The Time in Between

by Kristen Ashley

  He knew it.

  God damn it.

  “A week and a half ago. Red Wedding. You asked me to trust you. I reminded you of the man who’s your man,” he began. “Now I’m asking you to trust me. And I know it upsets you, honey, but I gotta dredge up the past and say, this being about your brother, I need to do this for you so you need to let me.”

  “Let me talk to my sister!” Caylen shouted over the speaker.

  Cady looked at it.

  “Baby,” he whispered.

  She looked to Coert. “I trust you.”

  Thank fuck.

  He grabbed her head in both hands, pulled her to him, kissed her briefly, and gently pushed her away. “Do not talk to him over the speaker.”

  Her head nodded in his hands.

  Coert let her go and sprinted up the stairs, Midnight coming with him.

  He had on a Henley, socks and pajama pants.

  He only took off the pajama pants before he put on some jeans and tugged on the turtleneck he left at Cady’s house weeks ago that she’d washed and put in the drawer she’d cleared for him that was under the bed.

  He pulled on his boots and then he sprinted back down the stairs, Midnight at his heels.

  He gave her a look before he walked out the door.

  “Jacket!” she called as he turned to hold Midnight back.

  “Stay with your mom,” he urged the dog.

  She whined but edged back from the door.

  Coert looked at Cady. “I won’t be out there that long.”

  He knew she was going to say something but he closed the door before she could get it out.

  He took his time walking to a gate that was not close to the lighthouse.

  He was halfway there before he saw Cady’s brother appear through the iron bars, walking in from the side as he came to stand in front of the Subaru that was parked outside the gate.

  As he got closer, he saw the man had aged well.

  However, Cady had already told him that.

  Cady and Coert had had time. Time together. Time to binge watch TV. Mornings to share breakfasts. Afternoons to meet for lunch. Evenings to have dinner together. Nights to whisper to each other after they’d made love.

  Running to catch up.

  Sharing what was missed.

  Relearning who they were.

  Discovering who they’d become.

  So Coert not only knew about the incident with Cady and Kath outside Caylen’s home.

  He knew Caylen had not only refused to allow Cady to meet his children (and how he’d communicated that), he’d disallowed her to come to her own mother’s memorial reception.

  And everything he learned, he thought that Caylen Webster had not changed. The man was not a dick and he was not an asshole.

  There wasn’t a word for a man like him.

  “Let me in to talk to Cady,” he snapped when Coert was within hearing distance.

  Coert didn’t reply until he was four feet from the gate.

  There he stopped and explained, “You’re in error. This is private property. That is public land. But as the sheriff of this county it’s within my authority to have someone removed from public land if he’s making a nuisance of himself by harassing one of my citizens, even if that citizen is the woman in my life. So my suggestion is, don’t test me.”

  “I’m hardly harassing her,” Caylen spat.

  “You and I both know you’re harassing her just showing here,” Coert returned.

  “And I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t need to be here,” Caylen retorted.

  “Yeah. And that’s why I’m out here. Because Cady’s gonna want to know why you’re here because she’s got a soft heart and you’re her brother, even though you’ve got no clue that’s a title you’re born with, but to keep it, you gotta earn it.”

  Caylen’s lips thinned.

  Point scored.

  Coert continued, “But I’m not gonna let you treat her like dirt, so to get to her you gotta go through me and if I don’t like what you say, you’ll need to leave, or as I shared earlier, you will be removed.”

  “You’re not gonna like what I say,” Caylen told him sharply.

  “I already know that but for Cady I’m gonna listen anyway.”

  “I don’t even like that I have to say it,” he bit out.

  “This tells me you want something from her so let’s get this done because you interrupted Cady making breakfast and I’d like to put her mind at ease and let her get along with her day.”

  “You’re the sharp one, Sheriff, deducing I want something from my sister.”

  Not asshole. Not dick.

  Something a whole lot worse.

  “I’m five seconds from walking away from you,” Coert warned.

  Caylen looked beyond the gates like he was wondering if he could jump them.

  “Three seconds left,” Coert told him.

  Caylen looked into Coert’s eyes and the new expression on his face made Coert immediately go wired.

  “My son has leukemia. I don’t want something from Cady. No one’s a match. I need something from her. And what I need is for her to get tested for a bone marrow match.”

  Coert closed his eyes and dropped his head.

  Caylen’s voice sounded choked when he stated, “This is hard.”

  Coert looked at him.

  Caylen kept going.

  “And I’m fully aware I’ve made it harder. But . . .”

  Caylen shook his head and didn’t finish, and Coert had seen a lot of people in a lot of bad situations so he knew it wasn’t discomfort that was in every word, every action, tightening the line of Cady’s brother’s frame.

  It was pain.

  “It’s not good,” he whispered.

  “Get in your car,” Coert ordered.

  Caylen’s face instantly turned to granite. “I—”

  “Get in your car. Get warm. I’m gonna go up and break this to Cady. When I’m done with that, I’ll open the gate and you can drive up. A warning, she’s got a dog and the dog is protective and can get intense when she senses someone’s around who Cady or I’ve got a problem with. She’s got a bad history so I won’t confine her. But I will contain her, though you gotta go in cautious.”

  Caylen nodded.

  Coert didn’t wait for him to get in his car.

  He turned and jogged back to the house.

  He got a woof from Midnight and Cady’s immediate attention as he walked through the door.

  He gave Midnight’s ruff a rub down but she had to walk with him as he gave it because he didn’t delay in making his way to Cady.

  “Is he gone?” she asked before he got there.

  “No,” he answered, made it to her and lifted his hands to cup her jaw.

  “Oh no,” she whispered, staring into his eyes.

  “Yeah. It’s not good. I need to open the gate and let him drive up because, baby, I fuckin’ hate to have to say these words to you, but he’s here because he needs you because his son is sick and they can’t find a match, so they need you to get tested to give bone marrow.”

  Her eyes filled with tears and her lips murmured, “Oh my God.” She looked like she was about to face plant in his chest right before she jerked from his hold and started toward the door. “We have to let him in.”

  He hooked her at the waist but kept moving them toward the console and it was Coert who hit the button that would open the gate.

  His other arm was engaged with curling Cady into his body.

  When he got her there, her arms wrapped right around.

  Midnight snuffled them.

  “I don’t believe this,” she said into his chest.

  “I know,” he murmured.

  Her voice was deteriorating when she repeated, “I just don’t believe this.”

  That was Cady. She hadn’t even met the kid and she was losing it.

  Midnight stopped snuffling them and started barking at the door.

  Caylen was there.

 
Coert bent his neck to get his lips to her hair. “He’s not good, honey, so you need to pull it together and I need to get a lock on Midnight.”

  He heard and felt her draw in a big breath before she nodded and pulled out of his hold.

  Coert caught hold of Midnight’s collar.

  Cady turned right to the door to open it.

  Caylen was already out of his car, slamming the driver door.

  Midnight barked louder and Coert held her back.

  And Cady was in a nightie, a cardigan and socks, but she raced out the door.

  “Shit,” Coert hissed, but with Cady taking off like that he was having trouble containing Midnight, so all he could do was watch the shock freeze Caylen Webster’s face and body when he caught sight of his sister speeding toward him so the man was forced back on a foot when Cady hit him head on.

  Midnight kept barking.

  “Shh, girl, it’s okay,” Coert soothed as Caylen stood there in Cady’s arms for a full second before he lost it entirely, dissolved into tears and did it clutching his sister to him. “Shit,” he whispered.

  Caylen. Her parents. Maria. Lonnie.

  Him.

  She didn’t give up on people unless her hand was forced.

  To guard her heart, Coert might wish she was different.

  But he knew there never was and there never would be another woman for him partly because of this.

  So he wouldn’t have her any other way.

  He gave them ten seconds.

  Ten seconds he counted in his head.

  Then he called, “Cady’s in her nightie, Caylen, get your sister inside.”

  Caylen’s face was buried in Cady’s neck but at Coert’s call, he lifted it, took Coert in, Coert took in the red and wet of Cady’s brother’s face, and the man then disengaged just enough to turn Cady and walk her to the door.

  Coert backed Midnight away, murmuring to her as they walked through.

  He reached out and pushed the door closed himself as he demanded, “Crouch low and give her a minute.”

  Coert did this because Midnight was growling.

  Caylen crouched low.

  Cady came to Midnight and helped Coert talk to her.

  “Lift your hand her way but do it slow,” Coert eventually said.

  Caylen complied.

  Midnight kept growling but Coert let her inch forward, hand firm on her collar, so she could smell.

  “He’s my brother, baby, he’s good. He’s fine. He’s welcome here. We like him,” Cady cooed.

  Coert stared into Caylen’s eyes as these words came out of Cady’s mouth and he watched the pain again become stark.

  Caylen bought that pain and he knew it, which was why it burned deep when he spent a lifetime earning that pain and Cady still ran out of her house wearing a nightie in the freezing cold to throw her arms around her brother.

  Knowing this didn’t help Coert forgive. He wasn’t like Cady. He was a practiced hand at holding a grudge.

  But it ratcheted Caylen down from whatever he was to just an asshole.

  At least right then.

  Midnight sniffed him, did it some more then butted his hand before her tail started wagging.

  Caylen patted her head and slowly came out of his squat. Coert kept hold on the dog to make sure it was all good.

  When it was, he let her go and muttered, “I’ll get coffee.”

  “Come sit down,” Cady invited, taking her brother’s hand and moving him to the couch.

  Coert went to the kitchen.

  Midnight went with Cady.

  And in two hours’ time, they’d had breakfast (with her fucking brother).

  And Coert had called Kim and work because they also had two plane tickets to fly to Denver the next day so Cady could meet her niece and nephew and get tested to see if her marrow was a match.

  “Should I check on him?”

  “No.”

  “Coert, he’s—”

  “A grown man and you fed him three meals and stood over him like a mother hen making him eat them and you made his fucking bed for him and he’s staying in a five star studio that’s got the best view he’ll ever see, and it’s been a tough day, for both of you. So just let him have some time and give that to yourself while you’re at it.”

  It was later, not late, but time to start winding down after a really shitty day.

  Cady had talked Caylen into staying the night rather than driving home because the forecast was for snow.

  And because she wanted her brother close.

  This was probably not only because of the weight he was carrying, but also because he looked ready to drop. They’d settled him in the studio and then come back to the lighthouse where she finally got on the phone with Kath to let her know they were coming out.

  While she was on the phone with Kath, Coert’s phone rang and he walked up to the observation room as he took the call because his screen told him Pat was calling.

  “I’m not liking this,” Pat declared the minute Coert took the call.

  “I’m not a fan of it either, man, but his son has leukemia.”

  “First, that’s part of what sucks since she can’t tell him to go fuck himself.”

  Coert felt his chin jerk into his neck because Pat was like Cady and not a devotee of the word “fuck.”

  “And second, Dad died of cancer so this is gonna mess with her even as it messes with her.”

  “I’m coming with her to Denver,” Coert shared with him, coming to a stop in the observation room with unseeing eyes on a stormy sea. “And Cady’s talking to Kath right now because she wants us to stay with you guys. So I’ve got her and then you’ll have her so we’ll see her through this.”

  “What if she’s not a match?” Pat asked.

  “We’ll hit that if that hits her,” Coert answered.

  “What if it doesn’t help?”

  “And we’ll hit that if it hits her.”

  Pat went silent.

  Then he broke it.

  “She asked them to dinner. Repeatedly over the years. Eventually that guy, the brother, called Dad and told him to tell her to stop it. They’d moved on from Cady and she was hurting her parents by trying to force herself back into their lives.”

  A pause while Coert tried to calm the heating of his blood because, since they’d been together, they’d shared a lot but not that.

  Pat went on, “Moved on. From their daughter. Now they need something from her and that guy’s sleeping in my bed at the studio?”

  “If it wasn’t bone marrow, he wouldn’t be. But Pat, man, what are you wanting me to do here? Her nephew is dying.”

  “A nephew he withheld,” Pat bit out.

  “But the kid’s still dying and she’s Cady. I could chain her up in my basement, and if she thought she could help she’d find her way loose and get to that kid.”

  He heard nothing before he actually heard Pat blow out a breath.

  And then he spoke.

  “I’m just bitching because, Coert, buddy, how much more is she going to have to take?”

  Coert knew what he wanted the answer to that to be, but he also knew with Caylen Webster in the studio and why he was there it just wasn’t going to be that.

  “I’ve got her,” Coert assured.

  “Only thing about this mess I feel good about,” Pat muttered.

  Hearing that, Coert had then closed his eyes to the view and their call didn’t last a lot longer.

  Cady had joined him with a glass of whiskey for Coert and one of wine for her, Midnight limping up at her side.

  And there they remained, cuddled together in her observation room, Cady curled between his legs, her back to his chest, the beam of the lighthouse rotating round and round, illuminating the view.

  Coert tried to put a better spin on things by noting, “While we’re in Denver, I can finally introduce you to Malc and Tom. They always wanted to meet you. Now they can do it before they get invitations to the wedding.”

  “Okay,” sh
e said distractedly but finished it with, “That’d be nice.”

  Coert kept trying.

  “And Tom’s daughter married Malc’s son, Malc’s daughter married the nephew of a local crime boss, and fortunately Malc’s oldest son married someone from Indiana, but I hear she’s a spitfire. Maybe we can get a big dinner together so I can see how my old buddies are dealing with the insanity that they always thought would end when Indy and Ally grew up, but apparently they’re intent to wreak havoc until the day they die.”

  “A cop’s daughter married a crime boss’s nephew?” she asked.

  “Yeah. And she became a private investigator. Way Malc tells it, she’s a badass. But I knew Ally back in the day, so at least that doesn’t surprise me.”

  “Soothes the soul to know it wasn’t only us who had it crazy, though it doesn’t help because I wouldn’t wish crazy on anybody.”

  “They’re all happy, making babies.” Coert gave her a squeeze, purposefully moving his hand to her belly while he did. “Life goes on.”

  “Life goes on,” she repeated.

  He didn’t like the way she said that so he dipped his mouth to her ear and told her, “Pat called while you were on the phone with Kath.”

  “She told me she thought he was doing that when he stormed out after she shared what was happening with him while we were on the phone.”

  “He’s worried that this is gonna trigger stuff with you after losing Patrick.”

  She nodded but kept her gaze to the sea.

  “Is that yes it’s triggering things for you or—?” he began.

  “It’s a yes it’s not a surprise Pat would worry about that.”

  “Cady, this is a lot—”

  He again didn’t finish because he had to lift his head when she twisted to face him in his arms.

  “I don’t want Janie ever to get a bad flu but I still wish this was a bad flu and not the nephew I never met dying of leukemia. But it is. And this is life. And in all that’s happened in mine, the one thing I’ve learned is, as ugly as it gets, as bad as you mess up, if you keep going, it’ll get good again.”

  She slid a hand up his chest to his neck and kept talking.

  “Caylen messed up. You’re right. Everyone’s right. He treated me terribly. But now I have a chance to show him the woman who’s really his sister that he never allowed himself to see. And if he sees it for the length of time it takes for us to do this and then cuts me out or if this is the building block to me finally having my brother, I don’t care. Patrick was dying for years, and through it he gave me a family. I lost you, you lost me, and through it you got Janie. When the bad comes, you focus on the good or you’ll lose yourself forever. So today is today. And whatever will happen tomorrow will happen tomorrow. And like I’ve always done, I’m just going to keep on living. Then one way or another, good or bad, this will be over, I’ll have you, I’ll have my family, I’ll have Janie, and so I’ll be fine.”