Cashmere and Camo

by Erin Nicholas

  “She did. She said to invite you for meatloaf and key lime pie.”

  He blinked at her. “Invite me for…” He trailed off.

  Maggie nodded. “Dinner. Just to spend time together. And talk.”

  “Brynn thought we needed to talk.” That didn’t sound like her. Except…it did. This was the Brynn that listened to people, saw what they needed, and helped make it happen. Did he need to sit in the kitchen where his best friend had grown up, where he’d shared happy meals where he didn’t have to worry about anything, where his friend’s mom had let him just be a kid? Yep. He really did. He took a deep breath. Then gave Maggie a nod. “Okay. Let’s talk.”

  She seemed relieved. She smiled. “Dinner will be done in about forty-five minutes.”

  “Great.”

  “I don’t suppose you could sharpen my lawn mower blade while you wait?” she asked, turning on her heel. “I’d like to mow tomorrow, but I think it’s a little dull.” She shot him a smile over her shoulder.

  Noah felt like he was fifty pounds lighter as he laughed and followed her down the stairs. “Yeah, Maggie, I could do that.”

  “Call me MJ,” she said, turning into her kitchen. “All my friends do.”

  He paused in the doorway leading out back. Friends. He and Maggie had moved or were moving at least—to friends. “What’s that stand for?” he asked.

  “Margaret Jean.”

  “I didn’t know your first name was Margaret.” Because he’d never thought about it. She’d been “Jared’s mom” or “Maggie” as long as he’d known her.

  “There was no reason for you to know that about me,” she said with a smile.

  He gave her a nod. “Yeah, I guess not.” Because little kids didn’t really need to know their friend’s mom’s full first or middle name. But people did know that stuff about their friends. “Until now,” he added.

  Her smile grew. “Right. Until now. Noah Michael.”

  And two hours later, while chatting with Maggie, he ate the best key lime pie of his life.

  Not that he would ever tell Cori or Parker that.

  15

  “Brynn!” Noah banged into the pie shop six minutes after leaving Maggie’s house. “Brynn!” He got everyone’s attention…and none of them were Brynn.

  In fact, the person coming toward him in an apron was about as opposite of Brynn as Noah could get.

  “Something wrong, Noah?” Hank asked.

  Noah was distracted by Hank’s ruffles for a moment. Then he shook his head and focused. “Where’s Brynn?”

  “New York.”

  “Okay.” Noah turned on his heel. Then froze. He swung back. “What?”

  Hank grasped Noah’s upper arm and pulled him off to the side, closer to the coffee bar where Cori was shining her cappuccino machine. “She’s in New York. Left yesterday.”

  “But…I… but…” Noah’s heart was racing and his mind was spinning. She’d gone to New York? After telling him she was definitely staying and making beer here?

  But he’d said that horrible thing about her always going along with things. And she hadn’t actually said she was staying. Not after he’d said those things anyway.

  He shoved a hand through his hair. Then he sucked in a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll go to New York,” he said.

  Hank looked surprised. “You’re going to New York?”

  Noah nodded, the spinning in his head suddenly stopping, the answer clear. “I’m going to be wherever she is.”

  “To stay?”

  Noah sighed. “Yeah. I’ll have to.”

  “You’d have to leave your shop and your friends,” Hank said.

  “Yep. But Brynn makes me happy. And I want to be happy, Hank. So I need to be with her.”

  Hank gave him a smile that looked almost proud. “You deserve to be happy, Noah.”

  Noah felt his heart swell a little at that. Had everyone realized that he was less than completely happy over the past few years?

  “You’ll also have to leave Maggie behind though,” Hank said, moving in closer, mild concern in his eyes. “Are you okay with that?”

  That one took Noah just a little longer to answer. But he nodded slowly. “I think she’ll be okay. There are other people who can look out for her and help her.”

  Hank smiled. “There are. People who will gladly do that if you’ll let them.”

  Noah felt himself return the smile. “She doesn’t really need my physical help. At least not all the time. Not with the basic stuff. And I think I can give her what she does need with phone calls and Skype and regular visits.”

  Hank clapped him on the shoulder. “Good. That’s all really good, Noah. So you’re really not going to just go to New York and bring Brynn back here?”

  Noah considered that for a second. He’d love to do that. He really did want Brynn here.

  Because this was where she was happy.

  The thought seemed to slap him across the face. He’d known it, of course. Even if she hadn’t said it, it had been completely obvious. Brynn was happy in Bliss. Happier than she’d ever been. Happier than she’d been in New York.

  “I don’t think Rudy knew what he was talking about,” Noah said to Hank. He knew that seemed out of context, but he couldn’t not say it. “He wanted her to go back to New York to be happy, but this is where she should be.”

  Hank didn’t say anything at first. Then he shook his head. “Maybe we should have a seat.”

  Noah didn’t have a better idea at the moment, so he slid up onto the stool at the coffee bar next to Hank. He sighed and ran a hand over his face. Then he looked at Hank, aware that Cori wasn’t far away. “I just…I don’t think Rudy was right on this one, Hank.”

  “I don’t know. I think Brynn definitely went back to New York happier and more confident.” He swiveled on his stool and pinned Noah with a serious look. “So you did what you said you would. Mission accomplished.”

  Noah swallowed. “Yeah. I guess so.”

  “That’s a good thing, right?” Hank asked. “She’s dated six guys—”

  “Who was number six?” Noah asked with a frown.

  “Well, me,” Hank said. “We sat right at that table over three nights ago and talked about her going to New York.”

  “You told her to go to New York?”

  “No. I encouraged her to go.” He leaned onto his elbow on the counter next to them. “To get that last thing checked off Rudy’s list.”

  Noah felt himself nodding. “Yeah. I guess she did have to go back.”

  “And now anything can happen.”

  “But Rudy—”

  “Never said when she had to go back. Or what she had to do while she was there,” Hank said. “Maybe it was just to go out to the restaurants she loves without worrying about where everyone else wants to go. Or see a show that she’s never seen because no one else wanted to see it. Or maybe it’s just to go shopping with her mom and be able to put her foot down and buy the dress she wanted to instead of the one her mom liked best.”

  “Yeah. I’ll definitely encourage all of that,” Noah said. “We all love sweet Brynn, but she deserves to do things her way. She deserves people who ask her what her way is.”

  Hank nodded. “Definitely. But you won’t have to encourage any of that. She’s already done it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, she texted me a little bit ago to tell me that she’s done all of those things. That’s why those were my examples.” The older man grinned.

  “You and Brynn text?” Noah asked.

  “Sure.” Hank shrugged. “She needs progress reports.”

  “About the pie shop?” Noah looked around. It looked like business-as-usual. With the exception of the seventy-something-year-old man wearing a ruffled apron.

  “And you.”

  Noah sat up straighter. “Me?”

  “She asked me to take care of you while she was gone.” Hank gave him a smile.

  “Really?”

  “R
eally.”

  Noah felt his chest get warm. “And what have you told her?”

  “That you and Penn have made up. That MJ installed her vanity and was inviting you for dinner. And that I thought you looked like hell.”

  Noah just stared at him for a long minute. “How did you know about the cat and MJ?” The looking like hell thing was pretty obvious. And accurate.

  “The cat hasn’t been coming around my house as much,” Hank said. “I assumed he was getting attention elsewhere. And since Brynn isn’t here, figured it was you.”

  Noah couldn’t help but nod. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I guess…I’ve been taking a break in the afternoons.” And Penn had been crawling into his lap just like he did with Brynn. It was almost as if Penn had just been waiting for Noah to slow down and just be instead of doing all the time. But then Noah frowned. “Wait. He hasn’t been coming around your house as much?”

  Hank chuckled. “He usually comes by around two in the afternoon. We nap in my recliner. Then he comes back after you close up the shop and has dinner and spends the night.”

  Noah’s eyebrows rose. “He doesn’t sleep at the shop?”

  “Not when you’re not there. And I figure two o’clock is about the time Brynn goes back to the pie shop and you run over to Maggie’s, right?”

  Noah nodded, a little stunned. “He needs that much attention? He can’t be alone?”

  “Oh.” Hank shook his head. “I don’t think he comes around for him. I think he comes around for me. And then goes back for Brynn. And for you.”

  Noah felt his throat tighten. Stupid. It was a cat. But he could admit that there had been a lot of afternoons when he’d first come back to Bliss, when it was only him and Penn in the garage, that it had felt nice knowing the cat was there. Sure, he’d told himself that he was taking care of the cat, but now, looking back, he saw how Penn had kept him company too. And he was now looking forward to the afternoon lap sitting that had become a habit.

  “So you’ll look after him for me when I go to New York?” Noah asked.

  “Or he’ll look after me,” Hank said. “Either way, we’ll be okay.”

  That did, actually, make Noah feel good. Everything was going to be taken care of.

  “I can do this, right?” Noah asked. “Move to New York to be with her. Or bring her back here. Or whatever works out.”

  “Of course.”

  “It’s a disruption in Rudy’s plan,” he pointed out.

  “Are you willing to do that?” Hank asked. “Are you willing to put what you want in front of what Rudy wanted?”

  Noah took a deep breath and blew it out. “I know Rudy was your friend. He was mine too,” he said. “But dammit, Hank, I don’t care if he didn’t want me with Brynn. He was wrong about that. So yeah, I’m going to put what I want first. I did everything else he asked of me, I respected those wishes. But now…I want to make Brynn happy. I don’t need a list from anyone else telling me how to do that.”

  Hank was watching him closely when Noah looked up. Slowly, his mouth spread into a grin. “That’s my boy.” He clapped him on the shoulder.

  Noah’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. You’ve got this.” Hank sighed and sat back on his stool, looking very satisfied. “And now I’ve got my checklist finished too.”

  “Your checklist?”

  “The things that Rudy wanted me to do.”

  “What things?”

  “Things to take care of you kids.”

  Noah didn’t understand. “Us kids? Me and Brynn?”

  “And Cori and Evan and Ava and Parker,” Hank said with a nod.

  Rudy had asked Hank to take care of all of them?

  “What things were on that list?” Noah asked.

  “Oh, you’ll find out.” Hank got to his feet.

  “When?”

  “Eventually.” He smoothed the front of his apron. “And now, I have some customers to wait on.”

  “But—when will we find out about your list?” Noah asked.

  Hank looked back at him. “Does it really matter what’s on the list?” he asked.

  Noah thought about that. About Brynn. Cori and Evan. Ava and Parker. The pie shop, the sisters’ relationship, Evan’s mini-golf course, Parker’s diner, him and Maggie. And he shook his head. “No. It doesn’t matter. No matter what Rudy thought or wanted, it’s all worked out perfectly.”

  Hank nodded. “I agree.” Then he headed for the table of women that had just sat down, pulling out a pencil and a pad of paper to take their order.

  Noah pivoted back to the counter, lost in thought. Until Cori came and leaned on the counter across from him.

  She just arched an eyebrow.

  Shit. She was probably pissed at him.

  He leaned in, deciding he’d rather be on offense than defense here.

  “Okay, I know. I was a dumbass. It’s in the water here, I think.” He paused. Nope, not even a small smile at his quip. Okay, then. He took a deep breath. “My dad asked me to take care of my sisters and my mom when he was gone. So I did. I was a kid so in my head I thought that meant doing things. Fixing things. So I did everything I could for them. And I did a good job. At least, their cars always ran and the roof never leaked and the guys all knew they had to treat them well. But, I didn’t listen to them. I didn’t talk to them. I just did what I thought was best, without ever asking them what they really needed or wanted. And then my dad would come home and tell me I did a great job, because that’s all exactly what he would have done, so I felt good about it. And then, when they left for college and met their husbands and my dad finally came home and retired, I felt relieved. I was off the hook. It wasn’t my job anymore.”

  Cori didn’t say anything, but she was listening.

  But then it got worse. Ava came out of the kitchen.

  “Oh, Noah.” Ava’s tone was icy and she barely gave him more than a passing glance as she grabbed a cup and poured herself some coffee.

  “Hey, Ava,” Noah greeted. He deserved this. He’d hurt Brynn. He’d rejected Brynn. He’d chosen Rudy over Brynn.

  He really was a dumbass.

  But sitting at the table in Maggie’s kitchen, remembering what it had been like to just be happy and carefree, where someone was giving him stuff and waiting on him and asking him about his life and how he was had felt so damned good. More so because it had obviously made Maggie happy too. He didn’t expect to have someone catering to his every wish and need. He intended to argue with her about who was going to be doing the bulk of the mowing at her house. But being there had reminded him that it was possible to make someone happy and be happy at the same time. And he knew he and Brynn could do that. Because they’d been doing it for six months before she’d started dating other men.

  Yeah, that still sounded crazy.

  “I was just telling Cori that I’m really sorry about how I messed up with Brynn,” he said to Ava.

  She studied her nails.

  Parker came out from the kitchen just then and took in the gathering at the counter. He sighed and met Noah’s eyes. “It’s about time you get here.”

  Noah nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Go on with what you were saying,” Cori said.

  “Okay.” He cleared his throat. “My buddy Jared asked me to take care of his mom. I, of course, said yes. But I was still a dumb kid. Older, but not really any smarter. I messed all of that up too. I didn’t take care of her the way she needed me to. And I felt it. I knew it deep down. But I had no idea how to change it. And then Rudy came along.” Noah felt his voice wobble. He cleared his throat again. “Rudy came along and gave me another chance. I thought that he’d asked me to look out for Brynn because she needed a guardian or something. But she didn’t.” He shook his head, his heart expanding as he thought about Brynn.

  “All of the ways Brynn has grown and gained, isn’t anything I’ve done. Rudy made her step out of her comfort zone and as soon as she did, she blossomed. She tuned in to the people
around her and she let her big brain, and her even bigger heart, loose on them. That wasn’t me. Hell, I would have kept her in the shadows, hidden away, all mine if it had been up to me.”

  He sat back on the stool and looked at Brynn’s sisters, the only people who loved her as much as he did. He met their gazes directly. “Brynn and I have a lot in common. It’s always been easier to just put our heads down and do what was right in front of us. But once we look up, and actually take it all in, we want to be a part of it. The chance to be with her is the only thing strong enough to make me break out of my comfort zone.” He took a deep breath. “She doesn’t need me. I need her. I thought Rudy sent Brynn here so I could take care of her but the truth is, he brought her here to save me.”

  There was a long beat of silence and then someone sniffed.

  It was Ava.

  “Damn,” she said. “That was really good.”

  Cori nodded. “It was. Brynn deserves to have that.”

  Noah blew out a breath. Relief coursed through him. Brynn was way sweeter than these two. If he could convince them, he could convince her.

  Evan came through the doorway between the pie shop and the diner just then. “Hey everybody.” He looked from Cori to Noah to Parker to Ava. “What’s going on?”

  “Noah is here regaining our approval,” Cori said.

  “Oh, good. Damn that was a long three days.” Evan headed around behind the counter, kissed Cori, and then poured coffee for himself.

  He thought it had been a long three days?

  Noah focused on Cori. “Where is she?” he asked. “I mean, I know she’s in New York, but I’m going to need an address.”

  Cori looked at Ava. Ava gave her a little nod. He didn’t know what all of that meant, but he did know that he was going to New York. Soon. But—his mind spun—not tonight. Not yet. There was something he needed to do first.

  “We’ll give you the address. But you should know, she’s planning to come back tomorrow,” Cori said. “She just went to officially resign from the lab and check into selling her apartment.”

  “And enjoy the city her way for a change,” Noah added.

  Cori blew out a breath, nodding. “Yeah. That too. We—” She glanced at Ava. “We’re learning that we sometimes made it hard for her to be herself. We were really trying to make it so she could be whoever she wanted to be, but sometimes we might have…”