TEMPEST STOOD AT her parents’ kitchen counter chopping vegetables for salad, listening to Sam rave about the ropes course he’d set up for the Girl Power team-building event, and thinking about Nash. He had texted earlier in the day to say he missed her. She’d returned the text after she’d finished up with the Girl Power group, and they’d been exchanging cute and sexy texts ever since.
“I’m telling you, if there were an Olympic ropes course, I could set it up.” Sam stole a slice of red pepper from the cutting board and Tempest swatted at his hand.
“It was pretty impressive,” Faith, Sam’s fiancée, admitted.
Sam brushed her dark hair from her shoulder and kissed her neck. “Thanks, babe.”
Cole’s wife, Leesa, turned from where she stood in Cole’s embrace, and said, “The girls did really well. They didn’t leave anyone behind, and the way they cheered each other on nearly brought tears to my eyes.”
Cole leaned in and kissed her cheek. “That’s because you and Tempe have done such a great job of showing them how to help others.”
Their mother pulled the roast out of the oven and set it on the top of the stove.
“Smells good, Mom,” Nate said as he and his wife, Jewel, came into the kitchen. “Hey, Tempe.” He stole a handful of veggies. “How’s life in Pleasant Hill? I hear you’re living on a farm.”
“Farmette, I guess.” Tempe set the knife down and hugged Jewel. “I missed you guys.” Even though she’d been gone only a few weeks, it felt like it had been much longer. But as much as she missed hanging out with her family, tonight she was torn, because she also wished she was back in Pleasant Hill with Nash and Phillip.
“I talked to Nick,” Cole said to Nate. “He checked out the guy she’s living with, said he’s a good guy.”
“I did, too,” Sam said.
“You did what?” Tempe pointed the knife at him. “Don’t tell me you checked him out, too.”
“Okay.” Sam plucked another pepper from the cutting board. “I won’t tell you.”
She shook her head and finished cutting the vegetables.
Their mother, Maisy, sidled up to Tempest, her thick blond waves framing her smiling face. She snuck a piece of cucumber. “The boys make mine and your dad’s lives much easier.”
“By doing your spying for you?” Tempest teased. She knew they were only trying to protect her, and she loved them for it, but at her age it felt a little ridiculous.
Their mother laughed. “Of course. Otherwise you know your father would be climbing the walls. He’d show up on the man’s doorstep the minute he got wind of you even thinking about living there.”
“Dad’s not that bad,” Tempest said.
“Want to bet on that?” Cole asked.
“Where is Dad?” Tempest asked. “I thought he was going to be here.”
She heard the front door open and then the sound of her father’s uneven gait coming down the hall. Speak of the devil. He never let them down. Thomas “Ace” Braden had been in the military only a few years before a jump landing had gone wrong had cost him his left leg from the knee down.
He came into the kitchen carrying a big chocolate cake. He still looked like he was in the military, with his short-cropped hair and authoritative stance. “Sorry I’m late.” He set the cake on the counter and worked his way around the room, hugging all the girls and patting his sons on the back. When he reached Tempest, he held her by the shoulders, openly assessing her before pulling her into a tight embrace. “How’s my girl?”
“I’m doing well, Dad.” There was something about her father’s embrace that always settled her restless thoughts. But tonight, despite how safe and good it felt to be in his arms, she still felt unsettled, like part of her was missing or she’d left something unfinished.
“You look a little tired. Are you getting enough sleep?” He picked up a slice of carrot and held it up with a smile, seeking her approval.
She nodded, wondering if Nash and Phillip had gone to the same school of communication as her father. “I’m sleeping fine, although I have weeks of not sleeping to catch up on.” From late-night make outs with Nash. “Jillian is a total night owl.”
“Always has been,” he said. “I brought chocolate cake in case you were having a hard time being away from family.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, then wrapped his arms around their mother from behind and kissed her cheek. “And how’s my beautiful wife tonight?”
“Better now that you’re home. Want to slice the roast?”
Dinner was delicious, and it was nice to be surrounded by so much familiarity. Her brothers teased each other relentlessly and showered their significant others with attention. Her thoughts turned to Nash and his family. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose one of her siblings, much less lose a sibling, a parent, and then being virtually abandoned by her only living parent all within a few short years.
“Honey, what’s happening with your business?” her mother asked as they cleared the plates from the table.
“It’s coming along. I put up flyers around town for my classes, and I’ve been getting phone calls. But the community center only has the two time slots available, and I can’t afford to rent retail space until I’m sure I can fill a year’s worth of classes.”
“And the hospital work you’re doing?” her mother asked.
“It’s good. My patient’s chemotherapy is working, and the little boy I work with hasn’t come out of his coma, but the doctors are hopeful he will.” She set the plates she was carrying on the counter. “I’m really leaning toward doing the kids classes full-time. Is that awful? That I’d rather do more with the kids outside of the hospital than working with patients in the hospital?”
“Awful? Of course not, sweetheart. Why?” She began washing the dishes, and Tempest touched her hand, gently nudging her out of the way.
“I’ll do the dishes. I need something to keep my hands busy.”
Cole carried in the salad bowl and set it beside the sink. “Is there something I can help with?”
“Cole, honey, why don’t you take Dad and the boys outside for a while?” her mother suggested.
Cole’s eyes narrowed skeptically. “What’s going on? Tempe? Are you sure everything’s okay where you’re living?”
She sighed. “Yes, that’s the best part of my life right now.”
“Are you having a hard time at the hospital? I can speak to the docs I know there,” Cole offered.
“No. The people there are lovely.” She turned off the water and dried her hands on a towel. “I just feel like I’m ready for a change. I thought the change I wanted was just a new area and moving my business. But I think I want to shift my focus away from some of the more heartrending parts of music therapy, and I know that’s weak, and a little pathetic, because those patients need my help, but—”
“That’s not weak, honey,” her mother said.
“It’s called picking a specialty,” Cole added. “There’s a reason I didn’t go into oncology. Some fields take a deeper emotional toll than others. There’s no shame in knowing where you can do the most good, even if doing the most good means helping people who aren’t riding a fine line between life and death.”
“That makes sense,” Tempest said. She hadn’t even realized any of this was weighing on her until the words came out. And now that she was thinking about it more clearly, she was glad she’d brought it up.
“Am I missing out on the powwow?” Jewel asked. Leesa and Faith followed her into the kitchen, with her father on their heels.
Her father set the glasses he was carrying with the other dirty dishes. “Powwow? Do I want in on it?”
“Just work talk, Dad. No big deal,” Tempest assured him. “I’m going to do the dishes. You guys can go relax. I’ve got this.”
“I’ll help,” Leesa offered.
“Me too,” Jewel and Faith said in unison.
“Why don’t the guys go hang out and we girls will take care of the rest?”
her mother suggested again.
“Mom, you cooked. Go relax.” Tempest turned back to the dishes.
“Not a chance,” her mother said conspiratorially, and shooed the men out of the kitchen.
After the men left, Tempest filled the girls in on her work situation.
“I think Cole is right,” Leesa said. “You should decide what makes you the happiest and focus on doing that. Like we do with the Girl Power group.”
“I do love helping the girls,” she agreed.
“Where is all this coming from?” Her mother took the plate Tempest was washing and rewashing and set it in the dishwasher.
Tempest shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve always felt like I should do everything I can to help everyone I can. Like there was an endless well of support inside me, but then I met Nash, and I see him with his son, pouring all his love and energy into this amazing little boy.” The curious looks passing between her mother and the girls did not escape her. “And it makes me wonder how much of myself I’ll have left over if I continue working to build my business in all directions. You know what it was like here. I worked weekends, evenings, and rarely had a day off.”
Faith wrapped the extra roast in aluminum foil and set it in the fridge. “Left over for…?”
“Oh, come on, Faith,” Jewel said. “For herself. For a relationship. I get it, Tempe. I spent so many years taking care of my brother and sisters, I look back now and wonder how I found time to breathe. Thank God for Nate. He made me take a good long look at my life.”
“He made you take a good long look at love, honey,” her mother said. “Tempe, tell me more about Nash and Phillip.”
The girls moved closer, like they didn’t want to miss a word, and Tempe’s pulse quickened at the thought of sharing her feelings with them. She’d never been one to kiss and tell. Especially around her mother. But she wanted to share Nash and Phillip with them. She’d just have to be careful how much she shared.
“They’re…complicated,” she said honestly. “Phillip is Nash’s whole world. Like his whole entire universe.”
“What about Phillip’s mother? Is she in the picture?” Leesa asked.
“No. She left when he was only three months old and has never come back to see him, which is really sad for Phillip and for her. And for Nash, only he seems more angry at her for leaving Phillip than anything else.”
“Oh, the poor boy,” her mother said.
“Nash has stepped up to the plate in every way. He’s an incredible artist, and he put sculpting, the part he loves the most, on hold because he said it’s too dangerous to do around Phillip. Now he builds furniture, which is what he says sells around Pleasant Hill. His furniture is gorgeous, but his sculptures?” She warmed with the memories of the sculptures and immediately became saddened by the thought of his loss. “They’re more powerful than anything I’ve ever seen.”
Her mother grabbed the chocolate cake and began cutting it into slices.
“Mom? We just ate dinner.”
“You need this, honey. A mother knows these things.” She handed Tempest a piece and then cut a slice for each of the girls. Faith handed out forks, and they sat around the kitchen table. “Now. Tell us more about Nash.”
“What do you want to know? He’s kind and creative, and he can be funny when he’s not being super serious. He’s protective, and a bit of a loner, but I think that’s because he’s literally busy every minute keeping up with Phillip and his business. But he is a single father. A very busy single father. So some things get missed.”
“What does that mean?” Jewel asked.
“Well, Phillip is three, but he’s not in preschool. Nash had no idea three-year-olds even went to preschool. And you know how sometimes Dad doesn’t talk, but he gives you looks and you know what they mean?”
“Do I ever,” her mother said.
“That’s Nash and Phillip all the time. Or at least it was before I moved in. From what I can gather, they hardly ever spoke to each other, but they communicate so effectively, it’s like they’re of one mind most of the time. We took Phillip to the park, and of course he had a hard time interacting with other kids because he’s never around anyone but Nash. I started teaching him to count, and he’s a fast learner. But should I worry about coming into their lives and suggesting preschool and learning to count and socializing…? Does that make me one of those pushy women we can’t stand?”
Leesa laughed. “We can’t stand pushy women?”
“Shannon is pushy,” her mother said.
Tempe agreed. “But she’s not the kind of pushy I’m referring to. I mean one of those women who tries to come in and take over and change who people are.”
“Oh, Tempe, that’s not you,” her mother said. “But you’re not a wallflower, either. Do you feel like you’re trying to change who they are?”
“No, I don’t think so. I really like who they are. A lot. Like a whole lot. But I see this smart little boy who was being held back. And then there’s Nash, whose love for his son is so real and so big…” She sighed, grasping for words.
“And you’re falling for them,” her mother said carefully.
“What? No, I’m not falling for them.” She shoved a forkful of cake into her mouth.
The girls watched her with amusement.
“Good thing it’s not peach season,” Leesa said. “We might have to buy an orchard.”
Tempest laughed, nearly choking on the cake, which caused everyone else to laugh.
Her mother handed her a glass of water and patted her on the back. “See what happens when you lie to your mother? Drink up, baby girl.”
That made them laugh even harder.
“I remember when I said I wasn’t falling for Nate. That lasted about a day,” Jewel teased. She tucked her blond hair behind her ear and leaned closer to Tempest. “All it took was one kiss for me to know Nate was my one and only. Have you kissed Nash yet?”
Tempest felt her cheeks heat up. “That’s not the type of thing you ask in front of someone’s mother.”
“Do you think I live under a rock?” Her mother sat down and crossed her arms, giving Tempest a deadpan stare. “I raised four very active boys and two girls. Granted, you are much more careful than the others, but if you think I don’t know about your kiss behind the oak tree at the Fall Festival with Billy What’s-His-Name when you were fifteen, or the make-out session with Tommy Argway after the tenth-grade dance, then you’re sorely mistaken.”
Tempest shoved more cake into her mouth and looked away, utterly embarrassed. Her mother leaned closer, and with a gentle hand, she turned Tempest’s face toward hers again. “Kissing and loving is all part of life, Tempest. And you’ve been waiting a long time to find someone you wanted to have in yours.”
Her heart tumbled over her mother’s innate ability to see her true feelings.
“What are you worried about, sweetheart? That you’re taking over someplace you shouldn’t be, or that you can’t control how you feel?”
“Maybe a little of both,” she admitted.
“Because you’re not Phillip’s mother?” Jewel asked.
“Maybe.” Tempest couldn’t believe she was being so forthright. “But it’s not really that, because I know I would give the same advice to anyone who had a little boy that wasn’t getting the socialization he needed. So maybe I need to change my answer. I think it’s the second thing you said.”
Her mother had an assessing eye glued to her. “What I’m hearing is that you have had that first kiss and you want more, and all that other stuff is there, and it’s real and maybe even a little troublesome, but not like the feelings. That’s new and exciting and so very scary for you, my careful girl.” A grin lifted her mother’s lips and reached all the way to her eyes.
“Ohmygosh. Okay, fine, we kissed.” Tempest pushed from the table and paced, catching a glimpse out the window of her father and brothers down at the beach. “It was like we couldn’t not kiss. Trust me, we tried to fight it. Or at least I t
hink I did. I can’t know for sure, because the part of my brain that usually is smart enough to make those decisions turns to mush when his mouth is near me. And when we kiss…” She gazed out the window, seeing Nash’s face, feeling his breath ghosting over her skin, tasting his kisses. “It’s like nothing else exists.”
Faith jumped up and hugged her. “That’s the best feeling ever!”
It sure is.
“So, what’s the problem?” Leesa asked. “Oh wait, you live there. That’s tricky. You guys, what if she does more and then this doesn’t work out?”
“Then she moves out,” her mother said way too easily.
“Are you telling me to give myself over to Nash, Mom? Because that sounds weird coming from a mother to a daughter.” And it’s exactly what I need to hear regardless of how weird it is.
Her mother’s thoughtful gaze roved over Tempest’s face. She wasn’t analyzing or judging. All Tempest saw staring back at her was immense love and understanding.
“Sweetheart, I have always trusted you to know what’s right for you. And I know you believe in universal signs and lovers who are fated to be together. But I’m not sure you trust that for yourself. I know you’re looking for answers, but only you can know if this man is right for you. He may be the right one, or maybe he’ll be the right one for now. You can’t know until you let yourself explore whatever it is you are feeling.”
She’d been ready to explore since day one, but he’d held back. She was glad he had, given what he’d revealed. It made her respect him even more than she already did.
“All that stuff about your business makes more sense now,” Leesa added. “You’re getting close to Nash, so you’re thinking about your future. Remember when Cole and I got together? He made some big decisions about not working extra hours or expanding the business. You’ve said you wanted a family the whole time I’ve known you, so better to make that choice about work now rather than after you’ve established the business.”
Whisper of Love (The Bradens at Peaceful Harbor, Book Five) Page 19