by Melissa West
“Kylie, how’s Franny doing?” Lila asked. “Merrily was always one of my favorite shops when I was little. I hated to hear about her heart attack.”
Kylie smiled appreciatively. “She’s doing a lot better. Fighting me on dietary restrictions, but she’s doing great. Her last checkup was very good, so we’re keeping on.”
“That’s great. Is she going to keep the shop going then?”
All at once, the table went quiet, and Brady shot Charlie a look, who intervened with a laugh. “Lila’s been hanging out with Sophie too much. Makes her ask inappropriate things.”
The table erupted as Sophie glared at Charlie. “I don’t say inappropriate things. I’m just forward.”
“That’s one way to describe it,” Zac joked, and the table relaxed again. All except Kylie, who was staring at her empty plate like she wanted to be anywhere but there.
Mom brought around trays of food and placed them in the center of the table, then smiled with pride at her family. “Thank y’all for being here,” she said. “It means the world to me.” Her eyes fell on Kylie and her smile brightened. Brady hadn’t realized until that moment that maybe he wasn’t the only one who had missed her. He needed to fix this. But how?
“Want me to help make your plate?” he asked, only to receive a look like he’d lost his mind. “What I mean was—I…”
Kylie placed her hand on his and offered the first real smile he’d seen since she overheard that he might be leaving. “Honestly, I’m fine. It’s Christmas. Let’s enjoy it.” She took a dish that Kate had passed her way, and they settled into handing off trays and eating. But Brady couldn’t shake the feeling that with Kylie, he would always be one step forward and three steps back.
Could he take living that way? He wasn’t sure.
Chapter 19
“Yes! Yes, yes, yes!”
Kylie jumped out of her chair and bopped on her toes, clapping her hand like she’d lost her mind. Maybe she had. She checked the number again, then screamed out again.
“Um, you drink from Franny’s crazy punch again?” Ally asked as she set down a box of spring goodies Kylie had ordered just in case the shop succeeded in hitting the numbers she agreed upon with Brady. And they were close. Dangerously close. So close that if Brady allowed her to include one extra week of sales, they would hit it.
“Check this out,” Kylie said, handing over the sales report for December. Immediately, Ally screamed out, too.
“Is that for real? Are you telling me I might have a job after the new year?”
Kylie beamed. “It’s amazing, right? We killed it. Absolutely killed it.”
“But didn’t you agree to sell three thousand more? Isn’t that what the contact says?” Ally eyed the report again, and Kylie shrugged.
“I did. But we could sell that in a week if we tried, especially with all the holiday discounts and people wanting to scoop things up for next year.”
“But you only have two days based on the contract terms.”
“I know, but surely we could have a few extra days.”
Ally drew a long breath and started back for the box she’d been unpacking.
“What?” Kylie asked.
“I don’t know. It just seems like the Littletons are pretty strict about business. What makes you think they’ll give you an extra week when if we can’t deliver in two days, the contract says we lost?”
“Who lost?” Brady called from across the room, and Kylie shook her head at her friend before turning around and beaming at him.
“Nobody lost. Just I have some numbers from December that I’m pretty excited about.”
It had been a week since that awkwardness at Christmas and it had taken her nearly that long to let it go. Sure, she pretended that everything was okay. She wanted it to be okay. Brady said he wasn’t going anywhere, and even if they did the franchise thing, he’d only travel occasionally. So it wasn’t a big deal.
Only, it felt like a big deal. The whole thing reminded her of all the years her dad traveled while her mom fought to do any and everything to stay busy—and away from her. Neither of them could stand the other for too long, and honesty was as big of a joke as the word family.
But Brady wasn’t her dad, and she wasn’t her mom. They were creating their own story. “That’s awesome! So you hit your numbers?”
Kylie walked around the boxes that Ally now had scattered on the floor and wandered over to where Brady was standing. He paused midway to opening his laptop. “Why does it look like you’re trying to butter me up?”
She bit her lip and contemplated what to do. The last thing she wanted was to use their relationship to get him to give her the extra week. That wasn’t the sort of person she was, but at the same time, it was one little week. Couldn’t she ask? Wouldn’t she have asked if he were someone else?
Yes, most certainly she would. But there was a definite icky feeling about it, and she considered calling Franny to get her opinion before going there. After all, this was her shop, not Kylie’s, even if inside Kylie felt like she’d put her whole heart into it since she was a little girl.
A curious grin curved Brady’s lips and he glanced from Kylie to Ally. “What isn’t she telling me?”
Ally threw up her hands. “I’m not getting involved in this. But I will say that I have a little girl, and she needs me to have this job.”
Brady stood up taller then and turned toward Kylie. “Why is Ally guilting me with the mom card?”
“Hey, it’s mommy card. Get it right,” Ally called, but the moment had grown tense now. It wasn’t the right time. She needed to go over things with Franny’s accountant. Figure out if her numbers were accurate, and then she’d need to talk to Franny’s lawyer and see if there was any wiggle room in the contract. But see, all that runaround felt icky, too, when the man who controlled it all stood before her and bore the title boyfriend.
“Can I say something, and you think about it without responding right now?”
It was still early morning, the shop doors locked, so they didn’t have to worry about customers coming in to witness the tension rolling around in the air.
But why should it be this tense? It was a question, right? One little question, and he could say whatever. It didn’t have to change anything between them either way. Right?
Kylie chewed her thumbnail, a habit she’d never had before. Tentatively, Brady reached out and pulled her hand away from her mouth, linked his fingers through hers, and took a step closer to her.
“What is it, Ky?”
“I need a week,” she blurted.
His eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “Uh, not following you here.”
Sighing, Kylie pressed on, with clarity this time. “I have the December report, and it’s amazing. It’s the best month we’ve had in years.”
A relieved expression crossed his face and he pulled her close, hugging her. “That’s fantastic. I knew you could do it.”
“But.” Kylie leaned away so Brady could see her face. “We’re three thousand short of the contract, and I don’t think I can hit that in two days. I need an extra week. One week. To hit the goal.”
His face fell, and she knew even before he spoke that wasn’t going to get the week. “Ky…”
“Your brothers.”
“I promised them that I wouldn’t let emotions get into this, that I would stick to the contract.”
“Of course,” she said, swallowing hard. She’d never been as good as Brady at keeping her emotions out of things. “And that’s what you should do.”
“That’s what you would tell me to do if we were talking about anyone other than Franny.”
No, actually, I wouldn’t, Kylie thought. They were close to everyone in the town. She would tell him to give the person the week, see what happened. But she couldn’t say that to him.
“Maybe.�
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Brady opened his mouth to say something else to convince her, but then a knocking on the store window had them both glancing over.
Zac and Charlie stood outside, with Zac pointing at his watch, then waving for Brady to hurry up.
“Sorry, I have to run to a meeting.”
“With the investor, right?” Kylie asked, and though he stood right in front of her, she couldn’t make herself look at him. Brady had always cared so much about succeeding in his family’s eyes that she wondered if they could ever truly see eye-to-eye on the things that mattered. Life was about more than money and titles.
“Ky, look at me.”
She glanced up, her face even.
“Everything is going to be okay.” His brothers knocked on the window again, and he kissed her cheek before waving to them that he was coming. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Okay,” she said, but inside she was thinking: Before or after you put my family out of business?
Chapter 20
Brady sat at the conference room table, his brothers seated beside him, and Ryan, the investor, sat across from them. They’d spent the last hour talking about everything Trent, Lock and Young, Ryan’s company, could do for Southern Dive, how branding and creative marketing could make Charlie’s line soar. But all Brady could think about was Kylie and Franny and how wrong it felt to put them out of business if they were going to franchise the business anyway. He wanted to talk to his brothers, see if it made sense to rethink the contract, but how could he show his family that they could trust him in this new endeavor when he wanted to go back on the first major thing they’d entrusted to him?
The whole thing felt like he had to choose between Kylie, the love of his life, and his family.
“So that sums up what we feel we can do for Southern Dive,” Ryan said. “Do you have any immediate questions?”
The brothers looked at one another, and then Charlie and Zac both eyed Brady, because he was the finance guy, the one to figure things like this out, to ask the pertinent questions. But in his head the only question he could muster was: Will she forgive me if I put her out of business?
“I understand you are in the middle of an expansion?” Ryan asked. Already, Brady grew tired of the man’s voice. He sounded like one of those soulless car salesmen.
“We are,” Zac answered, when he realized Brady wasn’t speaking up. “Really, it’s been Brady’s pet project, and he’s done a great job fulfilling online orders in the new space. We’re hoping to complete the expansion in the next few months.”
Brady adjusted in his seat. “If we buy the remainder of the building.”
“Why wouldn’t you?” Ryan again, this time his voice filled with judgment.
“Yeah,” Charlie asked. “Why wouldn’t we?”
More stares, more judgment. It took everything in Brady to keep from exploding. Instead he relaxed back in his chair, the picture of control. “The contact isn’t up for a few more days. We bought half the building a few months ago. The terms allow us to buy the remainder if the business that is presently there is still in jeopardy.”
“And is it?” Ryan asked, and Brady’s jaw ticked. Why did it seem like he was vying for information? Sure, he had vested interest in anything Southern Dive was doing now, but he didn’t know Kylie or Franny. He’d never been inside Merrily. He had no right to ask about this. It was his thing. A family thing.
But then, if they franchised Southern Dive, it would no longer be a family thing. It would be a corporate business, and Brady promised himself he’d never do the corporate thing again. That life, that world, had turned him into the type of person he hated. A person like Ryan.
Pushing out from the table, he stood and tucked his hands into the pockets of his dress slacks. Once upon a time, he wore a suit every day. The thought felt like a distant version of the person he was today, and despite the constant drive in him to prove that he was one hundred percent invested in the family now, he didn’t want to become that man again.
Which was why he couldn’t simply go back on the contract. He couldn’t disappoint his family again.
“Thank you for your time, Ryan. I think you’ve given us a lot to think about. We’ll be in touch.” Brady reached out to shake his hand, and immediately Ryan glanced over at Zac and Charlie.
“Um, sure. Of course. You have my contact information.”
With reluctance, Zac and Charlie stood, a question mark on each of their faces, but Brady couldn’t do this right now. Not when his entire life seemed to be hovering over his head, any decision able to knock it all down. He needed to think, to breathe, and he couldn’t do that in a hotel’s conference room.
He opened the door and stepped out to the main lobby. It was all hardwood floors and decorative rugs, and it reminded him too much of all the traveling he did back in his early days, back when he saw more hotel rooms than his own apartment.
Heading for the door, he stepped outside and drew a long breath, closing his eyes and trying to find rational thought in all the chaos in his head.
“What the hell was that?”
Sighing, Brady stared ahead at the traffic on the street in front of the hotel. A truck honked at the car in front of it. The light had turned red not seconds before, and already the driver had honked. Brady shook his head, each second causing him to become more and more aggravated.
“What was what?” he asked, his tone biting.
“You scheduled this meeting,” Zac said, walking around to stand in front of him. He’d always forced his way, made you pay attention when you wanted to ignore him. Once upon a time, Brady had appreciated that about him. Right now, he wanted to tell him to stand down before he pushed him out of the way. “You scheduled it. After rescheduling three times. Ryan flies into town, and we leave it like that? Again, I ask, what the hell was that?”
“I don’t like him.”
“I repeat, you set up this meeting. If you didn’t like him after the initial chat, why schedule a face-to-face?”
Brady tossed his hands. “Because I’m trying to do the best thing for you, for Charlie, for the whole damn family. And you know what I’m not thinking about? Me, or what might be best for those that I care about.”
Zac tilted his head back and laughed. “I told you he wouldn’t keep emotions out of it,” he said to Charlie, and Brady nearly lost it.
“Right, just like you kept emotions out of it when you got involved with Sophie, who, Earth to freaking Zac, was trying to steal business from the farm!”
Zac took a step back, his eyes on the ground. “That was different.”
“To hell it was. It was exactly the same. Only now, you’re asking me to put my girlfriend and her godmother who just had a heart attack on the street. You think this is easy for me?”
Finally, Charlie stepped between them and placed a hand on Brady’s shoulder. “Franny was going to close anyway due to her age. You know that.”
“Kylie was supposed to take over.”
“Did she hit her numbers?” Zac asked, forever the reasonable one of the three.
Brady raked a hand over his head. “I need to get out of here. I’ll see you around.”
“What are we supposed to say to Ryan?” Charlie called.
“Whatever you want,” he spit back. “It’s what you two want anyway, right?” He unlocked his car, jumped inside, and slammed the door, wondering when life became so complicated.
* * * *
Kylie pulled into Brady’s driveway and parked, her heart heavy, the need to see him so great that she had to resist calling him as she walked up to the house.
She felt like a jerk for suggesting that he should go back on the contract, for bringing their relationship into it. At the same time…
No. She shook her head and pushed out of her car, eager to make things right with him.
A burst of cold air hit her
as she stepped out into the night air, and she wished she’d thought to bring a jacket. The air smelled like fresh pines and winter, and Kylie thought of the time she and Brady walked through the woods behind his parents’ house after a big snow.
As she approached the front porch, she caught lights on in the family room and a TV flashing with something Brady must be watching. He walked out from the kitchen, a beer in his hand, and Kylie drew a slow breath as she watched him sit down in his favorite recliner in front of the TV. Her chest constricted. God, she loved him. A part of her wondered if she’d ever stopped.
She thought of him agreeing to split the shop. Him coming to the hospital after Franny’s heart attack. Him standing in line at Target at four in the morning for Rena’s doll.
Brady wasn’t just a good man. He was a great man. And she needed to give him an opportunity to do the right thing by Franny.
Reaching for the doorbell, she pressed it once, then took a step back and wrapped her arms around her body to try to warm herself.
A few seconds passed, then a minute, and worry set in. Trying again, Kylie pressed the doorbell once more, then stepped back again.
Finally, she heard footsteps from inside, followed by the door being unlocked. The door opened slowly, and Kylie grinned up at Brady, but he didn’t grin back.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” he asked.
Okay, not the reception she was hoping for.
“Um, I was hoping we could talk.”
He glanced inside, then back at her. “Did you call? I didn’t notice a text or missed call on my phone.”
“No. I hoped we could talk in person.” She shivered, whether from the cold outside or Brady’s cold greeting, she couldn’t be sure. “Can I come inside?”
“Yeah, sure,” he said, running a hand over his head. He backed up and waved for her to come in. Clearly, she should have thought through the whole just-showing-up thing.
Stepping inside, Kylie caught the definitive smell of delivery pizza, and that nervous feeling in her rose up again. He was eating dinner, which meant he’d been back from the meeting with the investor for some time now. Why hadn’t he called her?