Adore (Spiral of Bliss #4)

by Nina Lane

She laughs and holds out her arms for Nicholas. “Cute is not a word I’d use to describe you, Dean, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. You guys here for lunch?”

  “Scarecrow Straws,” Nicholas says.

  “Your wish is my command, captain.” Allie ruffles Nicholas’s hair.

  “Liv around?” I ask.

  “Yeah, she’s in the office working on the plans for the festival.”

  “What festival?”

  “The Mirror Lake Bicentennial Festival,” Allie says.

  “Mirror Lake is having a bicentennial festival?”

  Allie nods. “Liv is in charge of it. Didn’t she tell you?”

  “No.”

  “She took over the planning committee to celebrate Mirror Lake’s two-hundredth year,” Allie explains, shifting Nicholas to her other arm. “I’m helping organize the entertainment. It’s going to be held in Wizard’s Park. There’ll be concerts, an art fair, a children’s stage, tons of food, and a fireworks show at night. Liv is also planning a charity auction to benefit the Historical Society.”

  I take in that barrage of information. “When did she start all this?”

  “A few weeks ago.” Allie shrugs. “Maybe she told you, and you forgot.”

  I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have forgotten hearing that my already overworked wife is now planning a town festival and charity auction.

  “I need to talk to her,” I say, gesturing toward the kitchen. “Can you deal with Nicholas for a few minutes?”

  “Sure. I’ll get him set up in a booster seat.” Allie sets Nicholas on the floor and leads him over to an empty table by the window.

  I go through the bustling kitchen to the offices in the back. Liv is sitting at the cluttered desk, working at a computer whose edges are decorated with scrawled Post-it notes.

  “Oh, hi.” She looks up at me, her face blooming with a smile, and for a second my resolve falters.

  I manage to frown at her. “Hi.”

  “Why are you scowling?”

  “Because apparently you’re planning a festival to celebrate the town’s bicentennial, which I didn’t even know was taking place,” I say. “And some sort of charity auction, which I also did not know was taking place.”

  “Well, it’s to benefit the Historical Society’s restoration of the train depot near Wizard’s Park,” Liv says. “So you shouldn’t be scowling.”

  “When were you going to tell me this?”

  “I thought I did.” She looks at the computer. “I mean, I wrote down all the… Oh.”

  She plucks a Post-it off the computer and hands it to me. Written in her loopy handwriting is: Tell Dean about festival and auction.

  She gives me a sheepish grin. I crumple the note in my fist.

  “Is there a reason you wanted to take this job?” I toss the note into the trash.

  “They asked me to.”

  “Who asked you to?”

  “The city council. The original festival director got a job in Indiana, so she had to move away. And the city council knows how involved the Wonderland Café has been with local events, so they asked if I’d be interested in taking over the festival.”

  “And you said yes?”

  “Well, obviously.” Liv puts her hands on her hips. “And I wanted to do the charity auction because the Wonderland Café has always been involved in Historical Society projects. Why are you so annoyed?”

  I’m annoyed because my wife seems to have plenty of energy and ambition for everything except our sex life… to the point where she had to fake an orgasm.

  Irritation grips my neck. Apparently her little act was more of an insult than I’d initially thought. Since when does she think of something else when we’re fucking?

  “I appreciate you wanting to help, Liv,” I say evenly. “But I don’t get why you’d take on the task of planning a festival when you’re already overbooked.”

  She narrows her eyes. “You don’t think I can handle it?”

  Oh, fuck.

  “That’s not the issue, and you know it.” I step closer to her, still frowning. “You have shifts almost every day, you’ve been talking about expanding the café, you’re busy every weekend with birthday parties, you’ve got Nicholas registered for toddler sports and swimming classes… and while you know I’ll help however I can, I’m not happy about you taking on more work right now.”

  “Dean, most of the festival work is already done,” Liv says, spreading her arms out. “Linda, the former director, had so much already in place. I just need to schedule the events, make sure we have all the permits, confirm the details, and set up the charity auction.”

  “That’s it, huh?”

  “I promise, it’s not that big a deal.” She puts her hand on my chest in an obvious ploy to weaken me. “Just phone calls and emails, a meeting or two. It’s going to be a wonderful event for the whole town. And I’m doing it partly to create more visibility for the café and secure our reputation as an important institution. That’s all part of our success.”

  I look into her brown eyes and feel an old, familiar twist in my chest. Liv has tried so hard to find her place in Mirror Lake, and I know this is one more way of ensuring that her roots here run strong and deep. It’s one more way of making herself an integral part of the town that has become her home.

  But as strongly as I understand that, I still don’t have to like it.

  “Do you have an assistant?” I ask. “Have you asked other people for help?”

  “There’s a whole planning committee, and I’m delegating duties to everyone,” Liv says, faint irritation flashing in her eyes. “Look, I haven’t complained about you being so busy lately or gone so often. Haven’t you been overextending yourself for the past two years? You know, it’s not always easy taking care of Nicholas by myself.”

  My jaw grinds. “I have told you countless times since Marianne moved away that I want us to hire another nanny.”

  “I don’t want another nanny, Dean. I want you.”

  I take a breath and try to smother a surge of guilt. Liv sighs and strokes her hands over my chest.

  “Dean, not once have I resented the work you’re doing,” she says. “I don’t like it when you’re gone, but I know how important the excavation is, and I would never ask you to change anything. I have always supported you, so don’t make it sound as if I don’t know my own limitations, okay? Please.”

  I drag a hand down my face. Frustration pushes at my chest. My work isn’t going to slow down anytime soon.

  For weeks I’ve been dealing with the fallout of the earthquake, assessing damage to a site that had previously stood for a thousand years, battling governmental officials and institutions who want to kill the whole project. Not to mention making decisions I don’t like. Then sex with my wife last night was hardly a hero’s welcome—not that being angry about that will help anything either.

  At this point, however, I’m not sure what will help.

  “Dean, I don’t want you to scale back your work, especially now,” Liv says. “I know you need to save the site, and I’m proud of your dedication and commitment. But I want to do things too, and being asked to plan the festival is an honor I can’t turn down. Okay?”

  I don’t respond, but I nod.

  “I promise, I’m recruiting more people every day,” she continues. “In fact, I’m going to recruit you to help out during the festival, maybe with one of the stages or setting up for the auction. You know how much I love watching your muscles flex when you do heavy lifting.”

  She strokes her hands down my arms and looks at me from underneath her long lashes. Some of my tension eases. Though I’m well aware Liv is playing me, I decide to let her. Because anything that gets my hot, sweet wife thinking in a sexy direction—and then staying there—is a win.

  “What will I get in return?” I slide my hands around to squeeze her gorgeous ass.

  “Whatever you want.”

  “Then I happily volunteer.”

  “I knew
you would.” Liv reaches up to kiss me. “I’ll let you know what I need you to sign up for, okay?”

  “Sure.”

  As if I could ever tell her no.

  *

  After leaving Nicholas with Liv, I drive to the east side of the lake where clusters of rental cabins, outdoor shops, and restaurants cater to the tourist crowd. Next to a sandwich shop is the place my brother Archer bought with his inheritance money. It’s a rundown garage attached to an office, which he’s in the process of turning into a motorcycle repair and sales shop.

  I go through the main office to the back room where Archer does all the paperwork. I stop and knock on the closed door. After a moment, his voice tells me to come in.

  I push open the door. The air feels thick, laced with tension. Archer is sitting behind the desk in grease-stained overalls, his expression set. Kelsey March, Archer’s girl and one of my best friends, is standing on the other side of the room.

  “Hey, man.” Archer rises and extends a hand. “Welcome back.”

  “Thanks.” I shake his hand and go to kiss Kelsey on the cheek. “Thought you’d be on campus today.”

  “I’m heading over to Edison Power to finalize the details of funding for the Spiral Project,” she replies, brushing a hand through her blue-streaked blond hair. “How was your trip?”

  “Good. Got a lot done.” I step away from her. “How was California?”

  She and Archer exchange glances before Kelsey shrugs.

  “Okay,” she says. “We had to meet with the Explorer Channel producers about the upcoming season. Contract details and stuff. Did you bring me my panettone?”

  “Yeah, it’s at home.” I glance from her to Archer, aware of the lingering tension. “Guess I’m interrupting something.”

  “No.” Kelsey rolls her shoulders back and fidgets with her cuffs. “You’re not. I was just leaving.”

  Archer’s gaze follows her as she heads out the door. Something is off, but I’m not about to try and figure out what it is.

  I lower myself into a chair without comment. While I know well that dealing with Kelsey can be a challenge, I’ve learned to stay the hell out of her and Archer’s relationship.

  The air crackles with faint awkwardness. My relationship with my brother is no longer overtly hostile, but we haven’t entirely figured out how to get past years of estrangement and anger.

  I give Archer full credit, though—after meeting Kelsey, he settled in Mirror Lake and completely turned his life around. He opened the garage two months ago, after a year of searching for a place and working out a business plan. For years, it seemed as if Archer would never even hold a job, let alone own his own business, and he proved all our doubts wrong.

  “So what’s going on?” Archer asks.

  I hand him the folder I’m carrying. “That’s the details of your investments. I made some recommendations you can look over. Good rates on some newer gold-star funds.”

  “Thanks.” He glances through the papers.

  “Looks like you’re starting to pull in some customers,” I say, nodding toward the window.

  “I put out a few ads and got some word-of-mouth.” Archer puts the investment papers into the filing cabinet. “Hey, I haven’t seen Nicholas since I got back. He’s in daycare today?”

  “No, he’s at home with Liv for the afternoon.”

  “Maybe I’ll text her, see if I can stop by.” He reaches for his phone. “I might have a lead on a truck for her.”

  “A truck?”

  “Yeah, for the party thing she and Allie want to do.”

  “What party thing?”

  “The thing.” Archer works the buttons on his phone. “You know.”

  “I don’t know.”

  Archer sets the phone aside. “Liv and Allie are trying to get a loan to buy a used truck for the café. I guess they want to be able to go to kids’ houses for birthday parties or whatever. I said I’d help them find something that’d work. She didn’t tell you?”

  I shake my head. “First I’ve heard of it.”

  Apparently there’s a lot going on in Liv’s life that I don’t know about. Or at least, that I’m the last to know. I don’t like the idea that I’m out of the loop when it comes to my wife.

  As I leave Archer’s office, I suppress the urge to call Liv and tell her I’ll donate a truck to the café. She still doesn’t like it when I offer to give her something that she wants to work for—and while I love her drive and know where it comes from, it’s still frustrating when she doesn’t want my help. Or when she wants it only on her terms.

  I leave the garage and cross the street. Kelsey’s car is parked at the curb, partly hidden behind a row of trees. She’s in the driver’s seat, her forehead resting against the steering wheel.

  Concerned, I walk to the car and knock on the driver’s side window. Kelsey looks up and rolls down the window. Her eyes are glistening with a faint sheen of tears.

  I pull a clean handkerchief out of my pocket and hand it to her.

  “Thanks.” She blows her nose and gives a humorless laugh. “Don’t tell anyone you caught me being girly.”

  “It’s in the vault.” I pause, knowing she won’t want me to probe too much. “What’s going on?”

  “Your brother is a goddamned stubborn ass.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  “He wants to get married.”

  “To you?”

  Kelsey glowers at me. “Of course to me.”

  “The bastard. You want me to beat him up?”

  “Maybe.” Kelsey groans and rests her forehead on the steering wheel again. “I don’t get it, Dean. Everything has been perfect, you know? We live together, we have an amazing time storm-chasing, we fuck like rabbits whenever and wherever we want—”

  “I get the point.”

  “I’m just saying, it’s all good. Why does he want to screw it up by getting married?”

  “Kels, I’m guessing he wants to get married because it’s all good.”

  “Well, I told him I don’t need to get married,” she replies. “When we were in LA, he wanted to go to Vegas and do it, then he got pissed when I refused. He doesn’t know how to take no for an answer.”

  “Why aren’t you saying yes?” I ask.

  “Dean, I’m thirty-eight,” Kelsey says curtly. “I’ve never been married, and I see no reason to get married. It’s not like Archer and I are going to settle down and have kids. Why can’t things just stay the same?”

  “If things stayed the same, you might never have met Archer.”

  She shoots me a glare, like that’s exactly what she didn’t want to hear.

  “Hey, you want to go for a run tonight?” I ask to change the subject. “Or racquetball?”

  Kelsey studies me. “How often do you hang out with your guy friends, Dean?”

  “Huh?”

  “I mean, you play football and stuff with them, right?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Who are they?”

  “What?”

  “Your guy friends,” she says impatiently. “Who are they?”

  “Other professors,” I say. “Archeologists, historians. A few grad students. Max Lyons and I shot some hoops the other day. Why?”

  “And none of them wonder why you hang out with a chick?” Kelsey asks.

  “Since when are you a chick?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I doubt they notice or care,” I say. “What’s this about? You don’t want to hang out anymore?”

  “Of course I want to hang out,” she replies, glancing past my shoulder to the garage. “But have you ever asked Archer to join your football games or whatever?”

  “Uh, no. But he’s been busy with the garage.” I shake my head with faint disbelief. “Are you trying to find buddies for your boyfriend?”

  “I’m trying to figure out what the hell is going on between my boyfriend and his brother,” Kelsey replies. “Archer has been living in Mirror Lak
e for over a year. And you and he never do anything together.”

  “We went to dinner and that concert last month.”

  “With me and Liv,” Kelsey reminds me. “And, as usual, you both let us do all the talking.”

  “Actually it was more that we couldn’t get a word in edgewise.”

  A faint smile tugs at her mouth before it’s replaced with another frown.

  “Look, as far as I can tell, you guys talk business, but that’s it,” she continues. “You know how crazy Archer is about Nicholas, Dean. And it kind of sucks that you and he still can’t get over your shit. Maybe if you did, you could set him straight about this marriage thing.”

  “Whoa. Don’t get me involved in your issues. I learned my lesson, remember?”

  She gives me a pointed look and starts the car. “Not about how to fix your relationship with your brother, you haven’t.”

  She rolls up the window and pulls away from the curb. I stand there for a minute, knowing—and hating—that she’s right. My relationship with Archer, though better now, has always been the one thing in my life I haven’t known how to fix. He’s great with Nicholas, and he and Liv have become good friends, but he and I are still like two animals wary of each other.

  Years ago, we used to be comrades-in-arms, fighting zombies, dragons, and monsters from our tree house, which we’d built in an old oak tree in the backyard of our California house. Known as the Castle, the tree house had served as a fortress, a UFO, a Wild West saloon, a robber’s hideout, and a dozen other headquarters.

  I start back toward the office. Maybe I’ll ask Archer if he wants to grab a beer tonight. He’s standing outside next to a rundown motorcycle, talking to a customer.

  I stop. Even if he did want to hang out with me—which I doubt—I don’t know what we’d even talk about. Neither one of us is into rehashing the past or filling in details of all the years we were estranged.

  Archer walks back into the garage, a clipboard in one hand. I watch him go, suddenly feeling a rush of sympathy. I can’t imagine what I’d have done if Liv hadn’t wanted to marry me. Don’t want to imagine it. Won’t.

  I turn and walk back to my car. I’ve had to learn a lot over the past few years. How to stay out of Liv’s business and not jump in to rescue her. How to give up control of certain aspects of my work. How to let my family fix their own problems. How to leave Archer and Kelsey’s relationship alone.