Sean held up both hands. “Fine. If he didn’t come out here for advice, he didn’t. I’ll drop it.” Sean watched him across the table, almost patiently.
“Did you know I was headed there? Possibly falling for someone else on Friday night, just before you suggested Mira?” Wade asked, one corner of his mouth curled as Sean’s eyebrows shot up.
“The Monteros, man, they get in your blood,” Sean said, knowingly. “I tried to warn you, but I was pretty sure it was already too late for you. First time I met Brisa, it was as if sunshine had taken human form. She’s warm and friendly and…” Sean stopped. “She’s not as confident as she acts.”
“But you didn’t fall for Brisa?” Wade rested his elbows on his knees. He’d already given up Reyna to Sean Wakefield. Was the guy secretly in love with Brisa, too?
“Nah, she’s too much like me. We’re fun. We’re light. We’re always happy, even when we’re not. No way would we ever figure out life together.” Sean sipped his water.
Wade grunted. Sean’s answer was close to what Brisa had said on the rooftop of the Sandpiper hotel, the difference between the kind of men she and Reyna needed.
“You are definitely not that.” Sean drank more water and waited for Wade’s reaction.
He grunted again. It was true but he wasn’t going to admit it.
“People like Brisa and me, we float.” Sean held up a hand to imitate an easy, rolling wave. “We’d eventually float apart. What we need is an anchor, something that holds firm against the waves. You’re a boat guy, Mr. Navy. You get that, right?”
Wade frowned as he considered that. An anchor. Ties that would hold solidly against the waves.
Instead of weighing someone like Brisa down, an anchor would mean she could rest.
That’s what he believed a family was. That was what he’d wanted his whole life.
Sean was saying Brisa needed the same thing, but Wade could be the anchor.
“That is one deep metaphor, Wakefield. All this time, you pretended you only understood bad poetry, yet here you are, painting pictures,” Jason Ward drawled. “Wait until I tell Angela about this. You’ll confirm every hope and dream in my professor’s teaching life.”
“Still need to nail the rhyme scheme, though,” Peter added and ducked as Sean tossed his bottle cap at his head.
“Boys, no throwing things,” Mira said firmly. “Do not make me pull out my soon-to-be teacher’s voice, ’mkay?”
Mira had suggested this meeting as an informal group therapy session, but it was unlike any group Wade had been a part of. These were true friends, the kind that became family.
Looking in from the outside, he’d always assumed that trust born of bonds that couldn’t be broken because they were built in shared history was the main selling point of a family. Going through the world with only himself to fully rely on meant he wanted that connection. He’d do anything to build it for Thea. The anchor image made perfect sense.
The only way he knew how to build that trust was to give it first. If trusting this group was a mistake, he’d know soon enough. “Say a man like me, who is not sunshine and rainbows or whatever Wakefield said, met a woman who needs that anchor. How would he convince her to dump her wealthy, handsome, superstar boyfriend and the life she’s always lived to settle down with an alcoholic divorced father of one who will work terrible hours and spend a lot of time battling anxiety and the stress of a job he’s meant to do?”
Wade slumped back in his chair, covered his face and muttered, “Man, I need a beer right now.” It had taken everything in him to be honest with himself and this group around the table. They were sympathetic, yes. They understood so much of his struggle, yes.
But none of them lived inside his head, the one with an alarm ringing so loudly because he’d laid his emotions out like a huge target, ready for arrows.
Mira squeezed his shoulder. “It gets easier, trust me.” Then she sighed. “But who am I to talk.” She held up both hands. “I’m about to share something. We aren’t talking about it tonight or until I say we are.” She waited until everyone at the table nodded. It took a minute because it was clear they were dying to know, and none of them were good at keeping their opinions to themselves. When she was satisfied, she said, “I’m…married.” She paused and waited for the men around the table to react.
None of them did. Wade relaxed in his chair. They’d promised her and they were keeping to it.
His trust was in good people.
“We’ve been separated longer than we were together and at some point, I’ll get around to filing the papers. He’s not a part of my life anymore. It’s just a…thing.” Mira tangled her fingers together and stared hard at them.
Still, no one spoke.
Wade admired her bravery. He was also impressed at the self-control around the table.
“So, what are we going to do about McNally’s romance?” Sean asked. He cleared his throat. “We’re good at solving problems.”
Wade pressed his hands on top of Mira’s to tell her to relax the hard knot. When she nodded, he said, “Not much to be done while that boyfriend’s in the picture. I certainly can’t compete with Reggie Beaumont.”
Some of his hope faded when every man around the table shook his head slowly, regretfully. That was a fact none of them could argue.
“Could we find another woman for Reggie? He gets a lot of publicity for dating gorgeous society types. Anybody know a woman more beautiful than Brisa?” Peter asked.
Then the guy laughed as if it was the funniest joke in the world.
Wade sighed.
Because it was funny.
“Okay, so Brisa has to make the decision,” Mira said, “and to choose Wade, all he has to do is give her something Reggie doesn’t. What are your secret weapons?”
Wade stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. “Secret weapons? No man who has anything that might attract a woman keeps that a secret?” He glanced around the table to find every man nodding in agreement. “I don’t know how I managed to get my first wife. I’ve always been terrible at understanding women, if they’re interested, why they’re interested.” He frowned. “Is my secret weapon being the worst, just so bad that someone kindhearted eventually picks me up and dusts me off?” He replayed the numerous ways in which Brisa had done exactly that. “Because if that works, I will totally lean into it. Stop feeding myself. Grow a hermit beard. Whatever.”
Mira picked up her empty water bottle and examined it. “This is going to take a while, isn’t it? With Ward, all we had to do was convince him to get over himself. And Wakefield had to be convinced he was worthy of a woman like Reyna. You…” She narrowed her eyes as she studied Wade. “It’s sort of the same as Sean’s problem with Reyna, except you have to accept the past and who you are now.”
“And get rid of the celebrity boyfriend,” Peter added in case they’d forgotten.
Mira cut him a mean frown. “Yes, Peter, we’ve got that.” She turned back to Wade. “Secret weapons. You’re different than the men Brisa has dated. That’s the flip side of celebrity, in case you were wondering. And then there’s Thea.”
Wade smiled slowly. “Brisa loves Thea, like enjoys spending time with her to the point that she was practicing synchronized swimming moves in the pool with her.” That had to be a secret weapon.
Mira’s grin mirrored his. “Nobody and no problem can defeat this group, Wade McNally. We found the key to your win, right there. Brisa doesn’t strike me as one of those people who fawns over every baby or toddler in sight. But she likes your kid, no question.”
“The guy’s not going to use his daughter to get a woman,” Marcus said, then halted. “Or will he?”
“It’s not using. It’s…” Mira paused as she considered. “Wade is showing Brisa what his life is like. It’s different because of Thea.”
“And Thea, thanks to my ex-
wife’s encouragement, would be fully on board with this plan. They both think Brisa is a winner.” Wade cleared his throat. “They’re both smarter than I am, clearly.”
Sean held his plastic water bottle up to the center of the table. The other guys stretched forward to clink their bottles against his. Wade and Mira followed suit. “To the intelligence of women. Where would we be without it?”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ON MONDAY AFTERNOON, Brisa searched for her compact in her desk drawer. She needed to check her makeup. Her father’s appointment was in thirty minutes, and she still hadn’t determined the best way to explain to him that the grant rejections she’d gotten the week before were to be expected. Not every proposal was going to get a yes. That was the way of the world. The two of them as seasoned business people should understand that, of course.
Delivering that story confidently was going to take solid armor, flawless hair and makeup. Possibly high heels, but she didn’t have time to go home and get any, so she’d have to make do with her cute ballet flats.
When she reached for a pen to make herself a note to bring a pair of heels to leave in her desk for emergencies, Brisa found the compact open. As she looked down, she realized her face was naked. In her sleepless fog, she hadn’t put on any makeup that morning before she left the house. She was as nature made her.
Brisa blinked slowly as she came to terms with the fact that she’d never once asked herself, Are you fully dressed? that entire day. A sleepless Saturday night had bled into a restless Sunday. She’d managed to make the grueling run Mira put them through that morning, but after that, after the long shower and eating everything in her refrigerator, she’d been unable to focus on any one thing. Normally, half-finished projects annoyed her until they were complete.
Apparently, she was growing out of that trait. She had half a load of laundry folded, half a grocery list for the trip she’d intended to make but never had and half a book read that she couldn’t remember.
One kiss. That’s all it had taken to ruin her concentration.
And now, she was going to go up against her father with a couple of failures under her belt with a naked face.
“You okay, boss?” Sean asked as he waved a hand in front of her eyes. “You’ve been staring at that same page for twenty minutes.”
When he tapped the open binder on her desk, Brisa jerked as if she was coming awake again.
“Brainstorming,” she answered, “but quietly. More of a gentle spring mist.”
Sean raised his eyebrows, but he didn’t argue. “Again, I ask, is everything okay?” He held up his phone. “Do I need to call Reyna?”
“Of course not,” Brisa snapped. “You don’t need to call her every time there’s a problem.”
“You aren’t your usual self.” Sean slid his phone into his pocket. “Let me know if I can help.”
Brisa huffed out a loud breath that combined with a grumble. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m not my usual self and it’s irritating. That’s all.”
Sean gazed longingly at his office next door, as if he were dreaming of an easy escape.
“Listen, I only now…” She checked the clock she’d hung on the lobby wall one day when there was no one around to stop her from decorating as she liked. “After two o’clock in the afternoon, I have realized I forgot to put on makeup this morning. No mascara. No blush. Not even a lip balm.” Brisa rested her head in her hands. “Is this the face of a woman in crisis or what?”
When he didn’t answer, she raised her head. Sean pointed at his pocket. “Are you sure I shouldn’t call your sister? I am not equipped for this conversation.”
When she slumped against her chair, he said, “If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t even notice. I thought you were sleepy, maybe tired or sick.”
Brisa rolled her eyes. “Yes, those are the reasons many women put on makeup.”
He pretended to write down a note on his hand. “Got it.”
“My dad will be here any minute. Need my game face.” She ran her fingers through her hair before pulling it up into a quick knot.
“You could impress him by doing that. I don’t get how women just…” He mimed a twisting motion and then plopped his hands on his head.
Brisa straightened her shoulders. “It’s my father. No one rattles me like he does. Now that I have to give him bad news about those grants…” When she’d tried to distract herself from the memory of this meeting over the weekend, she’d fallen headfirst into remembering Wade’s kiss. Then, to drag herself out of that quicksand, she’d stepped right back into her work dilemma.
Reggie hadn’t answered her calls, which might have been a blessing because she hadn’t figured out what to say to him about the kiss yet, either.
Swimming in quicksand was even harder than synchronized swimming sculls.
“What can I do? We could lock the door, turn off the lights and pretend no one’s home?” Sean asked as the reflection of sunlight moved across the wall. Someone had parked in front of the office.
Her father had landed.
“No time. The only way out is through,” Brisa muttered. “Thanks for the pep talk, Sean. You don’t make enough money for all you do around here.”
“Good thing I love my job, then.” They both turned as the lobby door opened.
When Reggie walked in, Brisa had the slow-motion effect of watching her life flash before her eyes. All she could hear was static in her brain as Sean greeted Reggie and they shook hands. She managed to nod at whatever Sean said as he left the office to give them some privacy and tilted her cheek up for Reggie’s kiss.
After he plopped down in the chair opposite her, Brisa lost track of what happened until he waved his hand in front of her face. “Hello? Anybody home? You okay?”
Brisa blinked, restarted her brain. “Sorry. Long day.” The ding of her phone snagged her attention and she picked it up.
Last minute phone call has come up. I’ll come by Friday instead, no need for the weekly report that way. Confirm the details with Trina. Dad
For some reason, her father had loosened his probationary requirement and given her a few extra days’ grace. That seemed…big. Was he going to try trusting her a little? Her father sometimes signed his texts with “Dad” as if she didn’t have him in her phone and might not recognize who was sending the communication.
It was cute, but today she was instantly relieved by the reprieve.
“Looks like it’s been a couple of long days.” He touched under his eyes to point out her dark circles. Brisa didn’t need his clarification or appreciate it. “I got your messages, but I was planning to drop in to see you.” Reggie held out both arms as if he was saying, And here I am.
Telling him that she’d kissed Wade and wanted to find a way to end her setup with Reggie in order to… She had no idea what would come next, if it was something with Wade or running away to a deserted island where no one had ever heard of Reggie, Wade or men at all.
They were trouble. All of them. And they got her into trouble.
Brisa knew she needed to tell Reggie all her mixed-up emotions and come clean. It had seemed impossible over the phone, but when he reached into his pocket to pull out a ring box, breathing became the real challenge.
Then the door to the office opened again, and Wade and Thea walked in.
Meanwhile, Reggie popped the box open to reveal the largest diamond Brisa had ever seen.
Of the three adults in the room, Wade responded first. “Sorry. You’re busy. We can come back.”
“Excuse me, sir,” Thea said as she marched up to the desk. Brisa didn’t speak but she could see the wild urge to grab his daughter and run flash across Wade’s face. Innocent Thea had no idea what a powder keg she was dancing on. “I need to tell my friend Brisa something, and then you can get back to business.” Thea moved around the desk and wrapped her arms around
Brisa’s neck.
That was enough to get the hamster back on the wheel in Brisa’s brain, so she inhaled deeply. Little girl. Suntan lotion. Reggie’s expensive cologne.
And Wade watching it all.
“Isabel wants to be a mermaid, so we’re going to start practicing together.” Thea stepped back. Brisa frowned as she tried to assemble all the pieces quickly: Isabel, Thea’s friend from school who might like fish, and the sleepover where Thea wanted to make friends. Brisa’s suggestion of pool time had sparked something. “When Isabel’s not here, I’ll coach you on your sculls, but she and I are developing our own routine.” The patience and sadness on her face indicated Thea knew she was delivering the death knell to Brisa’s synchronized swimming career.
“I’m glad to hear it. You’ll both make excellent mermaids, I’m sure.” Brisa turned Thea around and took out the weird ponytail that was listing sideways. She quickly gathered Thea’s hair and twisted it into a messy bun to match her own. “Let me know when practice is. I need the inspiration.”
Thea nodded and held her hand up for a high five.
Then Brisa realized there was no easy way out of this nightmare. “Reggie, this is Wade McNally. He’s the new trauma surgeon at the hospital. Wade, this is Reggie Beaumont.” No other introduction necessary. Wade had asked for an intro. She was sure he definitely hadn’t expected it to be like this, though.
Reggie stood to give Wade a handshake. He tried to make conversation he usually used with fans, but Wade’s monosyllabic answers weren’t much help. Wade’s eyes were locked on the ring box sitting square in the middle of Brisa’s desk.
For good reason. Brisa glanced at it out of the corner of her eye the way she would a dangerous animal. No direct eye contact it could take as a challenge to leap for her throat.
“Thea, Brisa’s busy. We’ll drop in another day this week.” Wade put his hands on his daughter’s shoulders and walked her toward the door. The way Thea turned her head to watch Brisa as they went suggested Thea had picked up on something, but she wasn’t sure where the tension was coming from.
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