Peacekeeper (Montgomery Brothers Series ~ Book 2)

by Laura Pavlov

  Me ~ Stop sulking. Get your butt up and meet me at the tree house in an hour. Can you do that?

  Harrison ~ Are you serious? Are you going to make me be the dad or the dog?

  Me ~ I’ll decide when I see you.

  Harrison ~ What are you up to, Laney Landers?

  Me ~ Nothing. Just some birthday fun.

  I hurried to the kitchen to let my parents know I was running out to grab a few things for Harrison’s birthday. They were deep in a Rocky movie marathon and waved as I ran by.

  What was I doing?

  We were friends. Friends celebrate one another, right?

  I ran to the store and grabbed a few things and hurried up to the tree house to get everything ready.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Harrison

  I walked over to the Landers’ house and followed the paved path to the backyard. Laney sent me a text telling me to meet her at the tree house. I wasn’t in the mood to celebrate my birthday. Hadn’t been since we’d lost Dad. But being with Laney was enough to get my ass up and I was willing to do just about anything. I hadn’t spoken to her since my drunken ass fell asleep on her before she left for her trip. She hadn’t responded to my texts and I’d been out of my fucking mind the past few days. What was I expecting? She’d gone to be with her fiancé.

  “Hey,” I yelled up to see if she was there.

  “Happy Birthday. Are you coming up?”

  I laughed and climbed the wooden ladder her father had attached to the tree when we were kids. I paused about halfway to the top when I noticed the letters I’d engraved in the trunk. HM + LL. God, I was a sappy bastard back then. Laney brought that out of me. I’d do just about anything to make her smile. Not much had changed, seeing as I was climbing this ridiculous ladder to find her sitting in the little house her dad built.

  The tree house was pretty spectacular. Dave Landers was a crafty dude. He’d built it himself, and Laney had designed it. He’d built wooden stilts onto the back, as it was too large to be supported by only the tree. There were faux wood floors and two windows. One wall had been painted in chalkboard paint, and it clearly still worked because the words: Happy Birthday, Harrison were written in pink script. There used to be furniture in here, but they’d cleared it out when we were in high school. It had just become a cool fort to hang out in at that point.

  Laney had a blue blanket spread across the floor, two sandwiches from Johnny’s, which happened to be my favorite, and a small cake in the middle with my name on it. There were two sparkling waters, a little tub of fruit, and a bag of potato chips in the middle.

  “Wow,” I said, crawling through the door. It was a bit tighter than I remembered, but we hadn’t been in here in years.

  “Still like these sandwiches?”

  “Yep. Still my favorite.” And so was Laney.

  “Well, I figured we’d just drink water. Seeing as I’ve already spent the night holding your drunk ass, I passed on the alcohol.” She laughed, but a flush of pink covered her cheeks.

  Damn. She was so beautiful. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a messy knot at the nape of her neck, and her ocean blues were rivaled only by the color of the deepest sea. She wore a pair of jean shorts and a white tank top, and I wanted to run my fingers along her sun-kissed skin. Stunning.

  “Yeah, I won’t be drinking for a while.” I sat down on the blanket, leaning my back against the wall near the door. Laney and I both dug in and started eating.

  “It’s a tough day, I get it. Losing your dad was devasting, Har. There’s no shame in being sad.” She took a long pull from her water. The cool liquid moved down her throat and I sat there mesmerized as I took her in.

  “Grief sucks. It’s taken us all a long time to move on. I mean, Mom doesn’t date, but she does her best to put a smile on her face every day. Ford meeting Harley has been life-changing for him. He’s finally in a better place. And Jack, well who knows what goes on in that head of his? I wonder if he regrets not pursuing his dream to go to the NFL, but he doesn’t talk about it.”

  “It’s a tribute to your father, really. It shows how much he meant to all of you. The loss of one life affected so many people. That’s the power of a good man. He touched so many, and his loss rocked your world. Hell, it rocked my world, and I was just the girl who lived up the street. But I loved him. And when you truly love someone, you can’t replace them, you just have to learn to live without them.”

  I studied her as she spoke. There was a lot more meaning behind that statement than she was saying. And I understood it.

  “Wise words, Laney Landers. And you’re right, you just have to keep moving forward. I think the fact that I lost Dad and then I pushed you away—well, that combo was, hell, I can’t even tell you how tough it was. How tough it’s been.”

  “You don’t have to. I know, Har. I lived it too. You know you always hear about first loves and how they never last,” she said, pausing and gazing out the little window so she wouldn’t have to look at me. “But what you and I shared was—rare. I mean, finding your person when you’re in kindergarten…it’s not normal.” She belted out in laughter then and turned to face me.

  “Well, normal is overrated. I’ll take what we had any day. You know you used to believe that there was one person for everyone. I remember you telling me that when were like, what? Eight, nine years old. You were a bossy little thing even back then.” I chuckled.

  A wide grin spread across her pretty face. “And what exactly did I say?”

  I swallowed my food, savoring every last bite. “Damn, this is good.”

  “You don’t remember, do you?”

  I raised a brow in challenge. “I remember everything, Laney. You said that everyone had a perfect match, and we were lucky that we’d found ours. You said that your parents didn’t find one another until college. And we weren’t even anything more than friends at the time. But you knew.”

  “What did I know, Harrison Montgomery? I was just a stupid kid spewing her nonsense.”

  “I don’t think so. I think you were spot on.” I leaned forward and tucked a loose strand of hair that sprung free from her bun behind her ear. She closed her eyes and sat very still.

  “I don’t know if I know anything anymore,” she whispered.

  “Where is all this doubt coming from? Trust yourself, Laney. God knows I do.”

  Her eyes popped open and her striking gaze locked with mine. “Thanks for having faith in me.”

  “That’s never been in question.”

  “Same. I have faith in you, too. Always have.”

  “Even when you weren’t speaking to me?”

  She laughed and the sweet sound trickled around the small space. And I swear to Christ, if I died right now, I’d leave a happy man. Everything I needed was right here. In this tiny little tree house.

  “Even when I wasn’t speaking to you, I had faith in you. I was just hurt, I guess.”

  “You had reason to be.” I tipped my head back and chugged my water.

  “Well, I’m glad we found our way back, I mean, where we aren’t hating each other anymore. And I’m happy I get to spend your birthday with you.”

  “Me too. I was pretty miserable today, and you managed to turn all that around.”

  “Good. Now let’s try this cake.”

  “Sounds good. So how was Chicago? How’s Charlie?”

  She nodded. “He’s good. It was nice to go back and get some things organized at my apartment. I got to spend some time with Nat. She says hi by the way,” Laney said, handing me a plate with a large slice of cake. She avoided my gaze as she spoke, which made me think something was up. Maybe she was just uncomfortable discussing her fiancé with me. Maybe there was more to it.

  “Tell her I said hello. I always liked her.”

  “Yep. She’s good peeps.” She laughed, and her tongue swiped out to
lick some frosting from her top lip and I fought the urge to swipe it from her sweet mouth myself.

  Laney and I sat like that for the next two hours. Talking and laughing just like we always did. Like no time had passed. Like the past five years hadn’t been real.

  And I reveled in it.

  In her.

  Laney’s mom had surgery yesterday, and I hadn’t seen her since the tree house. And now that I’d been spending time with her, it was almost harder to be away from her. I missed her. Craved her.

  I stepped off the helicopter in San Francisco, in need of a distraction. I was meeting Ford and Jack for lunch. We had a few things to catch up on for work, and I needed to get Laney off my mind. I was happy she didn’t hate me anymore, but now it was difficult to stay away from her. But she was fucking engaged to another man.

  I’d opened up to her on our drive to Tahoe and I’d played my cards the night she’d found me drunk in the barn. She’d made light of it when we ate in the tree house. She’d given me nothing to show there was any sign of hope that she felt the same way. Hell, she probably wanted to forget all of it. And I should do the same. Be thankful to have her back in my life and move forward as friends.

  I arrived at the Montgomery building and stopped by Harley’s bakery downstairs. It sat in the bottom corner suite. She was a phenomenal baker and there was always a line out the door. We’d invested in her company when she’d first opened, and there were talks of her opening a second shop up the street. She’d hired several employees, as her best friend, Molly, had helped her get DeLiciously Yours off the ground, and Molly had left for law school this past fall.

  “Hey, you just missed the rush. You guys are going to lunch, right?” she asked when I stepped inside.

  “Yep. Just thought I’d come and say hello before we go.” I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in for a hug.

  “Ford just texted that he and Jack will be down in a few minutes,” she said. “Sit. Let’s chat. Tell me what’s happening with Laney.”

  I laughed. Harley was like the sister I’d never had. I dropped down in the chair across from her. “All’s good.”

  “Don’t pull that tough guy shtick with me, Har-bear. I know you. You’re crazy about her. Have you brought up what you said when you were a drunk fool?”

  “Drunk fool’s a bit harsh.” I barked out a laugh.

  “Hey, I call ‘em as I see ‘em.”

  “Touché. No. I mean I’ve apologized for her being there, but we haven’t talked about what I said. Obviously, she was there. She heard me. But she’s engaged, so I’m sure she doesn’t want to make it awkward by bringing it up. And we’re finally talking again after all these years, so I don’t want to ruin the friendship we’ve formed.”

  “You’re a good guy, Harrison. But sometimes you’ve got to put yourself out there. Once she’s married, it won’t be an option.”

  “She’s got a good guy. I don’t want to mess that up for her. And I don’t want to lose what I’ve got with her. We went a long time without talking.”

  “Rarely does reward come without risk. Trust me. Loving your brother did not come risk-free.”

  I nodded. “It’s not only that.”

  “What is it?” She leaned forward, her fingers joining together to form a teepee.

  “Maybe there’s a little fear of being rejected. I mean, she’s made her choice. She chose him.”

  “I get that fear, I really do. But she chose him when she didn’t have all the information. She didn’t know why you pushed her away all those years ago.”

  I shook my head. “Maybe I’m just destined to be alone. Live the life of a miserable playboy and grow old by myself.”

  “Nah. That’s not your endgame. You deserve to be happy. And if you don’t think you can find that with anyone but Laney, you best get your game face on and start figuring out a way to win her back.”

  I laughed. “Thanks, Harley. We’ll see what happens.”

  “You know you can always talk to me.” She pushed to her feet when the door swung open and my brothers stepped in.

  Ford lifted her off the ground and spun her around and her laughter filled the bakery.

  “Damn, baby, I missed you. And now I have to go eat with these two.” Ford thrusted his thumb in our direction.

  “We can hear you.” I rolled my eyes.

  “I’m starving.” Jack went behind the counter like he always did and helped himself to a cupcake.

  “We’re going to lunch,” Ford hissed.

  “I can walk and eat. It’s not that difficult. Stop pastry-shaming me.” Jack barked out a laugh and came back around and hugged Harley. “Love you, sis. See you later.”

  Ford kissed his wife. She reached for my hand and pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek. “You’ll figure this out. I have faith in you.”

  My chest squeezed thinking how Laney had said those exact words to me.

  We decided on Jack’s favorite Italian restaurant up the street, because, well, he was the loudest. And the most passionate. My mind was elsewhere, and I didn’t really care where we ate.

  We settled at a table in the back and ordered.

  “All right, we need to talk about Mom.” I dropped my napkin in my lap and rested my forearms on the table.

  “What about her?” Ford asked.

  “Her fiftieth is in six weeks,” I said.

  “Jesus. Mom’s fifty?” Jack said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Yes. That’s what comes after forty-nine, moron.” My older brother rolled his eyes.

  “Do you always have to be an asshole?” Jack snarled.

  Jesus. These two couldn’t go five minutes without an argument. “Come on. This is about Mom. Stop poking at one another, and let’s discuss this like adults.”

  Ford raised a brow at Jack, and he nodded in return. This peaceful moment would last for maybe the next few minutes if I was lucky.

  “My point being, what do you want to do? Should we take her on a trip? Throw her a party?” I asked, as the waiter set our plates down in front of us.

  “Well, having all of us leave at the same time is always tricky,” Ford said.

  The savory smells of warm bread and garlic wafted in the air around me. Chatter and laughter filled the upscale restaurant.

  “I think we should throw her a kick-ass surprise party. She’s never had one. She’s always throwing events for everyone else.” Jack nodded as he spoke.

  “I like the idea of a party too. What do you think?” Ford asked me.

  “I think she’d love it. We have enough time to organize it. We could fly out all of the family. I’m sure they’d want to be there for her.” Our mom had three sisters and two brothers, and they were scattered all over the US. They were very close and having them there would make her really happy.

  “I’m sure Grammie and Pops and Nana and Poppy would all come as well,” Jack said.

  “Yeah, but how do we pull this off without her knowing?” Ford asked.

  “We use a kick-ass event planner named Laney Mae. You can oversee it all, and Mom won’t have a clue,” Jack said, looking at me with a dumb grin.

  “Yes, that’ll work. But how long is she here?” Ford directed his question to me.

  “I don’t know. The hotel she worked at in Chicago had to replace her, so I don’t think she’s in a rush to get back. At least not until her mom is out of the woods. I’ll talk to her today.” The idea of working closely with Laney definitely had my pulse beating a little faster. This would be a huge event. “We couldn’t do it at the winery, because there’d be no way to set up without Mom knowing.”

  “Let’s choose a cool venue.”

  “I’ll get started on this today,” I said.

  “I’ll bet you will,” Ford said with a smirk.

  “You’ll need to put in some long hour
s with Laney Mae. You think you can handle that? I mean, without passing out drunk in her lap?” Jack said and he and Ford burst out in laughter.

  “Thanks for the reminder.”

  “We’re just giving you shit. All right, let us know what she says. If she can’t do it, we’ll need to find someone who can.”

  “I think she’ll do it.” I nodded. “So, what else do we need to talk about?” I was eager to finish this meeting and call Laney.

  “We need to talk about Monroe Buckley.” Ford set his fork down and wiped his mouth with his napkin. One of my brothers had impeccable manners.

  “She’s Buck’s little sister,” Jack spoke around a mouthful of food. Obviously, this brother did not share Ford’s strength in etiquette.

  Miles Buckley was Jack’s best friend. They’d played for rival high schools in northern California, and then they’d gone on to room together at SC and play for the same team all four years. Jack was quarterback and Buck played receiver. They were a powerhouse team during college. They’d remained tight, and he was a good guy. We’d been to several games with Buck’s family, and I’d met Monroe a few times.

  “Yes. I remember her. Nice girl.”

  “Yeah. She’s brilliant. Just graduated from Stanford and won some big journalism award. Buck claims she got the smart gene.” Jack howled out a laugh.

  Ford rolled his eyes at our younger brother. “Apparently, she’s a phenomenal journalist, and she’s interested in working for us, but word on the street is that CBS wants her and she’s interning there now. She was the chief editor for the Stanford student paper. She sent her resume over this morning and it’s very impressive.”

  “Buck wants her to work for us because if she takes the job with CBS, they want her to move to New York.” Jack tore off a piece of bread and popped it in his mouth. Buck lived in Los Angeles, but obviously preferred his sister to remain out west.

  “Well, let’s make it happen,” I said, looking at Jack “You know her best, so work your magic.”

  “Yeah. About that. She kind of hates me.”