“I said forget it,” Chase snapped.
Frustration surging through her, she turned the car down Main Street.
Chase scooted up in the seat. “Where are you going?”
Beth tapped the brakes. “I’m going to the restaurant. Where else would I be going?”
Chase leaned forward. “I want to go home,” he said, his voice higher.
When her grandmother passed away, Beth had moved out of her little cabin at the camp and into the house with Chase. Beth shot a glare at him and then forced her eyes back to the road. “To do what? Sit on the couch all day and watch television? No way. This is punishment. Not a vacation. Remember?”
Chase let out a long groan. “What am I going to do at the restaurant?”
Tension sat like a lead ball in her stomach. “You’re going to help me. You’re going to work. It was crazy this morning, and I’m behind because I got called in to the principal’s office.”
Chase slammed back against the seat. “And you’re going to pay me?”
She glanced at her brother and back to the road. “You’re joking, right?”
Chase mumbled something under his breath she couldn’t understand, which was probably for the best. Hearing it would probably lead to another fight. “Can’t I just walk home?”
Beth pulled into a parking space and jammed the gearshift into PARK. The walk to the house wasn’t far, only about twenty minutes, but she wasn’t letting Chase out of her sight. “You need to stay here with me.”
Chase flicked his head back, flinging his long hair out of his eyes. “You’re glad I got suspended so you can make me work.”
Beth’s tired muscles sank into the upholstery. Fighting with Chase sucked all the energy out of her. “That’s ridiculous. Why do you say things like that? I don’t want to fight with you.”
Chase opened the door but left his fingers on the handle. “I’m fifteen. I’m fine. Let me do my own thing.”
She opened her mouth, but no words escaped. Before she could respond, Chase huffed out of the car. The door slammed so hard the car shook.
Heat crawled up Beth’s neck to her face. Her grandmother would have known the perfect thing to say to Chase. She always did. She handed out wisdom like the hard candy she carried in her purse.
Beth took a slow, deep breath as Chase stomped into the restaurant. She closed her eyes, buried by the feelings of inadequacy. When Beth stepped inside the café, several people sat scattered throughout the booths and tables even though it was three in the afternoon. She watched as Chase disappeared into the kitchen. Beth went through the motions, walking from table to table greeting guests, thanking them as they congratulated her on the restaurant and smiling as they complimented the pie.
Brendan walked into the restaurant and sat at a bar stool at the counter. Beth’s shoulders drooped. She didn’t have the strength to deal with him today. Allowing Brendan to stay in the apartment last night had been a mistake. She already had too much stress in her life.
As she wiped down a table across the room from Brendan, she tried to keep her gaze from drifting back to the crisp line of the haircut on his neck. She blinked, moving her eyes away and back to the table.
Cassie had told Beth he had become a big success as a photographer. In high school, most people knew him for his tough, thrill-seeking exterior, but Beth had known a softer side of Brendan.
Brendan had always resisted authority, kind of like her little brother. The comparison made her stomach turn. Surely Chase wouldn’t start getting into the same kind of trouble Brendan had. Fighting was bad enough. Brendan’s rebellion had ended in the tragic accident at the bridge over Bison Creek. She couldn’t let something like that happen to her little brother. She shook off the thought.
Her brother came out of the swinging kitchen door. He cut himself a piece of pie and sat at the counter with it. It would be best to wait until they were at home to try to talk to him again about the fight. “After you finish that, will you go to the kitchen and see if you can help with the prep for dinner?” Beth asked.
Chase picked up his fork. “Fine.”
Fine. Nothing was fine right now. Everything was topsy-turvy, and there wasn’t anything she could do to make things right. Her head ached as her grandmother’s words buzzed inside it. “Promise me you’ll take care of your brother. It’s going to be difficult for both of you. Cling to what’s important.”
Beth was hanging on with all her strength, but it wasn’t easy when Chase wrestled to let go.
She made her way down the lunch counter. “Already back for another slice of pie?” she asked Brendan as she pretended to be unaffected by his presence in the restaurant.
Brendan’s face was relaxed, watching her. “I need to ask you about something.” He licked his lips. “I need somewhere to stay for a while, and—”
“Uh-uh.” Beth shook her head. She should have expected this. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Unnerved, she fumbled to grab a plastic pitcher of sweet tea and turned to walk away.
Brendan jumped out of his seat and walked on the other side of the counter parallel to her. “I know I said it would only be for one night, but my situation changed.”
Beth squeezed the handle of the pitcher, and it dug into her palm. At the kitchen door, she stopped and spun around. The damp pitcher almost slammed into Brendan who was right beside her. “I thought you were going to stay with your family.”
Brendan motioned for her to follow him into the kitchen and led the way through the door. Oscar’s eyes followed them as the flattop sizzled. Beth’s skin tingled when Brendan placed his hand on her elbow. He walked her to the corner of the kitchen by the buzzing refrigerator and freezer. She turned around, and Brendan lifted his eyebrows. “Connor is moving in with my parents until the wedding.”
The low rumble of conversations and the clink of forks against plates filled the air between them. Beth set down the pitcher and put her hand on her hip. “Why don’t you stay with your parents, too? Your mom would love that.”
His shoulders were relaxed, but the lines around his eyes revealed his desperation. “That’s what Connor said, but it has been so long since I’ve been back. I’m nervous about jumping back in with both feet. Which is why I also wanted to ask you about Cassie’s party tomorrow.”
She looked toward the dining room, but he had her cornered. Beth gathered her hair and lifted it from the back of her burning neck. “Cassie’s birthday?”
Brendan glanced up at the ceiling tiles and back to her with a deep breath. “I thought you and I could go together.”
Everything slowed as she tried to process what Brendan suggested. “I don’t understand. Why would we go together?”
The creases between his brows deepened. “It will be the first time in years I see my brother and some of my other family. I think if I’m there with you it might diffuse things a little. Make it easier for them to swallow.”
Her plate was too full for this. “What does Will think about you being at the party?”
He pointed a thumb in the direction of the door. “Cassie’s working on that.”
Beth crossed her arms as her present world collided with her past. “You talked to Cassie today?”
Brendan shrugged. “Yes. All you’d have to do is help me lessen the tension a little with the rest of the family.” He stared at her with a pleading gaze.
She could feel her resolve slipping, but she shook her head. “I don’t want to be in the middle of this, Brendan. It’s not my place.”
She moved beside him, opened the refrigerator, and pretended to search inside. He put his hand on her shoulder and gently turned her around. She sighed and avoided his piercing eyes.
“I want to make things better, Beth. I know I’ve hurt them, but I’ve changed.”
Beth crossed her arms. “How have you changed, Brendan?”
He looked down and rubbed his fingers across the back of his head. “God has shown me how selfish I’ve been. I’m really trying to do
things for Him. I guess that’s why I’m here.”
Beth pursed her lips together. He sounded sincere, and the Overmans had been so kind to her, especially when her grandmother passed away last year. They were part of her church family. She desperately wanted them to be able to work through their issues.
But of all times for Brendan to walk back into her life, this was the worst. Right now her focus had to be taking care of her own responsibilities. She’d promised Nana, and she didn’t have time for distractions. She shook her head. “I’m glad you’re trying to make amends with your family. I really am, but I can’t get involved.”
After surviving so many broken promises in her life, she didn’t want to let her grandmother down. She would keep her head down and stay out of Brendan’s drama.
Chapter 4
Beth slammed the door of the industrial oven and spun the dial on the plastic timer as the fluorescent lights flickered overhead. Everyone had loved the pies, and the restaurant had a steady flow of customers all day, but Beth wished Nana had been with her to see it. Beth only had to wait for her pies to bake and to finish the rest of the prep for tomorrow and she could put the first day of the restaurant behind her.
Brendan’s motorcycle roared in the alley. Her stomach lurched again at the prospect of dealing with him. Beth stuck her head into her office, and Chase looked up from the novel he was reading. “I just sent everyone else home for the night, but I need to finish up some things before I go. Why don’t you get started on your schoolwork? You have to turn in all your assignments when you go back to school.”
Chase flopped back in the desk chair. “Yeah, but I won’t even get full credit for it. Besides, that stuff is so boring.”
She walked around the old desk and ducked down to see his face. “Taking summer school would be boring, and retaking sophomore classes would be boring. You’re going to have to learn to buckle down eventually.”
He slammed his book closed and rolled his eyes.
Beth exhaled a long, slow breath. Her patience was as thin as a page from Chase’s novel. “If you’re not going to work on your schoolwork, can you go sweep and mop the dining room so we can get out of here sooner?”
He blinked at her.
She cocked her head. “Chase, please.”
He had lived with their grandmother long enough to know his way around the restaurant.
The desk chair squeaked as he stood. “Whatever,” he said as he passed her by.
She closed the door and collapsed in the chair. The light from the single bulb in the room pierced straight through her eyelids like a spotlight. A knock on the door made her open her eyes, but her head rebelled by throbbing more than before. “Come in,” she managed.
Brendan stepped in the doorway. “Beth?”
She stiffened.
He pulled his mouth into a tight line. “I wanted to say I’m sorry that I tried to get you involved in my mess. I know you have more important stuff to deal with right now.”
Not able to conceal the shock of an actual apology from Brendan, she sank back in her seat. Maybe he had changed. “I appreciate that.”
“I’m not usually so …” His eyes closed like the word was too painful to say. “Needy. Something about being back here makes me a little crazy.”
Beth squinted her eyes, trying to concentrate through the pounding in her head.
Brendan stared at her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said, but she couldn’t kid anyone. She felt lousy. She’d been trying to ignore the headache, but she should have expected it with all the stress.
Brendan crossed his arms. “You don’t look fine.”
Beth pulled open a sticky desk drawer. “Thanks a lot.”
He propped his arm on the door frame. “I didn’t mean it like that. You know you’re gorgeous.”
Even with the headache, the compliment made her stomach flutter. She pulled out a bottle and fumbled with the childproof cap. “I will be fine after I take a few of these.”
“What are those for?” Brendan asked.
The bottle opened with a pop. “It’s just a headache.” Only headaches were never “just a headache” for Beth. They normally sent her to bed with the blinds drawn and a piece of tape over the glowing face of the alarm clock. “I get them every so often. It will pass.”
Brendan sat in one of the two wooden chairs with the rounded armrests and the seats covered in brown vinyl. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She put both of the pills on her tongue at once and took a sip of lukewarm water to wash down the bitterness. “I’m sure. Stress triggers my migraines. I just need to wait on my pies to bake and clean the kitchen for tomorrow.”
She tried to relax the wrinkles on her forehead. “I’ll be fine.” Inside, the panic was setting into motion because of everything that needed to be done before she left for the night. The headache had just been a dull ache when she’d sent the staff home, but it was quickly turning into a raging migraine.
Brendan moved to the edge of his seat. “I can help you.”
Beth laughed and instantly regretted it because it caused her head to throb with more force. “How would you help me?”
Brendan’s chin tilted down. “Are you kidding me? I did everything here. I cooked. I waited tables. I bussed tables. I could definitely finish things up here for the night.”
Beth rubbed her thumb and forefinger across her eyes. “Sure. You did all those things fifteen years ago.” When she opened her eyes, Brendan’s softened expression stared back at her. In a flash, she saw the old Brendan—the one she had known before the accident. Before everything had gone wrong. She sank back in her desk chair. “Why would you do this for me after I told you I wouldn’t help you?”
His head lowered for a moment, and he looked back up at her. “You’re doing a good thing here—reopening the restaurant. This place holds some of my best memories. I want to help.”
His eyes pierced hers. The pain in her temples was beginning to spread like a band around her head. “My brother, Chase, can help you.”
Brendan stood and held out his hand to her. “Why don’t you two go home and get some rest? I’ll handle things here by myself.”
She took his hand, and he pulled her out of the chair. “No way. I just need fifteen minutes to sleep off this headache while my pies bake. I’ll be upstairs on the couch.”
Brendan gave her that charming smile that had always led to trouble in high school. “Of course you will.”
Was she actually leaving the restaurant in the hands of her untrustworthy ex and her little brother who had been suspended from school? Beth pointed at Brendan. “And you’ll come and get me when my timer goes off. I’m serious.”
Brendan turned her around, her hands hanging limp at her sides. He took both shoulders and walked her out of the office and toward the door to the stairs at the back of the kitchen.
Beth’s head swam. “But I …” As much as she wanted to protest, the fog in her head wouldn’t allow it.
Brendan’s warm hands squeezed her shoulders, and he leaned close to her ear. “Trust me.”
Brendan slid a tray of dishes through the dishwasher and held his hand on the handle as the water rushed through the metal box.
A few days ago he had been taking photographs in a Bolivian mission. It was an adventure, a world away from washing dishes in his hometown. At least being in Wyatt Bend would give him more time with Beth. Even with all the places he’d visited and the exciting people he’d met, Brendan had learned no one compared to Beth. He hadn’t appreciated her like he should have when he’d dated her. He’d been a cocky kid without anything to back it up.
A teenager with shaggy brown hair hanging in the corners of his eyes slammed down a tray of half-empty coffee mugs on the stainless-steel counter beside Brendan. “Do you work here?”
Brendan wiped his wet hand on his jeans and thrust it toward Chase. “I’m Brendan, an old friend of your sister’s. You must be Chase.”
T
he boy stared at him. “Where is my sister?”
Brendan rolled up his damp sleeves while glancing at the boy from the edges of his sight. He decided not to question the cut above the teen’s eye and the bruise on his cheek. “She’s not feeling well.”
One of the boy’s long arms hung down in front of him, and his hand grasped his elbow. “So we have to finish the work while she fakes being sick?”
Brendan rolled the tray of dishes out of the dishwashers. “I don’t think she’s faking, man. She looked pretty sick to me.”
Chase shrugged. “Whatever.”
Brendan grabbed the hose and nozzle hanging from the sink and sprayed the mugs. A mist of water flew up toward them. Chase turned around and walked away from the sink. Brendan dropped the nozzle and followed the kid in the ripped jeans and faded T-shirt to the pantry. Chase took a small, yellow bag from the shelf and opened it. He took a chip out and pointed it at Brendan. “So what are you doing here?”
Brendan liked this kid. He was brooding, but Brendan could relate to the teen. “I offered to help out tonight because your sister’s sick.”
Chase crunched a chip in his mouth.
Beth had her hands full with this one. “So how is your sister? She seems pretty stressed out.”
Chase stared into his bag of chips. All his weight shifted to one side of his body. “She’s always like that now.”
Brendan straightened cans of tomatoes on the shelf. “Does she have a boyfriend?”
The edge of Chase’s lips rose in a sneer. “No way.”
A woman like Beth probably had men lining up for her. “Why do you say it like that?”
“She used to date all kinds of losers,” Chase said. “But none since she moved into our grandma’s house with me.”
A wave of relief ran through Brendan. The way Jimmy had swaggered around the restaurant with his badge and holster, Brendan feared he and Beth may have been involved. He should have given Beth more credit. “Do you think we should finish up the dishes first or mop the kitchen?”
Chase chomped on another chip. “Neither. I vote we do nothing.”
Canyon Weddings Page 32
