My eyes jumped from him to the bag and then the coffee. It was my favorite. Just as it had been my favorite when we were together. My heart stammered in my chest.
I grabbed the bag and coffee from him. “What would you do if I said I was now a vegetarian?”
His smirk grew wide. “I’d say bullshit.”
He stepped away chuckling and moved to the mountain of boxes. I sipped on my coffee—that yes, was made to perfection—and unwrapped the sandwich. As I ate, I took in everything around me. Crazy John was laying down the plastic cover on the floor, Ben was mixing paint, and Austin was laying out the items of one of the boxes. I quickly ate the sandwich and unplugged my laptop and stored it in the office. Chucking my hair up into a messy bun, I headed toward Crazy John to help get ready to paint.
“I’ve got something to say, and I need to get it out of the way,” he announced when I crouched down next to him.
I looked at Ben and Austin briefly and watched them edge in toward us. I’d never met this man in my life, so I had no clue what he could have to say to me. “Um, okay.”
He turned around and sat down next to me. “I knew your daddy. Shared a few beers with him over the years at Hamilton’s. Great man. Great cop. A hell of a drinker. It was a big loss when we lost him. I’ve got a few stories I can share with you if you ever get to the point you feel comfortable with me and want to hear them. I know you are tight with Ben, and I’m sensing there’s something with Austin, so I’ll be around, and you’ll be around. So I’m thinking we’ll get comfortable.”
That was the absolute last thing I thought he’d say. But it was everything. I was a sponge for stories and memories people had of my dad, so this was like finding gold.
“I’d really like that,” I whispered, emotion jamming in my throat.
“Got one more thing to ask, and this is probably the most important question I’ll ever ask you.”
Okay, I take back what I said earlier. Now, I really had no clue what he was going to say. I nodded and waited for his question.
“Are you the whiskey drinking daughter?”
I laughed softly. My dad liked telling people that I could drink anyone under the table when it came to whiskey, and it would seem he’d told Crazy John at some stage. “Yeah, that’s me.”
He nodded, and his smile grew wide. “You and I will get along just fine.”
He went back to laying out the plastic, and I found Austin’s soft eyes across the room. His lips turned up into the slightest smile before he went back to the pile of wood in front of him that would become one of the four display cabinets.
Four hours later, I stood in the middle of my shop with a huge smile on my face and paint flecks through my hair. Two coats of paint were now on the walls, the mountain of boxes were now assembled furniture, and Austin had hung the signage that had arrived earlier than expected. What would have taken me days, if not a week, to get done was complete in half a day, thanks to Austin, Ben, and Crazy John.
“I cannot believe it’s done,” I said, my voice breathy as a sense of being completely overwhelmed by how good everything looked hit me. “Thank you so much for helping me.”
Ben walked over to me and wrapped his arm around my waist, squeezing gently. “It looks really fucking great, MJ.”
I smiled up at him. “Thanks, Benji. I can’t believe it’s really happening.”
“I’ve got to run. I’m heading over to pick up Gigi, and we’re going to see that new superhero movie everyone’s talking about. Never seen one in my life, but she promised me a double-layered chocolate cake if I took her. Can’t refuse a Gigi cake,” Crazy John announced while taking off his tool belt for the first time all day. Even when he was painting, he wore it with pride.
I moved toward Crazy John and wrapped my arms tightly around him and gave him a firm squeeze. I was a hugger by nature. I hugged everyone. But the intensity of my squeeze was determined by how well I knew you.
“Thank you so much for helping today. It was really great to meet you.” I smiled big up at him, genuine with my words. “Whiskey, soon?”
He winked. “Absolutely.”
“I should head off too. Gotta go see Sasha and then go grab some groceries and get back home and clean up the shit fight we left in the kitchen last night.” Ben slid his wallet into his back pocket and grabbed his keys and phone from the workbench.
“So domesticated.” I teased, still blown away at this new Ben I was seeing.
He rolled his eyes while not hiding his smile. I loved the old Ben, but this new Ben was something else. And even though I hadn’t been around for a long time, I could tell by the way he spoke about Sasha and looked at her that she was his future. What more could you ask for your best friend?
“You coming with me, or are you staying?” Ben directed at Austin who had been leaning against the workbench, keeping quiet and taking everything in.
I knew Austin had been watching me—believe me, my body knew too—but as usual, I was trying to avoid meeting his eyes as if my life depended on it. If I allowed myself to get lost in his eyes, I felt like I’d be lost forever. And that was something I couldn’t risk.
“I’m staying. I’ll help Marnie clean up.”
My head whipped around, and I didn’t avoid his eyes this time. He really needed to stop with all of this. I’d moved back to Monroe, thinking I could avoid him, or at least only see him occasionally, but now he was everywhere. Literally. Everywhere.
“Thank you, but there is no need for you to stay. I can handle it.”
Ben’s chuckle hit the air. “On that note, I’m heading out. You two can hash this out on your own.”
Ben hugged me quickly and offered Austin a chin lift before walking out and leaving Austin and me on our own. He kept staring at me, smirking, with his arms folded across his broad chest.
“What are you thinking right now?” He hauled himself up and sat on the edge of the workbench.
I looked up from the plastic I was rolling up. “I’m thinking that I’m hungry, and I’m wondering why you aren’t cleaning if that’s what you’re staying here for.”
His deep, low chuckle bounced off the walls. “Let’s clean up, and then we’ll get some food.”
Hell. No.
I shook my head. “We aren’t going to get some food.”
After moving the tins of paint and used paintbrushes and rollers into the storeroom, he came back and grabbed the plastic I’d rolled up out of my hands and took that to the storeroom as well. I waited for his response to me refusing to get food with him while watching him closely.
I didn’t know what we were. That was why I wasn’t going to get food with him. Was this our version of being friends? Acquaintances? Were we still Marnie and Austin who once shared whiskey kisses, or were we simply strangers who shared a heartbreaking past? What I knew for certain was that we weren’t two people who went and ate together on our own yet. Not now, not after everything that happened years ago, and certainly not with so many unanswered questions still lingering between us.
Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful for everything he’d done. He didn’t need to send my mom flowers over the past five years, he didn’t need to tell his parents to back off, and he didn’t need to come here and help set up, but he did. Did it make me uneasy? Yes. Did it confuse the shit out of me? Yes. Did it make me breathe a little easy? Yes.
“You’ve got to eat.”
“I can grab something on the way home.”
Just then, both of our phones dinged with a text message.
Sasha: Want to meet at the new Thai place for dinner?
I glanced up at Austin. He stared down at his phone before looking up at me.
“Missy’s for dinner?” he asked, his right brow lifting in question.
I sucked in a breath and nodded.
A look of glee took over his face, and it was then I realized Sasha had sent him the same message she sent me.
“See you tonight, Freckles.”
Shit.
Austin
Let’s be real. When I arrived at the new Thai place in town, I expected to have dinner with Marnie, Ben, and Sasha. But nope. What I got was another double date. Actually, scratch that, I got a triple fucking date.
Ben and Sasha sat across from me. Sasha looked smug, and Ben looked royally pissed off. Next to me was a pretty blonde by the name of Lisa, who’d recently moved to Monroe and worked at the local bank. On the other side of Ben was Marnie, leaning in toward Boston fucking Jacobs and laughing at something he’d just said.
Don’t get me wrong. Normally, I was on good terms with Boston. I was a cop, and he was a paramedic, so over the years, we had attended numerous scenes together. But right now, he was on my shit list.
“So, Austin, how do you know Ben and Sasha?” Lisa asked, drawing my attention back to her.
Even though my attention had been occupied by another woman and I really wasn’t into the idea of dating, I wasn’t going to be an asshole about it. I was here for Lisa, and I was going to make sure she had a good night with good food and good conversation.
Plus, I’d felt Sasha’s eyes on me since I arrived. She was watching me like a hawk, just waiting to ream my ass if I fucked this up. Yep, I was man enough to admit I was a little scared of Sasha. She might look sweet and calm, but if you screwed up, the beauty left, and the beast appeared. And I did not want to be on the receiving end of that.
I twisted in my seat slightly and faced Lisa. “I’ve known Ben since we were about five, and I met Sasha when they started dating.”
She nodded, then took a sip of her wine. “Is that how you met Marnie? Through Sasha?”
At hearing her name, Marnie stopped talking to Boston and looked across the table toward us. Our eyes met briefly before I refocused back on Lisa and her question. I shook my head. I wasn’t going to lie to her, plus I wanted Boston to know exactly how I was connected to Marnie.
“Marnie and I dated for a long time. I met her long before I met Sasha.”
Her head swiveled between Marnie and me until she nodded, and said, “Ahh okay, that makes sense.”
She didn’t seem fazed at all that my ex was sitting across from us. She just went back to talking to Sasha and sipping her wine. Boston’s low mumble was heard across the table, and Marnie went back to their conversation. I glanced across at Ben, who still looked pissed off. I had no clue what his problem was. I jerked my head to the side, signaling that I wanted a word with him in private. With a swift nod, he agreed.
“Anyone need a refill?” I asked as I stood from the table.
After taking orders from Lisa and Sasha, I headed to the bar at the back of the restaurant. This place had only opened a few months ago, but it was hands down the best Thai food I’d ever eaten. Plus, it had a bar and a cocktail area, so after you stuffed yourself silly with Pad Thai, you could go and drink yourself stupid with cocktails.
“Your girlfriend is out of control,” I muttered when Ben slid in next to me at the bar. “What the fuck was she thinking setting up Marnie with Boston?”
“She’s single. He’s single. Just like you’re single, and Lisa is single.”
I gritted my teeth and glared at him.
“If you’re so pissed off, do something about it. Talk to her. Explain yourself. Win her back. It’s not fucking rocket science.”
The good thing about knowing Ben since I was five was that he didn’t give a shit about sugarcoating his thoughts with me. He laid it out, was brutally honest and to the point, and didn’t fuck around with pulling my head out of my ass or telling me when I fucked up. And he was doing that right now. Everything he’d said was fact. There was no doubt I had to do everything he mentioned, but I also knew I had to play it safe.
In Marnie’s eyes, I’d majorly fucked up. In Ben’s eyes, he understood why I did what I did, but he still called me out for it. To this day, he still said it was the biggest mistake I’d made, but I knew it was a mistake that offered beauty to someone who deserved the world. It was a catch-22, but I’d been the one to make the final decision, and I’d live with it every day since.
“So, what’s crawled up your ass and made you all pissy tonight?” I asked him after putting my drink order in.
His jaw clenched. “Fletch is talking about pulling out of coming here for Christmas, and I’m the one getting the calls from Mom and my aunt and uncle about talking him into coming home.”
“How’s he doing?”
With one look from Ben, I knew his cousin Fletch wasn’t doing good. Before the Hamilton drama went down, we’d worked a case involving an undercover cop by the name of Jacqueline. She and Fletch had something serious, but Jacqueline got caught up in some serious shit with the case she was working, and she was targeted and brutally gang-raped. The asshole who masterminded it was now six feet under but some of his associates were still on the loose, so she was currently in witness protection with a new name and new identity. Fletch had no clue where she was or how she was doing, and he was left to pick up the pieces.
“Let’s go see him. We can check on him, and make sure he’s doing okay, and not thinking of doing anything stupid. And we can tell him to get his ass to Monroe for Christmas.”
“Yeah, we should definitely do that. On the next couple of days we have off, let’s head to Michigan.”
The tension in his jaw eased only slightly, and he still wore his pissed-off expression, but it was a more relaxed pissed-off expression that Ben was infamous for. Without another word, he left the bar and headed back to the table while I waited for the drinks.
“So, you and Marnie?” Boston asked after sliding up next to me and taking the space Ben had just occupied.
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye while handing the bartender some cash for the drinks. After placing the change I received in my wallet, I looked at Boston.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of history between us.” I turned my body toward him. I had a couple of inches over him, and I used it. I wasn’t the kind of man to bullshit, so I laid it out, deciding to make my intentions crystal clear. Marnie might not want to hear or believe it, but Boston sure as hell needed to know. “I want her back, and I’m not going to stop. I respect you, so I’m laying it out for you. You want to pursue Marnie, that’s your choice, but I’m not stopping until she’s mine again.”
He gave a sharp nod, his jaw clenching slightly, but enough for me to notice.
“You seem pretty confident that you’re going to win her back. She seems set on keeping a wide distance between you two. She’s barely said two words to you tonight.”
I glanced back at the table, and sure enough, Marnie’s eyes were locked on Boston and me. They didn’t budge. Instead, they narrowed on me as if she knew we were talking about her.
“I’ve got to redeem myself in her eyes, and I won’t stop until I do,” I revealed, still staring at Marnie. Then I looked at Boston. “That’s where I stand.”
He took a long sip of his beer before nodding. “Well, I’m doing you a favor because it’s looking like I’m heading back to Tennessee next year, so I won’t be pursuing anything serious. But if she asks or wants to meet up again after tonight, I won’t say no.”
Now it was my turn to clench my jaw. “Fair call.”
He clinked his glass with mine before heading back to the table and back toward Marnie who still watched us closely. When he slid in next to her, he stole her attention.
After grabbing my own beer and Lisa’s and Sasha’s glass of wine, I turned from the bar and made my way back to the table and took my seat. Conversation flowed easily across the table. I listened to Marnie answering Boston’s and Lisa’s questions about her travels and plans for her shop, I watched Sasha’s eyes dart back and forth between Marnie and me, and I felt Ben’s boredom radiating off him.
Our starters arrived, and while we ate, the conversation moved to our plans for Christmas. Sasha and Ben were staying in Monroe, Boston was heading home to Tennessee, and Lisa was going o
n a family vacation to Hawaii. It was Marnie’s plans that got my attention, though. This would be the first Christmas in seven years that we were both in Monroe. Over the years, the Lavenders had either gone to where Marnie was living, or she’d come home. And every time she came home, I’d been out of town spending Christmas with Ashlyn on the East Coast, so our paths never crossed.
“I’m staying in Monroe. Mom’s putting on a big Christmas feast,” Marnie smiled at the thought of what her mom would prepare. I’d spent enough Christmases with the Lavenders to know that any feast Lola Lavender prepared would be a feast of mammoth proportions. “It’s the first time we’ve had Christmas together at home for a couple of years, so Mom’s going to go big. I should probably start prepping my stomach now.”
“We should all do Christmas drinks,” Sasha piped up, and my eyes went straight to Ben who was fighting a smile.
Here we go again.
“How about we get through tonight before you start planning any more get-togethers?” Ben muttered, and Sasha immediately shot him a look that screamed: “Shut it.”
I chuckled before biting into a spring roll. Across the table, Marnie’s eyes met mine, and she smiled briefly at Sasha’s outrageousness. Over her shoulder, I zoned in on Andrea Johnson, my mother’s supposed lawyer and the woman she fantasied about me settling down with, walking in with her eyes locked on the phone in her hand. My gaze followed her until she took a seat at a vacant table toward the back of the restaurant. She hadn’t looked up from her phone, and now her brow remained tight as her fingers tapped furiously on the screen.
“Be back in a second,” I announced before pushing back from the table and moving toward Andrea, who continued tapping on her phone, totally oblivious to the full restaurant around her.
I pulled out the vacant chair opposite her and took a seat, linking my hands and resting them on top of the table while I waited for her to acknowledge my existence.
My Only Reason (Men of Monroe Book 2) Page 12