by D. L. Roan
“Jake will add more names as we grow,” Hazel said, giving her a not-so-subtle wink.
“You mean as soon as they get hitched,” Joe said. “And yes I meant to say that.”
“Josiah!” Hazel scolded him and Breezy looked over her shoulder, thankful to see Connor and Carson yards away, already wading in the shallows with Dani, Matt and Grey.
“Hey there, Breezy.” Daniel pulled her into his warm embrace and kissed the top of her head before he set a plate full of raw hot dogs and hamburgers on the table. “Hope you’re hungry.”
“I will be after a swim.”
“Then you’d better get going, before those boys notice you’re missing,” Hazel urged with an impish grin, her gaze fixed at something over her shoulder.
“Got ya!”
She squealed as Carson snuck up from behind and lifted her off her feet. “Don’t think you’re getting out of the mud fight,” he said as he carried her towards the creek.”
“Wait! My shoes!” They were her only good pair! Thankfully, Carson relented and let her kick them off before he took a running leap into the water.
The entire day was spent splashing in the sparkling water, chasing and being chased, just as she’d remembered from all those years ago—only this time she was the object of Connor and Carson’s attentions, just as she’d always dreamt.
When Uncle Cade and Daniel called them to the table for lunch, they all raced out of the water and crowded around the table, wet and dripping and laughing so hard her cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
Gabby and Mason, who’d been mysteriously missing for most of the early afternoon, emerged from the trail that ran along the creek, their cheeks flushed and their eyes dreamy. Breezy blushed for them as Nate and Joe gave them a hard time for being so tardy.
They greeted her with warm hugs before taking a seat between Matt and Grey. Dani gave Cory a shove and she squeezed in next to him before Josiah said grace.
As everyone’s head was bowed, Breezy glanced around the table, her heart thankful for each and every one there. Her time with them was almost up. Joe was doing well—really well. His cognitive functions appeared to be fully restored. He’d regained full use of his leg. His right hand remained weak, but he’d managed to learn how to use his left for most things. If he continued his exercises, she was sure it, too, would return to fully functioning. Her job there was done.
Her interview in Billings was in three days and she needed to get back to her apartment and prepare her résumé. She would say goodbye to Connor and Carson the day after tomorrow and after that...after that she didn’t know. Any future without them looked like nothing but a huge, gaping hole.
They still hadn’t made any declarations of love, nor had they brought up the subject of anything that resembled a long term commitment. Carson had mentioned once that he was excited about her seeing them on stage. The prospect of getting an innocuous envelope in the mail one random day with front row tickets and a hope to see you there note didn’t sit very well. No. She needed closure, one way or another.
She’d decided she would tell them how she felt. She owed them and herself the truth. She’d tell them everything that was in Ford’s letter, and that she was in love with them, and let the cards fall where they may.
She didn’t know what they would say, or wouldn’t. The only thing she had control over was herself, and she knew she would regret leaving without telling them the truth. With or without their love, the past six weeks had been the best moments of her life. That would never change, no matter what their response.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Connor motioned to her untouched burger.
She drew in a long breath and shook the sad thoughts from her head. She had two more days and she planned to make the most of them. “Nothing. Where’s Jonah?” she asked. She’d missed him at the creek and had hoped to see Pryce.
“I don’t know.” Mason shrugged. “He said he had something he had to do in town for the rodeo next week.”
“I’ve called him twice, but he didn’t answer his phone,” Grey said, his eyes darting to Dani. “Something I think he learned from his twin sister.”
“I answered you the last time!” Dani insisted.
Connor’s phone rang and he retrieved it from the bag at his feet, challenging the disapproving stares that came from everyone at the table. “It’s technically not dinner,” he reminded them as he looked down to see who it was. “I have to take this,” he said, giving her a quick smile before he left the table.
“It’s probably our manager,” Carson said. “The band has been going crazy wondering when we’re coming back, not to mention all the shit he’s getting over those pictures.”
“Language,” Gabby warned. “I swear. I don’t know why I bother.”
“Sorry, Mom.”
The pictures. Ugh, he needn’t have reminded her. The entertainment sites had even started a countdown. Six days since the last sighting of the McLendon mystery woman. Will we get to meet her, or is she just another in a long line of conquests for Country Music’s most eligible bachelors?
She didn’t know what would happen when she left the ranch. If they followed her home, it wouldn’t take them long to figure out who she was.
“Hey, we need to talk.” Connor nudged his brother. “I’m sorry, baby. It’s business.”
“On a Sunday?” Matt asked with unveiled disapproval, eyeing them both as Carson cleared his plate and stood to leave.
“It’s important, Dad, or I wouldn’t have taken the call.” Connor kissed her cheek and promised to be as quick as they could.
After lunch Breezy was dismissed with Gabby and Hazel while the men made quick work of cleaning up and putting away the leftovers. After a short walk along the creek, Dani joined her for a swim. They floated in the soft current, talking about everything until their fingertips felt like shriveled prunes.
Dani had big plans for the ranch. She was already enrolled in online classes at Montana State and planned to major in Agricultural Business like her father, Grey. She was especially interested in all the new technologies, which included a new drone system for herding and livestock management that she was hoping to implement soon.
“You’d better warn your Uncle Cade,” Breezy chuckled. “I don’t think he likes drones very much.” Neither did she for that matter.
“But that’s not all,” Dani continued with excitement. “Equine science has so many new technologies, too. I can’t wait to start helping daddy Mason with the breeding stock.”
By the time they decided they’d had enough swimming for the day, Breezy felt like she knew enough about horse genetics to teach a class. There was no doubt Dani was meant to take over the family ranch. Even at such a young age, she commanded great respect and would no doubt go on to be a modern day agricultural pioneer. Her professors were going to love her.
After thirty minutes of drip-drying in the mid-afternoon sun, Breezy looked at her watch. Connor and Carson had been gone for two hours. When Gabby expressed disappointment that they were missing what was most likely the last family picnic of the summer, she decided to go see if there was anything she could do to help them hurry things along.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“They want to terminate our contract?”
Connor turned his laptop around for Carson to read, and then pushed away from Grey’s desk. “They are terminating it,” he sighed. “Immediately.”
“They can’t do that!” Carson argued, not bothering to read the notification—the email version of course.
Connor was sure their label would have an official legal notice of intent delivered to their attorney’s office first thing tomorrow morning. He walked over to Grey’s liquor cabinet and poured himself a whiskey. “I know you don’t like reading all the pesky legal stuff that comes with signing a recording contract with a major label, but you really should’ve had our attorney’s better explain the morals clause to you.”
“This is because of what I did?”
&n
bsp; “You mean when you punched a woman in the face, after you assaulted another man who accused you of sleeping with his wife, all caught on camera?”
“Dammit!” Carson slammed the laptop shut. “They can’t just terminate the contract, Con. There has to be something our lawyers can do.”
“They have to give thirty days notice, but I doubt it will make a difference.” Connor watched his twin pace the room like a caged animal. He knew he shouldn’t feel relieved, but if their contract was terminated, it would mean he could implement his plan that much sooner.
“I make one goddamn mistake!” Carson walked to the window and braced his forearm against the pane. He leaned his forehead on his arm and stared out over the pasture, his jaw ticking a furious rhythm. “I’m sorry,” he said after a long silence, still staring out the window. “I screwed this up, too. I’ve screwed up everything.”
“Car.” Connor took a deep breath. If there was ever a time to tell him about his plans for their future, it was now, especially in light of what was happening with Breezy. “I think I have a solution, but you’ll have to hear me out.”
“You can’t go back and make it all disappear.” Carson’s arms fell defeated to his sides. He walked over and snatched the half empty bottle of whiskey from the liquor cabinet and sank into one of the chairs in front of their dad’s desk. “We’ll fight the termination. We have to.”
“Car, what if I don’t want to fight it?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“What if we start our own label?” Connor suggested.
“Yeah, right,” Carson scoffed. “Like we have the capital for that.”
“Actually, we do.” Connor stood up and flipped the laptop back open, accessed the latest email he’d received from one of the biggest digital media conglomerates, agreeing to back his proposal.
Carson skimmed the letter, his eyes moving back and forth as he scrolled through the proposal. “What the hell, bro? This email chain goes back to over four months ago? When were you going to tell me about this?”
“You weren’t exactly the easiest person to talk to four months ago,” Connor reminded him. “Think about it,” he urged, feeling the excitement of their impending freedom. “Technology is changing. We have an enormous fan base. We don’t need a label contract. We can go independent and build our own recording studio here on the ranch, with our own online empire. We’ll make our own music—good music like we used to—and no more crazy-exhausting road tours—”
“You’re not even going to try to fight this, are you?”
“Even if by some miracle we don’t get terminated for your brilliant demonstration of ‘how to fuck your career in thirty seconds or less’, what do you think is going to happen when this thing with Breezy gets out?”
“What about Breezy?” Carson snapped.
“Triad marriages aren’t exactly mainstream,” Connor reminded him.
“Shit! This is why you were so insistent about her, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“You pushed her on me, hoping that I’d be more agreeable to your little plan if we hit it off!”
“I’m the one who told you to stay the hell away from her!” Connor raged, advancing on Carson.
“Oh, come on! You had this all planned out and you know it!” Carson railed. “And why not? It’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? To ‘share’ a woman,” he said, emphasizing the word share by making dramatic air quotes with his fingers. “I can’t believe I fell for it. I try to give you the one thing I knew you wanted, the one thing that I thought would fix us, but you were manipulating me the whole time!”
Connor was ten seconds and one more lie away from making his drama-queen twin eat his teeth. “Is that the only reason you wanted her? Because you thought that’s what I wanted?”
“I’d like to know the answer to that, too.”
They both turned to see Breezy standing in the doorway.
Carson let out a deflated breath. “Shit, Breezy I’m—”
“Is it true?” she asked, her bewildered gaze shifting to Connor. “Were you only using me to get him to agree to something?”
“Baby, no! I would never do that to you.” He took a step toward her, but she held up her hand, warning him not to come any closer.
She studied him for a moment before shifting her gaze to Carson. “Did you pretend to want me only because you thought it was what Connor wanted?”
Carson opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Connor felt sick to his stomach. He was watching the past two months and everything he thought it meant evaporate into nothing. No, it was worse than nothing. It had all been a lie!
“Why?” He charged at Carson, shoving him against the wall. “You’ve never given a damn about what I wanted. Why would you give one now?”
Carson closed his eyes, his face twisting with regret as he let out a defeated sigh. “I didn’t want to tell you like this.”
“Why?” he insisted.
“I had sex with Charlotte.”
“What?” What did Charlotte have to do with—wait... “When did this happen?”
“A week before she died,” Carson confessed.
He released Carson’s shirt, his mind struggling to piece together what his brother was saying.
“I took her home one night. Things got a little too hot. She wanted to wait for you, but I talked her into it. And then she felt guilty—we both did—but then...I don’t know...I figured once it happened with both of us it would be no big deal, but she couldn’t do it. She wanted to break up because she felt like she was cheating on you, or something stupid. And then she was killed.”
“Is that what’s turned you into an asshole over the last nine years?” Connor asked, still unable to understand what any of this had to do with Breezy. “Because you had sex with Charlotte before I did?”
“I screwed up everything with Charlotte,” Carson shrugged. “I knew you loved her, a hell of a lot more than I did—”
“We were kids,” Connor insisted. “Of course I loved her, for whatever that’s worth at seventeen, but for crying out loud, Car! You were raised in the same poly family as I was. You should know it’s not about who has sex with who first, last or—or ever. That’s not how this works!”
“I get that now! I just...shit! I thought if I could give you what you wanted with Breezy, it would somehow fix what I did with Charlotte. It was stupid and selfish and I’m sorry I ever thought of it, but I’m not sorry this happened.”
Carson glanced up at Breezy with regret in his eyes. “I admit I started out with the wrong intentions.” He brushed past Connor and stood in front of her. “But something changed. Everything changed the first time I kissed you, and somewhere between then and now, I fell in love with you.”
Breezy’s eyes widened. Her chest swelled as she drew in a surprised breath. “I’ve never felt connected to anyone the way I feel connected to you,” he continued. “I-I think about you every day, all day, even when I didn’t want to, but I did—I do—and—and the sex! Being inside you is—I mean, it’s not just about the sex, of course, but—”
“Carson!” What the hell is he doing?
“I think about you even when we’re not making love, which is weird, but I like it!” he grinned. “I love it, actually.”
This is so over. “Carson, please shut up.”
“I’m an idiot sometimes, I know, but—but...you make me want to not be one more than anyone ever has.”
Connor closed his eyes and tried to block out the sound of Carson’s voice. He mentally inventoried Grey’s liquor cabinet and decided he’d have to go out to find enough alcohol to get drunk enough to not kill his brother in his sleep tonight.
“I love the way your nose gets red when you’re about to cry. I love the sound of your laugh when you’re being tickled. I love that you throw a mean mud ball. I really love the way you look in that bikini. I love that you want to help people, and what you’ve done for Papa Joe. It’s am
azing! I love your forgiving heart. I love...I love you, Breezy. Everything about you is more than I ever thought I ever wanted.”
The room fell silent and Connor opened his eyes. Breezy stood there, her arms crossed over her chest, her expression blank. Carson glanced over his shoulder at Connor, pleading for an explanation, but he had nothing to offer after that train wreck. He had no idea what was going to happen next, except maybe a heart attack. He absently massaged the painful knot in the center of his chest as he watched the tip of Breezy’s nose turn bright pink.
“I fell in love with you, too,” she finally said and glanced between the two of them, tears brimming in her eyes. “Both of you. I’ve loved you both for as long as I can remember.”
Connor blinked a few times, shook his head. “You have?” She had?
Breezy nodded, looking absolutely adorable. Her eyes glistened with tears as she chewed on her bottom lip in that insecure way that made him want to pull her into his arms and never let her go.
The air in the room evaporated. Connor struggled to breathe as he looked at her. “I love you,” he mouthed from five feet away, his voice and limbs paralyzed by all the crazy emotions coursing through his veins at once.
Her lips ticked up into a quivering smile. “I love you, too.”
“Darlin’, I’m so sorry.” Carson said again. “I say and do some of the stupidest things sometimes and—”
“Trust me,” she interrupted, giving Carson a warning glance as she wiped away her tears, “I’m well aware of that.”
Connor’s phone rang, but he ignored it and rushed to Breezy. He leaned in to kiss her, but she placed her hands on his chest and held him away.
“Con, wait. I have a confession of my own to make.”
Connor’s phone rang again, followed by the sound of the front door slamming. Then Carson’s phone began to chirp as well. “What the hell is going on?”
