Austin walked into the room and kissed Mia before ushering them into the living room. “Okay, Ryder. The floor is yours.”
Ryder opted to sit on one of the sofas with a nod and made himself comfortable before saying anything. “Cash left Magnolia last week and flew out to Seattle.”
“Seattle?” Garrett asked. “What the hell is in Seattle?”
“We’re not sure yet. According to my guy, there are no family connections there–as in Cash doesn’t have any relatives or another secret family–living there or anywhere. I wasn’t sure if the two of you know anyone who live in the Pacific Northwest.”
Both Garrett and Austin shook their heads.
“Obviously no one knew where he was going when he left, so we were a day behind, which means no one knows where he went once he landed in Seattle. All we can say with any great certainty is that he didn’t fly anywhere else.”
That was it? That was what he just drove three hours to hear? For real?
“Um…I’m not trying to be a jerk or anything,” Garrett began hesitantly, “because you didn’t have to look into helping us with this situation...”
“But…?”
“But…” He glanced at his brother. “There wasn’t a reason for me to drive here for this. You could have told me this over the phone!”
Austin shrugged. “I’ve missed you.”
Rolling his eyes, Garrett walked over and sat down on the other end of the couch Ryder was on. “Seriously, dude?”
“What? A guy can’t miss his brother?” He shook his head. “I let myself be vulnerable and open up to you and…and…”
Mia pat him on the arm to stop him from saying more and offered Garrett a patient smile. “He really has missed you. We all have.”
“I’m sorry I disappointed you,” Ryder said. “I thought we were off to a good start in finding out what’s going on. I didn’t realize you were against coming back to Magnolia.”
Now he felt terrible. With a sigh, he said, “I’m the one who’s sorry, Ryder. I didn’t mean to come off as being ungrateful. This whole situation has just been draining.”
Nodding, Ryder stood. “Let me make it up to you.”
“No. Really. That’s not necessary…”
“No, no. I insist,” Ryder pressed on. “Come on. I’m treating everyone to lunch. I’ll drive.” Both Austin and Mia jumped up and immediately followed, and Garrett had no choice but to go along.
No matter how much he was against it.
“I was going to call Emma…” he said as they were all walking out the door.
“You can call her later,” Austin argued lightly. “How long do you think lunch will last?” Then he smacked Garrett upside the head. “And how about being a little nicer to Ryder? He’s trying to find Dad for us and hopefully get some answers.”
“You’re right,” he murmured, rubbing his head. “No need to get violent.”
They piled into Ryder’s car, and this time Garrett rode up front. Ryder told them about some of the plans he was considering for the property, but he wasn’t going to jump in with anything just yet. They drove down Main Street and Garrett wondered where they were going. They’d passed The Sand Bar, Michael’s, the café, and were going in the opposite direction of The Mystic Magnolia, so…
A block before the bridge that took them out of town, Ryder made a left and pulled up in front of Doc MacEntyre’s clinic.
“I…I don’t understand what we’re doing here,” he said stiffly.
Austin and Mia were already climbing from the car, and Ryder grinned at him. “Just follow me. There’s something here you need to see.”
Groaning, he got out of the car even though what he wanted was to pitch a damn fit. Like it wasn’t enough that he drove three hours to come here for lame news and now he had to go here, of all places?
Slowly, he made his way over to Austin and grabbed him by the collar. “You’ve done some shitty things to me in my life as my older brother, but this is the worst.” And shoving him away, he followed Ryder up to the front entrance of the clinic. Ryder held the door open for him and all Garrett could do was mumble, “Thanks.”
He stepped inside and froze.
Ed and Christine were standing there, and there were balloons scattered around the room. Aunt Georgia, Uncle Beau, Mason, Scarlett, his mom, and Doc MacEntyre were all standing there smiling. Looking back at Ryder, he asked, “Is this Doc’s retirement party or something?”
“In a way,” he replied vaguely before nudging Garrett farther into the room.
He made his way around saying hello to everyone but felt more than a little confused.
Then Emma walked in. She looked so happy and hopeful and beautiful. He no longer cared why they were at the clinic and kicked himself for being a coward for not calling her earlier.
“Hey, you,” she said softly as she leaned in and kissed him.
“Hey, yourself.” Hugging her close, he asked, “What’s going on here?”
Putting some distance between them, she gave him a playful shove toward the group as Ryder came to stand beside her.
“Thank you, everyone, for coming,” Ryder said boldly. “It is my pleasure to announce that Doc MacEntyre will be officially retiring since he has sold me this clinic.”
“What?!” Garrett cried out and fought the urge to lunge at Ryder.
Lousy, stinking, opportunistic…
As if sensing his thoughts, Ryder held out a hand to stop him. “I never pass up a good opportunity and Magnolia Sound needs this clinic.” He stared hard at Garrett. “And this clinic needs you.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to him.
He caught them easily. “What…I mean…what is happening right now?”
Ryder looked at Emma and she nodded.
“It was brought to my attention recently how it’s important for me to invest in this community in more of a…selfless way,” Ryder explained. “Austin brought this town to my attention a year ago and there’s something about it that really speaks to me. And because of that, I want to see it prosper.” He paused. “I know a lot about you, Garrett, and I respect you, and that’s why I know you are the only person who can run this clinic with the same love and devotion that Doc put into it for the last twenty-five years.”
Garrett was pretty sure he was dreaming because stuff like this didn’t happen to him.
Ever.
“I know you have a lot of questions and there is a lot to discuss, but you need to know that every person in this room–hell, every person in this town–believes in you. And we’re all ready to watch you make this place even more of a success than it already is.”
Emma stepped forward and took his hands in hers. “It’s a lot to take in, but I hope you know how much love there is in this room for you and how much we all want you to come home.” She blushed as she moved closer. “Especially me.”
Tears stung his eyes as he looked at her and then around the room where everyone was smiling at him and it was overwhelming. “I…I don’t know how this happened…”
“You can thank Emma for that,” Ryder explained. “She did it all. Your girl is quite a pistol who knows how to get things done. If she wasn’t so settled here in Magnolia, I’d be trying to lure her away to come and work for me. She got more accomplished this week than you can even imagine.”
She blushed when he looked at her again. “I’ve learned a lot since you left.”
“It’s only been a week…”
But she wasn’t listening. “I go after what I want and fight for it.” She caressed his jaw. “And I’m going to keep fighting for you because I love you.”
Yeah, he was never going to get tired of hearing that.
Ever.
“So what do you say, Garrett?” Ryder asked. “You ready to take this on?”
“I…I…”
Austin stepped up beside him and clapped him on the back. “You can ask all the questions you want later. Right now, you just need to know that Emma
drove a hard bargain and she’s too good for you,” he teased. “You can thank her later, too. Now, how about some champagne to celebrate?”
“Champagne? There’s champagne?”
Austin motioned to Christine, who was passing out glasses of champagne. When everyone had one, he raised his glass. “To my little brother, Garrett–the best veterinarian and brother a guy could ask for. Here’s to all your success!”
“Here, here!” everyone called out and Garrett still couldn’t believe any of this was real.
But Emma wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek before whispering, “I know we have to stay and socialize and you’ll want to talk to Ryder, but I can’t wait to go home with you and celebrate. Just the two of us.”
Smiling, he said, “Then let’s get to socializing because a week away from you was too long.”
“What do you say, G? Want a tour of your new offices, Dr. Coleman?” Austin asked.
He downed the rest of his champagne before saying, “Hell, yeah!”
15
They stayed at the clinic for an hour before Garrett insisted that he wanted to be alone with her, and thankfully no one argued.
However, they were all meeting for a celebratory dinner at Austin’s later.
The drive back to her place took almost fifteen minutes and she enjoyed listening to him talk about all the things he was going to do once he got settled. Doc MacEntyre was going to work with him for a few more weeks, but Garrett would be fully in charge by the end of the month.
He held her hand when they got to her place and walked to the door, and she was convinced that they were just going to go inside and talk.
Boy, was she wrong.
The front door had barely closed before he had her off her feet, in his arms, kissing her.
Oh, my…
Her back was against the wall, her legs were wrapped around his waist, and it was awkward and perfect at the same time.
“Need you,” he murmured against her lips as he rubbed against her.
“Need you too,” she panted, and seriously hoped they didn’t move from this spot. Hastily, she kicked off her sandals and then forced her arms between them to whip her shirt off. Garrett’s mouth instantly found her breast and sucked hard on her nipple.
It was pleasure and pain and oh-so-good.
Raking her hands into his hair, she held him to her and realized she wanted more, but as sexy and wild as sex against the wall sounded, she wasn’t coordinated enough to enjoy it.
“Bedroom, Garrett. Please,” she begged, and he was on the move before she even finished talking.
Garrett dropped her on the bed and she laughed as she bounced but immediately began undressing–her eyes never leaving him because his body was a thing of beauty.
“One of these days we really are going to finish what we start against a wall,” he teased, and then he was gloriously naked and crawling on the bed, covering her body with his. She knew she would get the chance to look at him later, but for now, she just wanted to touch and kiss and feel him with every fiber of her being.
His hands touched her everywhere.
His lips kissed her everywhere.
“I love you, Emmaline,” he whispered. And yeah, she felt that everywhere too.
It was fast and frantic and over way too soon, but still worth it.
Now, as they lay tangled up in each other, she sighed contentedly. With her head on his shoulder, she softly asked, “Okay, be honest. Are you upset that I did what I did?”
Garrett kissed the top of her head. “You mean right here in this bed? No. I loved every sweaty minute of it.”
“Garrett…”
“Em, how can I possibly be upset? You were bold enough to fight for me when I was too afraid to.” Another kiss. “But now I need to know how you made it happen.”
She explained the meeting she held in her mother’s kitchen and how things fell into place even though they almost went off the rails. “We are going to have to find out what your aunt did and what she has to do with your father. Maybe she can help Ryder’s guy figure out what’s going on.”
Pulling back, he stared at her in disbelief. “Wait…you know about Ryder’s guy?”
Smiling, she said, “I feel like I know way too much about Ryder’s guy.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, he’s also the guy who found Steven.”
Sitting straight up, his eyes went wide. “What?! How…when…I was only gone a week! How did all this happen?”
Emma got comfortable against the pillows with a bit of a sigh and pulled the sheet up to cover herself. “After everyone left my mom’s last week, Ryder stayed behind so we could hash things out for the clinic. It was amazing how fast he can get things done.”
“Uh-huh…” he murmured.
“Anyway, he said he appreciated someone who knows what they want and goes after it and how important that is in business.” She chuckled. “He really has offered me a job several times. I’ll never take him up on it, but it’s nice to be appreciated.”
“Em…”
“Okay, okay…so he called his lawyer and started getting everything put together so he and Doc could get the ball rolling on the clinic, and when that was done, he asked about what was going on with Steven.” Pausing, she frowned at him. “I’m not happy that you went and shared that with him.”
“Technically, I shared it with Austin and he shared it with Ryder…”
“I wish you hadn’t shared it with anyone, but…I guess that’s not true. If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have gotten the legal help I so desperately needed. His guy–and he really does just call him guy–found Steven in less than forty-eight hours. It was crazy. They got him on several things–he’s had a bench warrant out for his arrest for over a year! If my lawyer had gone to a judge, they would have known that and we could have potentially gotten some of this cleared up a year ago!”
“Damn, Em. I’m sorry.” Reaching out, he gently squeezed her hand. “So what does this all mean?”
“Okay, let me backtrack a minute. So he asked me about Steven, and I told him the situation, and he immediately made the call to his guy. When he hung up, I asked him why he would do that, and he said it was because he believes in justice and likes to help wherever he can. I told him I could never possibly repay him for this–or afford his lawyer’s fees–and he said it was his gift to us because he wants us starting our lives together without all this stress hanging over our heads.”
“Wow…just…wow.”
“I know.” She quietly observed him for a moment and wondered what he was thinking. “You know we all only did what we thought was best, right? This deal with Ryder…it’s a five-year thing, but if you want to renegotiate it, I’m sure you could.”
He let out a long breath before reclining beside her and taking her in his arms again. “I know I’ve said this probably a hundred times, but…I struggled with not ever feeling like I was good enough for most of my life. I’ve skated by on my looks and charm, and now that I was ready to work, no one would take me seriously.” He gently played with her hair. “When I walked into the clinic today and saw so many faces and knew they were all there because they believed in me, was the greatest gift anyone could have ever given me.”
“There will be even more people celebrating with you tonight. I believe Mia told me that almost all of your cousins and their spouses will be there, along with your Aunt Susannah and her husband, Colton. It’s going to be huge and everyone is so excited for you.”
“It’s very humbling, and I guess the only thing I’m struggling with here is…well…it’s something my brother said earlier.”
“What did he say?”
“That you were too good for me.” Pausing, he looked at her sadly. “It’s true. You are too good for me, and everything you did this week showed me that I need you more than you need me and…call it pride but…I want you to need me too, Em. Even just a little bit.”
Silly man…
Roll
ing onto her side, she kissed him softly on the lips. “I do need you, Garrett. I need you so much that sometimes it scares me. I didn’t realize how much of my life was missing for all these years until you came back. That first night when we went out for pizza was the first time I felt whole in years. You complete me. I need you more than you can ever know. I love you.”
It was hard to watch the tears form in his eyes. “I may not be the kind of man who shows it to the world, but you need to know that I would do anything for you. I’d slay any dragon and do my best to be your knight in shining armor. You give me the confidence to do that, Emmaline, and from this moment on, I am going to prove to everyone that I’m worthy of you.”
“I don’t care what anyone else thinks. It’s none of their business. What we have is for us and no one else.” She kissed him again just because she could, and it was wonderful. And as he slowly rolled her beneath him, she said a silent prayer of thanks that things were finally going their way.
Hours later, Garrett was still more than a little dazed that this was his life.
They were back at Austin and Mia’s and there were easily fifty people mingling around and each of them was gushing over his accomplishments and how excited they were for this new venture. It was so good to see everyone, and he knew it was going to be nice to see everyone on a regular basis again. Coming home for an occasional holiday was one thing, but now that he and his cousins were all grown up, he found that they were all good friends as well.
“You having a good time?” his mom said as she came to stand beside him.
Smiling, he hugged her. “I am. How about you? Aunt Georgia’s not bugging you, is she?”
“Are you kidding?” Grace said with a small laugh. “I thought I was going to pass out earlier when she came over and apologized to me for bringing your father back into our lives.”
“I still can’t believe she did that. I mean…it’s weird. All these years, she’s been openly hostile toward us and never missed an opportunity to put Dad down, and then she reaches out to him and convinces him to come home? Why?”
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