After we all said our goodbyes, Cooper followed me outside. He grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. “Hey, are we cool?”
I sighed. “You shouldn’t have done that to Kieran. You know that, right?”
“Okay, I might have gotten a little bit carried away.” He pinched his fingers together to show a small amount. “A tiny bit.”
“You got a lot carried away.”
He widened his fingers to about an inch apart. “This much?”
“Why are you such a child?”
He grabbed me in a bear hug and crushed me against his chest. “You love me. You know you do. Don’t even try to deny it.”
I laughed, then coughed when he squeezed me tighter. “Cooper!”
“Say it,” he said, still squeezing. “Say you love your brother.”
“Okay, okay. I love my brother.”
“Which one?” Squeeze. “Say I’m your favorite.”
I was laughing so hard through compressed lungs I could hardly talk. “You’re my favorite.”
“Who is?”
“You are, you brat. Now let go. You’re smothering me.”
Cooper finally let go of his death grip on me. God, he was strong.
He was also right, if I was being honest. Maybe it wasn’t cool to admit to having a favorite brother. I loved Roland and Leo. But I’d always been closest to Cooper.
“Come on.” He put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed—gently this time. “I’ll walk you back.”
The gravel crunched beneath our feet as we walked from the Big House toward the guest cottages.
“Gracie’s pretty cool, don’t you think?”
Leave it to Coop to give her a nickname in the first two minutes. “Yeah, she is.”
“Is it weird for you? Obviously it’s weird in general. I don’t know how the fuck a guy hides a family for so long. But is it weird to suddenly have a sister?”
“Yeah, a little bit. But it’s kind of cool, too. I don’t know if I could handle more older brothers.”
“And how could anyone compete with me? Let’s be real.”
I laughed, then stopped in my tracks. There were plants in front of the cottage that hadn’t been there when I left earlier. Some were freshly planted in the dirt beneath the front window. Others were in large ceramic pots on either side of the door.
“What on earth?”
Cooper stopped next to me, a mischievous half-smile on his face.
“Did you do this?”
“Yeah. We put some Agastache over there. They bloom all summer and smell amazing, plus they attract hummingbirds. I added some Dalea purpureum, too. They’ll produce purple blooms, but the best part is the way they add nitrogen to the soil. It’ll help keep everything over here healthy. The pots have tuberous begonias. Those flowers are legit. They’ll bloom like crazy starting in the spring. Really bright colors.”
“Oh my god, Cooper.”
He dug his toe in the dirt, looking a little sheepish—which was pretty endearing, coming from him.
I held out my arms and he wrapped me in a big hug. That was Cooper for you. He didn’t bring flowers, he planted gardens. When he loved, he loved big.
“Thanks, Coop, they’re beautiful. But when did you do all this?”
“A magician never reveals his secrets.” He winked.
For a second, I thought about telling Cooper what had happened with Chase this morning. But I decided against it. I had absolutely no idea what it meant, if anything. It would only get Cooper all riled up.
I was riled up enough. All I could think about was Chase kissing me. His lips. The scratch of his stubble against my skin. The way he’d pinned me against the wall. If Roland hadn’t interrupted us, what would have happened?
Kissing my brother’s best friend was not a good idea. But I couldn’t help but wonder—and imagine—what it would be like if he did it again.
Eight
Chase
The text from my mom was unexpected. It just asked if I could stop by, but I wondered what was going on. I didn’t talk to my parents very often. Weird, because they lived about a mile from me, in the house I’d grown up in. But we’d never been a close family. In fact, it had been at least a few months since I’d seen them.
But she had texted. And as I drove to their house, a sense of dread formed in the pit of my stomach. I hoped they didn’t have bad news. Maybe we weren’t close, but I didn’t want anything to be wrong. The whole thing felt ominous, like life was about to pull the rug out from under me.
I pulled up in front of their house and got out of my truck. There was a For Sale sign with Sold in bold letters across the front of it. Were they moving? What the hell?
My mom answered the door dressed in a blouse and slacks. She’d never been much for casual clothes, even on weekends. Her eyes flicked up and down, and I could feel her irritation at my t-shirt and worn jeans. “Were you at work?”
“No, it’s Sunday.”
She glanced at my hands. She always did that. Looking to see whether they were dirty, like I was still three years old and likely to get smudges on her furniture. Without saying anything else, she stepped aside so I could come in.
“What’s with the sign?” I gestured outside, then closed the door behind me.
Mom kept walking back to the kitchen. Their house was about forty years old, but they’d done two extensive remodels, so the finishes were all modern. She liked things bright, so everything was light-colored. Off-white walls, white kitchen cabinets, beige floors. After I’d moved out, she’d bought all new furniture—all the white and pale pastel things she’d wanted but couldn’t have with a kid living in her house.
“We sold the house.” Her voice was matter-of-fact, like the sign out front should have given me all the information I needed.
“Yeah, I can see that.” I stopped at the entrance to the kitchen. “When?”
“It sold a few days ago.”
I leaned against the door frame. “Did you find a new house? I had no idea you were thinking of moving.”
My dad walked in and gave me the same once-over that Mom had at the front door. “Chase.”
“Hey, Dad. You guys are moving?”
He opened the fridge and took out a bottle of Perrier. “Yeah. The house took about a month to sell, but we finally found the right buyers.”
Their house had been for sale for a month? “Um, that’s good I guess. But what made you decide to sell?”
“We’re relocating to Nevada,” he said.
I stared at both of them while they went about their business in the kitchen, like nothing had happened. “You’re what?”
“Relocating to Nevada,” Dad said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“When did you decide this?”
Dad screwed the cap back on his bottle of sparkling water and glanced at Mom. “Six months ago? I’m retiring and turning over my practice to Dr. Yong.”
I was so stunned, I just gaped at him. My dad was a dentist; he’d owned his dental practice in town for over thirty years. They’d never once told me they were planning to leave Echo Creek. I’d always figured they’d retire here. They’d lived in this house since before I was born.
“Close your mouth, Chase,” Mom said.
“Sorry if I’m freaking out a little bit, but you just told me you’re moving to Nevada, and I had no idea that was something you were thinking about.”
They glanced at each other, like they were confused.
“I didn’t think I needed to run it by you,” Dad said.
“That’s not what I meant. Were you going to tell me?”
Mom gave me that same look, like she had no idea why I was upset. “We just did.”
“But you put the house up for sale a month ago, and you didn’t bother to mention it?”
“Chase, I have no idea why you’re reacting this way,” Mom said. “It isn’t as if you live here.”
“No, but you’re moving out of state. That’s a big deal.”
D
ad laughed. “It’s Nevada. That’s what, a two-hour flight? You’re acting like we just told you we’re moving to South America.”
“Chase, you’re an adult with your own life,” Mom said. “You haven’t lived with us for years.”
“That’s not my point.”
Mom sighed. “Then what is your point?”
I glanced around at the pristine white kitchen. The marble counters, shiny appliances. The perfectly placed décor. Their house looked like something out of a magazine, or a home design show. Not a place where real people lived. There weren’t any photos on the walls, not even of them. Never had been. Certainly none of me.
I was an adult with my own life. Why did I care? “Never mind.”
“We’re downsizing to a condo, so we’ll need you to clear out the rest of your things,” Mom said.
“My things?” I’d moved out literally the day after high school graduation. Really, I hadn’t lived here for months before that. It had never been official, but I’d crashed at Cooper’s so often, I’d basically stopped coming home. But after we’d graduated, Mrs. Miles had let me live in one of their guest cottages for a while.
“There are a few boxes in the back room,” Mom said, gesturing down the hall. “If you don’t want them, just take them to the thrift store, or the dump. But we don’t have room for it.”
I didn’t know what stuff they would have kept—maybe it was just some random junk I’d left behind. I’d haul it back to my place and figure it out.
“Okay, whatever. What’s your new place like?”
A glimmer of impatience flickered across Mom’s face. It was subtle—a tightening of the skin around her eyes. But I knew it well. “It’s beautiful. New construction.”
“Sounds nice.”
“It is,” she said.
“How soon do you leave?”
Dad put his sparkling water back in the fridge. “The movers will be here to do all the packing tomorrow. Then on the road by Wednesday.”
Holy fuck. They really were leaving. And they hadn’t told me.
I took a deep breath, trying to bury the ache that wanted to reach up and grab me by the throat. “Sounds like you have a lot to do. Where’s my stuff?”
“In the spare room,” Dad said.
Neither of them asked if I needed a hand, so I just went to the back bedroom. It had once been mine, but not long after I’d moved out, they’d converted it into an exercise room. Mom had a TV, a treadmill, and a bunch of yoga stuff. They’d put in big mirrors along one wall and wispy lavender curtains in front of the window.
Two moving boxes sat in the center of the room. They looked odd in the tidy space. I opened them and poked around the contents. It was mostly trophies and medals, stuck in the boxes in a haphazard heap. There were a few bent certificates, the corners creased or torn. The second box had a folded blanket that I didn’t remember—blue and green stripes—and set of sheets that might have been mine.
I didn’t really want any of it. The trophies and medals were meaningless. Who cared if I’d been a sports star in high school—what had it mattered? It wasn’t like my parents had cared. They’d mostly just gotten on my case about my grades. But they hadn’t been big on going to my games or matches. They were always too busy with work. Their careers had been their priority. Me, not so much.
I thought about leaving the boxes here, but decided to take them. I didn’t have much use for a bunch of old stuff, but they obviously didn’t want to take it with them.
After I loaded up my truck, I said goodbye to my parents. It was the weirdest feeling. I had no idea when I’d see them again. They were leaving in just a few days, and neither of them mentioned coming to visit, or inviting me down to see them.
I wondered if they’d bother.
Seeing my parents never left me in the best mood, but today was worse than usual. I felt like shit. I kept trying to move past the feeling of inadequacy—to give up caring—but it wasn’t easy. Sure, I had other people in my life. I had Cooper, and his mom treated me like another son. I had friends, and plenty of people who had my back when I needed them.
But a guy should be able to count on his parents. And I’d never had that.
Our apartment was quiet when I got home. I hauled the boxes upstairs and shoved them in a corner. A trip down memory lane didn’t sound so great. I’d figure out if there was anything in them worth keeping later.
We had beer in the fridge, but I didn’t bother with one—wasn’t in the mood. I rifled around, looking for something to eat, but I wasn’t hungry. I was bored. Restless.
Cooper was gone for the next week and a half. He was out at another vineyard in Walla Walla where Salishan sourced some of their grapes, helping with a late harvest. Shitty timing. He had a way of making it easy to forget when I felt like this. He’d come up with something crazy for us to do. Like the time we brought five hundred dollars in quarters to the arcade and spent them playing every video game imaginable with a bunch of kids. Or when we wanted a beach party, so we hauled truckloads of sand to an empty field over at Salishan. That had practically turned into a luau.
Although, truthfully, it wasn’t Cooper’s company I was craving. I was thinking about Brynn.
I hadn’t talked to her yet. I needed to. The longer I waited, the more awkward our next conversation was going to be. I’d kissed her, then bolted at the first sign of a Miles brother. Not that anyone would blame me. I’d grown up with those guys, and they were fucking scary when they wanted to be.
But I wasn’t going to let that deter me. What I was feeling for Brynn was too big.
I needed to wait to make a move with her—talk to Cooper first. Anything else was a dick move, and I wasn’t going to play it like that. But I should probably still talk to her. I’d kissed her, and I needed to address it.
Plus, after the shitty visit with my parents, I wanted to see her. Even being in the same room with her would feel good.
At the very least, I wanted to make sure she and I were okay. I hated the idea of her being mad at me. And I’d probably confused the hell out of her with that kiss. I’d bring a movie—see if she wanted to hang out. No hidden agenda. I’d keep my hands to myself, hard as it was going to be. Nothing that would get me in trouble with Cooper.
When he got back, I was going to sit him down and have a little chat. But in the meantime, I was craving Brynn so badly, I could practically taste her.
Nine
Brynn
It had been a long day and I was exhausted. I flopped down onto the couch, pointedly ignoring all the boxes I still needed to unpack or move into storage.
I’d been working in the tasting room today while an event was going on in another part of the Big House. Zoe had been there, but had needed to leave. Poor thing had started throwing up, so we’d sent her home. Jamie, one of the winery employees, had come in, and I’d offered to help as well, so the event had gone fine. But it had made for a long day and my feet were killing me.
There was a knock on my door and I glanced up. It was probably my mom. She was more likely to come over than text or call, now that I lived here.
“Just a second.” I sat up and quickly fixed my ponytail before answering the door.
But it wasn’t my mom. It was Chase.
“Oh, hey.”
My breath felt trapped in my throat. I hadn’t seen him since he’d kissed the hell out of me, just a few feet from where I was standing. My heart started to pound at the memory of that kiss. God, it had felt good.
“Hey.” He glanced down, and if I didn’t know better, I’d have said he looked shy. But this was Chase. He wasn’t shy. “Are you doing anything tonight?”
“Um, no.”
He held up a movie case. “Want to watch a movie?”
I took the movie out of his hand. Ten Things I Hate About You. I raised my eyebrows.
He took the movie and looked at it. “Maybe it’s dumb, but I like it. I had kind of a shit day and it always makes me feel better. Puts me in a good mood,
you know?”
I laughed. “Yeah, I can just imagine you and Coop hanging out to watch this together.”
He grinned, that crooked smile that was so damn cute. “Yeah, right. Actually, I probably should have sworn you to secrecy before I showed you the movie. If Coop finds out I have this, he’ll never let me live it down. I’m still paying for giving Zoe my copy of Beauty and the Beast.”
“Beauty and the Beast?”
“What? It’s a good movie.”
I laughed and stepped aside so he could come in. For a second, I wished I was wearing something cuter than a t-shirt and pair of leggings. But somehow, it didn’t seem weird with Chase. I had no idea what was happening between us—if anything—but I didn’t feel like I had to try too hard. Like I could just be me, and that was enough.
I’d never felt like that with either of the guys I’d dated at school.
He set a grocery bag down on the kitchen counter and pulled out a few things.
“What did you bring?”
“Snacks.” He held up a package of microwave popcorn. “Movie night, so, you know.”
“Perfect.”
He took out a bag of M&Ms, but put them back in the bag. “Sorry, these are for Zoe.”
“Zoe?”
“Yeah, I owe her chocolate from a while ago.” He put the popcorn in the microwave and turned it on. “Want to get the movie ready?”
“Sure.”
I put the movie in and turned on the TV. Chase finished up with the popcorn and brought it to the couch.
“Why did you have a bad day?” I asked.
He took a deep breath and his brow furrowed. “I went over to visit my parents. I guess they’re moving. They sold their house already.”
“You didn’t know?”
“Nope.”
“Where are they moving?”
“Nevada.”
“Wait, Nevada? I thought you were going to say they’re moving across town. They’re moving out of state, and they didn’t tell you?”
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