Smile Like You Mean It

by S. J. McCoy

  “It is, and not a road I expect to see you go down.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not. I’m just under a bit of pressure at the moment.”

  “I thought you thrived on pressure?”

  “In the world of business, I do. Pressure in my personal life is a new development for me. And I’m not handling it too well. Or so I’ve been told.”

  Gabe rolled his eyes. “Oh, I see. If you’d told me that to start with, I’d have a beer with you, or a bourbon.”

  Pete laughed. “You too, huh?”

  Gabe shrugged. “Not exactly. It’s just, well, the same as you, this is all new territory to me, and I don’t seem to be navigating it too well.”

  “That’s because there’s no frigging roadmap, my friend.”

  Gabe had to laugh. “You can say that again.”

  Pete looked him in the eye. “Want to grab a booth and trade war stories?”

  “I’d love to. Maybe we can help each other figure it out.”

  “Maybe, but I think that’s a long shot.

  An hour later their plates were cleared and their glasses were empty. They were still sitting in the booth, talking. Ben stopped by. “More drinks, gentlemen?”

  Pete looked at Gabe. “What do you think?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Why not.”

  “So what are you going to do?” asked Pete. “I don’t know how you can live in that old place.”

  Gabe shrugged. “What choice do I have?”

  “Go for the big romantic gesture and buy her a wonderful new house?”

  “I don’t think so. I think that would go down like the proverbial lead balloon.”

  “Do you?”

  He nodded. “She’s already told me how she feels about her place, how she doesn’t want to rush it. And I do understand that. It’s just that I’m going crazy in that old shack while she figures it out.”

  “So buy a new one. Maybe it’ll help her make the decision to move on.”

  Gabe wasn’t so sure about that. “Yeah, and maybe it’ll just piss her off. There’s nothing around here that I’d want to buy anyway. I’d have to build. Part of me hopes that she’ll let me tear her place down and build something new out there. That’d be a win-win.”

  “Or you could buy her the newest, best, high-end property in the whole county.”

  Gabe raised an eyebrow. “Are you pitching me, Hemming?”

  Pet grinned and nodded. “The first phase is nearing completion out at Four Mile. There’s one house down on the lakeshore that would be right up your street. I know it.”

  “How do you know it?”

  “Because we have the same taste. It’s the best property in the whole development. I’d love it myself. You should come take a look. I was thinking about using it as a show home, but, if you want it, I’ll sell it.”

  Gabe shook his head. “There’s no point looking, she won’t go for it.”

  “You don’t know until you try. She might love it, she might love you all the more for it, and, if she doesn’t, then you’ve got a great investment property. Hold onto it for a few years and you’ll be laughing. You know that’s true, because you’re the one in charge of growth around here. Property prices rise proportionately to growth, so you’ll determine your own gains.”

  Gabe thought about it. The investment part made sense, but presenting Renée with a fait accompli on something so big as a house—when she wasn’t even comfortable using his rental car? That made a whole lot less sense.

  “I don’t know, Pete. I really don’t want to upset her.”

  Pete blew out an exasperated sigh. “Yeah, I can understand that. What is it with women? They love it when you take charge, swoon when they consider you to be the alpha male, and then consider you to be complete asshole when you don’t do it exactly how they want it?”

  Gabe smiled. “I wish I knew. If I figure it out, I’ll let you know.”

  “Thanks.” Pete downed the last of his beer. “The way things are going, I don’t think I’ll ever figure it out.”

  Gabe checked his watch. “Well, I wish you luck. I wish us both luck, but, for now, I’ve got to get going.”

  Pete punched his arm as they stood. “What’s up? Afraid to be late getting home?”

  “No! It’s not like that.” It wasn’t, was it? It was because he wanted to be home when Renée got there, not because he thought he’d be in trouble if he wasn’t. Part of him wanted to rebel against even the possibility. “Email me the details on that house would you?” It wouldn’t do any harm to look into it.

  Pete grinned. “Sure thing, bro.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Renée smiled when she saw Ethan’s face pressed against the window. He was adorable. He spotted her and waved, then turned back to call over his shoulder before coming in.

  “Hi, Miss Renée.”

  “Hello, Ethan. How are you?”

  He nodded. “I’m okay, thanks. Me and Meggie are taking Ollie for a walk, but Meggie’s stopped to yack, so I thought I’d come see you.”

  Renée laughed as he eyed the cupcakes in the display case. “Come to see me, or come to see the cupcakes?”

  He grinned up at her. “Both?”

  She nodded. “Do you think Megan would mind if you had one?”

  He shook his head. “Not at all.”

  Renée hoped he was right as she reached him one down and handed it over. “There you go.”

  “Thanks!” He bit into it and smiled up at her as he munched. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Of course, what would you like to know?”

  “Can I call you Auntie Renée?”

  That wasn’t what she’d been expecting at all. “If you want to, yes.” She’d always wanted to be an aunt, but hadn’t thought she would since Eric was an only child. If this little guy wanted to call her that, she’d love it.

  He grinned. “Good. So when are you and Uncle Gabe getting married?”

  Oh good grief! She’d thought he meant call her Auntie Renée in the same way he called her Miss Renée. She hadn’t made the connection to marrying his uncle! “Who says we are?”

  “Well Uncle Gabe wants to, and that’s how you get to be my auntie. Auntie Kenzie is Meggie’s sister. Uncle Chase is going to marry her, so he gets to be my uncle-forever. And you’re going to be my auntie because you’re going to marry Uncle Gabe.” He stared at her as if it was all so simple and she must be a little bit slow to not understand.

  She didn’t know what to say. Gabe had moved in with her, they’d talked about having a life together, she thought of him as her future, but marrying him? Hell, she wasn’t even divorced.

  April surprised her by coming to the rescue as she emerged from the kitchen. “Ethan, sometimes we grownups take a little longer to figure things out than you do.” She smiled at Renée. “We’re not as dumb as you think we are; we just have more things to think about so we don’t get through them as quickly.”

  Ethan nodded. “I noticed. But,” he turned back to Renée, “what do you have to think about? You love him, he loves you. He’s living at your house even though he doesn’t like it. So why don’t you just get married?”

  How the hell did he know Gabe didn’t like it at her house? That made her heart hammer in her chest, and for once, it wasn’t in a good way. What had Gabe been saying—and to whom—that Ethan would know about it? She recovered quickly. “Well, did you know that I’m already married?”

  Ethan’s eyes grew wide. “You are? Where’s your husband then? Does Uncle Gabe know?”

  She couldn’t help laughing; the kid was so smart in some ways, but he was just a kid. “Of course he knows. My husband,” she hesitated, “isn’t around anymore. We haven’t been together for quite a long time now.” She realized how true that was as she said it. “But legally, we’re still married. I have to get a divorce before I could even think about marrying someone else.”

  “Uncle Gabe’s a lawyer. He can figure out the legal stuff for you.”

  Re
née had been hoping that he might at least help out with some connections, but that hadn’t happened. “I think I need to figure it out for myself.”

  “Well can you hurry up about it? I want you to be my auntie.”

  “I’ll do my best,” she said with a smile. She looked up as the door opened. “Hi, Megan.”

  Megan smiled. “Hi.” she stood in the doorway with her dog outside pawing at her legs and whining. She looked at Ethan. “What are you up to?”

  Ethan gobbled down the last of his cupcake and grinned at her. “I just came to see Auntie Renée.”

  Megan gave him a stern look, “And to see what goodies you can get?”

  He shook his head, feigning innocence. “Nope, not me.”

  Megan sighed and looked at Renée. “What do I owe you?”

  “Nothing.”

  “See, I told you,” said Ethan with a grin. “Thanks, Auntie Renée.” He winked at her and headed for the door. “Come on, Ollie. Let’s go, boy.” Megan handed him the leash and he trotted out.

  “He had a cupcake. I hope that’s okay?”

  “It’s fine by me,” Megan said. “I just hope he wasn’t harassing you? He’s fixated on expanding his family at the moment. He’s already got Kenzie and Chase down to babysit once a week, and you seem to be next in his sights.” She popped her head back out the door to check on him. “The poor little guy missed out on having family around until he came to live here, and now he’s trying to make up for it.” She gave Renée an apologetic smile. “He just doesn’t realize that it’s not as simple as he thinks it should be.”

  “It’s not a problem. He’s great.” Renée thought about it for a minute. “And I wonder if it’s not really as simple as Ethan thinks it is. As grownups we let all kinds of stuff get in the way. Maybe he’s got the right idea, and we just make it too complicated?”

  Megan smiled. “Maybe. Anyway, he’s off. I’d better catch up with him.”

  “Bye,” Renée called after her.

  The sound of the buzzer on the oven had her hurrying into the back to get the bread out. Ethan had given her a lot to think about. Gabe wanted to marry her? Was that something Ethan had heard him say? Or just an assumption on the kid’s part? And he also knew that Gabe didn’t like living at her house? She fumed quietly over that one for a minute. That could hardly be Ethan making assumptions. Gabe must have said something. She set the bread to cool and pushed her hair out of her eyes. Then she took a deep breath. She didn’t even like living there! Why should she be mad at Gabe for it? She had to admit she was hardly being fair. The place was rundown, and she’d bet he was used to living in some luxurious apartment in New York. But what could she do? She felt as though she needed to live there for a while. The last couple of weeks had brought back so much. She felt as though she was making progress—especially after their lunch with Chance. He’d seen what she’d been doing and had laid it all out for her. She was going through a healing process. But she wanted to do it in that house. It felt necessary somehow. She shook her head. She’d figure it out. She’d talk to Gabe about it. They needed to clear the air between them, even if he didn’t know it yet. She’d been resenting him for things he wasn’t aware he was doing. And he’d even said he felt as though she didn’t want him as a partner. She did. She just didn’t know how to make that work yet. If they were going to be true partners, then they needed to work it out together, talk about it all. Maybe tonight they’d be able to.

  ~ ~ ~

  Gabe smiled when he heard Renée pull up. For all his frustration over living in this house, he’d meant what he’d said—he’d rather be here with her than anywhere else without her. He’d had a busy few days between spending time out in the community, getting familiar with the players, and the issues that were important to them. He’d made time to make a couple of purchases though. The first one he was going to tell her about tonight, and, the second, he was going to work up to slowly. He didn’t need to spring it all at once. He wanted her to understand—not get mad with him.

  “Hey beautiful,” he said as she climbed the porch steps. He loved that smile!

  “Hi. You really mean that, don’t you?”

  “I do.”

  She laughed. “You have strange taste, but I’m glad you do.”

  He closed his arms around her. “Strange taste? I have exquisite taste.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and pecked his lips. “Gabe, look at me. I am far from beautiful, and I know it.” She ran a hand through her wild hair and made a face at him. “I have a wild mane,” she grinned, and arched her body against him, “a fat ass, and a heavy build.”

  He closed his hands around her ass. “This is not fat,” he said, giving it a squeeze. “It’s perfect. Just like the rest of you is perfect. You’re a natural beauty.” He pulled her hips against his. “You’re not heavy, you’re real, and I love you.”

  “Real?” She laughed. “A real mess is what I am.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not arguing about it, you’re beautiful. And, my beautiful, how do you feel about going out for a drive this afternoon? We rarely get chance to go out anywhere together. I thought we could head out, circuit the lake, be home in time for dinner.” He gave her ass another squeeze. “And an early night.”

  She smiled up at him. “That sounds like fun. Give me a few minutes to freshen up?”

  “Sure. Whenever you’re ready.”

  A few minutes later she came back out. “You know, I haven’t done an entire circuit of the lake since I came back.”

  “Me neither. I thought it’d be fun.”

  “I haven’t even been up to the North end in years. Have you?”

  Gabe nodded. He didn’t want to admit that he’d been to Four Mile Creek a couple of times in the last few days. “Shall we take your car?”

  She made a face. “You mean the rental car that you really need to return?”

  He shook his head, hoping this would go well and wouldn’t ruin the rest of the day. “No, I mean your car.”

  He held his breath while she stared at him. He read people well, but he was having a hard time keeping up with the conflicting emotions rapidly crossing her face. After what felt like minutes, she blew out a sigh and then smiled at him. “Thank you. There are so many other things I’d like to say, but we’d just go round and round, rehash the same old stuff and eventually reach this point. So, you stubborn man, for now, I’ll just say thank you.”

  He grinned. That was a whole lot better than he’d hoped for. “You’re most welcome. And thank you. For understanding.”

  “Understanding what?”

  “That I love you. That we’re starting a life together, and that that means sharing.”

  She nodded. “We need to talk about a few things though don’t we?”

  He nodded. “But not right now. Let’s get on the road, make the most of what’s left of the afternoon?”

  “Okay, but at some point we need to talk.” She grinned, “And don’t worry, some of it is me wanting to apologize for being so stubborn.”

  “That’s okay I…”

  She laughed and wagged a finger at him. “Don’t get carried away. Some of it is wanting you to apologize for being so stubborn, too!”

  He grinned. “Fair enough. We’ll get to it, all of it. But for now let’s get going, shall we?

  She handed him the keys. “Yep, but you’re driving. If that’s my car, then you’re my chauffeur.”

  Gabe started to question himself as he drove up the Eastern shore. Was he crazy? She’d accepted the car more easily than he’d expected. But the house was a whole different ball game. That wasn’t simply about accepting what he could buy and she couldn’t; it was all tied up with her leaving her childhood home. He may not be the most sentimental of people, but he could understand how important that was to her.

  She reached over and squeezed his hand. “You’ve gone all serious on me. What’s up?”

  “Nothing.”

  She laughed. “Gabriel Morgan
! Aren’t you the guy who always claims he doesn’t say anything he doesn’t mean?”

  He pursed his lips. “Okay, you got me.”

  “So, what is it?”

  “Do you want to stop at the new Phoenix development?”

  She frowned at him, but said nothing.

  “They’re going to be great investment properties.” He smiled. “Especially with the town having a new Development Manager. I hear the guy they hired is pretty awesome.”

  She gave him a grudging smile. “He is. Let’s go take a look if you want to. Honestly though, I don’t see why anyone would want to live in a development like that. The beauty of this place is that you don’t have to live elbow to elbow with other people, you can find your own little spot and have some peace and privacy.”

  Okay, she was telling him without telling him, that she wouldn’t want to live there, but at least she was open to going to have a look. He shrugged. “Everyone’s different, and wants different things at different stages in their lives.” He wasn’t going to risk overtly stating that when she’d worked through whatever she needed to in her childhood home, she might love the idea of living out here, in a brand new house on the water’s edge, with every modern convenience at her fingertips.

  She nodded. “And you can make the most of that by buying yourself an investment property, right?”

  “Yep.” There was no point pushing it. Not for today, anyway. They could just look around, maybe the place would sell itself to her.

  ~ ~ ~

  Renée came out and plopped herself down in the rocker next to Gabe on the front porch. He’d been edgy ever since they’d looked at the house at Four Mile this afternoon. She didn’t like that, she wanted things to be good between them, relaxed like they had been before he moved in here. She turned and smiled at him, but his face was tense.

  “It really is a beautiful house.”

  He nodded. “It is. It’s the best spot in the whole development. I didn’t realize that they were building down on the waterfront like that. I thought that strip was just for the park and community boat launch.”

  “Well, what were there? Four houses down there?”