Change Up

by Ann, Natalie

  “Nah, I’m good. I’ll be done in a few.”

  He walked over to the fridge and got out a bottle of water, twisted the cap and drank half before he came up for air.

  Evan was bent over securing the molding in with a power drill. Harris was thinking he should get some tools himself and learn how to do a few things.

  He’d been paying someone for the lawn care and planned on continuing with that. But wouldn’t it be fun to tinker in the house?

  He was so used to living in apartments or condos, paying people to do things for him because he didn’t have the time more than he couldn’t afford it.

  He had nothing but time on his hands now.

  “All set,” Evan said a minute later. “Mind if I wash my hands?”

  “Help yourself.” He watched as Evan moved over to the sink. His coloring was similar to Kaelyn’s. Dark hair, dark eyes. Tall, but not as tall as Harris, probably a few inches shorter, but still over six foot.

  Where Harris was lanky and strong, Evan was bulky. His muscles and strength probably came from years of hard work, not machine equipment and trainers.

  Though to be honest, he wasn’t sure how much Evan actually did on the construction end now from what Kaelyn had said in passing.

  “Thanks,” Evan said, reaching for the paper towels, then looking around for the garbage.

  “Over there, under the counter,” he said.

  Evan walked the few feet, stopped for a second like he was hesitating, then opened the door where the trash was hidden and turned.

  “Been keeping yourself busy?” Evan asked.

  “Not much to do,” he said. “Trying to figure things out more than anything. There is only so much TV I can binge watch.”

  Evan smiled, but it didn’t seem to reach his eyes. Something changed and Harris wasn’t sure what it was.

  “I’m sure someone like you is just killing the time until something else better comes along.”

  He frowned. “I’m not going anywhere. Life in the slow lane is where I was always heading, it just happened faster than I thought it would.”

  Evan held his stare, nodded his head, and then said, “I’m all set. I’ll get back in touch with you about the land. I know you like your privacy and wouldn’t want anyone to know you’re here.”

  “Thanks. It’s not much of a secret now. I can’t hide forever. Or so I keep being told.”

  “Hiding is never a good thing.”

  Harris shook his head after Evan gathered his toolbag and went out the door. When he turned and walked to the living room he passed the counter that Evan had stopped at and swore.

  There was Kaelyn’s watch she’d left yesterday. She’d taken it off when they were doing the dishes and he moved it over so it didn’t get knocked down and she’d forgotten about it.

  Was it possible that Evan recognized it?

  Harris picked up the rose gold watch, looked it over and realized that nothing really stood out on it other than it was a woman’s watch. Nah. All it proved was that Harris had female company at one point.

  15

  Plant Herself

  Kaelyn barely managed to pull in her driveway when her brother Evan’s truck came in behind her. Not only that, he wasn’t alone. Christian was with him.

  What the heck? Something had to be wrong. They’d never come over together and tearing into her driveway that fast either.

  “What’s going on? Is something wrong with Mom or Dad?”

  “No,” Christian said. “I told you to not rush over here like that, Evan.”

  “I want to know,” Evan said.

  “Know what?”

  “Let’s go in the house,” Christian said. He was the calmer of the two. The one that kind of floated in the wind like leaves in the fall. Where he landed didn’t matter, he’d make it work. It was probably why he was always moving houses too. Nothing seemed to stick with him.

  “So, I repeat, what is going on?” she asked, slipping her shoes off and putting her lab coat on the chair. She brought it home to wash today as she normally did it on Fridays and was off. She had another one at work, so it’s not like she had to do laundry tonight.

  “See any new patients lately?” Evan asked.

  “I see new people all the time and you know I can’t tell you if I do. Why are you asking me that?”

  “Really, Evan?” Christian said.

  “Fine,” Evan said, crossing his arms. “What happened to your watch, Kaelyn?”

  She looked down like she had so many times today when she realized she didn’t have it. She was rarely without the watch her brothers gave her for graduation four years ago. Seven years of college for her DPT. At times she didn’t think she was going to make it but was determined.

  All of them went to college. Evan for construction management. Christian for civil engineering. Her brothers worked for the family business, but they didn’t always swing a hammer.

  Christian didn’t swing one much at all for the business, only his personal flips. He did a lot of the blueprints now. Evan just ran the projects and only filled in when needed. Her cousin Ryan oversaw the actual builds day to day, jumping in and working on most of them at some point or another. Then there was Whitney, Ryan’s older sister. She worked in the office handling ordering and clients, customer relations of sorts that no one else wanted to be bothered with.

  Sure, Evan and Christian had their fair share of time with the crew. It was expected before they could manage the rest. They needed to know how to fix or build something before they could instruct the crews to do it.

  “I forgot it today,” she said. It wasn’t a complete lie. She forgot it at Harris’s and didn’t want to run over to get it this morning. She figured she’d run over after dinner, as she felt naked without it.

  Plus she wanted to see him.

  They’d had a great Saturday night together. One of the best nights of her life.

  She hadn’t shouted his name out a dozen times. Not that night. By the time she left yesterday afternoon, she’d been darn close to that number.

  They couldn’t seem to keep their hands off of each other. Touching. Kissing. Teasing. He molded her body in more ways than a five-year-old with Play-Doh.

  She’d like to think she did the same to him.

  But she shouted out his name in fun too. He’d had a pool table delivered to his finished basement. That and a dartboard.

  They killed some time playing games. Really it was more him kicking her butt and her yelling his name in frustration.

  Then there was the tickling he’d done on the couch while they were watching TV.

  It seemed he just wanted to drive her insane in more ways than one over the weekend. And rather than rushing to get away from him, she wanted to plant herself in front of him again.

  But she knew he’d be sleeping this morning, so there was no reason to wake him when she realized her watch was still at his house.

  “Here?” Evan asked.

  “What?”

  “You heard me. Let me see it?”

  “This is crazy,” Christian said. “I don’t know why you are beating around the bush.”

  “Because like her patient privacy we’ve got to protect ours too,” Evan said.

  Oh shit, she thought. Something was telling her there was more going on and she wasn’t going to like what it was.

  “Just ask me,” she told her oldest brother. She’d learned to stand up to them when she was a kid and as an adult she sure the hell wasn’t backing down.

  “Are you seeing someone?” Evan asked her.

  “Does it matter if I am?”

  “It matters who it is,” Evan said.

  “And who do you think I’m seeing?” she asked. She was going to make him say it.

  “A professional baseball player that moved back to this area,” Christian said.

  “Oh for God’s sake. I appreciate you keeping his name anonymous, but enough. I’m family and have a stake in the business too. Harris Walker. You can say his
name. You are one of his biggest fans, Evan.”

  Her brother scowled at her. “Are you or aren’t you seeing Harris?”

  There was no reason to lie. “Were you at his house today? Did you see my watch there? Or is it you’ve seen my car there? I’d like to know which it is.”

  Evan narrowed his eyes, Christian laughed. “You just love torturing him, don’t you, Kaelyn?”

  “It’s so much fun when he forgets I’m twenty-nine years old. I can make my own choices in life when it comes to men.”

  “Liam,” Evan threw out there.

  “That’s a low blow,” she said.

  “You chose him and he cheated on you. Not once. Not twice. But three times, Kaelyn. You didn’t even have a clue.”

  “There is no reason to remind me of that,” she said. Liam was an even worse cheater than Josh was.

  Liam had gotten his law degree and was just starting out. She’d been introduced to him through friends and little by little he started to represent some of the closings for her family’s business.

  He wanted her name or her family’s business more than he wanted her. She’d been too stupid and in love with him to see it.

  All those late night calls and texts. He said they were work. The meetings he had after hours. Same thing. She’d never be that stupid again.

  “I feel I have to. You’re dating someone that probably has so many women he doesn’t even know the number let alone their names. He might have never even asked them their names,” Evan said.

  She took a deep breath. She didn’t want to believe that of Harris. “You don’t know anything about it. Sure, he’s probably dated a lot more than you and me, but he’s not like you’re saying.”

  “How do you know?” Christian asked.

  “I thought you were on my side,” she said to her other brother.

  “I’m not on anyone’s side per se. I just want to make sure you don’t get hurt again, but I don’t know the guy personally and have no idea what he’s like. I could Google him until I’m blue in the face, but that doesn’t say everything about him.”

  “The voice of reason from one of my brothers,” she said.

  “I just left his house,” Evan said. “Your watch was on the counter. What was it doing there?”

  “I left it there by mistake yesterday.”

  “Did you stay with him over the weekend?” Evan asked.

  “Boy, you are getting personal. Do you want to know if I had sex with Harris?”

  Evan’s face turned red and she couldn’t help but laugh at it. She looked at Christian, but he wasn’t smiling. Too damn bad.

  “You need to be careful,” Christian said.

  “I am. I’m not stupid. Neither is he. You think we have it bad with people wanting us for our name or our money, how do you think he feels?”

  “It’s different,” Evan argued. “He probably thrives on that.”

  “No, he doesn’t. You’ve talked to him a few times. I know you have. Harris told me. What did you think of him before you saw my watch there? Just be honest. Do you think he’s cocky and arrogant? Never mind. I know he is. Do you think he’s a bad person?”

  Evan looked at her. The dark eyes they shared troubled on him. “No. He seems decent enough. I get his life is probably missed up. All the more reason why you should stay away from him. You don’t want fun and games. You want to settle down and have a family. We know you.”

  She’d never said that much to her brothers. She’d like to get married and have kids. She’d thought she’d had that possibility with Liam and even with Josh, but both of those serious boyfriends fizzled out and left her heartbroken. Even skittish to try again.

  The last person she thought she’d be dating was Harris Walker.

  But like Harris had said: things can’t be planned out or don’t turn out the way we think or want.

  “Yes, I want to settle down and have kids. It’s been a few weeks with him. He’s at a crossroads in life and I know that. I don’t know where it’s going or how it will turn out. I like him and he likes me. It’s not what you think it is.”

  “Why do you say that?” Christian asked.

  “Because it’s not what I thought it’d be either.”

  16

  The Lecture

  Kaelyn was getting ready to leave for Harris’s to get her watch when her phone went off. She grabbed it quick and saw the text from her mother asking if she could talk.

  No shocker on what this might be about. Rather than call her, she said she’d be over in about fifteen minutes. Since it was in the same development as Harris, it was on the way. Might as well get it over with.

  She sent another text to Harris to say she had a stop before she got to his house but would be there soon. It’s not like he had a schedule to adhere to or needed to go anywhere so she was sure he was fine with it.

  She heaved a big sigh when she parked her SUV in the driveway of her old childhood home and got out. She really did love growing up in Paradise Place.

  There’d always been so much to do. So many kids around. They’d hop on their bikes or scooters, and just race around the quieter roads, go hang out on the playground. As they got older, late nights playing baseball or volleyball, making out with boys in the pavilion.

  Lots of good memories here.

  Poor choices in boys back then too. Not much different than when she was an adult.

  It seemed like her luck or her decisions were pretty stinky in the past when it came to the opposite sex.

  Which was why she was so cautious now and she was going to damn well make sure her parents knew and gave her some space.

  She opened the front door and made her way to the back of the house where she knew her parents would be in the sunroom. It was their place of choice most times.

  “I’m here,” she said. “Let the lecture begin.”

  Her mother frowned, her father laughed. “No lecture,” her mother said.

  “What did you want to talk to me about then? I’m sure Evan was over here the minute he left my house. Probably breaking a few speed limits on the way. Good thing there are some state troopers in the development to get him out if he got a ticket.”

  “Now leave Evan alone,” her mother said. Evan had always been a Mama’s boy, but he refused to acknowledge it. “He means well and is only looking out for you.”

  “I don’t need anyone to look out for me.”

  “You haven’t had the best of luck with men,” her father said, just rubbing salt on a gaping wound. What was family for but to make you feel like crap half the time or remind you of your failings?

  “And you think I haven’t learned my lesson there?” she asked.

  “I’m sure you think you have,” her mother said. “But you don’t know that much about this man, do you?”

  “I know more than you guys give me credit for. He’s a nice guy. A great guy. Harris. That’s his name. Harris Walker and we can say it.”

  “We know his name as does half of New York and every baseball fan out there,” her father said.

  “And you are a big Mets fan just like Evan,” she said, holding his stare.

  “I am, which is why I’m nervous about things. I’ve never heard anything bad about him and you know as well as I do that if there is dirt on a player you can find it online.”

  She didn’t want to acknowledge that she tried to find any dirt she could on Harris. There wasn’t much more than pictures of him with women. Women he had admitted to dating. He wasn’t a monk; no one thought that.

  Just to test the waters, she asked, “What did you find on him, Dad?”

  “Nothing you probably haven’t. You’re too much like me to not snoop a little. It’s no secret he’s wealthy. He’ll never have to work a day in his life unless he blew through his money with women, drugs, and gambling.”

  She snorted. “You know as well as I do that didn’t happen.”

  “Since he talked to Evan about buying the land next to him and paid cash for his house, the
n I’d say he still has some pretty deep pockets.”

  “Michael,” her mother said. “That is in poor taste to say.”

  “Judy,” her father said back. “It’s family and it’s not leaving this room. I’m sure he is going to tell her if he hasn’t that he’s looking at buying the land next to him. If this is more than a passing fling my guess is they talk. Right, Kaelyn?”

  She didn’t know about the land, but it sounded like it might have happened today. “We talk about a lot of things. I know more about his life than most. Or I’d like to think I do. I know about what he is going through, his pain both physically and emotionally right now.”

  “That’s how you met, isn’t it?” her mother asked. “He was your patient?”

  “You know I can’t answer that.”

  Her mother laughed. “It’s the only explanation how you two might have crossed paths since all you do is work.”

  She did have a pretty dull life but didn’t need her parents to remind her of that. “Was there anything else you two needed to say to me before I go see Harris and get my watch back? I can’t believe Evan even noticed it on the counter.”

  “He said Harris’s house is pretty empty and neat. I guess that says something about him.”

  “What does it say, Mom?”

  “Either he’s a tidy person, or he isn’t staying. You tell me what it means.”

  “He has more furniture in the basement that he just bought and said bedroom sets will be delivered for upstairs in a few weeks. Does that answer your question?”

  Her mother laughed. “It does. So let me ask you a question. What do you feel for him?”

  “I honestly don’t know. It’s only been a few weeks. I like him. He’s sweet. He’s funny. He’s hurting. I can help him.”

  “So that is what this is about?” her father asked.

  “No. Not like you think. I care for him and I see him struggling. Put yourself in his place. Your business. It’s your life. How would you have felt if someone told you in your thirties you’d never be able to work in construction again?”

  “I can’t answer you that. This is the only life I’ve ever known. The only one I’ve ever wanted. The same with your brothers even though we didn’t push it on them. You chose your own path and we are thrilled with that as much as we would have been if you worked for your uncle and me.”