by Lizzie Shane
“Don’t be silly. I’ve got a free hand. Where were you headed with these?”
What the hell did Mark want? The residual image buzz that came from standing next to a star? Or something else? Either way, Ty wasn’t particularly interested in giving it to him.
“Give me the glass, Nilsson.” He kept his tone cheerful—threatening wasn’t one of his skills. “I don’t want your help.”
Mark set the water back on the bar, but he didn’t remove his hand from it. His own smile didn’t falter. “Look, I don’t know what she told you—”
“What are you trying to accomplish?” Ty asked him, flat out. “We aren’t going to be friends. Even if I didn’t know anything about you beyond the fact that you’re her ex, unless she tells me she wants us to be pals I’m not going there. She has my loyalty. She’s earned it. What have you earned?”
He liked that line—What have you earned?—and grabbed the water out of Mark’s hand, recognizing a good exit when he saw one. Returning to the table they’d been assigned to, he set the waters at the places for Jade and Andi. He didn’t know who’d been bumped to make space for them in the seating chart at the last minute, but he was glad he’d made a very generous donation to the honeymoon fund to make up for the inconvenience. He was glad he’d been here for Andi today.
She looked happy. Looked like she was having fun. As long as you didn’t look too close. As long as you didn’t notice the lines of strain around her eyes and the way her smile had the slightest brittle edge.
She was holding it together. She was strong like that. But everything wasn’t sunshine and roses. That much was clear.
“You and Mark seem to be hitting it off.”
Ty looked up as one of Andi’s brothers pulled out an empty chair at the table beside him and sat down. Aaron, he thought, though he was having a hard time keeping all the names straight—something he usually excelled at, but the last few days had been a lot to take in.
Ty shook his head. “I will never understand small towns. I can’t believe your sister’s ex was invited to the wedding.”
Aaron shrugged as if it was nothing. “We all grew up together. There’s no reason to be jealous.”
Ty huffed out a disbelieving laugh. “I’m not jealous. I just have a hard time watching him waltz around like everyone’s favorite after the way he treated her. But I seem to be the only one who has a problem with that.”
Mark was laughing with the father of the bride, clapping the older man on the shoulder. Everyone’s best friend.
Aaron leaned forward suddenly, catching Ty’s attention with his frown, his hand flat on the table. “What are you talking about—how did he treat her?”
Too late, Ty realized he’d made a gross tactical error. He’d assumed her family knew the whole story. Andi wouldn’t very well tell him something she wouldn’t tell them, would she? But apparently she had.
And as private as she was, she’d probably see him spilling the beans as a massive betrayal of her trust. He cursed under his breath. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s none of my business.”
“You have to say something now,” Aaron insisted. Another of Andi’s brothers passed by the table and Aaron raised his voice enough to call him over. “Adam!”
Andi’s bearded brother changed course to join them. “What’s up?”
Aaron turned to Ty. “Tell him what you just told me. About how Mark treated Andi.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
Adam’s expression immediately darkened. “Did he hit her?” he asked, voice low and dangerous.
“No. Or not that I know of. Look, it’s not my place—”
Aaron leaned forward until they were separated by inches. “I don’t give a shit whose place it is right now. Unless you want me to go over there and ask my sister what you’re talking about, you need to stop freaking me the fuck out and tell me what the fuck you meant.”
It was the most swearing Ty had heard since he’d arrived in Clement.
When Ty didn’t immediately respond, Aaron shoved back his chair and started to rise, his eyes locked on Andi on the dance floor. Andi, who looked so freaking happy, laughing with Jade and Kendall as they did some kind of convoluted line dance. He didn’t want to mess that up.
“Wait.”
Aaron sank back down on his chair, eyeing Ty expectantly.
“He dumped her as soon as they found out she couldn’t have kids.”
Aaron was shaking his head. “No. It was Andi. She left him.”
“Maybe. I could be wrong.” But his voice said he didn’t think he was—and Mark’s comments last night had only reinforced what Andi had told him.
Adam and Aaron were both frowning now, one looking at Andi, the other at Mark.
“I think we need to have a word with our former brother-in-law,” Adam growled.
“I think we should,” Aaron agreed, standing. “I’ll get Alex.”
Ty cursed internally, hoping he hadn’t just screwed things up for Andi. She didn’t like being the center of attention. She certainly wouldn’t like being the center of a scene at her brother’s wedding. But thankfully after Adam and Aaron collected Alex with a few whispered words, the three men cornered Mark, clapping him on the shoulder like old friends, and ushered him quickly out of the ballroom.
Ty was still watching the door through which the small group had disappeared when a firm hand clamped down on his own shoulder. “Mr. Walker. Let’s have a chat, young man.”
He looked up into the steady gaze of Andi’s father.
Chapter Eighteen
Andi flopped down at the table, breathless and warm from too much jumping around during Shout! A glass of water sat where her place setting had been, telling her that Ty had completed his mission to find hydration, but there was no sign of the man himself. On the dance floor, Jade and Kendall were laughing as they flung out their feet to Footloose along with half of the town.
It was a great wedding. The best wedding.
Where was Ty?
“Hey there, Andi-girl.”
She looked up as her brothers surrounded her, claiming three of the empty chairs around the table. Nearly all of the reception guests crowded the dance floor and those who didn’t were in clusters near the bar, giving them a rare moment of privacy. Just the four of them. Like it hadn’t been in years.
She smiled at her brothers. “Hello, gentlemen. Aren’t you looking dapper this fine afternoon?”
Aaron shot his cuffs. “I always try to look dapper when I’m tossing someone out of a reception for being a dick to my sister.”
Andi frowned, not getting the joke. But Aaron wasn’t smiling. None of them were smiling. “What are you talking about?”
And where was Ty? God, had they thrown him out? A flare of panic—which had nothing to do with job security—flashed through her.
Alex spoke, his voice gentler than Aaron’s had been. “Why didn’t you tell us Mark dumped you like that? Why did you let us think you decided to leave him?”
She flushed, embarrassed to be having this conversation with them, even after all these years. “You guys idolized him. I didn’t want to take that away from you.” Honesty forced her to add. “And I guess I was afraid if I told you, you’d still like him better.”
“How could you think that?” Adam asked. “You’re our sister.”
“I was always the annoying older sister until I started dating Mark and he made me cool in your eyes.”
“How are we supposed to protect you if you keep shit like this from us?” Aaron growled.
“I’m your older sister. How were you going to protect me? You were away at college when we got divorced. Alex and Adam were still in high school.”
But she could see on their faces that they were annoyed at not having been given the chance to beat Mark bloody. Something uneasy curled in her stomach as she remembered how Aaron had started the conversation. “What did you do to him?”
; “We escorted him to the parking lot,” Alex said calmly. “And informed him he was no longer welcome at Cooper family gatherings.”
“Better than he deserved,” Aaron grumbled.
“We’re still going to take care of you, Andi.” Adam added. “Big sister, little sister. You’re ours.”
Tears pricked the backs of her eyes. She’d missed so much. She’d missed them. Knowing them. Seeing them become the men they were.
Andi swallowed thickly and reached out to hug Alex, since he was closest. The others huddled around her, hugging her tight, her little brothers who now towered over her.
She remembered when they were born. She remembered when Aaron used to pee on her Barbies. She remembered Alex stealing her books and Adam falling out of trees, breaking bone after bone and never learning, always climbing higher. But they weren’t those kids anymore. These men were her family. Her protectors. And her love for them filled up her whole heart.
“How did you find out?” she asked, using a linen napkin to dab away the moisture around her eyes.
Her brothers exchanged a glance. For a moment she thought they would evade the question, but then Alex said softly, “That actor seems like a good guy.”
Andi nodded, her throat closing again. “He does.”
“I think he really cares about you,” Aaron added.
Did he? And even if he did… would it last? Could it?
She was a planner. She wasn’t spontaneous. She didn’t jump into things. She thought them through. But the more she thought things through with Ty, the more she saw all the potential pitfalls. Her head knew he was a bad bet. The evidence was right there in front of her. But her heart didn’t seem to be listening.
Thankfully, Andi didn’t make decisions with her heart. She never had.
“Have you seen him?” she asked, rather than addressing Aaron’s loaded comment.
Alex nodded toward a door to one side. “He’s talking to Dad.”
* * * * *
Andi’s father hadn’t offered him a scotch—thank God. Instead he held his own beer by the neck and stood in the little covered walkway which, judging by the cigarette butts littering the pavement, had been used for many of the caterer’s smoke breaks. Mr. Cooper watched it snow, gently blowing smoke from a slim cigarillo into the night.
He had offered Ty one of those, but he hadn’t seemed bothered when Ty refused. “I should quit myself,” he said companionably. “Have quit a dozen times, if I’m honest, but I still allow myself one on special occasions.”
Mr. Cooper took a long drag, closing his eyes with pleasure before blowing a thin stream of smoke into the night. “Kath pretends she doesn’t know I still sneak one from time to time, but we both know she can smell it on my clothes. She can be oblivious about a lot of things, but that isn’t one of them.” He puffed on the cigarillo. “For instance, she has no idea you and my daughter aren’t really dating.”
Ty shot Mr. Cooper a startled glance, finding the older man watching him with a small smile on his face. “You’ve known the whole time?”
“No poker face on that girl. Never has been. It always amazed me that Kath couldn’t see right through her.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
He shrugged philosophically. “Figured you had your reasons. Might as well wait it out and see what happened.” Another pensive puff. “You care for her, don’t you?”
“She’s an extraordinary woman.” He hedged uneasily, not sure how they had gotten from you-aren’t-really-dating to discussing his feelings for this man’s daughter.
“That she is. Sensitive though. She may seem tough because she’s so practical. Always planning ahead, but that girl has a delicate heart. She’s so cautious now, holding herself away from everyone, but you seem to have a special bond with her.”
“I would never hurt her,” Ty promised, answering to her father’s unspoken question. He understood a father’s concern. Ty knew that a playboy actor’s reputation didn’t precisely inspire confidence, but he hadn’t been speaking lightly when he’d said he would never bail on Jade. And he would never bail on Andi. He wasn’t wired that way.
“I’m glad to hear it.” Another contemplative puff. “Daughters are tough. You’ll see. You worry about all your kids, but when your little girl is hurting you want to take on the world to make things better for her.”
Ty watched the snow falling in ever-thickening sheets, piling up in the parking lot. “I worry about screwing up,” he admitted. “As a dad.”
“I couldn’t respect you if you didn’t,” Andi’s father answered calmly. “Hardest job in the world, being a parent. You never know if you’re doing the right thing. Doing enough, doing too much. Teaching them to be independent enough. Protecting them enough. Giving them every opportunity, but not spoiling them. There’s no guidebook.”
“Your kids seemed to have turned out pretty well.” Ty thrust his hands into his pockets. “Any advice?”
“Put her first,” he said simply. “And always let her know how much you love her. It’s a tricky thing, learning to think of what your kids need rather than what you think they need or what will make them like you most. It won’t be easy, but she’ll teach you to be a better man. To be a man. I think a lot of us don’t really grow up until we have a kid. And then we see it’s not about us anymore.”
The door beside him opened before Ty could respond.
“There you are.” Andi slipped out, wrapping her arms around herself, shivering in the cold. “Aren’t you freezing?”
“We’re red-blooded American males,” her father teased. “We’re too tough to feel cold.”
Andi eyed him skeptically as she sidled up to Ty’s side and tucked herself against him for warmth. “Mom’s going to kill you if she sees you smoking that.”
“Then it’s a good thing she isn’t here.” He wagged his eyebrows and Andi chuckled, shaking her head.
“Come on. It’s almost time for the bouquet.”
Andi’s father met Ty’s eyes over Andi’s head as he stubbed out his cigarillo, tucking the remainder into his pocket for later. A message passed between them—the sensation foreign, but not unpleasant.
He’d never had a father. Never really realized what one could be. But now, with Andi’s family, he was seeing things he hadn’t before. Becoming a man he didn’t know existed.
And so much of that was due to the woman tucked against his side.
He looked down into her eyes. “You gonna snag that bouquet?”
“And feed my mother’s fantasies of planning another wedding? No, thank you.”
But she did catch it. The thing flew at her like it was laser guided and Andi trapped it against her chest in self-defense, her gaze immediately flicking to lock with his—filled with shock, laughter, and something else. Something he couldn’t quite define passed between them. Something like possibilities.
This wasn’t what he’d pictured when he’d pictured his future—but he could barely remember that silly idealized image now. Andi was real. Jade was real. And the two of them, they were everything.
Chapter Nineteen
The happy couple made their exit and the reception broke up quickly after that, everyone heading home for their own Christmas Eve traditions, trying to get ahead of the worst of the storm, though snow was already piling up on the roads and the town’s plows were hard pressed to keep up.
Jade—visibly exhausted by what had already been a long day—complained that she wasn’t ready to go, begging Ty to let her stay with Kendall. “Kendall’s mom can drive me home later.”
“The snow’s getting worse and I’m not asking anyone to drive you home in it later. We’re going now. Come on. If we don’t hurry we’ll throw off Santa’s schedule.”
Jade rolled her eyes and sulked all the way to the car like a bona fide pre-teen—and Ty found himself oddly exhilarated by the sight, pleased that she felt secure enough in her situation to sulk and complain like a n
ormal kid, and strangely proud of himself for standing his ground and sounding like a real parent there for a minute.
Maybe he could really do this.
The roads were bad, the near white-out conditions making it almost impossible to see where they were going. Luckily, Andi knew the roads, but there was no boisterous singing along with the radio as they moved through the snowy silence of the evening back to the cabin. Jade concentrated on her snit, Andi concentrated on the roads, and Ty concentrated on her.
The words had been rolling around inside his head all day, waiting to get out. I love you. You’re incredible. Please say you’ll be mine for real. But it had never seemed like the right time.
Jade dozed off in the back seat, but her nap didn’t improve her mood and she was still grumpy as they tramped inside the house. The reception had lasted far longer than Ty had expected for a morning wedding. Combined with the snowy roads slowing their progress, it was after six by the time they arrived back at the cabin.
“Is it wrong that I’m relieved she’s starting to act like a kid around us?” Ty asked under his breath as he took Andi’s arm, helping her through the snow in her heels.
“It is sort of refreshing, isn’t it?”
Jade perked up after dinner, giggling with them through The Muppet Christmas Carol, though she turned somber again as Andi brought out an old copy of Twas the Night Before Christmas and read it aloud in front of the potbelly stove. He knew that had been one of her traditions with her mother, and he knew they were walking a fine line, trying to find the balance between keeping her memories alive and coopting them.
When Santa had exclaimed ‘ere he rode out of sight, Ty stood, clapping his hands together. “All right. Bed time. Why don’t you ladies take the bedroom tonight so you don’t disturb Santa and I’ll take the pull-out?”
Jade gave him a skeptical look. “And you won’t disturb him?”
“Santa and I go way back,” Ty insisted. “I was a very good boy this year.”
Andi cracked a smile at that. “We should probably do what he says. Go on. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
