“Hey baby, just give me a second,” she murmured, still not looking up from her phone. “I swear to god this client will not leave me alone. I’ve said no to her repeatedly about a bogus claim she’s trying to make, but she just won’t quit.”
I coughed, and her head flew up, her eyes bulging wide.
“Austin Hart?” She gasped, her fingers freezing on her phone screen.
“Hey, Andrea, how you doing?” I smiled wide, leaning in. “Long time, no see.”
“Jesus, you scared me. I was expecting Julia.”
Oh yeah, Andrea was happily married to her wife, Julia, and has been into women for as long as I can remember. My mother not only believed she could make me fall out of love with Marnie, but she also thought she could make Andrea miraculously like men. Yep, my mother was as delusional as they get.
“You two doing good?”
Her smile answered my question without her having to say a word.
“Happy for you, Andrea.”
“We are working on expanding our family. Just need to find someone we trust to donate the missing link.” Her eyes twinkled, then narrowed on me. “You wouldn’t be interested, would you?”
Did she really just ask me to donate sperm and father her and her wife’s child?
I smiled, my voice turning low and gentle. “I wish I could help you two out, but the only children I plan on fathering will belong to the stunning brunette sitting at the table in the corner. I wish you loads of luck, though. You’ll make a great mom. Both of you will.”
She laughed softly, her gaze quickly darting to the table where Marnie sat. “Thank you. I hope so. And it was worth a shot asking you. So you and Marnie? Back on?”
“I’m working on it.” I winked, then leaned in. “I’m actually here to talk about her.”
She leaned in also. “Would this conversation have anything to do with your mother as well?”
It had everything to do with my mother.
“You’re representing her?” Having known Andrea for years, I knew she was a straight shooter and didn’t fuck around, so I got straight to the point.
She huffed loudly. “I was. But I’m not anymore. I did it as a favor for my dad, but I’m sorry, Austin, your mother is batshit crazy.”
This didn’t come as a surprise. I’d grown up with the woman.
“She sent Marnie a text saying her legal team was going to force her out of the shop she’s signed a lease for. When I confronted my parents, Dad had no clue what I was talking about, and Mom said you were her lawyer and the head of her legal team.”
“She did not!” she hissed, her mouth going tight. “Do you have a copy of the text? I want to see it.”
“Hang on. Give me a sec, and I’ll get Marnie over here so you can see the original.”
I made my way back across the restaurant, only stopping when I stood next to Marnie’s chair. She looked up at me with hesitant eyes. The conversation around the table stopped, and everyone turned their attention to me, but I focused on Marnie.
“I need you to come with me. Bring your phone too.”
“Why?” She wiped her mouth and placed her napkin next to her plate. Even though she was asking why she was doing everything that told me she was coming with me.
“The text.”
Her eyes shot wide before she fished out her phone from her purse without further question.
“What’s going on?” Ben asked as Marnie pushed her chair back and grabbed her glass of whiskey as if she knew she was going to need it.
Marnie smiled at Ben. “I’ll fill you in after, Benji.”
She followed me back toward Andrea, who watched us closely with an expression I couldn’t quite read. It could be intrigue, but it could also be understanding. Hell, it could even be irritation.
“Marnie, do you remember Andrea?” I asked, pulling out a seat for Marnie before sliding back into the one I’d previously occupied.
A smile hit Marnie’s face that was both shy yet friendly. “Yes, hi.”
“Hey.” Andrea smiled back.
“Can you show Andrea the text you received from Mom?”
She nodded once, then tapped into her phone, opened up the text message, and slid it across the table toward Andrea. She read the text, her brow pinching, and the groove between her eyes deepening as every word sank in.
She blinked rapidly, then looked at Marnie. “Do you mind if I send this to my phone and email?”
“Sure, no worries,” Marnie replied quickly, averting her eyes to me quickly before looking back at Andrea.
Andrea’s phone vibrated on the table, indicating a new text, and the swoosh of an email sounded before her phone vibrated again. Andrea handed Marnie back her phone, then double-checked to make sure she got what she needed.
After storing her phone in her purse, Andrea leaned in, linked her fingers together, and gave Marnie her undivided attention. “Firstly, welcome back to Monroe. Secondly, I did not advise Austin’s mother of any of this ridiculous information, and as I said to Austin before, I worked for her about a year ago on a minor matter before she even believed she could become mayor of Monroe. And thirdly, I am going to send her my own letter, informing her that if she continues to use my name and character in correspondence like this, then I will be the one seeing her in court.”
“So this is all fake? I’m not going to lose my shop?” Marnie asked in disbelief. “She’s just doing this to mess with my head?”
I sat in silence with my elbows resting on top of the table and my chin resting on my hands. Thank fuck Andrea was here. Hopefully having this conversation would help put Marnie’s mind at ease, and she could move forward with opening her shop without the fear of something happening hanging over her head.
“Did you sign a lease?” Andrea questioned, and the firm tone in her voice and direct questioning indicated she’d gone into full-blown lawyer mode. “Was there a contractual agreement signed by yourself and the owner of the building, which outlines terms and conditions, including the length of lease and agreed rent?”
“Yes, I signed the lease for two years. I have a signed copy at home, and the owner of the building has a copy also. I also met with the previous owner, and she gave me her blessing. I’m sure that doesn’t mean anything legally, but it meant a lot to me.”
Andrea grabbed Marnie’s hands and gave them a squeeze. “You aren’t losing your shop, and this is a bogus threat. She has no grounds to do this and seeing as she mentioned I was her lawyer, I can confirm that is a load of bullshit.”
I continued to focus on Marnie as Andrea spoke. She sucked in a deep breath, her eyes remained locked on Andrea, and the more she revealed, the more tension eased out of Marnie’s body, allowing her to finally relax. There was no way this hadn’t been bothering her. You didn’t send a text to the man you’d been trying to avoid—knowing full well that he’d come to you—if it didn’t bother you. She might have been trying to lie to me when she said she didn’t expect me to turn up, but there is no way she didn’t realize I’d be there.
She was so close to fulfilling her dream, so of course, my mother had to step in and try to fuck it up.
Marnie’s attention turned to me. “Does she still believe you two are destined to be together?”
I smirked, enjoying the change of conversation and the fact that she chose to initiate it with me. “Apparently so. She mentioned it when I visited her after you showed me the text.”
Andrea threw her head back and chuckled loudly. “Austin, I adore you, truly, I do, but I neither like nor do cock, and I am very happy with my wife.”
Marnie snort-laughed, and it was the cutest fucking thing I’d heard in a long time. I crossed my arms over the chest and continued staring at her. Her cheeks flushed pink, and her eyes dropped to the table.
“How about you, Marnie? Single? Married? Dating?”
My eyes sliced to Andrea. What the fuck was she doing? The grin she wore told me she knew exactly what she was doing. She was trying to make me squir
m, and she wanted to find out where Marnie stood. Not only did I have Sasha setting me up on dates and Cora asking about my relationship status, now I had Andrea interfering.
“Uh, right now I’m single, but my sister and, I guess, now Sasha seem hell-bent on me dating, so who knows.” She laughed nervously. “My shop is my focus at the moment, though. And thank you again for putting my mind at ease. It’s a huge relief.”
Andrea opened her purse and pulled out a business card. Between her pointer finger and thumb, she held it out toward Marnie.
“If they approach you again regarding this, or if they make any more bogus claims, call me, and I’ll take care of it for you. Plus, I want to know when you open. I have a wife who likes flowers, so I’m sure I’ll be coming in a lot.”
Marnie pinched the business card from Andrea’s fingers, and her eyes ran over the words on the glossy black card. Her smile reached her eyes when she looked back at Andrea.
“Thank you so much, and I will, for sure.” Her smile didn’t leave her face, but it slightly fell when she briefly looked at me. “I better go back. I’m, um, here with someone, so I don’t want to be rude.”
She pushed back from the table and stood, giving Andrea another smile.
I watched her rush back toward Boston, who beamed at her when she sat back down next to him. I only stopped glaring at him when I heard Andrea chuckling across from me.
“You’ve got some serious work ahead of you to win her back.”
My fingers sliced through my hair, and groaning, I said, “Believe me, I know. She’s making that perfectly clear.”
“I’ve never known Austin Hart to back down from a challenge.”
My smile grew wide. “Who said anything about backing down?”
Andrea’s wife arrived at the table shortly afterward, and I took that as my cue to head back to the table. I’d already spent too much time away, and I was a shitty date even though that wasn’t my plan. When I sat back down next to Lisa, she grinned at me before going back to her conversation with Sasha. She didn’t seem pissed off at all. Seriously, in another life and another time, she would have been everything I wanted in a woman; sweet, beautiful, great at conversation, and could hold her own. But she wasn’t Marnie, and Marnie was everything I wanted.
“So, I’ve got to admit something to you,” Lisa spoke quietly next to me after we’d finished our main meals. As usual, the Pad Thai did not disappoint.
I twisted in my seat to face her and gave her my full attention.
“I’m not over my ex, and he is coming into town next week,” she blurted out. “I should have told you earlier.”
I leaned in slightly. “I’ve been sitting here enjoying the fuck out of your company, and in another time or place, I would have made it my mission to get your number, take you home, and work my ass off to make a woman like you mine. But I’m not over my ex either, and she’s been sitting across the table from us all night.”
Her face grew soft. “That’s kind of obvious, and women’s intuition tells me she’s not over you either, but you’ve got to play it easy. Don’t go all alpha male on her.”
I finished the rest of my beer, smiling into the glass. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
After we both revealed that we were pining over our exes, the conversation continued to flow easily between us. She filled me in on her ex, who sounded like a good guy, and she asked me for suggestions on places she could take him to try to win him over to make the move to Monroe. My attention remained on her for the rest of the night, and even though I wasn’t going to admit it to Sasha for fear she’d get another crazy idea to set me up with someone else, I actually had a really great night.
After paying the check, the six of us headed outside at the end of the night. I had to stand by and watch Boston give Marnie his number, and then put her number in his phone. Since Boston and Lisa were heading in the same direction, they jumped in a Uber together, which left me, Marnie, Ben, and Sasha.
“Fuck, it’s cold.” Ben groaned. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Can you two give Marnie and me a minute?” I requested, more than asked.
“I’ll go warm up my truck. Come on, sweetheart,” Ben grabbed Sasha’s hand, and after a little protest from Sasha, they walked toward Ben’s truck.
Marnie wrapped her arms around herself, pulling her jacket tighter. She was getting a lift home with Ben and Sasha while my truck was parked around the corner.
“Are you into Boston?” I got straight to the point and asked the question I wanted the answer to all night.
She scoffed, shaking her head. “That’s really none of your business.”
I took a step toward her, getting right into her space. “You’re my business, Marnie, so yeah, it is.”
Her eyes flashed with annoyance, and she let out a frustrated breath, which looked like a stream of smoke when it hit the chilled winter air. “I’m really not, Austin. I’m no one’s business but my own. And I am really fucking okay with that. You said no to me once, and now it’s time for me to say no to you. So, no, Austin. It’s not your business who I do or don’t date. No, it’s not your concern about what’s going on in my life, and no, you don’t have to keep playing Prince Charming and saving the day when there’s a problem.”
My jaw clenched, and I knew it was time to make my intentions crystal fucking clear. Yeah, she probably wasn’t going to like what I had to say—actually, I knew she wouldn’t like it—but I was a man of my word, and I did as I said.
I moved so I stood in front of her. I needed her to see my truth. I needed her to see my face and eyes and every spray of emotion I was planning to give her.
“You’ve been the only good thing in my life, Marnie Lavender, and you being back in town feels like my shot at a second chance and to make things right between us. This time, I can guarantee you I will not fuck it up. I’m doing right by you, and I will not give up until you give me your love again. My priority will be to make you fall in love with me time and time again.”
“Austin...” She breathed, and I watched for a moment as her walls crashed to the ground. The walls I’d built with my own two hands. The walls I knew I was responsible for.
I leaned in until my mouth hovered near her ear. Her body shuddered against me as she sucked in a desperate breath. Then I showed her all my cards and made my intentions crystal clear.
“Game fucking on, Freckles.”
Fifteen
Marnie
Game on, Freckles.
What the hell did that mean? Austin’s words had been trampling through my head since we had that weird triple date, or dinner, or whatever we were calling it a week ago. I hadn’t seen or heard from him since, and I didn’t want to believe that it bothered me, but it did, and I didn’t like that it did.
“You all right, honey?”
Mom’s voice shook me out of my thoughts, and I found her looking at me with worried eyes. How long had I been zoned out for?
Surrounding me on the floor was an endless supply of glitter tree ornaments, brightly colored tinsel, and a tangle of fairy lights. It was officially time to decorate the Christmas tree, and for this first time ever, I had my very own Christmas tree to decorate. I had plans to go way over the top, and I would have absolutely no regrets.
I’d woken up this morning to a car horn blaring as it pulled up in front of my house. The scowl on my face at being woken up early disappeared as soon as I opened my front door to find Trent and Taylor untying a humungous Christmas tree that practically swallowed Trent’s truck. I shrieked and clapped excitedly, then bolted out toward them in the almost freezing weather wearing just my pjs, no shoes, and with crazy bed hair.
After manipulating the lush, gorgeous green pine tree through the front door and grunting and cursing in the process, they’d set it up for me in the corner next to the fireplace. Then we all stood back and admired its beauty before they said their goodbyes, leaving me to text Mom and Cora with the news it was time to decorate.
; Mom and Cora arrived an hour later with bags and boxes of decorations, and we got to work.
“Yep, I’m okay,” I answered Mom’s question as I placed a purple glitter star on the tree.
The intensity of her eyes burning into me from behind caused me to turn and face her. I offered her the best smile I could, but I knew she wouldn’t buy it because it didn’t reach my eyes.
“Everything okay with the shop?” she pressed, walking toward me. She took the empty spot on the floor next to me and sat down. Then she looked at me, and I sucked in a nervous breath. Her slight frown and gloomy eyes could only be described as fearful. “Are you still happy to be home?”
Her question gutted me. I’d been away for so long, and I knew the fact I chose to stay away played on Mom’s mind. But Monroe wasn’t just Austin, it was also Dad. And everywhere I looked, I saw Dad, and my heart just couldn’t cope.
Now that I was back, I drove past the police station where Dad took his last breath every single day. From my shop, I had a clear view of the hospital in the distance where doctors had worked tirelessly to save his life. And the park where my family would spend Mother’s Day and Father’s Day was where I sometimes had to park my car. Dad was still everywhere, but I’d never get to see him again.
I scooted closer to Mom and linked my hand with hers. “I’m ecstatic to be home, and I have no plans on leaving again. This is where I want and need to be. I promise.”
The fear started to leave her face, and in place of her frown, a hint of a smile appeared, and softness replaced the gloom in her eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” I smiled, and this time, I felt it hit my eyes. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
As Mom opened her mouth to speak, Cora came barreling into the living room with a tray of hot chocolates and fresh cookies. Christmas carols were playing, and all three of us were covered from head to toe with glitter.
Cora held out my mug toward me but held it just a little away from me. “Is there something you need to tell me?”
My Only Reason (Men of Monroe Book 2) Page 13