Shooting For Love - A Standalone Novel (A Suspenseful Bad Boy Neighbor Romance Love Story) (Burbank Brothers, Book #2)

by Naomi Niles

  “Of course I’ll be there,” I said. “Is there anything at all I can do to help?”

  “No,” Tyler said. “I’ve handled everything.”

  “I’m sure you have,” I nodded. “But I want to do something. Maybe I’ll bring over some food later on today.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Tyler replied. “We’ve already got so much food already.”

  “You can never have too much,” I said. “And your mom’s not going to be in the mood to cook for a while.”

  “Mom’s not really in the mood to eat either,” Tyler pointed out.

  “I know this is probably a stupid question,” I said first. “But how is she holding up?”

  “Badly,” Tyler said. “But it just happened and it was unexpected. I think she just needs time. Dylan’s coming back for the funeral; hopefully that will make a difference to her.”

  I was glad that Tyler mentioned Dylan before I did. I nodded, trying to pretend as though that information meant the same to me as everything else. “How long will he be here for?” I asked casually.

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” Tyler replied, and I wondered if their relationship had improved since high school or if it was still a little strained.

  “Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do, Tyler?” I tried again.

  “Well,” Tyler started. “I think it would be nice if you were to play the piano at dad’s funeral. I think mom would really appreciate that.”

  I was taken back by the request and equally terrified by it. “I … I haven’t played in a long time, Tyler, I don’t know if it’ll be any good.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Tyler said. “I just want some music.”

  He looked so sad, so defeated that I couldn’t bear to disappoint him. “Of course I’ll play at the funeral,” I said.

  “Thanks, Elizabeth,” Tyler said before he collected his bag of bagels and left the diner with a cursory wave. I went back to my booth and sunk into the seat, still shell shocked by the news. Maddie looked at me with curiosity.

  “Where’s the salt?” she asked.

  “Oh,” I said. “I forgot.”

  Maddie wrinkled her eyebrows at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “I just ran into Tyler at the counter.”

  “Tyler Thomas?” Maddie asked.

  I nodded. “Mr. Thomas died yesterday.”

  Maddie set down her fork and knife. “No.”

  “It was a stroke.”

  “Oh my God,” Maddie breathed. “That’s … horrible. How’s Tyler doing?”

  “He doesn’t look so good,” I replied honestly. “I think its hit him pretty hard.”

  “I can imagine,” Maddie said.

  “The funeral’s in a few days but I might stop by tonight and drop off some food,” I said. “Wanna come with me?”

  “I don’t know. I was never as close with the Thomas family as you were …”

  “Please Maddie?” I begged. “I think … there’s a possibility that Dylan might be there.”

  Maddie raised her eyebrows. “Dylan,” she said his name and I felt the old memories come rushing back. I hadn’t realized what a good job I’d done suppressing them until now.

  “This is the first time you’ll be seeing him after … how long?”

  “Eleven years,” I said. “Since graduation.”

  “He’s been back a few times since he enlisted though right?” Maddie asked.

  “Yes but we never met up,” I said. “By the time he received his first leave, we had already broken up so … I think we both just wanted to avoid each other. And I don’t think he’s been back for a couple of years.”

  “Wow. Dylan Thomas is back in town,” Maggie said shaking her head. “Are you going to be ok seeing him?”

  “You know what? I honestly don’t know,” I admitted. “It has been eleven years though.”

  “True, but …”

  “But what?” I asked.

  Maddie was quiet for a moment, her eyes were far away and I knew she was thinking about the past. “Do you remember that day we played hooky and went fishing?”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “I remember,” I nodded. “Dylan was convinced that he was a born fisherman who had never had the opportunity to hone his talent.”

  “And he swore that the only meat we’d be eating that day was the meat we caught,” Maddie continued.

  I nodded. “We sat there for three hours while Dylan and Tony mucked about with fishing rods that they’d stolen from their dads. And in the end, they didn’t manage to catch a single fish.”

  “No but you did,” Maddie reminded me.

  “I got lucky,” I said.

  “And Dylan was so proud,” Maddie went on. “He hiked you onto his shoulders and yelled that you were the queen of the lake and we they would have to rename it in your honor.”

  I shook my head at the memory. “I thought we’d always be like that,” I said. “You, me, Tony and Dylan. I thought we’d be inseparable, but then Dylan left right after graduation, Tony went to college in England and—”

  “It was just you and me,” Maddie said sadly.

  “It was just you and me,” I nodded.

  “Tony and I were different though, our relationship was different,” Maddie said. “I knew back then that we wouldn’t last past high school. But with you and Dylan … it was different. You guys were so in love,” Maddie said softly. “I mean, it was the kind of love you see in movies and read about in books. I thought it would last forever.”

  I looked down at my full plate of food and realized that I had completely lost my appetite. “I did too,” I said. “But obviously we were both wrong. He chose adventure and I chose … this town.”

  “At least you have your memories,” Maddie said comfortingly. “You can look back and remember all those wonderful moments.”

  I nodded in response and thought back to all those wonderful memories that Dylan and I had shared. I could remember all those precious moments, but there was a bitter tinge to them now, an edge of sadness that tainted all those bright colors. We had both made our choices, but in the end, what I remembered most was that Dylan hadn’t chosen me.

  Chapter Seven

  Dylan

  The airport was packed with business travelers and tourists; there was an ordered chaos about travelling that had always struck me as amazing. I was late getting to the airport, and by the time I finally made it to the gate, they had already called my name twice.

  It was nice to be sitting on a plane in civilian clothing, but my mind was so frenzied that I couldn’t enjoy it at all. I had the aisle seat next to an attractive woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties. She was wearing a skin-tight dress, high heels, and a string of pearls around her neck. Given that she wasn’t sitting in first class, I assumed that they were imitation. I took a seat beside her and smiled. She returned the smile and she sat up a little straighter.

  “I’m Dylan,” I said extending my hand out to her.

  She took it willingly and her smile broadened as she looked me up and down. “Hilary,” she replied. “Nice to meet you.”

  I hated chatty passengers on planes. I usually liked to sit quietly by myself and enjoy the trip in silence, but today was different. I needed to be distracted, I needed to get my mind off all the grief that threatened to weigh me down. I wanted some mindless conversation with a stranger who had no idea who I was or why I was going back home for the first time in years.

  There was something else that was pricking its way into the foreground of my mind. Instantly I saw her face in my mind’s eye. I could only picture the seventeen-year-old girl that I had said goodbye to the day I had left for San Diego. She had looked at me with her too-blue eyes, her red hair thrown across one shoulder, leaving the other side of her neck bare.

  I wondered if she had changed a lot since I had left. I wondered if she still liked popping her bubble gum and going to midnight movies and refrigerating cookie dough so that she could eat it later. I wondered
if she still liked to tell spur of the moment stories, if she had plucked up the courage to get the tattoo she had always wanted, and if she had taken up painting like she had always promised she would.

  I had spent the last ten years of my life trying not to think about Lizzie Miller, and now that I had started again, it was hard to keep my curiosity in check. I shook off the image of Lizzie in my head and focused my attention on the woman sitting in front of me. I realized that I had already forgotten her name and I frantically tried to recall it to memory. I was pretty sure it started with an H, but that was all I had to go on. I decided to avoid her name altogether.

  “My sister just had a baby,” she said. “So I’m heading home for a visit.”

  “Congrats,” I replied. “Boy or girl?”

  “Boy,” she said. “He’s almost six-months now.”

  “You’re a little late.”

  She laughed and touched my arm unnecessarily. “I know, I’m so bad,” she said. “But life is busy for me, I don’t get much time off work.”

  I didn’t ask what she did. That question would only invite reciprocity; she would ask about my job and I really didn’t want to get into it. It didn’t matter in the end because she told me what she did before I asked the question. “I’m a lawyer,” she said.

  “That must be interesting work,” I said without really concentrating on what I was saying. I was too busy studying her face. She was wearing a lot of makeup. I wondered why women thought that the solution to ageing was to add another layer of makeup to their faces. In my opinion, it had the opposite effect.

  “It can be,” she said tilting her head to one side. “My only free time is devoted to the gym.”

  I nodded, trying to pretend as though I was interested.

  “You look like you hit the gym a lot too,” she observed, touching my hand again.

  “I try,” I said shortly.

  “What do you do?” she asked predictably.

  I hesitated for a moment. “I … own a small business in the city,” I lied quickly. “A construction company called Thomas and Company.”

  I wondered what Tyler would say if he knew I was pilfering from his life. He had started the construction company almost eight years ago and it had done well in Bastrop. I spent the rest of the flight sharing details of my life with the woman sitting beside me; all the while, I stole things from Tyler’s life and passed them off as my own. There was something oddly satisfying about being someone else, even if it was just for a short time.

  When we finally landed, I was all talked out and ready to see my family. She kept smiling at me suggestively and I knew she was expecting me to ask for her number, but all I could give her was a smile and a wave as I exited the terminal.

  I saw Tyler as I walked out. He was the tallest one there, dressed in beige trousers and a navy-blue polo shirt. He looked more and more like dad every time I saw him. He came forward and we hugged awkwardly. It was the kind of hug where neither party leans into one another; we both maintained out stiff stances and then we backed away from one another in relief.

  “How was the flight?” Tyler asked conventionally.

  “It was fine,” I replied. “How are things here? Is everything sorted for Dad’s funeral?”

  “Of course,” Tyler replied impatiently. “What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time?”

  “I was just asking,” I replied as we started moving through the airport towards the exit. “And mom … how is she?”

  “The same,” Tyler replied. “She’s still a little shell shocked; I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet.”

  “Has she spoken to you?” I asked hesitantly.

  “Of course she’s spoken to me,” Tyler said.

  “It’s just that … I asked to speak to her and she refused.”

  “Oh, well … that’s different.”

  I shot Tyler a look. “How is that different?” I asked trying to keep my annoyance in check. “We’re both her sons.”

  “Yes but I’m the only one who’s been around,” Tyler said and the accusation was evident in his tone.

  “Well I was being shipped off to war-torn countries on dangerous missions,” I snapped. “So I haven’t really had a lot of free time.”

  Tyler shot me a glare. “And you think I have? At least you’ve only had to worry about yourself; I’ve had to look after mom and dad for the last eleven years. Not that I would have done anything else; I would never run out on my family.”

  I stopped short. “You think I ran out on mom and dad?”

  Tyler regarded me coldly. “You got the opportunity to go off and see the world and you took it. I don’t blame you for that.”

  Then Tyler turned and kept walking and I was forced to follow after him, trying to resist the urge to punch him in the face. I was imagining his face if I actually attempted something like that and it did make me feel a little better. We got my bags and then made our way to the car. Tyler had upgraded since I’d last been in Bastrop. He had traded in his car for a Jeep and it took up nearly two sparking spaces.

  “You couldn’t have found a larger vehicle?” I asked sarcastically. “I don’t think they’ll be enough room for both of us in there.”

  “I thought you’d have more bags,” Tyler said ignoring me.

  “I’m only here for four weeks,” I said.

  “That’s it?”

  “I would have thought that would be too much for you,” I said as we got into the Jeep.

  “Maybe,” Tyler replied. “But mom might feel differently. Especially since you haven’t been home in years.”

  I felt the sting of his words, more so because they held the insinuation that I had missed out on the last few years of dad’s life. I felt the need to justify myself, but I held the words in at the last moment. I wouldn’t convince Tyler so what was the use in trying?

  We spent the first half hour of the drive in silence and I realized just how much Tyler and I had drifted apart in the last decade. It wasn’t just that we didn’t keep in touch as much as we should have; it had more to do with a sense of underlying bitterness that followed our relationship. Except that I wasn’t entirely sure why or where that bitterness had originated from. We were always so touchy around one another that it was hard to carry a conversation without someone getting pissed or irritated.

  I took a deep internal breath and started again. “Do you remember that time dad decided to teach us poker?”

  “Dylan, I really don’t want to talk about dad ok?”

  “But …”

  “I’m serious.”

  I understood why Tyler didn’t want to talk, but at the same time I felt as though I really needed to. Yes, it was hard to talk about him but I felt it would be harder not to. Tyler’s face was set however and I knew he wouldn’t participate.

  “How’s business?” I said taking a different route.

  “You’re asking about my business?”

  “As you pointed out, it’s my first trip home in years ok? I just want to know what you guys have been doing. I’m interested. And it beats the awkward silence.”

  “I thought you preferred silence?”

  “With strangers,” I clarified. “Not with my own brother. Can you at least try?”

  “All right,” Tyler said with a sigh. “What was the question?”

  I tried very hard not to roll my eyes. “How’s the business?”

  “It’s doing well,” Tyler replied. “We manage to get at least one big contract every month and that keeps us afloat.”

  “That’s good,” I nodded.

  “How are … things with you?” Tyler asked out of obligation.

  “Fine,” I replied. “The same as always.”

  “Still training?”

  “We never stop,” I said. “Actually, speaking of work, I’m thinking of retiring soon.”

  That got an expression out of him. He glanced at me with raised eyebrows. “Retiring?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s … une
xpected,” Tyler said. “I would have thought you’d want to die in the Navy.”

  “Well, I don’t,” I said impatiently. “I think I’ve paid my dues and I think it’s time for a change.”

  “What will you do?” Tyler asked. “Where will you go?”

  “Well, I was actually thinking of coming back here,” I admitted.

  “To Bastrop?” Tyler asked incredulously.

  “Yeah.”

  “What on earth would you do here?” he asked.

  I hesitated for a moment. “I’m not sure yet,” I said evasively. “I haven’t figured that part out.”

  In fact I did have something in mind. It was an idea that had been forming in my head for quite some time now but I didn’t want to share it with Tyler just yet. I didn’t want him scoffing at it.

  “Well you might want to think about that,” Tyler said. “Instead of up and quitting before you have a solid plan?"

  “I will.”

  “I don’t see the point of coming back to this town,” Tyler went on. “You’d be bored here.”

  “Maybe that’s what I want,” I countered. “Maybe I want to be bored.”

  Tyler gave me a look. “I think that’s your grief talking.”

  I didn’t bother to argue, Tyler didn’t get it. I’d probably be hard pressed to find anyone who would. You’d need to have lived the kind of life I had in order to really understand. The thing is, I was tired of the travelling, and I was tired of the fighting and the missions. I wanted to find a little piece of land that was mine and make something out of it.

  I had always wondered why my father had seemed so happy after retiring from the Navy. I wondered why he hadn’t milked it and stayed till he had been asked to go. But now I finally understood. The irony was that he was gone and there was no one I could talk to, no one who would see that I wasn’t just making an impulsive decision. I was tired and I wanted some peace and quiet.

  “I bet lots of people have stopped by the house,” I said changing the subject.

  Tyler nodded wordlessly.

  “Has … Lizzie been around?”

  Tyler shot me a glance. “I met her this morning,” he replied. “I think she might drop in before the funeral.”