Harder Than Words

by Carrie Ann Ryan

Tessa might annoy the hell out of him sometimes, and she held grudges for far longer than she needed to, but she was also his sister. She fought for him and wanted him to have the best in life. He couldn’t fault her for her wishes, only the way she went about getting them sometimes.

  Maggie reached up and patted his cheek. “That’s my baby. Now come help me set the table and call your father for dinner. I want to hear all about how working with Montgomery Inc. is going.” Her eyes filled, and he wanted to curse. “I’m so happy you’re back, baby boy. So happy.”

  His heart ached, but he buried the pain. He knew he’d hurt his family by leaving, but he hadn’t had a choice. It would have been harder to stay and watch the one person who could cause him pain like he’d been sliced by a blade be happy with someone else. He’d needed to find out who he was without Meghan Montgomery by his side.

  He’d done that and more, but she’d always hold a special place in his heart.

  Only it wasn’t where she’d been before, and he was okay with that. Finally.

  Luc shook away those thoughts and did as his mother asked. The past was the past, and there was no point trying to relive it.

  His other sisters, Jillian and Christina, sat with their father in the dining room, rolling their eyes at one of his stories. Marcus Dodd was a big man, even bigger than Luc, and that was saying something. His father had gone gray at the temples but still had a full head of dark hair that matched Luc’s. In fact, Marcus was just an older copy of Luc.

  Considering his father had aged well, Luc didn’t have a problem with that. The glimpse of his future was pretty fucking good.

  Luc might not have had everything he’d wanted when he was younger, but he wasn’t left wanting. He had a family, a job he loved, and was finally home after having been away too long.

  Things were good.

  And if he kept telling himself that, one day he might believe it.

  The next morning, he dragged himself out of bed, his alarm clock sounding like it was one of Satan’s bells. It wasn’t that he wasn’t a morning person. It was more because whoever had invented early rising needed to be shot and quartered. Naked and with only one eye open, he shuffled toward the coffee pot. He pressed the button and sniffed as the sweet elixir filled the cup he’d left underneath the funnel the night before. He knew himself well enough that he couldn’t be counted on to find the cup without coffee in his system first. He’d brewed enough coffee on his counter rather than in a cup to learn that lesson the hard way.

  As soon as the coffee finished brewing, he grabbed hold of the mug for dear life and shuffled to the bathroom. The first cup would help him jump in the shower, and the second would help him get ready for the drive to work.

  By the time he was drinking cup three from his travel mug on the road to the office, he would be ready to face other people.

  Luc was the journeyman electrician for Montgomery Inc. Montgomery Inc. was larger than it had been a decade ago, but it was still relatively small, which led to a more hands-on experience for Storm and Wes, who ran the company. Storm was the lead architect, meaning, with every rehab or new project that started from the ground up, the man had his hands in every slice of the pie. It was his vision that the rest of the crew made into reality. Wes was the numbers man as well as the one who organized their lives with permits and schedules, and was the very heartbeat of the company.

  Decker, the man who had grown up with the Montgomerys and was now engaged to Wes and Storm’s younger sister, Miranda, was the lead contractor and site manager. His job was to take what Wes and Storm came up with and make it into a home or an inn or whatever their project was for the month. The three of them worked so cohesively that there had been a scare when Decker almost quit when things got rocky with Miranda in the early stages of their relationship.

  Each of them picked up tool belts and built their dreams with their bare hands. And he counted his blessings that they’d taken him into that work family. He brought the rehabs up to code and started the new places with Decker, hand-in-hand. Each house or building took months of planning and then more months of work, but when the job was complete, it was worth the grueling hours and back pain. His job was to ensure that whoever lived in that building could live a safe life by just flipping a light switch. Having something esthetically pleasing as well as functional was just part of the job. He couldn’t count the number of times he had to switch out wires or boxes because the previous electrician had been a fucking idiot when it came to practicalities like putting the light switch in an easily accessible place.

  He pulled up to the building, shut off his truck, and pounded back the last of his coffee. His mother would probably freak out over the amount of caffeine he drank throughout the day, but what his mother didn’t know…

  Well, actually, she probably did know. She seemed to know everything.

  Scary thought.

  He grabbed his things and headed into the office, his stomach growling. He probably should have eaten something, considering the aforementioned coffee, but his mind had been on other things. Plus, since Wes had called a meeting at the office, rather than the project site, that meant doughnuts would be available. Between Wes and the Montgomery Inc. administrative assistant, Tabby, there would be warm, delicious sugary goodness waiting for him. Those two knew how to throw a meeting.

  He licked his lips as soon as he walked in, his nose twitching at the scent of fried dough and sugar. He lifted his chin at Storm, who stood by the box of glorious sugar-loaded pastries, then picked out a jelly-filled, anticipating that first bite. Sweetness with a slight hint of grease hit his tongue, and he held back a moan.

  “That good, huh?” Decker asked as he made his way toward them.

  Apparently, he hadn’t held back that moan after all. Whatever, he was starving. He finished off his jelly-filled in one more bite then picked up a Boston cream as he made his way to his desk. He hadn’t even set his shit down, and he’d already inhaled a donut. It was that good.

  “These Hailey’s?” Luc asked as he wiped his mouth off with a napkin.

  He probably looked like a heathen—hence why he hadn’t gone for a powdered-sugar-covered one. Storm, as it was, had a nice mustache and a chin full of powdered sugar—not that the man cared in the slightest.

  Hailey owned a café called Taboo that sat next to the other Montgomery business, Montgomery Ink—a tattoo shop run by Austin and Maya. They even had a door that opened between the two, so Austin, Maya, and the others didn’t have to go outside for the best sandwiches and coffee Luc had ever had.

  “Yes,” Tabby said as she shook her head, wiping up after them. She wore a nice dress that went to her knees and shoes so sky-high he wondered how she could walk in them. “And you are all pigs. Next time I’m bringing fruit instead of Hailey’s doughnuts. She was nice enough to pack a fresh box for me when I stopped by this morning, but next time, hear me, fruit.”

  “I saw you chow down on two doughnuts before the others even arrived,” Wes said, a smile on his face. “Don’t lie.”

  Twin spots of pink danced on her cheeks, but she raised her chin and narrowed her eyes. “Yes, but I cleaned up after myself.”

  Luc had the grace to look ashamed but waved a napkin in the air. “I’m cleaning up. Plus, you didn’t give us any time to do it ourselves. You wipe as we eat. We can’t keep up with that.”

  “Try,” she said sweetly, then picked up a folder and went back to her desk.

  Decker grinned and bit into his second cruller. “Eat up, because we’re going to work our asses off today. We need the extra carbs.”

  Luc nodded then went for a third. He’d been ordered to, after all. “I need to work on the specs for the entryway,” he said as he sat down. “The last guy left a few kinks that I don’t like.”

  Wes nodded, taking notes like he always did. “Whoever did the original rehab was a fucking idiot. We’re cleaning up their messes as well as the wear and tear of a sixty-year-old building that no one bothered to maintain.”<
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  “We’ll get it done,” Luc said. “But it’ll be a bitch of a job for a while. I’m having to rewire the whole place after I fix the shoddy job the other guy tried to pass off as legal.”

  Decker cursed under his breath. “Whoever owned it before was lucky the place didn’t go up in flames as soon as they stepped foot inside. Luc’s job is just the tip of the iceberg on this place. I have to work on shit that should have been done in the last phase. Thank God the foundation is set, or we’d be fucked.”

  Storm raised a brow. “We’re making it better than it was before, and yeah, we wouldn’t have bought the place if everything and the foundation was a piece of shit. At that point, you raze the building.”

  “You wouldn’t do that,” Wes said after he took a bite of his cinnamon twist. “You like the curves of the building too much.”

  “True,” Storm said with a shrug.

  Luc sipped the bottle of water—he’d have cold caffeine a bit later—Tabby put in front of him and listened to the others give their updates for their projects. They usually had one large project going on simultaneously with three or four smaller ones to fill in the spaces. Luc wasn’t needed at the same time as Decker every day and vice versa. Tabby and Wes kept them on schedule to make sure they didn’t have much downtime and didn’t run over one another when they needed the space.

  Montgomery Inc. was a well-oiled machine, and Luc was damn proud to be part of it.

  “Sorry I’m late. Had issues with the truck today.”

  His body tightened at the sound of Meghan’s voice, and he forced himself not to stand when she walked in. Ages-old chivalry had no place there.

  “Fuck it, Meghan. We’re buying you a new truck. This can’t go on.” Wes stood up, pulling out his phone, but Meghan snatched it out of his hands.

  “Stop it. I don’t need a handout. You know that.” She tossed the phone to Tabby, who raised a brow. Her ponytail swayed as she shook her head. “It’s at the shop now and should be fixed this afternoon. I’m not taking a truck from you because you feel sorry for me.”

  “That’s not it at all, Meghan,” Storm said softly.

  “I’m not yours to take care of.”

  Then whose are you?

  Luc pushed that thought away. “What about the things you need for the job?”

  She shot him a glare, but he didn’t back down. She was too stubborn to ask for help, too set in her ways. With all the Montgomerys around, he would have thought she’d have gotten over that, but she hadn’t. Instead, she’d become more stubborn. As long as her kids were taken care of, she didn’t ask for help.

  Ever.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You and Luc are on the same site today,” Wes said, his voice a whip. “He’ll help you load your shit in the back of his truck. It’s not like you can carry everything yourself.”

  Meghan’s jaw tightened, but she gave Luc a small nod. “Fine. I was going to ask him for help anyway.”

  He saw the lie for what it was. She’d gnaw her arm off rather than reach out to him, but it wasn’t as though she had a choice today. She had a job to do, and if she wasn’t going to take the truck from Wes and Storm, she’d have to deal with his presence.

  Let the fun begin.

  They ended the meeting, and he led the way to his truck. They loaded the truck quickly and in silence. When he opened the passenger side door for her, she stared at him, her arms folded over her chest.

  “What? I’m not allowed to open the door for you? Fuck it, Meghan. I’m just trying to be nice.” He slammed the door in front of her and stomped his way to the driver’s side.

  He jumped in, and she did the same.

  “You know what? I’m tired of this. I told you before, but I’m telling you again. I’m a Dodd, Meghan. You know my mother taught me to open doors for women. She also taught me to help those who were carrying too much. If Wes or Storm needed me, I’d jump right in. You know that. But as soon as you need help from me, you jump down my throat and look at me like I said you that you couldn’t handle it on your own. Well, fuck that.”

  He gripped the steering wheel and cursed himself. He hadn’t meant to blow up like that, and frankly, she hadn’t done a thing to deserve it. But with Tessa nagging at him the night before and the fact that he couldn’t help Meghan, even if he wanted to, he was frayed at the edges.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry. I was just pissed off since my truck needed to go in the shop, and once I got the kids off at school, I had to take the bus to work. I hate it when my brothers look at me like they do, and I took it out on you with just a look. I’m sorry.”

  Now he felt like even more of an ass. “Let’s call it even because you didn’t deserve my words.” He started the truck and pulled out of the parking lot. “But you might have just pissed me off more by saying you took the bus. You have forty siblings, and yet you didn’t call one of them.”

  You didn’t call me.

  “I can handle it, Luc.”

  He just sighed and made their way to the garden center to pick up the things she needed for her site. He’d be running late, but it didn’t matter. They’d get what they needed to do done and call it a day when the time came. Meghan might be stubborn, but it hadn’t come out of nowhere.

  Once they reached the site, they went off in different directions, focusing on their own jobs, rather than each other. That was fine with Luc because he couldn’t figure out what the fuck he was doing with the woman in the first place. Blowing up like that had done nothing but prove to himself, and her, that there was a reason they weren’t as friendly as they had been.

  He buried himself in work, and before he knew it, he heard the sound of children laughing and Meghan’s low voice. Curious, he put down his tools and headed outside. Meghan’s parents or her babysitter usually took the kids home after school, not to the job site. In fact, he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Cliff and Sasha here. Not that he minded since he loved those kids, but he hoped everything was okay.

  “Uncle Luc!” Sasha screamed before launching herself at him.

  He grinned, holding out his arms and catching her with ease—not that he had a lot of practice with her, but he was learning.

  “Hey, baby girl. What are you doing here? Come to help me with wires?”

  “Luc,” Meghan said under her breath without even looking at him.

  Instead, her attention was focused on a younger woman who looked close to tears. This must be the babysitter, and he had a feeling something was wrong.

  “I wanna play with wires too,” Cliff said, pulling at Luc’s pants.

  He winced then put Sasha down. He crouched so he was at their eye level. “No wires today. Maybe you can help your uncles with something later. How was school? Did you learn everything there is to know?”

  Sasha nodded, her smile bright. “Of course. I wanna be as smart as Mommy.”

  Luc smiled full-out. “Your mommy is one smart lady.”

  “The smartest,” Sasha agreed.

  Luc faced Cliff and held back a frown. The little boy didn’t smile. Instead, he gave Luc a serious look. “What’s wrong, Cliff?”

  “Nothing.”

  Clearly a lie, but it wasn’t like Luc could pry it out of him.

  “Cliff got an A!” Sasha squealed and did a little dance.

  Luc couldn’t help but smile at the little girl’s attitude. “An A? Good job, Cliff.”

  The little boy shrugged. “Whatever.”

  “Did I hear you got an A?” Meghan asked. “I’m so proud of you.”

  Luc looked up to see Meghan alone, the babysitter long gone. He gave Meghan a look, but she shook her head.

  “We get to do dinner out, right?” Sasha asked. “He got an A, so we celebrate.”

  Meghan opened her mouth, a smile on her face, then stopped before she took a breath. “Um, not tonight, honey.”

  Fuck. That was right. She didn’t have a car. No worries. “I’ll take you,” he blurted out before he could think better of it. />
  Meghan blinked at him and shook her head before he could explain. “It’s okay, Luc. As soon as the truck is working, we can head to dinner as a group. It just can’t be tonight.”

  “Of course it can’t be tonight,” Cliff muttered. He sighed, and turned away. “It’s okay. It was just a stupid test anyway.”

  Meghan reached out to touch her son’s hair, but he shrugged her off. The look on her face made Luc want to pull her close, but he held back once again.

  “We can do dinner tonight, Meghan. I want to celebrate, too. I can drive.”

  “We need boosters,” Sasha said solemnly.

  “Amanda left them here,” Meghan said, then turned her wide eyes to his, as if she hadn’t meant to say that. “I was going to beg for a ride home, but…”

  “Let me take you all out to dinner,” Luc said, on board with this crazy idea. “We’ll celebrate good grades and your momma’s fantastic day at work.”

  “Luc…”

  “I won’t take no for an answer.” He dug his keys out of his pocket. “Go set up the boosters, and I’ll go tell Decker what’s going on.”

  “We both can’t take the rest of the day off,” Meghan put in.

  “Yeah, we can. We’d only be missing an hour anyway. I’ll make it up later, and God knows you will, too. Go on, Meghan. I’ve got this.”

  She gave him a look he couldn’t decipher, but pulled the kids with her to his truck anyway. He had no idea what the fuck he was doing going along with this or, fuck, coming up with the idea in the first place, but he wasn’t going to back out now.

  Cliff and Sasha deserved something to celebrate, and Meghan deserved so much more.

  If Luc could give her that much…well… then he’d do his damnedest to make it happen.

  He just prayed he wasn’t making another mistake when it came to Meghan Montgomery. He was already a master at that.

  Chapter Four

  Once again, Meghan ran her hands over her jeans and wondered how the hell she’d put herself in this situation. One minute she was working on planters, and the next, she was standing in front of a restaurant with Luc and her kids.