitchen just as the alarm for the enchiladas chimed. His stomach churned, knowing it was time. He had to put Pepper aside and tell his sister and brother the news of their mother’s reappearance.
When they were all seated around the kitchen table, Kyle gave thanks before they dug into the enchiladas. Stone ate some of his dinner before clearing his throat. It was time. He had to tell them. Get it over with. “Something weird happened yesterday.”
“You mean almost getting run down by a SUV?” Autumn asked.
“In addition to that, yes.” Stone pushed his plate away, suddenly nauseous.
Autumn and Violet immediately looked over at him with concern in their eyes. He never turned down Violet’s enchiladas.
“What is it?” Violet asked.
Stone wrapped his fingers around the stem of his glass and fiddled with the wine charm. “I don’t know how to say it, so I’ll just come right out with it. A woman approached me outside the grocery store. She claims to be our mother.”
Kyle dropped his fork. It made an awful clattering noise as it fell onto the china. Violet gasped as her hands flew to her throat. Autumn simply stared at him.
He told them what he could remember of their conversation. Since the unexpected encounter, whenever he thought about the woman and what she’d said to him, it was as if a thousand bees hummed between his ears. The entire incident seemed like a dream. He’d been able to put it aside for hours at a time. However, saying it out loud made it all too real.
“Do you think it’s really her?” Autumn asked.
“She didn’t look anything like I remembered,” Stone said. “But we were so young when she left that I barely remember what she looked like.”
“And Dad burned all her pictures,” Autumn said. “I have almost no memory of her.”
“I do.” Kyle’s eyes had darkened to the shade of a twilight sky. His voice sounded eerily calm. “I was eight when she left. I’d be able to tell if it’s her.”
“She wants to see us,” Stone said.
No one spoke as the gravity of that statement filled the room.
Kyle’s face had reddened. He pushed away his plate and clenched his hands together on the tabletop. Autumn moved food around without looking at anyone. Violet watched Kyle.
“Her desire to see you doesn’t mean you have to.” Violet spoke gently, in the same voice she used to soothe one of her children. “I’ve learned that not all family deserves to be in our lives.”
“Do you want to see her?” Autumn asked Stone. “I mean, again?”
“I don’t know,” Stone said. “I was so taken aback I couldn’t think straight. And then right afterward, the SUV almost took me out. I can’t help but think they were related. Maybe the truck was chasing her.”
“Like she’s in some kind of trouble?” Autumn asked.
“Maybe,” Stone said.
“It would be an odd coincidence if not,” Violet said.
Kyle stared at his plate. “The day she left has replayed in my mind a thousand times. She was like a brick wall. Nothing penetrated her resolve to leave us.” He took in a ragged breath before continuing. “I begged her to stay. I grabbed on to her leg and she dragged me across the muddy yard, then shook me off like I was a pesky dog.” He looked up at Stone. “Why, after all this time, would she want to see us?”
“Maybe she wants to make amends?” Autumn wiped the corner of her eyes with a napkin. “Did she seem well-intentioned?”
“I’m not sure. She said she just wants to see us once and then she’ll leave us alone,” Stone said.
“Women like her only come back to their families for one reason. She wants money,” Kyle said.
“She didn’t look like she was doing well financially,” Stone said.
“What did she drive?” Kyle asked.
“An old Honda.” Stone suppressed a manic laugh. Leave it to Kyle to ask about her car.
Kyle’s eyes glazed over as he stared into space, his expression stoic. “That’s funny, because I always imagine her in a black car like the one she left in.”
Stone sobered. His brother had taken the brunt of her abandonment. Kyle had been old enough to feel the rejection and the burden of responsibility. Stone and Autumn had been allowed to remain children. Kyle had not.
“Kyle, it’s totally up to you whether we see her or not,” Stone said.
“I appreciate that, but it’s not fair,” Kyle said. “You two should decide for yourselves. I can tell you this. The only reason I will see her is to let her know exactly the mess she left and the toll her absence took on all three of us.”
“I might like to see her,” Autumn said in a small voice. “Just to get my questions answered.”
“Like how she could leave her own children?” Kyle asked.
“Yes. For one.” Autumn reached for her glass of wine and took a generous sip.
Kyle ran a hand over his thick brown hair. “I used to lie awake at night and make a list of all the things I’d like to say to her. You know the saddest part of all? Even after she left, I still loved her. If she’d come back, I would have forgiven her everything.”
“We love our parents, even when they’re monsters,” Violet said.
“Can you forgive her now?” Autumn asked. “If her intention is to be in our lives
?”
Kyle stilled and gazed at his sister for a long moment, as if deciding his answer. “My immediate response is no. Anyone who leaves their three young children isn’t someone I want to know. But then I remember how I left you two. My reasons for doing so were complex and made from brokenness. The three of us pieced this family back together through understanding and forgiveness. Maybe if we understood why she left, we could forgive her.”
Again, the silence returned to the room. They were never quiet in one another’s presence. Typically, when they were together, they laughed and talked over one another. He and Kyle gave each other grief. Autumn bugged him about whether he was interested in anyone. There was an occasional moment when one of them needed advice. He didn’t want this woman to ruin what they had. The foggy buzz in Stone’s brain cleared. His thoughts careered around his head like one of those bouncy balls they sold at the dollar store. Should they see her for closure? To tell her how much she hurt them? Did she want to be in their lives, or did she want money? Forgiveness? Absolution?
“We have to see her,” Autumn said.
“Violet, what say you?” Kyle asked.
“Obviously, it’s up to the three of you to decide. I’ll support you either way. We’ve all come a long way together in a short time. You three and the little ones upstairs are my whole heart—the family I always wished for. I don’t want you guys hurt. Be prepared that it might not go well. Like with my dad, you might have to walk away for your own health.”
“I agree,” Kyle said. “We shouldn’t go in with expectations of a happy ending.”
“Just information,” Autumn said.
“So, we see her and go from there?” Stone asked.
“Agreed,” Kyle said.
“Agreed,” Autumn said.
Violet put her hand on her husband’s forearm and looked at each of them in turn. “Whatever happens, we’re a family. Nothing changes that.”
Stone raised his glass. “To family.”
“To family,” they chorused.
Chapter 6
Pepper
* * *
Pepper pressed her nose against the glass of Lisa and Rafael’s third-floor apartment and peered down into the parking lot of the Victorian. Stone was washing his oversize truck. Without a shirt.
His back muscles rippled in the sunlight as he scrubbed the hood. Locks of brown hair flopped over his forehead. His hair was longer than when she first met him. Last summer, he had it cut military short. Former military.
Light blue surfer shorts rode low on his hips. A slight tug and they’d slip off. To distract herself from wicked thoughts, she pinched the skin on her wrist and looked up at the sky. A jet made a white streak against the blue.
It wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t stop looking at him. Most women would find his bronzed skin and unruly dark hair sexy. His angular facial features were interesting and rugged. The man was beautiful.
There’s this guy.
She’d admitted it to Cora. Had said the words out loud. Stone Hickman. I have a thing for Stone Hickman.
The truth made her dizzy.
She shivered, despite the warmth of the sun coming through the window. Her gaze returned to him. The muscles of his shoulders flexed as he moved the brush in systematic, thorough circles. She pressed her thighs together. Did he touch everything that way?
He dropped the sponge in the bucket near his feet. Suds splashed onto his calves. He picked up the hose and fiddled with the nozzle until spray leaped from the hose and onto the truck. After the soap was washed away, he changed the spray to a mist and turned it on himself. Water gleamed off his bronzed skin. What did he think this was? A gun show?
There should be a crime for being that ridiculously gorgeous. Extra time behind bars for being shirtless in October. It was California. No one wore clothes out here.
Stone turned the mist to a mild stream and brought the hose to his mouth. The muscles that ran down his thick neck pulsed as he drank.
Just then, he looked up and saw her watching. Before she could back away, he waved.
Her entire body lit on fire. Oh God, what do I do? Wave back? Pretend I wasn’t watching him?
He waved again, this time with the hand holding the hose. The stream of water bounced and circled. If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn it was in the shape of a heart.
She waved back. It would be immature not to.
He tapped his watch and said something to her. She couldn’t hear him. Fine, she would open the window. Again, she didn’t want to be rude.
She unlocked the fastener and lifted the window. “What did you say?” she yelled down to him through the screen.
“I said, has enough time passed? Can I ask you out yet?”
“It’s only been two days.” Her entire body went hot. Please, God, don’t let anyone else in the Victorian have their windows open.
“Okay, just checking.” He grinned. “Are you joining us for Group Dinner?”
Group Dinner was a new tradition in the Victorian. All residents of the building and whomever they wanted to invite all dined together on the wraparound porch. Rafael had purchased outside heaters for the winter months. Whenever he and Lisa were in town, they usually put one together for Sunday or Monday evenings. The two bottom apartments were occupied by Rafael’s mother, Mama Soto, and her best friend, Ria. Lavonne, also a bachelor, lived next to David on the second floor. Rafael and Stone usually grilled, and the rest of the building contributed a side dish. Sometimes Maggie and Jackson joined them. Occasionally, Stone’s brother, Kyle, and his wife, Violet, and their four children came as well. Like one big, happy family.
Pepper was the bitter aunt they felt obligated to invite.
“Yes, I’ll be there.”
“I’ll save you a seat next to me,” Stone said.
“We’ll see about that. I have to go now. Some of us have things to do other than prancing around in our underwear.”
He threw back his head in laughter.
Smiling, she shut the window.
Twisting one of her black curls around her index finger, she looked at the clock for the twentieth time. Her agent was supposed to call about a role in a television show she’d auditioned for last week when she was in LA. They’d had her come back three times. Her chemistry with the lead actor had been good. Still, it was an action show about a group of FBI agents. Who would believe her playing a cop? She was skinny and ashen, more suited for a chain-smoking anorexic than a muscular agent.
Lisa and Rafael came through the front door with bags of groceries in their arms. Pepper rushed forward to take one.
“You’re staying for dinner, right?” Lisa asked. “Rafael’s going to do his famous chicken.”
“Sweetheart, it’s not exactly famous,” Rafael said as he held the kitchen door open for the ladies to pass through. “I’ve only made it two times.”
“Yes, but it’s so good.” Lisa flashed him her dazzling smile. Rafael’s features melted into warm caramel every time she smiled at him. The man would die for her. That was obvious every time he looked at her the way he was doing now.
Would anyone look at her that way? Was she too damaged, too messed up? Was it her destiny to grow old alone? Crazy Aunt Pepper.
She and Lisa unloaded the groceries while Rafael put them away. He had a precise order to the cupboards. Pepper had learned that the hard way when she’d put the cereal box in the wrong cabinet. Rafael was too polite to say anything, but a muscle near his right eye had started twitching and hadn’t stopped until the cereal box was in the right place.
Pepper would agitate Rafael within a matter of minutes. One waylaid towel on the floor or crumb in the butter and he’d kick her to the curb. Lisa didn’t seem to mind Rafael’s fastidious ways. Perhaps she was accustomed to someone obsessively tidy because of her mother. Pepper’s stepdad claimed there was someone for everyone. Rafael and Lisa seemed to prove this theory.
Lisa sat at the kitchen table. “We wanted to talk to y
ou about the wedding. We’ve decided to have it in December.”
December. “So soon?” They’d just gotten engaged in August. “What’s the rush? Are you pregnant?”
“Very funny.” Lisa and Rafael exchanged glances. “It’s more about my mother than anything else. I want to plan it quick and dirty before she can stick her nose into things.”
Lisa’s mother was notorious for her passive-aggressive behavior. Planning a wedding was Mrs. Perry’s perfect wheelhouse. If Lisa allowed her into the process, it would soon become Mrs. Perry’s wedding and not Lisa and Rafael’s.
“That makes sense,” Pepper said. “But isn’t she punishing you with silence right now?” Mrs. Perry and Lisa had barely spoken since David decided to move to California. David was Mrs. Perry’s golden boy. His decision to start over out west had not been a popular one with her. Because he was her golden boy, she had to blame Lisa.
“Yes. I’ve hardly heard from her,” Lisa said. “But once we set a date, she won’t be able to stop herself from coming out here to ‘help’ me.” Lisa made quotes with her fingers as she said the word help. “And with my filming schedule for Indigo Road, this gives us a chance to be married and take a honeymoon before I have to be back on set at the end of January.”
If Lisa wanted to have it in December, then Pepper would make sure it happened. “We can totally do this. It’ll be tight, but if we start planning right away, it’ll be fine.”
“Will you help me?” Lisa asked.
“Try and stop me,” Pepper said. “Where do you want to have it? Do you remember the place you found in Colorado?” Years ago, Lisa had read an article about a small tourist town in Colorado with a little white church and a neighboring lodge perfect for a reception. She’d ripped the pages of the magazine out and put them on the refrigerator. Every day Lisa would tap the photo. “Someday, Pepper. Someday.”
“Yes, but that was just silly talk.” A flush had crept up Lisa’s neck. She glanced at Rafael, then back to Pepper. Lisa seemed nervous, maybe even embarrassed. “We only care about getting married. The wedding is secondary.”
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