“I don’t think anyone can make Penelope do anything she doesn’t want to do.”
JT laughed, a soft sound that had as much sadness in it as humor.
“You have that right.”
Unfortunately, I knew I was right. And I was afraid that whatever happened next, one of us would be disappointed with Penelope’s choice.
Chapter 25
Penelope
“You’re an artist.”
I looked up, amused by the surprise in her voice. I’d been sketching in a sketchbook I’d just bought at an art supply store while I waited for Libby to join me at the restaurant where we’d decided to have lunch. She looked a little disheveled as she skirted around my chair and plopped into the one across from me.
“Bad morning?”
She sighed as lifted the water glass sitting beside her plate and took a deep gulp.
“Harrison is a wonderful man, a great uncle, and an unbeatable CEO. I can’t even pretend to fill his shoes at the office. I barely got out of there between the constant phone calls and lists of must-dos that end up on my desk every morning.”
I carefully closed my sketchbook and took a second to slide it into my bag, not really sure I wanted to discuss Harrison with his sister. I wasn’t sure I was ready to discuss Harrison with anyone at the moment. I was still reeling from his pretty obvious attempt to tell me he had no feelings for me last night in that stupid convenience store. I mean, come on! I’d practically asked him if he wanted me, and he made a joke out of it.
It was pretty obvious that his feelings didn’t go much deeper than our shared enjoyment in the bedroom.
The waiter came over and Libby ordered a bottle of red wine that was worth more than the bakery made in a week. When she caught the look on my face, she asked, “You do like red, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
She smiled. “I’m kind of partial to it. Harrison keeps trying to convince me that you should only drink red with specific meals, but I drink it with anything. I don’t really care about all that stuff.”
“I like red, too. That’s all I ever order.”
“Good. I knew you and I would have something more than Harrison in common.”
I sort of nodded, my eyes falling to my hands where they were clutched in my lap. I felt out of place. Not only in the restaurant, but with Libby. I felt like she thought she knew something about Harrison and me…or maybe she was just so fond of her brother that she assumed everyone loved him too. I don’t know, but I hoped she would want to talk about something other than Harrison.
“So, I feel like I know so little about you. Harrison said that you run your parents’ bakery back in Texas?”
“It was the family business before they died. And after, it just seemed logical to keep it going to pay off their debts and to make a living for JT and me.”
“Do you like working in the bakery?”
No one had ever asked me that. The truth was, I hated it. I hated having flour in my clothing, my hair, my pores. I hated the constant cloying feel of sugar that seemed to get into everything. I hated having to taste the frostings and the cake batters and the cookies all day long. And I hated getting up before dawn to open the shop, hated keeping the books, hated having to deal with the customers—as much as I loved my friends and neighbors who’d done so much to help me keep the bakery open. The only thing I really liked about it was the cake decorating. But even that got a little tedious after a while.
Libby watched me search for an answer, her chin resting on her hand.
“You have so much in common with Harrison,” she said before I could come up with anything.
“Do I?”
“The last thing he wanted was to work in the furniture factory. From the moment he turned eighteen, he was out of here, going to the one college our father would allow him to attend that was as far from home as possible, taking every internship he could to stay away during the summers. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with Ashland Furniture.”
“What changed?”
“Father died.”
The waiter came with the bottle of wine. He poured us both a glass. It was the sweetest, most flavorful wine I’d ever tasted. I think I finished that first glass in just two swallows. Libby poured me another glass, waving the waiter away as she raised her own glass to her lips. After a long sip, she set it down and focused on me again.
“My father was a lot of things, but he was not a great business man. Turns out he owed everyone he knew and then some. Mother would have lost the house, and she and I would have been out on the streets if Harrison hadn’t agreed to come home and take over the business.”
“What about Randy?”
Libby groaned. “He’d already been in and out of rehab a half dozen times by then. Mother knew absolutely nothing about business and I was only fifteen, the same age as JT. Harrison was the only one who could do it. And he never balked.”
I needed another sip of wine. I hadn’t known any of that, what Harrison must have gone through in the wake of his father’s death. I had JT to think about after my parents died. Harrison didn’t have just an underage sibling, but his mother and a drug addicted brother, too.
“What had he planned on doing before your father died?”
Libby’s eyebrows rose. “He didn’t tell you?” Then she shook her head, answering her own question. “No, he wouldn’t have. He wanted to be a high school English teacher.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “The state of Oregon requires teachers to have a master’s degree in their chosen field. He was a semester short of that goal when Father died. It was almost as if Father did it on purpose.”
At least I got to live my dream briefly.
And so did he. Sort of.
“He’s in love with you, you know.”
I looked up, a little lost. Libby was watching me over the rim of her wine glass. She smiled as she studied me.
“I haven’t heard him talk about a woman the way he talked about you in a long time. I thought from all those phone calls that he was just frustrated by the situation. But after he met you, it was like every conversation we had centered on you, not JT. And then that morning in the courthouse, when he saw you in that room, I just knew. My brother was finally in love.”
I shook my head. “I think maybe you misunderstood what you saw.”
“No. I know my brother.” She set her glass down and reached across the table to take my hand. “Harrison has never been the type to wear his heart on his sleeve. It takes a lot for him to admit when he has feelings for someone. But don’t let him push you away because he’s acting like a stubborn ass.” She squeezed my hand lightly before letting go. “I’ve seen the way you look at him, too. I know you don’t want him to push you away. In fact,” she sighed as she picked up the menu, “I think everyone knows how the two of you feel about each other but the two of you.”
I blushed, wondering if my heart really was that obvious. But I also couldn’t ignore the fact that her words had made my heart soar in a way it hadn’t done…ever.
We shared a nice meal, then Libby drove me around town to show me the many brighter parts of Ashland. We ended up walking through Lithia Park; eating ice cream cones and laughing at the small children playing in the grass with their parents watching on.
“Tell Harrison I’m bringing the kids over this weekend to hang out with their new cousin,” she said as she dropped me at his front door.
“I will.”
“It was nice, this. I hope we can do it again. Often.”
“Me too.”
I climbed out of the car and let myself into the house, a smile glued to my lips. I’d half hoped that Harrison and JT would be home before me, but the house was quiet as I made my way to the sitting room. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to Harrison when I saw him again, but Libby’s opinions had bolstered my courage once more. I was thinking I might have another go at asking him about his feelings for me, I just might do it a little more diligen
tly this time.
I curled up on the couch and was about to take my sketchbook out to finish the sketch I’d started at the restaurant when I heard something shatter on the other side of the house. Fear shot through me. I knew Harrison didn’t have any pets and no one else was here. Or, no one else was supposed to be here. I got up slowly and tugged my cellphone out of my pocket, ready to dial 911 the moment it was necessary.
I walked slowly down the hallway that led to the game room, Harrison’s study, and the guest bedroom where JT was staying. All the doors were closed except for the one to the game room. It stood wide open even though I distinctly remembered closing it just before the taxi arrived this morning.
“Whoever’s in there, I’ve called the police. You’d better go before they get here,” I called, trying to sound as brave as I could despite my shaking knees.
There was another sound—like something falling—and then silence.
I ran my thumb over the screen of my phone, bringing up the dial pad. My thumb hovered over the 9 when Randy suddenly appeared in the doorway.
“Hey, Penelope,” he said, his charming smile a little less confident than it’d been the night before.
“Randy?”
“I was just…” He gestured behind him, his cheeks a little pale as he chewed his bottom lip and tried to think of a good excuse for being there.
“You were stealing the game systems.”
“I was looking for something that might be worth more than a couple of bucks.” He focused on me again. “Harrison wouldn’t give me money if I asked for it. And my mother’s money all comes through him, so he would notice if she gave me any.”
“You must be pretty desperate if you’d steal from your own brother.”
To his credit, a little shame burned in Randy’s eyes as he regarded me.
“You don’t know anything about me,” he said, his spine stiffening as he glanced behind him again. “You don’t know what it’s like.”
“No, I don’t. But I can’t stand here and let you walk off with any of Harrison’s things, either.”
He held up his hands. “I don’t got nothing.”
“You should probably go, then.”
“Will you tell him I was here?”
I remembered what Libby had said about Harrison being the only one who could step up in this family and take responsibility for the mess his father left behind. That meant Randy and his problems, too. I imagined it hadn’t been an easy time for any of them. And I didn’t see any point in adding to that burden.
“No. But you have to leave now, before he gets home.”
“Of course.”
Randy immediately came down the hall toward me, that charming smile back.
“Did I ever tell you about the time Harrison dyed his hair green?”
He had. That’s all he’d talked about last night at dinner, all the wild and crazy things Harrison had done in his teens. Randy was full of stories and I’d enjoyed all of them.
“Why don’t you tell me about it the next time we see each other.”
Randy nodded. “My mother said I could stay with her for a while. Maybe I’ll do that.”
“Good.”
We turned the corner into the entryway. Randy turned to me and gave me a big hug.
“Thanks,” he said against my ear. “I won’t forget this.”
And that was the moment Harrison and JT chose to come bursting through the door.
Chapter 26
Harrison
“Hey, Harrison,” Randy said, turning to me with a sheepish look in his eye that was all too familiar. “How you doing?”
His arm was still around Penelope. I wanted to rip it off. Not just off her shoulders, but off his body. I wanted to rip him to shreds for daring to come into my house and touch the woman I loved.
And that look on her face…so much guilt.
Did I really need to ask what was going on?
“Get out of my house, Randy.”
I said it quite calmly, my voice very steady. Randy simply nodded, the light going out of his smile. He leaned into Penelope and whispered something I wasn’t meant to hear. Then he held his fist out to JT.
“Good to see you again, little nephew.”
“You too,” JT said, clearly confused.
Randy just nodded, his gaze moving over me before he brushed past me and walked out of the house.
Penelope just watched him go. Apparently she had nothing to say to either her lover or to me. And I really didn’t want to look at her anymore. I stormed past JT’s chair and went to the stairs, the sound of her calling after me not enough to even slow my step.
I burst into my bedroom, the doors vibrating as they bounced off the walls. I didn’t care. I went to the small balcony that looked out over the front of the house and stood at the railing, barely seeing the scene below me for the memory of Randy’s arm around Penelope’s shoulders.
“I don’t know what you think was happening down there, but it wasn’t anything nefarious.”
I hadn’t heard her come into the room.
I gripped the railing harder, holding on to it so that I wouldn’t spin around and wrap them around her throat. I was so angry in that moment that I might have done it. But then, just touching her…I held on to that railing with all I had.
“He was in the house when I got here. I didn’t invite him.”
“But you didn’t throw him out, either.”
“That’s what I was doing.”
“It didn’t look that way to me.”
“Then you weren’t looking close enough. I mean, honestly, you’ve got to be the blindest guy in the whole fucking country.”
I don’t know what shocked me more: her calling me blind, or her cussing. I’d never heard her use a word quite like that before.
I turned and found her standing just inside the bedroom, the sight of my huge king sized bed behind her was enough to ignite a few thoughts that my anger did nothing to dampen. In fact, the anger might have made it worse, might have made me want to do things I might not have considered under different circumstances. Not with Penelope, anyway.
“You told me I was the only woman you wanted,” she said softly. “Did you mean that?”
“I don’t say things I don’t mean.”
A slow smile touched her lips. “Yeah? You said last night you’re not the jealous type. But you’re sure acting awfully jealous right now.”
“I’m not jealous.”
“Then what is this? Why are you so angry with me?” She cocked her head slightly, that smile spreading. “Tell me this isn’t about the way your brother was touching me.”
I crossed the small space between us before I even realized I was moving. I grabbed her upper arms and pulled her hard against my chest.
“Tell me he wasn’t here to see you. That he wasn’t flirting with you last night.”
“He wasn’t. He talked about you all night.”
“Liar.”
She shook her head, her hand coming up to press itself against my chest. “He told me about the time you dyed your hair, the time you got caught drinking at some high school party. He told me about the tattoos on your wrists, about the one on your chest, told me how the two of you went together to get that one because you knew your father would hate it.”
I squeezed her arms until I saw pain in her eyes. “Why was he here?”
She shook her head. “I told him I wouldn’t say.”
“And you’re suddenly so loyal to a man you don’t even know?”
“No. But I love you. And I want to protect you.”
I let her go so abruptly that she nearly fell backward into the loveseat situation not far behind her. I moved past her, stormed across the room, not sure where I was going. I just…how could she say that to me after everything I’d done to her? How could she say that when I walked into her life and turned it upside down, tore her brother from her home, took away the whole reason she was living in that small town, keeping a business she hate
d afloat? How could she…?
“Why?”
I turned slowly and looked at her. There tears in her eyes, but not a single one fell.
“I don’t know. Why not?”
“Because…because I’m the asshole who ripped your family apart.”
“No. You’re the guy who wanted to do the right thing when you stumbled on a secret your mother kept from you.”
“The right thing? Marching into your life, turning it upside down…that was the right thing?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. JT…he needed something more than I was giving him. Maybe you can give that to him.”
“And you?”
“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “But I’d like to find out.”
There was such honesty in that statement. How could I turn my back on that?
I crossed to her, took her face between my hands and stared at her. “Tell me you aren’t just saying this because you think it’s the only way to stay close to JT.”
She groaned. “You really do have commitment problems, don’t you?”
I laughed, but the sound was drowned by her kiss. And then there was no more laughter, just groans and sighs.
“How would you feel if we all moved in together?” I asked JT later that night.
He looked up from the video game he was playing. “I thought we already had.”
I tilted my head slightly. “I mean, a little more permanently.”
“Are you going to marry my sister?”
I think I choked a little. Penelope, however, just laughed.
“Don’t rush him,” she said. “He’s a little commitment phobic.”
“I am not. I’m just…” I looked from him to her and sighed. There really was no point in arguing, was there? “I just thought I’d be able to do it a little later, maybe a little more romantically.”
That shut her up and made JT drop his game controller because he was laughing so hard.
We could make this work. We were an unusual family. And there was still a lot we would have to work out. But we could make it work.
And maybe she and I would finally live a part of the dream we’d given up because, well, it’s all about family, right?
DONOVAN: A Standalone Romance (Gray Wolf Security) Page 34