Room For You (Cranberry Inn)

by Beth Ehemann

  I should have said something. I know I should have said something, but the fact of the matter was that I didn’t know Brody that well yet, so defending him was pointless. I had nothing to argue back. Plus, a little part of me still wanted to win Andy over and screaming at his wife wouldn’t earn me any points.

  “Oh, don’t leave because of me, Chelsea. I’ll stop. I just thought she should know who she’s getting involved with. Crawling into bed with a rattlesnake might be safer.” She laughed to herself, looking down at her drink as she swirled it around.

  The guys came in the room and Brody looked at me curiously, instantly sensing something was wrong. I quickly shook my head to prevent him from asking anything and tilted my head toward the door. He pulled his brows together in a frown and walked over, pulling me in close.

  “You okay?” he asked quietly in my ear.

  I couldn’t answer; I just nodded.

  “So, Brody … how’s Kendall?” Blaire cackled.

  Brody’s face reddened with anger. “What the hell’s going on here?” he said, looking back and forth between Blaire and me.

  “Nothing,” I pleaded, laying my hand on his heaving chest. “Can we just go, please?”

  Blaire hiccupped. “I was just having a nice little chat here with Katie, or whatever her name is, about what and who you like to do in the off season. Thought she might want to know all that before she and her little darlings get too involved.”

  “Okay, that’s enough,” Andy ordered, lunging for her glass, but before he could grab it, she snapped her hand back fast, sending the burgundy liquid dripping down the front of my ice blue dress.

  “Oh no!” Chelsea gasped as she ran to the counter for paper towels.

  “Are you okay?” Brody turned, trying to brush the excess liquid off of me, onto the floor.

  A lump formed in my throat, and I knew the tears wouldn’t be far behind. “I just want to go, okay? Can we please go? Now?” I begged in a whisper.

  “Oh God, she’s fine!” Blaire rolled her eyes as she walked over to her purse on the counter. “Here,” she said, pulling a wad of money out of her wallet. “This should cover the dress, okay?” With that she tossed a twenty-dollar bill across the counter and winked at me.

  Brody snapped.

  “Listen to me, you miserable bitch…” He took a step forward, shielding me from any more of Blaire’s looks or words. “You can say whatever you want to me or about me, but Kacie is off limits. Got it?”

  Her eyes blinked rapidly as she stared at him with a blank expression on her face. He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door before he turned back one more time.

  “And you might want to remember when you’re looking down your fake, plastic nose at her, that it’s her boyfriend’s hockey contract that pays for this fucking house of yours. Your husband will always be my best friend, but that doesn’t mean he has to be my agent. Consider yourself warned.”

  The drive home from Andy and Blaire’s was the longest forty minutes of my life. I apologized to Kacie about a thousand times, and while she smiled at me, all she kept saying was, “It’s fine.” Growing up, my mom and dad would occasionally go at it, and every time she told him, “it’s fine,” he either slept on the couch or bought flowers the next day. When it comes to women, “fine” is bad. Very, very bad.

  She wasn’t fine; I knew that. I could tell by the way she stared out the window the whole way home but never really focused on anything. She was avoiding eye contact with me, and I didn’t blame her one bit. What the hell had Blaire said to her before I went into the kitchen, and more importantly, what the hell was I thinking taking her over to Blaire’s house in the first place? That was the stupidest thing I had done in a long time. I’d dealt with Blaire and her bitchiness before, why did I think Kacie would be immune?

  We pulled into the parking space in my garage, and Kacie picked up her purse off the floor. Just as she was about to reach for the handle, I locked the door.

  She spun and looked at me, her brows pulled together, making the cutest little, confused crinkle marks appear on her forehead. “What are you doing?”

  “Talk to me,” I pleaded with her.

  A fake smile crossed her face and she put her hand on mine. “There’s nothing to talk about, okay?”

  “Yes, there is. What did Blaire say to you before I came into the kitchen?”

  Her voice was soft as she stared down at her hands. “She basically warned me about you, to stay away. Listen, Brody … I think maybe coming here this weekend was a mistake, like maybe I should just go tonight. Our lives are so different.”

  “Don’t say that.” I tried arguing, but she didn’t give me a chance.

  “It’s true. My typical Saturday night consists of Disney movies with the girls, maybe an ice cream sundae if we’re feeling adventurous. Tonight was … rough.” She sighed, her eyes bouncing wildly around the car as she started rambling. “But then you look at me like you do, and you kiss me like you do and I think that it’s worth the risk … that you’re worth the risk. A few shitty remarks from Blaire later and not only do I realize I really don’t know you, but now I’m back to questioning what I was already questioning-”

  “Wait, wait. Hold on a minute.” I held my hands up in front of me in a desperate attempt to derail the train wreck about to happen in her brain. “First of all, you’re confusing the hell out of me. Second, this car is really fucking uncomfortable. What do you say we go upstairs, put some sweats on, open a bottle of wine and have an ‘Ask Brody Anything’ session? Nothing is off limits, okay?”

  She raised a curious eyebrow. “Nothing?”

  “Absolutely nothing. For you … I’m an open book.”

  She warily looked at me and reached for the door handle again. This time I released the lock, hoping to God she didn’t get out and head straight for her jeep. Even if she did, I wasn’t opposed to lying on the hood to force her to talk to me.

  She met me at the back of my car and used my shoulder as a crutch as she pulled one of her sexy legs up and removed her heel. I tried really hard not to drool in her hair as she did it again with the other leg. How can someone make such a simple action so damn sexy? She did that with everything, I’d noticed … making breakfast, reading to her girls, breathing. She was slowly cementing herself into my heart. I’d be damned if Blaire and her big obnoxious mouth were going to ruin any of that for me.

  We walked into my condo and Diesel ran to greet us. After giving Kacie a thorough once over with his nose, he rushed over to me and whimpered pitifully.

  “I’m gonna take him out before he embarrasses himself and makes a mess for me to clean. Wanna go with us?”

  “Yeah,” she replied quickly. “Can I just change real quick?”

  No, please leave that dress on every damn day for the rest of your life.

  “Sure,” I replied as she turned and headed down the hall. “Need help?” I called out after her.

  She glanced back at me and rolled her eyes, continuing down the hall.

  A few minutes later, I left my room and walked to the family room. Kacie was squatted down playing with Diesel, her hair falling down around her face. She looked adorable, even just in jeans and a hoodie.

  “Ready?” I asked as I grabbed his leash from the closet.

  She stood, giving me that crinkle-nose grin that brings me to my knees.

  “Yep, let’s go.”

  The sharpness of the evening air slapped us in the face as we stepped out onto the street. Kacie hugged herself. Mid-June was pleasant in Minnesota during the day, but the nights were hit or miss. Tonight’s chilly weather gave me an excuse to put my arm around Kacie, so I wasn’t going to complain.

  “Okay … ready when you are,” I said, wanting her to know that I hadn’t forgotten what I promised her in the car, because I meant it. Anything she wanted to know, I would tell her, good or bad. Some things would probably be tough to talk about, but if she wanted to know, I’d tell her.

  She sighed and
I thought maybe she’d changed her mind about wanting to have the conversation, but then she jumped right in. “Who’s Kendall?”

  “Kendall is a friend,” I answered truthfully, without hesitation.

  She eyed me for a second and then looked away. “Just a friend?”

  “I’m telling the truth, I promise. We’ve been out a handful of times, but it was never more than a friend thing. We never put any label on it. I wasn’t interested.”

  “Did she text you while I was here?”

  Shit.

  “Yes. I didn’t answer her; I didn’t even read them. I just deleted them.”

  She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, gauging my honesty. “When was the last time you hung out with her?”

  “Um…” I had to think about this one, my time with Kendall never really stuck out to me. “About a month ago, I think.”

  Kacie bit her lip, looking at the different storefronts as we walked. I could tell she was nervous and her brain was spinning.

  “Did you sleep with her?”

  I didn’t want to answer this, but I promised honesty.

  “Yes.”

  “Here…” I motioned toward the wrought iron bench behind her. “Let’s sit for a minute and I’ll explain.” I hooked Diesel’s leash around the armrest and faced Kacie. She sat as far away as possible, her arms folded in front of her, completely closed off from me.

  “Remember a couple weeks ago when I told you that all through high school and college I never really dated?”

  She nodded, her beautiful green eyes staring straight ahead, digesting everything I was saying. I wanted nothing more than to pull her in my arms, relax back on this bench and just let life happen around us, but that wasn’t an option … yet.

  “That was the truth. High school, college, up until now, I haven’t had a girlfriend. Someone I would take home to meet my parents, someone I would drive an hour and a half just to see her cute smile and freckles.”

  She pressed her lips together tight, trying to hide her grin when she realized I was talking about her.

  “I’ve never had anyone like that … but that doesn’t mean I’ve been alone all this time.”

  Her eyes lost their sparkle as the color drained from her face, but I needed to continue. “Part of the territory that comes along with my job is fans, that’s also my favorite part of the job … sometimes. There’s nothing I love more than coming out of the locker room to a dozen kids waiting for me with posters and jerseys to sign. The other kind of fans are the obnoxious, overbearing women who are shoving their tits in my face asking me to sign them and begging for my phone number as I do.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Women ask you to sign their breasts?”

  “More often than you’d think.” I sighed. “Anyway, once I signed my contract and started experiencing all this, I swore I’d never be with a fan and I’ve held true to that. But … I have … friends. Girl friends, women, who I’ve trusted over the years to hang out with, to … be with.” Kacie closed her eyes and cringed when I stumbled through that last sentence.

  “They are just that, though … friends. I trust them not to run to the media with details, not to sell our story to one of those fucking gossip magazines. That’s who Kendall is … was.” I reached out and put my hand on hers. She still stared straight ahead, no emotion. Or so much emotion that she didn’t know how to process it all. Silence filled the empty space around us. I said nothing, giving her time to feel whatever it was she was feeling.

  After what felt like an hour of her eyes darting around, thinking, I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Kacie, you okay?”

  Her head cocked to the side, her eyes still fixated on the brick brownstone straight ahead. “I think I am.”

  “You are?” I asked cautiously, not expecting that response.

  “Yeah, I am.” Her gaze floated over to me, and her face looked peaceful. “I get it. You have such a public job, it’s gotta be hard to trust people with that side of you.”

  “Exactly!” It took all of my restraint not to scoop her up in my arms and dance around the street with her for being so understanding.

  “But … I can’t be a part of that,” she said, shaking her head slowly.

  “Wait, what?” Anxiety spread through my chest like wildfire.

  “Your past, I get it, completely. The fame, the women, not being able to trust anyone … it makes total sense. I don’t want that, though … that casual, friends-with-benefits thing. I know we said we were keeping this light and fun, but that’s a little too light for me.” She stood up and shoved her hands in her jean pockets. “I can’t let myself get any more attached to you, Brody. I think I’m gonna go.”

  “No, you’re not.” I hopped up and gripped Kacie’s shoulders, forcing her to look at me. “I’m done with that, Kacie, all of it. When I stopped at your inn for the night, my life was normal—my life was hockey. Nothing important existed outside of the rink; it was all just filler. Then I met you, and now I can’t stop thinking about you. You did something to me, changed something. And now, all I want is you … just you. And the twinkies.”

  She looked off across the street and shook her head slightly. “How do you know that, Brody? How do you know that this is what you want? How do I know that in a month, I’m not gonna be tossed aside like the others?”

  “I could ask you the same question,” I replied.

  “What?”

  “You said yourself you haven’t dated in four years, but I know you’ve had offers, so I’m asking you the same question. Why me? What is it about me that makes you want to take a leap of faith?”

  “I don’t know.” She searched my face. “There’s not one exact thing, it’s just … you.”

  “That’s how I feel too, Kacie. It’s a million little things about you that pile up together and have created this one amazing woman who I’m certain has changed my life. I can’t explain it; it’s just there. We’re gonna have to learn to trust each other on this one.” I cupped her face with my hands and looked straight into her eyes. “This is one big puddle, for both of us.”

  Her green eyes softened as she wrapped her arms around my waist, laying her head against my chest. I embraced back, resting my chin on her head.

  “Life is a sum made up of small parts, Kacie. Some are good; some are bad. You and the girls are definitely one of the good. The best good there is and I’ll fight like hell to keep you here.”

  I didn’t sleep a wink all night. Actually, all morning.

  Brody and I stayed awake until the sun came up, curled up in each other’s arms on the couch, talking more about his past. Admittedly, I’d judged him when he told me how he’d been having relationships the past few years and I was wrong for that. I would never understand his situation because I’d never been a professional athlete with women chasing after me, but I could accept it. It wasn’t fair of me to hold how he’d been living against him, especially when we hadn’t even met yet.

  He was so honest last night, so sincere, not to mention, irresistible. When he talked, the way his mouth moved, the way he licked his lips, the way his eyes brought whatever he said to life. Intoxicating.

  He looked pretty damn cute when he slept too.

  I rolled over and looked at him, stretched out on his stomach next to me, sound asleep with his arms pulled under his pillow. His firm back rose and fell with each breath, accentuating each muscle individually. I stared at his tattoo; it was vibrant and clear. I felt like it was glaring back at me, challenging me to doubt his sincerity and character.

  It was never the plan for him to sleep in here with me, but after we were done talking in the wee hours of the morning, I’d gotten up to head to bed when he jumped in front of me and blocked the hallway.

  “Listen,” he’d said, “after today, I know you’re exhausted and have a lot to process. I told you, I’m patient and I don’t want to push you into anything you’re not ready for, but … will you sleep with me tonight? Sleep, nothing else.
I’m just not ready to let you go yet.” His eyes were forthright with no underlying meaning, hard to resist.

  “Yes,” I replied, pointing down the hall, “in there.”

  He didn’t argue, he just turned and walked toward the guest room while I followed.

  Here we were, a few hours later and I hadn’t slept at all. I knew I’d pay for it later, but lying there, watching him just felt perfect. I studied every movement he made, the way his eyes fluttered while he slept, the way the corners of his mouth twitched into a slight grin when something in his dream pleased him.

  Hopefully it was me.

  I quietly snuck out of bed and tiptoed to the bathroom.

  “Ugh,” I mumbled, looking at my appearance in the mirror. My hair was going a thousand different directions, my eyes were puffy from lack of sleep and my cheeks had no color.

  I hope he likes zombies.

  I tamed my hair into a low ponytail and did a quick mouthwash swish, thinking I’d creep into the kitchen and surprise him with breakfast in bed and hopefully get a kiss in return. My hand was on the bedroom doorknob when I heard him stir behind me.

  “Sneaking out?”

  He had flipped onto his back and was groaning as he stretched. His body was lean and long, every muscle contracting as he reached out far.

  “Nope, I was gonna make you breakfast,” I responded, trying not to drool as I stared.

  “Uh-uh, come here.” He lifted the corner of the blanket, insisting I climb back into bed. I didn’t argue.

  Curling into his side, he tucked his bicep under my head and took my hand in his, resting it on his chest.

  “How are you feeling today?” he asked, kissing the top of my head.

  “I feel bad for judging you so hard last night, but I think I’m good. I think we’re good.” I rubbed my thumb back and forth across his chest.

  “Good. I don’t want anything from my past to affect us.” He sighed contentedly.

  “That’s unrealistic though,” I said. “Everything from our past is going to play some role in how we treat each other, and how we respond to the way we’re treated.”