“Have you ever noticed that when someone kicks off a sentence with no offense, they’re usually about to offend you?” Although she’d meant to deliver the words with a hearty dose of her trademark sarcasm, they came out embarrassingly soft.
Get tough, girl. The sooner, the better.
“Hey, I was kidding. I didn’t mean to offend you,” Pete said, his dark brows lowering in concern. “Is everything okay?”
Great. The last thing Ava needed was for Pete to worry about her. He’d sacrificed enough of his life doing just that already.
She worked up a smile, albeit a lopsided one, and stuffed down her churning thoughts as best she could. “Yeah, sorry. I’ve just got a lot on my plate at work.”
Not only that, but she was supposed to meet Brennan at the lake in less than an hour. Ava had waffled over the idea of canceling, but she didn’t have his number and—surprise, surprise—her online search for it had yielded bupkus. Sure, they’d had an incredible time together earlier in the week, sliding right back into the easy comfort and flirty banter that had made her fall for him seven years ago. But she had fallen then, hard, and no matter how good Ava had felt spending time with him in their little yoga session, she had no intention of being that vulnerable ever again. Being around Brennan, with those sexy shoulders and that really sexy stare, might just be too tempting. And too dangerous.
Even if the danger was sizzling hot.
“Come on,” Pete said, interrupting Ava’s dismal thoughts with a grin. “It’s a gorgeous winter Sunday in the mountains.” He made a grand gesture to the sun-drenched windows lining the mostly empty bakery behind them, the contents of the coffeepot in his hand giving a soft slosh. “You’re way too serious. Forget work and live a little.”
“Okay, who are you and what have you done with my brother?” Ava laughed, her sassy tone returning to her voice. “You never forget work. Although I have to say, my taste buds are thankful.”
She took a deep inhale, letting the earthy scent of fresh coffee and the butter-sweet smell of pastries-in-progress chip at the edges of her stress. As ugly as life got, at work or otherwise, she could always count on Pete to make her feel like things might not be so bad.
“Hmm. There are more important things in life than punching the clock. Even when you love your job.” Her brother passed off the coffeepot to the teenager who had been working behind the counter, his expression slipping back to concern as his wife, Lily, muscled an oversized tray of her famous eggnog snickerdoodle cookies past the swinging door from the kitchen at the back of the shop.
“Here, let me get that for you.” Pete rushed to slide the stainless steel tray from Lily’s grasp, placing it on the work space behind the gleaming glass display counter before steering her over to the couch across from Ava. Wow, Lily must really still be under the weather if Pete was getting jumpy over a double batch of cookies.
Her sister-in-law rolled her pretty blue eyes, planting her kitchen clogs on the mahogany floorboards with a sigh.
“Honestly, I’m fine, Pete. You don’t need to—” Lily’s protest got lost in the wake of Pete’s movements as he nudged her into sitting on the couch.
“Hold that thought. I’m going to grab you a bottle of water.”
Ava watched, both bewildered and totally amused as her normally cocky brother blazed a nonstop path to the built-in cooler behind the main bakery counter. After a quick murmur to the teen behind the register, he returned with just as much speed, cracking the lid on the plastic water bottle before handing it over.
“There you go. Lucas has us covered for a few minutes so you can take a break.”
“At least you’re equal opportunity with your coddling,” Ava said, wiggling her brows playfully at Pete. “Although really, the couch treatment might be a little extreme.”
“Ava’s right,” Lily agreed, and whoa, come to think of it, she did look pretty wiped out. She blinked, her lashes creating even deeper shadows against the dark circles under her eyes. “If I take a water break after every batch of cookies, we’re never going to get anything done around here. Especially with Christmas only two weeks away.”
Pete shook his head, pressing his palms into his apron-clad hips with an expression Ava knew all too well. “You need to take it easy,” he said, but Lily cut off his argument with a good-natured—albeit weak—laugh.
“Are you seriously going to be this protective the whole time? I give you less than a month before you end up even more exhausted than me.”
“Jeez, Lil. How long are you planning on being sick?” Ava shifted to grab her coffee cup, belatedly realizing that both Lily and Pete were exchanging twin wide-eyed, oh-shit glances.
“I told you I wouldn’t be good at this. I suck at secrets,” Lily murmured, pinching the bridge of her nose just below the frames of her slim red glasses. Pete sat on the couch next to her, hooking an elbow around her shoulders and dropping a kiss to the crown of her head.
“Don’t worry about it, Blondie. It was killing me anyway.”
Ava’s pulse pushed tight in her veins. “What’s going on, you two? Lily, are you okay?”
Oh God. Pete and Lily were the only family Ava had, and Lily really did look exhausted. If something serious was wrong with her—
“I’m pregnant.”
Ava jerked upright, her palms growing instantly slick. “With a baby?” she blurted, clapping her hands over her mouth the instant the idiocy had crossed her lips. But holy crap! The moment deserved a little craziness. Pete and Lily were going to be in charge of raising an entire human being.
Pete laughed, reaching for Ava’s hand to give it a squeeze. “Um, actually no.”
She wrinkled her nose, the hard prickle of a blush sweeping up toward her ears. “Okay, okay. I know it was a stupid thing to say, but you surprised the hell out of me. You don’t have to make fun.”
“I’m not making fun of you, Ava.” Pete sat back, brushing his palm over Lily’s denim-wrapped knee. “You were right. Lily’s not pregnant with a baby.”
The words trickled in, Ava’s brain kicking them over just a fraction too slow. “Wait . . .”
“She’s pregnant with two.”
“Oh my God, you guys are having twins?” Ava’s confusion exploded into a hard shot of excitement in three seconds flat. She might’ve been too cynical to believe that relationships could end up in true love before Pete had met Lily, but they really were the exception to the rule.
“Yeah.” Lily dropped her gaze to the dark green apron knotted over her midsection, starting to giggle. “It’s such a relief to be able to say it out loud.”
“I wanted to tell you the other day,” Pete added, sliding an apologetic glance in Ava’s direction. “But we thought we should wait until the doctor said everything’s perfect.”
Ava couldn’t pretend to be mad, not even to give Pete a hard time. She jumped from her overstuffed chair to hug first Lily, then her brother. “Everything is perfect! I can’t believe by this time next year, you’ll be parents. Twice.”
“Not only that, but you’ll be an aunt, twice.” Pete unwound from their embrace, his expression playfully stern. “And believe me, Lily and I are expecting you to take your job very seriously.”
“Please.” Ava scoffed, although the endearment was more sweet than sarcastic. “Like I wouldn’t. I’m going to be so in your face when these babies are born, you’ll both be sick of me.”
Ava’s breath clattered to a sudden stop in her lungs. Gary hadn’t minced a single syllable regarding the fate of her career if she couldn’t land a high-magnitude story ASAP. Ava had been desperate to stay close to her brother under normal circumstances, but now that he and Lily were starting a family? No way could she leave the Blue Ridge. She needed to be here now more than ever.
And that couldn’t happen if she earned herself a pink slip and a résumé full of more holes than a pound of Swiss cheese.
“Whoa, are you okay?” Lily’s hand closed over Ava’s forearm in a flash. “I know we k
ind of dropped this on you, but—”
“No, no, no,” Ava argued, trying and failing to paste a smile on her mouth. God, she had to get out of here. A killer story wasn’t just going to fall into her lap, and her time was seriously limited. “Of course I’m okay. I’m thrilled for you guys. I, ah, just forgot that I’ve got some loose ends to tie up for work, and I’m on deadline.”
“Anything we can do to help?” Lily asked.
The question sent a dual flood of guilt and determination through Ava’s chest. She couldn’t drop the ball on this assignment and be forced to leave the only family she had.
She wouldn’t.
“Nope. I’ve got to take care of this one on my own. Thanks for the offer, though.” Ava shouldered her bag with a swoop, keys jingling against her clammy palm as she plucked them from the outside pocket. “I’ll catch you guys later. And congratulations again.”
Pete frowned for just a split second before hugging her tight. “Just remember what I said about work. It’s not always the most important thing.”
Ava’s smile was stretched thin enough to ache. “You got it, big brother.”
It was the first time in their entire lives Pete had said something Ava didn’t believe.
Brennan’s gaze did a methodical three-sixty around the marina leading to Big Gap Lake for the twentieth time in as many minutes. His eyes moved carefully behind the cover of his Oakleys, taking in the snow-dusted clapboard covering the tackle shop to his left, then the narrow strip of pavement housing the cluster of wooden benches where he sat, and finally, the weathered, silvery expanse of the pier jutting out into the sparkling dark green water. The hiking trails leading out from the top of the pier were well traveled and clear despite the chill in the air, and the handful of well-bundled fishermen on the far end of the lake proved that the marina wasn’t just for warm weather.
Brennan surveyed the place, gathering details and soaking in what little warmth he could from the midday sun, yet all the while, a knot formed low and hard in his gut.
Ava was nowhere to be found, and she was fifteen minutes late.
He should’ve given her his cell phone number, he thought with a silent curse, or at the very least, gotten hers. But after how freaking easy and good it had felt to flirt with her at his apartment the other day, especially in the face of his sister’s guest list revelation and the back spasm that had accompanied it, Brennan had thought this date might end with a sizzling repeat of their earlier kiss, minus the smoke alarm.
What he hadn’t thought was that Ava might not show up.
Just as it had never occurred to him that she would run out on him seven years ago.
“Fuck it.” Brennan pushed to his feet with a hard exhale. Loose gravel from the path in front of him crunched beneath his heavy-soled winter boots as he aimed himself on a straight shot toward the parking area. He and Ava might’ve shared an incendiary kiss, and yeah, listening to her open up a little—not to mention opening up a little himself—had made him feel lighter than he had in years. But he had to be nine kinds of an idiot to have forgotten that she’d blazed a one-way trail off Sapphire Island seven years ago. She might’ve had good reasons to run at the time, but they didn’t change the facts.
She had run. And now she was running again.
Brennan crested the upward slope from the marina to the parking lot, fully intent on getting in his Trailblazer and hauling himself out of Dodge. Adrian had given him the day off, but they still might be busy enough to need an extra set of hands at the Double Shot. He could do a hell of a lot worse than put in a hard night’s work, and anyway, head down, eyes forward might give him a chance to finally figure out how to deal with Alex and Cole attending Ellie’s wedding. At the very least, an extra shift would exhaust him enough to catch a few hours of decent sleep.
Brennan dug into the pocket of his black canvas jacket for his keys as he approached his Trailblazer from the side, but a scrap of bright color caught his attention from the corner of his eye.
Four spaces down and nearly out of sight, Ava stood next to her car, wearing a cherry red scarf and the most pained expression he’d ever seen on her pretty face.
“Ava?” He took a few steps closer, his pulse going from zero to oh-holy-shit in less than three seconds. She’d said to meet her at the pier, but... “What are you doing all the way up here?”
“Hi.” She winced, as if she’d been hoping he wouldn’t catch sight of her. “I’m sorry I’m catching you late. I, uh, just came to tell you I can’t meet you today.”
Despite the absurdity of her words and the unease growing behind his sternum at her thoroughly rattled expression, Brennan gave a soft laugh. “But you’re here.”
“I know.” She let out a breath, visibly upset even from twenty feet away, and his internal radar started screeching full bore. “I just . . . I need to write a story, and . . . I really have to work.”
Nope. He’d seen enough. “What’s the matter, Ava?” Brennan slid his keys back into his pocket, covering the remaining space between them with only a few strides.
“Nothing. Nothing at all. I’ve got this covered. Everything is totally fine.”
Brennan recycled her words from the other day without thinking twice. “You say fine, and all I hear is the other F word. You want to try again?”
“No. I’ve got this. I do.” Ava closed her eyes, and when she reopened them, they were bright with tears that sent another wave of something-isn’t-right through his chest. In the entire three months he’d spent side by side with her that summer, he’d never even seen a hint that she could cry, let alone would. Ava wasn’t just tough—she was halfway to bulletproof. Whatever was rattling her had to be big.
But rather than giving in to whatever it was, she blinked angrily and aimed her gaze skyward. “Great,” she muttered. “I’m such a mess, I can’t even bow out gracefully to write a damned story.”
“You’re not a mess. And I’m not letting you bow out anyway. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and turned toward the Trailblazer, and to his surprise, she didn’t resist.
“Where are we going?”
Brennan skated a quick glance over Ava’s snug jeans and fleece-lined winter boots. Not ideal, but they’d do. “Someplace you can relax.”
She chewed her bottom lip, the doubt on her face clear as a summer sunrise as he unlocked the passenger door on the Trailblazer. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not really in the right frame of mind for another yoga session.”
Brennan pulled the door open, but instead of stepping back to usher Ava politely inside, he recklessly cut the space between them to less than a breath.
“Yoga’s nice, but sometimes you’ve got to take your relaxing to the next level. I think I can help you out with that, but you’re going to have to trust me. Now what do you say—are you getting in or not?”
Chapter Fourteen
Brennan got three-quarters of the way to his destination before Ava finally broke the silence between them.
“You really don’t need to do . . . whatever it is that we’re doing. To be honest, I meant it when I said I couldn’t meet you.”
Christ, she wore her stubbornness more comfortably than most people wore their skin. Too bad he’d gotten a glimpse of what lay beneath it, and he wasn’t half bad when it came to being relentless, either. “Actually, you look like you could use a break, so I think I do need to help you out. And I know we already covered this part, but you did meet me, remember?”
“Well, yes,” Ava said, although the agreement sounded far from a concession. “But I didn’t have your number, and it wouldn’t have been right to just stand you up. I went to the marina to tell you I couldn’t stay.”
A ribbon of guilt uncurled beneath Brennan’s rib cage. “You met me so you wouldn’t stand me up?”
“Yeah.” She lifted one slim shoulder into a shrug beneath her coat. “Why, what did you . . . oh.” Ava nodded. “You thought I wasn’t coming.”
He opened his mouth to pro
test—she was clearly having a rough day—but there was no sense in bullshitting her when she’d just call him on it anyway. “I thought you might’ve changed your mind and decided not to show, yeah. Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she said, in a way that made him believe her. “I guess I earned that with you.”
“Maybe seven years ago,” Brennan countered, realization popping him in the gut. “But I shouldn’t have assumed you’d just ditch out.” He turned off Rural Route Four, angling the Trailblazer into a tidily kept parking area he’d come to know like his own reflection.
“It’s no big deal, really.” Ava’s coal-colored brows tugged downward, her seat belt whispering over the wool of her coat as she leaned forward to peer through the windshield. “Are we at your apartment building?”
“Yes. And it is a big deal.” Putting the SUV in PARK, he tugged the keys from the ignition and got out to open her door. “You explained why you left so suddenly back then, and we promised to move on. I didn’t keep my end of the deal back there, thinking you’d skipped out with no good reason. I apologize.”
“Oh.” She stared at him for a full ten seconds before sliding out of the passenger seat. “Okay.”
“Good. Now that we got that out of the way . . .” Brennan tipped his head toward the perpendicular brick buildings in front of them, working up a smile. “Do you want to go give this a shot?”
“Give what a shot, exactly?”
That streak of vulnerability Brennan had seen on her face at the marina made a flickering comeback, dancing briefly in Ava’s emerald green eyes before she crossed her arms over her chest. But as expertly as she tried to hide it, Brennan couldn’t help but see the part of Ava that needed tending to, even if he didn’t know the particulars.
And Brennan wanted to help her, the way she’d helped him. No questions asked.
“Look, if you really can’t stay, I’ll take you back to your car. But something’s clearly bothering you. I know a way you might be able to let go of some of it, talking optional. But if you don’t want to—”
All Wrapped Up (A Pine Mountain Novel) Page 15
