by Lori Ryan
“I know.” She sighed. “I started talking about marketing stuff and he asked me what was wrong or what had changed with me—something like that. I kind of freaked. It was like he could see right through me.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t feel the cancer in his own body, you two were so tight.”
“Brody, you don’t understand. I don’t want to involve him in this. I don’t need one more person worrying about me. It hurts too much to see the fear and anxiety in your faces all the time. I didn’t want to see that with him.” She might be coming up on her five-year anniversary of being cancer free, but the fear never really went away. It was something she and her family lived with.
All the time.
Brody reached up and wiped away a tear Elle hadn’t even realized had fallen.
“It’s all right, sweetheart, I get it. I’m not trying to dump a bunch of guilt on you.” He smoothed back her bangs and cupped her jaw. “No judgment from me.”
She smiled and leaned into his hand. “Thank you.”
His hand fell away and rested on her shoulder. “You do need to talk with him though, Elle. You guys were best friends. And I’m guessing there was a lot more there?”
Elle nodded, not really able to put into words what had been between her and Emmett. “I will. Soon,” Elle added, although she had no idea how. She was pretty sure Emmett wouldn’t get within a hundred feet of her. “If I can get to him.” She laughed dryly.
Brody stood. “You’ll think of a way, Elly Belly.” He held out his hand to her and Elle took it, but even with the strong support of his arm, she felt unsteady.
Elle’s world had felt adrift and shaky since she’d seen Emmett, and she had a feeling her world wasn’t going to be righted anytime soon.
Chapter Six
Emmett stared at his brother in disbelief. He knew Max ate a lot, but not this much.
Max sat back in his chair, one hand on his belly and a contented smile on his face. Finally.
Their mother and aunts had gone out to a movie together which meant there’d be no dinner, so Ben, Emmett, Max, and Maggie had headed into town for a nice meal. Max had ordered two entrees at Antonio’s Italian Restaurant before polishing off what Maggie had left of her lasagna. Emmett had no idea where his brother put all that food, he was so fit.
Emmett watched as Max eyed the empty bread basket like he might ask for more. “What’s wrong with you?”
“What do you mean?” Max asked, never looking up from his plate.
“You’re eating like a horse,” Ben answered for Emmett.
“Season’s over,” Max said with a lazy shrug.
“But Summer Camp will be here before you know it,” Emmett said. Max was a professional football player. His life centered around his physical fitness and strength.
Max picked up his napkin and wiped at his mouth, staring down at the red-checkered table cloth.
“What’s wrong?” Ben asked. Then his face grew serious. “Wait, the rumors aren’t true, are they?”
Max didn’t answer.
“Are you hurt?” Emmett studied his brother. He couldn’t see Max’s knees under the table, of course, but he would bet they had something to do with it. “Is it your knees?”
Max had blown out both knees during the ten years he’d been with the Tampa Bay Stingrays. Not to mention his stellar college career, and high school before that. Max had been playing football since the peewee leagues, and most of that at a high level. That kind of career took a toll. A brutal one.
“It’s not my knees.” Max scowled. “I mean, well kind of it is, I guess.”
They all fell silent, food forgotten as they looked at Max, and Emmett had a feeling this conversation wouldn’t be happening if their mom was there.
“What’s going on, Max?” Ben asked again.
“I’ve decided to retire.”
Emmett sat back in surprise. “Seriously?” He didn’t think Max would ever give up the game. He had lived and breathed it for so long. He always assumed his brother would need to be dragged from the field, kicking and screaming.
Max nodded. “Yeah.” That single word rang with defeat.
“Because of Ma?” Ben asked. “Because of the lodge I mean? You know we—”
Max shook his head. “No, I’d decided to retire mid-way through the season. Ma needing our help only solidified my choice.”
“But you love football,” Emmett said.
“It doesn’t love me,” he grumbled.
Emmett knew there was something else underneath his brother’s decision, but he wouldn’t push it. Not now.
Maggie must have sensed the need for a subject change. She cleared her throat. “So, Emmett, what happened during your meeting with Elle?”
Shit. How could he get another subject change?
“It was fine.”
“What happened?” Ben asked.
“Why?” Emmett said, raising his head.
“Well…” Ben started and glanced to Maggie.
Maggie spoke for him. “Mr. Noble called me earlier today and wanted to schedule a meeting between Elle and your mom and me. When I asked about your meeting with Elle, he said he thought it would better if we didn’t include you going forward.”
The waiter approached and they waited, conversation on hold as he cleared their plates. Even Max didn’t order dessert, his appetite seemingly satiated, at least temporarily.
“Was he pissed?” Emmett asked Maggie, when the waiter had walked away and they were back to the relative privacy of their table in the far corner of the restaurant.
“No, he didn’t sound like it,” she answered with a small frown. “More disappointed. Why? Should he be upset?”
Emmett shrugged.
Elle hadn’t deserved the brush-off today, but honestly Emmett wasn’t sure what else to do. He didn’t want to get close to Elle again, and he knew if they worked together that’s exactly what would happen. His meddling mother thought she knew what was best, but in this situation, putting him with Elle was dead wrong.
“Is Ma trying to push you two together?” Max asked.
Emmett shrugged. He was almost certain she was, even if it made sense for the lodge and the resort to work together.
Maggie put a hand on his arm. “We just want to work with Warner and the resort staff to bring more tourists to the area,” Maggie said. “They aren’t coming this far west any more, and the resort’s numbers are proving that. We get a solid group of people based on the things we offer. The run-off from people who don’t like the size of the resort or who can’t get a room when they need it there also helps, but Valerie and I thought maybe if we could brainstorm with the sales team at the resort we could turn things around a bit for the town. For everyone.”
It made sense, Emmett knew.
“If you don’t want to meet with Elle, I understand,” Maggie said. “Valerie and I can find time to work with her.”
Ben’s face darkened “What are you talking about, find time? You already work around the clock as it is. And now you’re planning our wedding on top of all that.”
She slid a hand over Ben’s shoulder, a dreamy look in her eyes. “That’s fun stuff though.”
Ben winked.
“And…we’re out.” Max stood, pulling out his wallet and leaving more than enough bills to cover the whole tab.
“What?” Maggie shook her head. “But why?”
“I’m not going to hang around and watch you eye-fuck my brother.”
Maggie’s eyes went wide in surprise.
“Nice,” Ben said.
Emmett stood too, since he was Max’s ride.
“I’m beat,” Max grumbled. “Working on that barn with Shawn has me wiped.”
“Pussy,” Emmett said under his breath.
Ben glared.
“Oh, sorry, Maggie,” Emmett said.
“Why do you do that, Ben?” Maggie gave Ben a stern look. “I know dirty words. I say dirty words. You act like I’m virginal.”
Max snorted.
Ben glared harder, if that was possible.
“What?” Max raised his hands in innocence. “Oh, I forgot. Shawn wanted me to ask you to clean out the fireplace next time you two decide to use one of the cabins for mating season. We’re not your maids.”
Maggie’s face flushed beet red. “Oh my, God. This is so embarrassing,” she mumbled.
“Babe, it’s nothing.” Ben rubbed her shoulder.
Emmett was still trying to pretend he didn’t know what was happening between Maggie and Ben in those cabins. Picturing his brother like that would make that meal he’d just eaten come back up.
Visions of himself and Elle invaded and took over. He and Elle hadn’t had a cabin in the woods, but they’d had the Kissing Cave. Canyon Creek residents, never short on legends, said that if a couple kissed, then carved their initials in the wall of the cave, their love would last forever. His feelings for Elle had changed during their senior year when they’d stopped at the Kissing Cave during one of their usual hiking trips.
He didn’t know what had come over him, but he’d kissed Elle that spring afternoon. He thought she liked it. Hell, he’d more than liked it. He also thought there would be more kisses shared in the cave and anywhere else he could get her alone, but three days later, she’d left for New York City after graduation without a word.
Emmett understood after they’d talked that night in New York. Elle had told him she’d seen him kissing Kristen Keller. It had been that kiss that made Elle take off and run to New York instead of spending the summer with him in Canyon Creek. She hadn’t known at the time, it hadn’t been him with Kristen. It was his asshole brother Grant, wearing Emmett’s favorite Colorado Rockies hat and clothes.
The irony was, if Elle had seen his face that night, she’d have known right away it wasn’t Emmett. Unfortunately, the cap had been turned backward and she’d only seen the back of Grant. Elle had been so hurt, she ran off without a word. Between that and her dad pressuring her to go to school instead of settle in town without experiencing the world, Elle chose to leave for school, earlier than she’d intended.
So, yeah, he got why she left back in high school, but Emmett was still bitter over all of it. High school, the night in New York. Everything. She should have trusted he wouldn’t be kissing her one day and then kissing Kristen a few days later. He couldn’t even stand the girl.
Elle didn’t trust him then and she obviously didn’t trust him now. Everything inside Emmett was screaming that she wasn’t telling him something, something important.
“Em,” Max said.
“Yeah, what?” Emmett was lost in his own thoughts.
“You ready man? I’ve got an early morning out at the barn.”
“Uh, yeah, sure.” Emmett leaned in to kiss Maggie on the cheek. “Thanks for inviting us. It’s nice to get out every once in a while.”
Max nodded. “Even with Ma’s cooking.”
“You boys are so spoiled.” She laughed.
“Why?” Max asked, propping a hip on the wall next to her.
“Your mom cooks for you, I cook for you, Ben cooks for you.”
Just last week, they’d all gone to Maggie’s and Ben’s for dinner and an epic battle on the new video game system Ben had hooked up. Maggie had been living without Wi-Fi, a fact none of them understood, but Ben had installed a system the minute he’d moved in. He said he couldn’t live without it, which probably was accurate. Ben also did computer consulting on the side and needed access to the internet.
“And your point is?” Max asked. “That we’re geniuses?” He bumped Emmett’s arm with his elbow.
“Ben said your mom taught all of you to cook.” Maggie quirked a brow.
Max grinned. “All right, almost sister-in-law, I tell you what. This Friday we’ll meet at my mom’s. Emmett and I will show off our culinary skills.”
Emmett could only stare in horror. Max was the worst cook in the history of the whole damned town of Canyon Creek, and there was a hell of a lot of history there.
Ben raised a questioning brow. “Uh, I think you better let Emmett cook, little brother.”
“What?” Max glanced around their small group.
“You can have the grill.” Emmett shook his head.
Max smiled broadly and Emmett realized he needed to play up Max’s presence at the lodge. He should have that face on the website and all their social media sites. Women loved Max Sumner, and men would come out to see Max and have the chance to rub elbows with a guy who’d broken records in the NFL for so many years. Shoot, when they’d walked in tonight at least a dozen people had come by the table to say hello and ask for autographs.
What the hell had Emmett been thinking, not taking advantage of that?
“Grill it is.” Max slapped Emmett on the back. “Let’s go. Sunrise comes early.”
Emmett pulled his keys from his pocket and headed toward the door as Max grabbed their coats.
Max waited until they’d gotten into Emmett’s SUV to talk. “What happened today during your meeting with Elle? And don’t give me that bullshit you gave Ben and Mags.”
Emmett drew in a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel tighter as he pulled out of the parking lot and into the light traffic of Canyon Creek.
“Em?” Max prompted.
Emmett turned to see his brother’s half amused, half worried look. “It’s nothing,” he finally answered.
“Bullshit. You’ve been tense for a while now.”
Emmett turned onto the highway leading up to the mountain and accelerated with more force than he’d intended.
“Easy, Mario Andretti.” Max laughed.
Max always laughed. He was the clown in the family, the one you wanted if you were having a party. No party would be dull with Max Sumner there.
“You guys were practically joined at the hip when we were kids,” he said, “and then one day, you weren’t. I get why it would be hard working with her.”
Emmett sighed. “There’s more than just that. It’s complicated.” He had no idea why he was telling Max any of this. His brother had just agreed with him that he shouldn’t have to work with Elle.
“I have a degree in biomedical engineering. I understand complicated.”
“I saw her after she left Canyon Creek. Once.”
“Really?” Max asked. “Where?”
“In New York City.”
“Didn’t she move there, for school?”
“Yes.” Emmett nodded. “She moved there to attend Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She’d already graduated and was dancing with some ballet company.”
“How long ago did you see her?” Max asked.
“Almost five years.”
“Wow. So, you said it was one night.”
“Yeah, just one.”
“Did y’all, you know?
From the corner of his eye Emmett saw Max make a sexual gesture. “I mean you always wanted to in high school, right?” he asked.
“Not always. It was deeper than that for me and Elle.”
“Yeah, I know,” Max said. “We all did. You guys were like, kindred spirits or something, like one soul divided into two bodies.”
That’s the way Emmett had always thought of Elle, as his other half, his best friend. And he’d lost his other half the day she’d left after graduation. What was left of him had been shattered when she fled again in New York City after their one night together.
“So what happened in New York?” Max asked.
“We reconnected, talked about graduation night.”
“She tell you why she took off?”
The whole family knew she’d left without telling Emmett, without saying goodbye. He hadn’t been very good at covering his shock back then. He’d been a mess when he found out Elle was gone without a word.
“Yeah,” Emmett said. “It was all a misunderstanding. Or so she said.”
“How is leaving without a word a misunderstanding?”
Emmett pulled
into the driveway, parking next to his mom’s car, and shut off the engine, but they sat in the dark. “We’d kissed once. In the Kissing Cave, two or three days before she left.” He knew damned well it was three days. He remembered every flipping detail with perfect clarity.
Max grunted a response. They’d all taken girls to the Kissing Cave at one time or another. Emmet had wanted true love. All Max had wanted was sex.
“And that was a misunderstanding?” Max didn’t bother to keep the sarcasm from his voice.
“No.” Emmett ran a hand over the steering wheel, needing to focus on something other than his brother. “Three days later, she thought she saw me kissing Kristen Keller at a party.”
Max snorted. “Let me guess, it was Grant?”
“Yep, Grant,” Emmett confirmed. Grant might be Jake’s twin, but there was a time when he and Emmett looked more alike than any of the brothers, and they all looked eerily similar. When Emmett was a senior and Grant a sophomore, Grant could walk right out of the house in Emmett’s baseball cap and clothes and not even their parents would realize it was Grant sneaking out to a party he wasn’t allowed to attend. And they all knew Grant had messed around with Kristen Keller for a while. He’d bragged about it for weeks to his brothers.
Max shook his head. “I always thought Elle was the one person who could tell you and Grant apart.”
Emmett nodded. “She could. Most of the time. She saw Grant from behind with my Colorado Rockies baseball cap.” He shrugged. It actually hurt like hell that Elle hadn’t realized it wasn’t him, and even more upsetting that she really thought he’d have his hand up Kristen Keller’s skirt.
Emmett watched out the windshield at the darkness. “We said we were sorry in New York and that was that.”
“Why were you sorry? She’s the one that left.”
“I didn’t chase after her.” Emmett didn’t want to tell Max why though. And he’d never tell Elle. That was a story she didn’t need to hear. It would crush her. Emmett laughed bitterly. Why should he even care about protecting her now?
