The Clarke Brothers (Complete Series)

by Lilian Monroe

  “Oh, I don’t take sides.” There’s a sparkle in his eye and I raise an eyebrow.

  “No?”

  “No. I just do what’s best for the town.”

  “Right.”

  “Just so happens you, your brothers, and I agreed on that particular occasion.”

  “Lucky for us.”

  “Lucky for us,” he agrees with a grin. “Come on, cheer up, Ethan. What’s bothering you? I haven’t seen you this moody since before your girlfriend came to town.”

  “Moody!”

  “Yeah, you moody fucker,” he chuckles, clapping me on the back again. “Worse than my mother-in-law.”

  “Couldn’t be that bad.”

  “Gettin’ close!”

  I laugh, finally, and Bill looks triumphant. I finish my beer and wave for another one, and soon Bill and I are as comfortable as we’ve always been. I don’t think about Margaret, or Zoe, or anything. It’s just me and my buddy, having a beer on a Friday evening. It’s nice.

  He starts telling me about the teenagers he caught spray-painting the bridge just outside of town.

  “Those little fuckers are quick, let me tell you,” he says, shaking his head. “But I was quicker. Thinkin’ of changing my name to Usain.”

  I laugh. “Sheriff Bolt has a nice ring to it.”

  Bill winks at me and I shake my head. Maybe he’s right, maybe I have been moody. Ever since Margaret McCoy came to town, I’ve been worried about her motives. Maybe my moodiness was why Zoe thought I didn’t like Audrey and her mom.

  “So what do you figure about Margaret McCoy coming back?” Bill says almost too casually. My jaw immediately tenses and I stare into my glass.

  “I don’t know what’s she’s up to, but I don’t like it.”

  Bill grunts in agreement. “What do Mara and Dominic think about it?”

  “They’re tolerating it, I think. She’s playing the grandmother card with the new baby.” I take a deep breath and shake my head in frustration.

  Bill grunts again. We both take a sip in silence.

  “You think she’ll cause trouble?” Bill asks.

  It’s my turn to grin. “You’re the Sheriff, Bill, you’ll sort her out if she does.”

  He laughs again. “Fuckin’ right I will.”

  The door at the entrance of the pub opens and I see both my brothers walk in. I wave them over and they nod, heading toward Bill and me. Soon, the four of us are drinking and laughing like old times. By the end of my third beer, my shoulders relax. I didn’t know my eyebrows were drawn together until the tension in my forehead is gone.

  Aiden tells a story about Dominic when we were kids, and soon the two of them are jostling with each other semi-playfully. Harold throws ice cubes at them from behind the bar.

  “Cut it out, you savages! If you break another one of my chairs, I swear to God…”

  Aiden laughs and puts Dominic in a head lock. “We’re just playing, Harry.”

  “Well, play somewhere else,” he says, throwing another ice cube. Dominic laughs and extricates himself from Aiden’s hold. He finishes his beer and nods at Harold for another one. Harold purses his lips but grabs another glass and pours a fresh drink. There’s a gleam in his eye when he puts the glass down in front of Dominic.

  Before I know it, Dominic makes a move to leave. “Got to get home to the baby,” he says, and Aiden follows his lead with a grunt. Bill isn’t too far behind.

  Soon, I’m left on my own. My thoughts drift back to Zoe. All three of them–Bill, Aiden, Dominic–they all have wives and kids to go home to. And here I am, staring at half a glass of beer.

  I’d love it if Zoe were here with me, or if she were at home when I got there. I’d love to wake up next to her every morning. And the more I get to know Audrey and Bernie, the more I like them. I never thought I’d date a single mother but having them in my life has made me change the way I think.

  I finish the last of my beer and pay Harry before pushing myself up off the bar stool and heading out the door. For the rest of the night, when I walk home and lie in bed, all I’m thinking of is Zoe.

  My brothers love Zoe, their wives love Zoe. Everyone in town seems to have taken to her. Without either of us noticing, she’s become part of this community. She’s become part of my life.

  I turn over in bed and look at the empty space beside me, wishing she were here.

  If she accepts the position, and she and Audrey and Bernie move to Lang Creek, they’ll need a place to stay.

  I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Would she… would she want to move in with me? The thought fills me with fear and excitement and makes my heart feel like it’s almost too big for my chest. When I open my eyes again, I stare at the ceiling and feel my lips pulling up into a smile.

  It might be the beers, but I don’t think it is. I want Zoe to be part of my life. I want her here beside me. I want her to move in with me, and I want to watch Audrey grow up. I want to have Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with Bernie and my brothers. Having Zoe beside me feels like the most natural thing to ever happen, and the thought of living with her feels right.

  I’m not sure when it happened, but somehow, I feel like I’ve gained a family with them. I sigh and turn over in my bed, stretching my arm out to where Zoe would be if she were here.

  I’ve turned into a big softie, that’s what’s happened. I just never thought it would feel this good.

  29

  Zoe

  “Do you have everything you need, Audrey?” I ask, throwing an apple into her lunchbox and zipping it up. She appears in the doorway between the bathroom and the bedroom, backpack on and shoes tied.

  “I’m ready! And don’t worry, Mom!” She says. “I’ll be fine.”

  “I know you will, monkey,” I say, handing her the lunchbox and walking with her to the hotel lobby. I’ve started viewing apartments and houses around town for us to move into, hoping to get out of this hotel room by the end of the week. I don’t have many options, but Katie and Mara are helping me contact people who might have a place for us to rent. There isn’t much in the way of real estate agents in this town.

  Audrey skips along beside me and we wait at the bus stop together. I check the time on my phone, anxious to see the big yellow bus coming around the bend. Another mother with her child appears, and Audrey looks a bit apprehensive, and my heart squeezes.

  The little boy looks at her and smiles. “Hi.”

  “Hi,” Audrey responds.

  “I like your backpack.”

  “Thanks,” she says. “I like yours, too.”

  “It has a secret pocket–look!” The boy says, showing off his bag proudly. Audrey laughs and soon she’s engrossed in a conversation. I smile, and for the first time since I got this promotion, I feel like I might have made the right decision. Audrey seems to like it here, and she hasn’t mentioned the mean girls at her old school in Seattle since she left.

  I nod to the mother and smile, watching my daughter and feeling my heart swell. Before long, the bus comes around the bend and I send her off. I let out a big sigh as the doors close and Audrey waves at me through the window.

  “The first day of school never really gets any easier, does it?” the other mother says. I glance at her and chuckle, shaking my head.

  “Sometimes I think it’s easier for them than it is for us.”

  “Oh, there’s no question about it,” she laughs. “It’s absolutely easier for them.”

  By the time I get to work, my nerves seem to have calmed down. They’ve given me an office in the back of the building to go along with my promotion, and I’m starting to contact other rangers in the area. I’ll have a couple National Parks to look after in this job, which means more work than I’ve ever had before.

  A soft knock on the door makes me look up. Sandy looks in, smiling.

  “Morning,” she says, and her stern features soften. “How’s the new office?”

  “It’s perfect, Sandy, thank you,” I reply.


  “You settling in okay?”

  “I… actually, yeah. Audrey went off to school today, and my mother is down in the next town doing a pottery class. I think they’re finding this easier than I am.”

  Sandy chuckles. “That’s always how it is.” She stares off through the window for a moment and then turns back to me. “I heard you were looking for a place to stay,” she says. I glance at her, eyebrows shooting up. I nod. “Well, I don’t have anything for you and Audrey, but I do have a one-bedroom cabin on my property. I’ve rented it out once or twice, but mostly I just use it for family who come to visit. I know you said your mother likes gardening, and there’s a little veggie patch out back. She can come have a look to see if she’d like it.”

  Sandy is glancing at me with her eyebrows drawn and she’s wringing her hands in front of her. She looks almost nervous and my jaw drops as my heart grows in my chest. The thoughtfulness of the townspeople here will never cease to surprise me. I smile and dip my chin down.

  “I think she’d like that,” I respond. “I’ll let her know tonight and we can set up a viewing.”

  Sandy smiles, and I wonder how I ever thought she was stern. “It would be nice to have another woman my age to talk to,” she says. “Bernie seems wonderful.”

  “Thank you, Sandy,” I say. When she turns around and leaves my new office, I lean back in my chair and let out a big breath. Lang Creek is feeling more and more like home to me.

  When evening comes, I tell Sandy I’ll be over with my mother later and I head off to the hotel. Ethan and I have plans for dinner, so my mother, Audrey, Ethan, and I end up walking over to Sandy’s house in the early evening. Ethan slips his hand into mine as we walk, and Audrey skips ahead.

  I don’t know if it’s the cool autumn wind that blows through my hair, or maybe it’s the two glasses of wine that I’ve had, but my heart flutters in my chest. My mother is humming to herself, and she looks up at the mountains and smiles.

  Somehow, everyone is happy. We’ve slipped into a new life without too much fuss, and the stress of our life back in Seattle has mostly disappeared.

  Sandy’s cabin is lovely, and my mother agrees to rent it out on the spot. Before long, she and Sandy are discussing the intricacies of the veggie patch. After some time, all five of us head off for a short walk in the forest. I lean my head against Ethan’s shoulder as I listen to Sandy explain the ins and outs of soil composition for vegetable growing, or something of the sort. Audrey runs up ahead, inspecting bugs and picking up sticks as we walk.

  Without me realizing it, in the past few weeks all my worries have turned out to be baseless, and I’m actually happy. We walk until we get to a small grassy area by the river. Ethan, my mother, Sandy, and I sit on benches as Audrey walks down to the water’s edge. I watch her pick up sticks and nimbly weave them together to make a watercraft, and I smile.

  Maybe Mrs. McCoy wasn’t so bad. At least Audrey’s getting some use out of her new skills. Ethan puts his arm around my shoulder and squeezes me closer, and I turn toward him. He lays his lips over mine and I shiver in contentment. Vaguely, I can hear Sandy and Mom deep in conversation about carrots and tomatoes, but all my attention is on Ethan.

  He wraps me in his arms and runs his fingers along my cheek. He kisses me tenderly and then leans his forehead against mine. I close my eyes for a moment.

  “Move in with me.”

  His words are barely above a whisper, but I open my eyes and stare at him. “What?” I ask, heart thumping.

  “I mean it. You’ve looked at half a dozen places and none of them were good for you and Audrey. I live near the bus stop, and she’ll be able to walk to the town’s soccer field and basketball courts. It’s a great location for you as well, near work, and–”

  I start laughing as he babbles, and he stops talking to look at me, confused. My eyes soften and I put my hands on either side of his face.

  “You would do that for us?”

  It’s his turn to chuckle. “I’m doing it for me, Zoe. I want you with me. I want Audrey with us. You make me happy.”

  My heart grows so much it feels like it’s going to burst out of my chest. My eyes start to mist and his face goes blurry, so all I can do is nod my head up and down. My voice is gone, and there’s a lump in my throat. I don’t need to say anything, though, because Ethan crushes his lips against mine and wraps his arms around me. My heart sings for him, and I kiss him fiercely. What have I done to be so lucky?

  We kiss until nothing else matters, and I forget where I am.

  I forget where I am until a gargled scream pulls me back to the present. My stomach drops and my head whips around to where Audrey was standing. I see my mother move faster than I’ve ever seen before, sprinting toward the river and jumping to where my daughter’s head has just disappeared under the water’s surface.

  Ethan jumps up, yelling at my mother to stop but she doesn’t listen. My voice is gone, and all I can do is run toward the two people I love most with my heart in my throat and panic coursing through my veins. The water splashes as I watch my mom jump in and dread grips my entire body like a cold hand. My eyes flick to the center of the river, where the icy water is rushing dangerously fast.

  I watch in a daze as Ethan grabs a long stick, running toward the bank of the river. My mother is swimming with long, powerful strokes, and finally a scream rips out of my throat. My scream hits my ears as if it’s coming from another world, and the anguish tears at my chest. My feet are in the water and Ethan is yelling at me to stand back.

  My mom is diving down, and after three or four agonizing seconds, she reappears with my daughter in her arm. Ethan splashes in the water to his thighs and extends the stick toward her. She grabs onto it and I watch him pull both of them back to safety.

  I’m still screaming. Audrey’s lips and skin are an unnatural shade of blue. My mother is shivering. Ethan is saying something, but I can’t understand anything. I wrap them in my arms and I cry and cry and cry until powerful arms pull me away and drag the three of us back toward town.

  30

  Ethan

  This is my fault. If I hadn’t been so caught up with kissing Zoe, I would have noticed Audrey walking on the slippery rocks on the edge of the river. I could have called her back, and none of this would have happened. I try to forget the chilling scream that came from Zoe when she saw Audrey disappear under the water’s surface. My hands tighten on the steering wheel and I glance at the two of them in the back seat. Zoe is rubbing Audrey’s body, whispering to her and crying as we race down the highway toward the hospital.

  I look back at the road, trying to ignore the memory of my own father’s death. It was eerily similar, except it was Mara McCoy that fell in the river, and my father that jumped in after her. He refused to be treated at the hospital, the stubborn fool, and got pneumonia. By the time we got help for him a few days later, it was too late.

  Now, the nightmare that plagued me for years is happening again. My heart is splitting in two for Zoe. I never knew I could care so much about someone, but I do. I glance in the mirror again and the pain in my heart hardens.

  This isn’t my fault. This is Margaret McCoy’s fault. I don’t know how she’s done it, but somehow, she’s caused this. She showed Audrey how to build those stupid stick boats. She planted the seed of fascination with the rushing, icy water of the river. The fury builds in my stomach until I can’t see anything except the road in front of me. I tighten my grip on the steering wheel until I think it might snap.

  I can see Sandy’s car in the rear-view mirror. She’s got Bernie with her, and our little convoy is breaking every road law there is to get them to the hospital.

  Zoe sobs in the back seat and the vice grip around my heart tightens.

  “It’ll be okay, Zoe,” I hear myself say. “We’re almost there.”

  “I should have been watching her,” she says, rocking back and forth. “I was so fucking happy and selfish.”

  “It was an accident,” I say throug
h gritted teeth, knowing exactly how she feels because I feel the same way. “It’s no one’s fault.” Even as I say the words, anger flashes through me.

  We get to the hospital and it doesn’t take long for Audrey and Bernie to be rushed into a room together. The nurses tell Zoe in no uncertain terms to step aside, and I put my arm around her shoulders to lead her away. She’s shivering and watching the medical team work through wide, blood-shot eyes. Tears are falling down her cheeks and I doubt she even notices them drip off her chin.

  I glance at Sandy, who purses her lips and watches the nurses and doctors try to warm the two patients up.

  Just when I thought I was gaining a family, they’re being ripped away from me. My eyes fill with tears and I squeeze Zoe closer to try to distract myself from the pain in my heart. Zoe feels so frail in my arms, and she leans on me for support.

  “I’ll get a couple coffees,” Sandy says. “Take her to sit down over there.”

  For once, I welcome Sandy’s stern commands. She’s the one who took control of the situation by the river, telling me to grab Zoe and Audrey as she picked up Bernie as if she weighed no more than a child. She’s the one who told me to drive to the hospital, and she’s the one who spoke to the doctors. She’s been the voice of reason, and now, once again, I listen to her.

  I guide Zoe to a seat and wrap my arms around her, whispering everything and nothing into her ear as she stares off into space.

  Sandy reappears and hands us two steaming Styrofoam cups of coffee. It tastes terrible. Zoe doesn’t even try hers. She just sits next to me and stares at the floor.

  “I was so focused on that stupid veggie patch,” Sandy says, glancing down the hall toward Audrey and Bernie. “I didn’t even know what was happening until Bernie was halfway to the river.”

  Zoe makes a strangled noise and Sandy crouches in front of her. My boss only looks like that when something has gone wrong at work and she needs to take control of a bad situation. Her usually impeccable grey hair is falling out of her bun, and the lines on her face are deeper than usual. She puts her coffee down on the floor and places both hands on Zoe’s thighs.