Real Kind of Love

by Sara Rider

  “They’re not very good at this, are they?” Clover said, rubbing a new batch of sunscreen into her pale legs while perched on the edge of her lawn chair.

  Chastity untangled a lock of her hair from Poppy’s tiny but iron-like grasp while the little one nursed. “At least Jake has an excuse for sucking at this. Our husbands have been doing this for years and still can’t remember to drill a hole for the igniter.”

  “I really wish Jake would just figure out the trick so we can put all of them out of their misery.”

  “He will. Eventually,” Clem said, relaxing into her chair and stretching her tired arms above her head. “Maybe.” Judging by the way he stared at the mess of pipes in front of him, he didn’t really have a clue where to begin—which was fine, as long as he figured out the obvious solution that was sitting right in front of him.

  A twinge in her shoulder caused her to wince as she stretched. She’d gotten more physical activity in the last few days than she had all year, and she could feel it everywhere. Not just the delicious ache between her legs that made her blush every time she thought about it. The hiking, swimming, and the long kayak trip she’d just taken with her sisters while the men worked on their spud cannons had left her feeling the good kind of exhausted. Her muscles were tight and lungs raw, but the endorphins whizzing through her body had her ready for more.

  Just a few days ago, she’d been dreading the idea of her family tagging along on this trip, but in this moment she found herself grateful. How long had it been since she’d spent some real quality time with her sisters? Time that wasn’t spent criticizing her love life? The three of them had dug out some kayaks from the boat shed and explored the west side of the lake. It was an activity that didn’t involve much talking at all, but did bring out the competitiveness that had always underscored their sibling relationship, pushing them to go harder and faster.

  “Ooh, honey, not the two-inch chamber,” Clover said with a wince. “I think Andrew’s going to lose an eyebrow again.”

  “Don’t let him hear you, or he’ll take that as a challenge,” Chastity said right before Poppy jammed her chubby foot in her mother’s mouth.

  Clover shook her head, smiling like that outcome was inevitable. “I’m so glad you made this trip happen, Clem. It’s been way too long since we’ve had a real family vacation like this.”

  Clem frowned. “I’m not sure I can really take all the credit.”

  “Of course you can. It was your idea,” Clover said, while Chastity nodded. “Once I had the twins, the thought of any kind of camping trip was too overwhelming, but renting a cabin is way easier. Everyone is so relaxed for once, especially Mom.”

  Clem didn’t miss the brief warning look Chastity sent their middle sister. “Speaking of Mom, what’s been going on with her?”

  “It’s nothing,” Chastity said. “She’s just been a little stressed out with the idea of handing over control of the shop to us, which she’ll probably never do no matter how much Dad pressures her into joining him in retirement. And she worries about you.”

  “Why?”

  Though they weren’t twins, Chastity and Clover often acted identically, including in this moment when they each tilted their head to the left and pursed their lips. Eventually, Chastity sighed and said, “You live alone. You quit a really good, stable job for something completely unpredictable, and until now, you’d been single for so long, you were starting to remind me of a sad little sock left behind in the dryer. Who wouldn’t be a little worried about you?”

  Clem stared at her sister in disbelief over the harsh words that had just smacked her in the face. “That’s how you see me? Like some pathetic, lonely weirdo?”

  “No.” Clover waved her hands from side to side, like she could erase the misconception that way. “You’re not weird. It’s just that your life is so…different.”

  “I’m proud that I own my own house at my age. I’ve worked hard to afford it.” Steel coated her words, powering right through her sisters’ protests. She didn’t know where it was coming from but it was long overdue. “I’m proud of my job, too. I make twice the salary narrating books than I did as a grunt-level engineer, but that’s not even why I do it. I do it because I love it. Because it makes me happy. How many people can say that? And I don’t even mind being single. I like my life and who I am. I don’t need a man to be happy. God, for once I wish you could all understand that and stop trying to set me up with every man you meet.”

  Adrenaline was coursing so quickly through her body, her limbs felt hollow and shaky. Her sisters looked at her like they didn’t recognize what language she’d just spoken. It felt surreal to finally say what she’d been holding back for so long, but letting go of that weight set her off balance, like the ground could crumble beneath her at any moment.

  “I didn’t know it bothered you so much,” Chastity finally said. The remorseful tone was something she’d never heard in her sister’s voice before. Not even when she’d apologized for stealing Clem’s tooth fairy money to buy Spice Girls tickets twenty years ago, only to find out she’d been scammed by a scalper.

  “It’s okay. I know you care, but it would be nice if you could find some way to show it without offering me up like the catch of the day to every moving thing with an XY chromosome pair.”

  “I don’t think that’s going to be an issue any more,” Clover said.

  “What?”

  “Jake and you are serious,” Chastity clarified. “You guys seemed so different that I doubted your relationship at first, but the way you look at each other is special. Like the sun only shines when you’re touching each other.”

  As if on cue, Jake looked over his shoulder and smiled. It was the same way he looked at her at the waterfall this morning.

  “Trust me,” Clover added. “He’s the one for you. No man would put up with our family for an entire week if he wasn’t serious.”

  “It’s still early,” she said weakly.

  “Doesn’t matter. When you meet the right guy, it’s meant to be,” Chastity said.

  Poppy reached her hands toward Clem at that moment. She pulled her littlest niece into her arms, tickling her tummy until she giggled and squealed. It was the kind of distraction she needed to keep her sisters’ words from sinking in too deep. Because as much as she needed to convince her family that her relationship with Jake was real, letting herself believe that would only break her heart.

  After sorting through the giant cardboard box of PVC pipes, adapters and various other parts for the fifth time, Jake still wasn’t any further ahead than he was two hours ago. Not that he was ready to admit defeat. He and Eli had assembled most of their brewery equipment by hand. There was no way he couldn’t figure out a simple exploding device.

  Except he really couldn’t figure it out.

  Luckily, Andrew and Mike seemed just as confused by the task ahead of them despite the fact they’d actually done this before, and Clem’s dad had told him the official “launch” wouldn’t happen until Saturday.

  Olive walked over, casting a shadow over the parts he’d laid out as she spied on his progress. “Hmm.”

  “Is that a good ‘hmm’ or a bad ‘hmm’?”

  The teenager shrugged. It was the same reaction he’d gotten from Frank when he toured the efforts fifteen minutes ago, minus the twirling of his gray mustache. Only, somehow the fact it was a fourteen-year-old casting judgment made it even worse.

  “It’s too bad you’re not as smart as you are handsome,” Grandma Jean called out from her lawn chair. “It didn’t surprise me when Chastity and Clover married two dolts who’ve got more muscles than brains, but I always thought Clementine would end up with someone with a little more going on upstairs.”

  Andrew and Mike didn’t seem upset at the insult. “Face it, Grandma Jean, you love our muscles,” Mike said, giving the older woman a peck on the cheek.

  “Damn right I do. It’s the only reason I tolerate this heat. Now be a good boy and get me some more ice fo
r my lemonade.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you,” Jake said, unable to hide the amusement in his voice. “I’ll try to do better.”

  “Take off your shirt like these other good boys, and I might forgive you.” She patted Mike’s cheek as he poured a few cubes of ice from his red plastic cup into hers.

  Jake smiled but kept his shirt on. He’d never known a family could have such an easy way with each other. Laugh as much as the Coxes did. Maybe if he’d grown up in a family like this, he might have made an effort to get in touch with them over the last ten months. Maybe they would have given him a call by now. An email. Hell, even a text message.

  He understood why it was hard for Clem to be surrounded by this constant chaos, but at least it was driven by love. There was so much warmth and joy radiating off everyone, it almost made him wish he weren’t here under false pretenses.

  Except he was. A week from now, Clem would be announcing their unceremonious breakup, and he would never see any of them again. A little thread of guilt had been slowly unraveling inside his chest since the day he arrived here. He pushed it aside, reminding himself he was trying to do right by Clem. And right now, that meant figuring out how to attach the barrel to the combustion chamber without having the entire thing explode in his face.

  “Hey, Grandma Jean. Are cell phones against the rules?”

  A twinkle appeared in the older woman’s eyes. “Now you’re starting to use those brain cells.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief and searched for a schematic online. The reception right by the water wasn’t great, leaving a little wheel spinning in the middle of his phone. “Crap,” he muttered, holding it up vainly in search of another bar.

  “Having some trouble?” Clem crouched down and inspected one of the pipes he’d laid out.

  “Will you think less of me if I say yes?”

  “No, but I will think more of you if you come back to our cabin and get naked. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s all I’d be able to think about.”

  He dropped the wrench he’d been holding back into the box with a clatter.

  She smiled victoriously. “Now that I’ve got your attention, there’s a really simple solution to this. All you need to do is—”

  “Nope. Don’t tell me. I’m doing this for you.”

  “You really don’t have to. The fact you’re even trying is more than anyone has ever done for me. I wasn’t kidding when I said my dad has insisted every single guy my sisters or I dated prove himself by building a potato cannon. Mike and Andrew were the only two stupid enough to accept the challenge instead of running away. Until you. You’ve been at it for hours, and you still haven’t figured out the obvious solution.”

  “If it’s so obvious, then I should be able to figure it out on my own.” He didn’t have the kind of personality that could easily walk away from a project. The drive to follow through with something until it was finished burned deep in his blood.

  “You’ve got days to figure out. We’ve only got about one hour left before dinner and I can think of a much better way to use it.” Her sexy smile left no doubt what was on her mind right now.

  “Getting a little demanding, huh?”

  “Maybe I am. Turns out getting what I want is kind of addicting.”

  He set his tools down and took her hand. “All right, but once we’re through that bedroom door, it’s my turn to get what I want.”

  He could feel the shiver roll through her body, right down to her hand, and it was enough to distract him from the potato cannon for the rest of the night.

  16

  If Jake had known he could spend a vacation making love to a beautiful woman, he might have taken one years ago. But he wasn’t ready to open his eyes Friday morning after exhausting himself with Clem all night. After they’d fallen asleep, his dreams had been invaded by vivid memories of her pale skin and soft moans. The kind of dream that would make him happy to never wake up if it weren’t for the fact she was currently running her hands along his chest, whispering at him to open his eyes.

  He kept his lids shut tight, taking in the sweet smell of her loose curls as the strands brushed over his face. He reached out blindly and caught her by the waist, disappointed to find out she was already dressed.

  Easy enough to fix.

  “Wake up, Jake. I’ve got a surprise for you.” Something soft, like a feather, tickled his stomach, spiking a new wave of arousal. Last night’s “inspiration” had been a scene from her book that involved her riding him like a cowgirl. He didn’t even need to ask what was in store now. Whatever she wanted, the answer was hell yes.

  He opened his eyes and blinked twice. There was a feather all right, but it was dangling from a little yellow rubber fish with a hook attached to the end. “Uh, babe, I’m up for just about anything but can we at least use something that doesn’t have a barb?”

  She laughed, drawing his attention to her soft, sensual lips. She was so beautiful, he could barely think straight. “Get dressed, I’m taking you fishing.”

  “I thought we already established that I hate fishing.” He swung his legs off the mattress and stood up with a stretch. He felt her gaze on him as he walked naked to grab clothes from his bag. For three years, she’d barely been able to look him in the eye any longer than it took to order a pint. But in just a few short days, she’d opened up in a way he hadn’t know was possible. And judging by the sly grin on her face, there was a lot more he had left to discover about her.

  “You only hated it because you had no idea what the heck you were doing. I’m going to teach you what your father and grandfather should have you when you were a kid.”

  He pulled on a pair of boxer briefs, then hunted for a clean T-shirt. “I still need to improve the potato cannon.” Yesterday’s test shot had been pretty good, but even Clem had reacted with a mysterious shrug, as though he were missing the obvious. He didn’t even want to think about how much cellular data he’d burned through trying to figure out what was missing, but none of the millions of websites out there seemed to offer anything different than what he’d already figured out on his own. It was clear Clem was itching to help, but he refused to hear her out. Yeah, the whole thing was ridiculous, but knowing none of the guys she’d dated in the past were willing to jump through these kinds of hoops to be with her pissed him off. How many fools had passed up the chance to be with a woman like her because they didn’t have the guts to put themselves on the line?

  “You’re either going to figure it out or you won’t,” she said wistfully. “Looking at instructions online isn’t going to help at this point. So, let’s go have some fun.”

  “Okay, you win.” Saying no to this woman was getting harder each day. By the end of the week, he’d probably hand over the ownership papers to the Holy Grale if she asked for them. But the fact was, it was easy to make someone happy when there was an expiry date on the relationship.

  More was the one thing he couldn’t give her, no matter how good things were between them. Then again, more was the one thing she wasn’t asking for. She didn’t flinch when he’d told her he was only interested in sex. Even with the complication of pretending to be in love in front of her family, she hadn’t shown any sign of wanting more.

  “Good answer. I’m going to fill a thermos of coffee. Meet me by the boat when you’re ready.” She sauntered out of the room with more energy in her step than he’d seen any other morning since they’d been there.

  He dressed quickly and found her loading his fishing gear into the small aluminum boat. It was so early, there were no signs of life coming from the next lot. A shallow gray mist hovered over the still water, coating the surrounding trees in a gothic blanket.

  “Need help with that?”

  Clem tossed another life jacket into the boat. “No, it’s all done. Jump in.”

  Ten minutes later, she cut the engine. They were in a reedy corner of the lake near a small sandy island. Wet wisps of hair clung to her forehead, framing her smile. Her gray wool sweate
r was too big for her, but he liked the way she looked in it. Cozy and happy. The morning chill was still clinging to the air, but the sun was just starting to peek out between the green hills with the promise of another hot day.

  “Some days I wish I could have a little island like this to escape to. Not all the time. Just sometimes, you know?”

  Jake wasn’t sure if she was speaking to him or to herself. “You picked a beautiful spot.”

  “We’d be better off with live bait, but since we didn’t plan ahead, we’re going to stick to lures,” she said, tying a small blue one to the end of his line. “The most important thing is to not be impatient.”

  She handed him the rod.

  “Patience has never been my strong suit. I’m not used to waiting around for something to happen. I’d rather be doing everything I can to make things go my way.”

  “That might work in business, but not fishing. It’s healthy to give up control and just let things be every once in a while.”

  He cast the rod and stretched out his legs. She must have seen that as an invitation because she crawled across the small boat and settle between them, leaning her head against his thigh. They’d engaged in these kinds of small, intimate touches around her family with increasing frequency over the last few days. Hands resting innocently on knees while sitting around the campfire. Quick pecks on the cheeks before dinner. All in the name of maintaining their ruse. But there was nothing innocent or sweet about the kind of contact between them when they were alone. As soon as they shut their cabin door, it was pure, burning passion.

  The press of Clem’s cheek against his jeans should have made him uncomfortable, but he found himself stroking the soft curls off her face like they were an old married couple. In two days, they would be back home. Back to their regular lives where touching each other in any way wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t going to waste any of these last few opportunities while he was here.