All The Way (All Series Book 3)

by Ann, Natalie

  The plans were almost done and they just needed Phil to find the time to finalize them. He said he would try to get over to the house and walk through with her one day next week.

  Unfortunately, she and Alec were so caught up on what she wanted to do, and arguing about the size of the rooms, that they completely lost track of time. While Alec had run to the store to buy some beer, she quickly made her spinach dip and another crab dip and threw them in the oven.

  Now she looked around at the party in full force, slightly embarrassed because she brought an appetizer and they were late. She was never late for anything.

  Alec quickly introduced her to Mac. Not that she would have needed an introduction because the resemblance between him and Brooke was ridiculously uncanny.

  Beth came over, welcoming her and assuring her that several people had arrived just five minutes before them. They weren’t really late. So Brynn followed Beth to the deck with her dips and chips and set everything up.

  “Mommy!” Brynn heard a loud shout and looked over the deck to where a beautiful little blonde with long curly hair was yelling and running toward them. “Evan and Michael are throwing dirt at me.”

  Beth laughed. “My daughter, Zoe, trying to get her brother and cousin in trouble.”

  Brynn looked further down and saw two toddlers sitting on the beach with Lucas close by. Both boys had blonde hair and were currently sitting next to each other giggling and tossing dirt into a pile next to a hole. It looked to her like sandcastles were being built, with Phil in the lead.

  “Why are you coming up to tell me?” Beth asked calmly. “Uncle Lucas is sitting right there.”

  Zoe stopped and grinned, showing two missing front teeth. “Because Uncle Lucas told them to do it.” Brynn laughed, drawing Zoe’s attention to her. “I’m Zoe. Who are you?”

  Brynn laughed again. She couldn’t help it, the girl was so cute. Before Brynn could reply, Beth said, “This is Brynn. She’s a friend of Alec’s.”

  Zoe’s eyes went wide. “Alec is here?” she squealed and looked around, then spotted Alec standing with Ryan. “Alec,” Zoe yelled, and took off running and shouting some more. “Phil is building sandcastles. Will you build some too?”

  “Zoe loves all the men,” Beth said, chuckling.

  “I see that, and they all seem pretty taken with her.”

  “They are. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No, I’m good.”

  “Well, since Alec took off on you, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

  Brynn looked around the yard some more. “I’ve met everyone but Cori now. I think, at least that is what Alec said.”

  “Well then, let’s go meet Cori. You are in for a treat.”

  Brynn had no idea what that comment meant, but she followed Beth across the lawn.

  They stopped in front of a small redhead sitting in a chair next to Kaitlin, holding a baby. Brynn heard Kaitlin say, “Can I hold her?”

  “No.” The redhead—who she assumed was Cori—giggled and added, “You have your own babies. Go hold one of them.”

  Kaitlin looked over at Brynn, her eyes dancing, then turned back to Cori. “Are you kidding me? I never get to hold them when their grandparents are around.” She pouted a little. “I don’t think it’s fair. I carried them and gave birth, yet I can’t even hold one.”

  Brynn turned and saw the four grandparents in the shade playing with Kaitlin’s son and daughter, and couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face. Her father would totally be the same way. Her mother would have been too, if she had lived to see grandchildren.

  Beth drew her away from her thoughts and introduced her to Cori.

  “Did you bring anything to eat?” Cori asked her, her green eyes sparkling.

  Brynn thought the question was odd, but didn’t let on. Not even after Beth and Kaitlin laughed, or when Brooke, who had just walked over and heard, replied with, “Ignore Cori.”

  “I made a few warm dips. They’re on the deck. Would you like me to get you some?” Brynn offered. She knew Cori had only given birth less than two weeks ago, too. “Actually, Kaitlin, would you like anything, too?”

  Kaitlin smiled, “I’m good. Thanks. What I want is one of my babies back. Can you go steal one for me?”

  “Not until she gets me some food,” Cori said, laughing. “She offered, and I’m hungry.” But just then Jack walked over with a plate full of snacks. He handed the plate over and took his sleeping daughter out of Cori’s hands.

  “Now you can go steal one of my children back,” Kaitlin said. Brynn looked over, thinking Kaitlin was joking, but she soon found out she wasn’t. “I’m serious. Go grab one. I don’t care which one. Take your pick.”

  Unsure of what to do, she turned and walked away toward the grandparents.

  ***

  Alec was watching Brynn with his sister and overheard what Kaitlin told her to do. He didn’t expect that she would do it and was pleased that she was. He headed over himself to see how this turned out.

  “Hi, Mom,” he said getting there a few steps before Brynn.

  “Alec, sweetie, look at Harper. Isn’t she just the spitting image of Kaitlin?”

  He looked down at the sleeping infant with blonde hair. She didn’t look like Kaitlin to him, but then again, what did he know? All babies looked alike at that age to him. He often wondered how his parents could tell him and Phil apart so early on. “Sure,” he lied with a smile on his face.

  But his mother saw right through it. “She really does look like Kaitlin, only with Ryan’s coloring right now. You wait, I bet their hair darkens, and I doubt they will keep those blue eyes, most babies don’t.” His mother turned to Brynn. “It’s so good to see you, Brynn.”

  “You too.” Brynn leaned down to look at Harper sleeping, then lifted her eyes to his mother.

  There wasn’t much that could get a baby out of his mother’s hands, least of all her first granddaughter. “Would you like to hold her?”

  Alec’s jaw dropped. “I’d love to,” Brynn replied, and reached for the baby.

  He squinted his eyes at his mother, only to have her wink back at him and laugh. He was on to her. He wasn’t sure what she was up to, but it was something.

  “I heard Alec showed you around the lake yesterday,” his mother said.

  Alec lifted his eyebrow, wondering how his mom knew. Then he looked over at Kaitlin and saw her waving at him with a huge grin on her face. His eyes drifted to Ryan who was smirking and then he knew. All those years of calling Ryan pretty boy were going to come back and bite him. His brother-in-law just set him up.

  “He did. He showed me all of the houses he had built and worked on.”

  “Did he now? Did he tell you the first house he ever worked on was the one he grew up in?”

  “No, he didn’t, but I’m not surprised.”

  Alec fought to keep the embarrassment from rising up his neck. He wasn’t sure why he had that reaction, but he did. His mother looked ready to start bragging.

  “Every time I turned around, Alec and Phil were working on a room in our house. They’ve redone every single room. The only one I never let them touch was the kitchen. Then one year, Thomas took me on a vacation and I came home and my entire kitchen had been gutted and redone.”

  “Really? That is so sweet.”

  Alec waited to see how his mom responded. They had to fight her to get that kitchen done. “It was sweet. They remembered everything I had said I wanted over the years, and Kaitlin even came home to put the kitchen back in order for me. My children know I’m very fussy about my kitchen.”

  “You weren’t so happy when you came home from vacation,” he reminded her.

  “Of course I was, but I didn’t want you to think every time I left the house you could go in and redo something.” She laughed at him when he winced. “Alec was constantly doing things in the house. Which would have been great, if he asked first before he did them.”

  “You always liked the en
d results.”

  “That is true, so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, other than he has never let his father or me pay for anything.”

  Now Alec started to squirm, more so when Brynn turned her eyes on him, all tender and sweet.

  “You and Dad have done a lot for us. You deserved it.”

  “Brynn, you should have Alec bring you over for dinner tomorrow since your office is closed for the holiday. That way I can show you all the things he’s done to our home.”

  And there it was. What he knew his mom was waiting to do, and he was thankful for it. One hundred percent. His mom just took the pressure off of him to get her over for a family dinner. He jumped up and said, “We don’t have any plans, right, Brynn?”

  “No,” she said, hedging.

  He put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a quick kiss in front of everyone, just in case they were wondering, but he knew they weren’t. There seemed to be a huge weight lifted off his shoulders just now. “We’ll be there.”

  Brynn’s face was priceless, but beneath it all, she looked almost relieved. He hadn’t missed everyone watching them at that moment.

  Phil was right all along. Bringing her here was the first step. “Why don’t you take Harper back to Kaitlin before Mom claims her again?”

  “Ah, sure.”

  Alec watched Brynn walk away and then turned to his mom, and caught his father’s grin. His father said, “You can thank your mother now for helping you.”

  He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Mom. You always did know what to say and when.”

  “You’ll know someday too, Alec.”

  Secretive

  Three weeks later, Brynn thought back on that weekend. She was sitting at her desk and pushed back from her computer to take a break from work.

  She’d been nervous about dinner at Alec’s parents’, but she shouldn’t have been. Everyone but Presley was present for dinner, as she had to work. But Isabel reminded Ben repeatedly to remember to drop leftovers to Presley on his way home so she could have dinner too.

  Isabel really did remind Brynn of her own mother, the nurturing quality of her. How she always knew what her kids wanted or liked without even asking, or knew what was going on in their minds.

  That day at Mac’s, she hadn’t missed Isabel’s looks toward Alec, nor Alec thanking his mother while Brynn walked away with Harper in her arms.

  Isabel seemed to know exactly what she and Alec were having a hard time doing, and she’d stepped in and pushed them along.

  At first Brynn was embarrassed when Alec leaned in and kissed her in front of everyone. She’d noticed all the looks the two of them had been getting. Deep down she knew everyone had figured she and Alec were a couple, but that was really their first outing as one.

  It seemed once that kiss was done and everything was out in the open, her nervousness about the day diminished.

  Only, it returned before going to his parents’ house for dinner the next day. Then she realized how silly she was being. Alec had said his mother sounded like her mother and he was right.

  She felt right at home, sitting there at the table listening to Phil and Sophia’s wedding plans for early December, followed up by Ben’s in the spring. Everyone talked about their lives and what they had going on. Even William asked her about her own family a few times.

  It was a family dinner like those she had experienced plenty, growing up with her own parents and Drew. One she wasn’t sure she would ever experience again after the death of her mother.

  After that family dinner at Alec’s, things seemed to take a turn for the better with her and Alec’s relationship. Nothing seemed secretive anymore, at least in her mind, and she didn’t think in his either. They didn’t seem to stumble and say stupid offensive things to each other anymore either.

  For her part, she wasn’t looking over her shoulder for how people might be watching them. Well, not all the time. When Alec came to her house she made sure they were never out in the open. He still stored his truck in her garage at night, then pulled it out in the mornings before his crew showed up.

  She didn’t think he did it on purpose. It was rather that when he did spend the night, he just got up early like always, showered, and then drove around the site doing his checks of the homes before the rest of the crew showed up. He even had a few changes of clothing at her place now.

  They didn’t spend every night together, either. He was trying to get his own flip done and finally did last week, with her help of course, though she never spent the night at his place during the week. The crew was used to her making them coffee in the morning now, and it was too much work on her part to leave his house early and get home to prep before the crew arrived.

  But the last couple of Fridays and a few Saturdays she stayed at his house finishing up the last of the trim work and molding. Now his flip was finally done.

  “Do you have a minute?”

  Brynn looked up to see Sean standing in her doorway. “Sure, I’m just working on comps for Alec’s flip.”

  “He decided to sell it, then?”

  “After I researched the area more, Phil and he decided it might not rent as well as turning it around for a quick profit. I think it will sell fast if he puts it on the market in the next few weeks.”

  Sean nodded, then said, “Last I knew he didn’t have another flip to work on.”

  “No, he hasn’t had time to look either.”

  “Where is he going to live?”

  Brynn shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ve got new tenants lined up to move into Sophia’s house the beginning of November. I’ll get the details on their contract to you by the end of this week for that property.”

  “Sounds good.” Then Sean smirked. “He could move into the model home.”

  “True. He could. I could always move back in with Carly, or find another place,” she mused. She had thought that might be a possibility, too, but hadn’t wanted her mind to go there just yet.

  “I’m sure Alec has no intentions of kicking you out if he moves in,” Sean said, laughing at her.

  Well, this was the first time her relationship with Alec had come up in the office. Guess it was time to address it. “Why is that?”

  He grinned pleasantly. Sean reminded her so much of Alec at times. “Really, Brynn? We all know. It’s not a secret.”

  “Everyone knows?”

  “Well, everyone that matters. And if you need to know, everyone is thrilled too.”

  “Honestly?” she asked, unsure, and had no clue why.

  “Honestly. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

  “Brynn,” Mary interrupted over the phone’s speaker, “Carly Springfield is here to see you.”

  “Thanks, Mary. You can send her in.”

  “I’ll let you get back to work,” Sean said.

  “No stay. I’ll introduce you.”

  Brynn turned when she heard Carly’s voice. “This is the only way I get to see you…” Carly trailed off when she saw Sean in the office. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were with someone.”

  “Carly, this is Sean Callahan; he’s the CFO here at Harpers. Sean, Carly Springfield.”

  Sean walked forward and offered his hand to Carly, and Brynn bit back a laugh while Carly stood there momentarily frozen. Then she seemed to snap out of it and rushed forward. “Oh, sorry. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “No, it’s my pleasure,” Sean said. “I finally get to meet the woman who brought Brynn to us.”

  Carly blushed and looked questioningly at Brynn.

  “I’ve mentioned your name a time or two. They know you were the one who sent the job to me when you saw it advertised months ago.”

  “Oh. Well, that was for selfish reasons on my part. I wanted Brynn to move closer,” Carly added and smiled, warming up to Sean.

  Brynn knew that Carly was always uneasy around men when she first met them. She’d always been skittish, and Brynn knew why, or at least part of the reason. It took Carly a long time to
warm up to any man. Even though she joked about dating and men, the truth of it was, Carly didn’t date often. Whenever she warmed up enough to start seeing someone, it never lasted long.

  “It was nice to meet you,” Sean said, and left the two of them alone.

  Turning to Carly, Brynn said, “So, you came because you missed me.”

  “I did,” Carly said, grinning from ear to ear. “You keep blowing me off for a man, just like in college.”

  Brynn snorted. That wasn’t true, not at all. “Sometimes I like a man’s company more.”

  “I don’t blame you,” Carly said. “Especially one that looks like Alec. Anyway,” Carly waved her hand, “I wanted to know if you wanted to have a drink with me tonight if you don’t have plans.”

  “No plans.”

  “Good, because I need some adult company tonight. The kids were driving me insane at school today.”

  ***

  “Did you have a good time with Carly?” Alec asked later that night.

  “Yeah. I miss her. I like being so close to her now, but I still don’t get to see her as much as I think she had hoped.”

  “I didn’t need to come over tonight. Anytime you want to spend time with her, just tell me. It won’t hurt my feelings,” Alec said. He didn’t want Brynn to think she couldn’t have her own life and her own friends. He’d never been that way. He wanted to spend time with her, but not at the expense of her own personal life.

  “It’s fine, she just wanted a drink. I should make more of an effort to see her, but I knew with school starting she was busy. And we’ve been pretty busy ourselves with work.”

  “True.”

  He watched her getting ready for bed. He liked the routine they had, a few nights at her house during the week, one or two nights at his on the weekend. They didn’t spend a huge amount of time together during the days. He just never seemed to be around the office, and when he was, she wasn’t always there. It was working for them, and it was nice that things seemed to be out in the open more.