She looked so lost, so shaken up, that he wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her that he loved her. That no matter what else had happened he loved her. He’d fallen in love with her and even if she couldn’t forgive him and never wanted to see him again, that would never change. But he didn’t think she wanted to hear that now.
“Brynn,” he reached out to her, but like she had with her father, she jerked her arm away.
“Don’t. I don’t…” she shook her head. “Just don’t. I have to go…my mother…and don’t come…don’t try to talk to me…I need…I just…I need time…” Her sentences were coming in fragments, as she turned and walked into the house looking heartbroken, shell-shocked, and disorientated.
All he’d ever wanted to do was protect her from anything and everything that wanted to hurt her. He never thought that would mean protecting her from himself.
CHAPTER 24
“I knew it!” Jess pointed at Brynn with her knitting needle.
“Shh.” Both Brynn and Ali admonished their friend.
Silence was more than just the golden rule in knitting club, it was the platinum rule. Brynn was a new member of the Needlepoint Mafia but even she knew that. Tonight was the first chance she’d gotten to talk with her friends since her emotional rollercoaster of a night two weeks earlier. She’d given them the CliffsNotes version over text but this was the first face-to-face they’d had. Ali had been busy with work and family, Jess had been busy with work and the wedding, and she’d been busy with work and her mother.
Shea had insisted on staying for a couple of weeks to make sure that Brynn was okay. She’d left four hours and twenty-seven minutes ago. Not that she was counting, or anything. Brynn loved her mother, but her relationship with her was definitely better in long-distance form.
Jess lowered her volume but not her enthusiasm. “I knew that there was something about him!”
No one could argue that Jess had said that from the beginning.
“So your dad hired him?” Ali spoke so quietly that Brynn had to resort to lip reading.
“Sort of.” She’d learned the art of whisper-talking when Ryder was a baby and went through a phase where he’d wake up anytime he heard her voice. “He had it put in his WITSEC agreement.”
Jess looked all too pleased with herself that she’d been the one to know there was something not adding up with him. “So the restoration of the theater was just a cover?”
Brynn nodded as she cast on.
“But his work was beautiful.” Ali whispered. “Did someone else come in and do that?”
“No. He really did learn that from one of his stepdads, Duke.”
He’d told her about Duke the first night that he was in town. Ten weeks had passed since that fateful night, but it felt more like a lifetime.
“One of his stepdads?” Nothing got by Jess. “How many does have?”
“Eight,” Brynn mouthed.
“So if the woodworking is just a cover, why is he still in Whisper Lake?” Jess asked harshly.
“For Izzy.” Brynn’s heart squeezed thinking about him leaving before the holidays. “He promised her they could stay so she could finish the semester.”
“Aww,” Ali said wistfully.
“No awwing,” Jess snapped, prompting a few dirty looks from the women around them. She lowered her voice. “He doesn’t get an ‘aww.’”
“Why not? I think it’s sweet that he’s staying for Izzy. I know Ricky’s happy that she gets to stay till the end of the semester. And, yes, he should’ve come clean about who he really was, but he was here to do a job. But, did he lie about anything else?”
Did he? Brynn realized that was the million-dollar question. She didn’t know how to trust him. After everything she’d been through with her father and Max, she already had issues in that department. Even if it wasn’t done in the same spirit of premeditated deceit, it didn’t change the fact that he represented himself as something he wasn’t. And she just wasn’t sure she could get past that.
“You’re taking his side?” Jess said with disgust.
Ali looked between her friends. “I’m not taking his side, just playing devil’s advocate.”
“Exactly.” Jess nodded. “You’re advocating for the devil.”
“He’s not the devil.” Brynn defended him.
“Wow, he’s even got you doing it.” Jess shook her head to indicate that Brynn and Ali were hopeless.
“Have you talked to him? I mean, since everything happened.”
“No.” Brynn had been so overwhelmed that she’d told him not to talk to her and that she needed time. He’d frustratingly respected her wishes.
Even when he moved out of the apartment he’d left her a sweet note explaining that he’d be staying in town until the end of the semester for Izzy. He said that he knew she needed space and time to think and so he was giving her that. He said he’d be there if and when she was ready to talk.
And that was something he hadn’t lied about. He’d given her all the space and time she needed, which was driving her batshit crazy. She knew the mature thing to do would be to tell him she was ready to talk. But she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She wasn’t sure why, but she couldn’t.
“Ms. Daniels, I see you’ve been practicing.”
Brynn looked up and saw Mrs. D standing over her.
“I have, yes.” Brynn hadn’t been sleeping well, and unfortunately her beloved romance novels weren’t as much fun to read when she kept envisioning the hero as Axel. When she found herself getting jealous of the heroines in the fictional stories she knew she had to put the Kindle down. So, instead of reading, she’d been knitting at night.
It wasn’t nearly as satisfying, but at least she was getting better.
“I heard that Mr. Vaughn and his sister moved into the B&B.”
“Yep. They did.” And he and Izzy were all Karen could talk about. Her morning walks were filled with stories about how brilliant Izzy was and how handy Axel was. He’d refinished and stained the stairs and railing and was working on restoring the intricately hand-carved corbels.
Brynn knew that Mrs. D was on a fishing expedition, trying to see what her reaction was and if she could glean any information. But she was not about to take the bait. She kept her face pleasantly blank until Mrs. D gave all three of them pointers and moved on to her next “victims.”
“Oh, speaking of the B&B, I heard Austin is back in the states.” Ali said quietly when they were alone again.
“He is.” Karen had told her that Cliff and Alma’s grandson had been honorably discharged a few months prior.
“I always had the biggest crush on Austin Stone.”
“I think every girl in Whisper Lake had a crush on him.” Brynn spoke from experience. “Who couldn’t with those—”
“Eyes.” All three of them finished in unison.
Austin Stone lived in New York with his mom, and to a small-town Midwestern girl, that was pretty much the epitome of cool. It also didn’t hurt that he had dark, emerald green eyes, thick lashes, and a body that rivaled Mark Wahlberg in his Calvin Klein ads.
“Isn’t he engaged?” Ali asked.
Jess hissed. “He was. But I have it on good authority, Facebook, that his fiancée is expecting a baby. With someone else.”
“He owns the B&B right?” Ali asked both Brynn and Jess. “Is he going to come back here?”
Brynn shrugged. “I don’t know. Karen hasn’t heard from him.”
“Well, if he does come back, maybe he’d be a good candidate.” Jess nudged her.
“A good candidate for what?” Brynn asked.
“For getting over Liar McLiarson.”
It really bothered Brynn that Jess was being so hard on Axel. “He didn’t really lie. He’s not the bad guy. I don’t think he meant for things to happen the way they did. And he did try to tell me. Yes, maybe he could’ve tried harder, but it’s not like he was doing it to hurt me. He was in a tough situation. Honestly, if I were him,
I don’t know if I would’ve done anything differently.”
Jess and Ali both stared at Brynn for a beat before giving each other high fives.
“I can’t believe it worked.” Ali smiled.
“I told you.” Jess winked.
“What? What am I missing?” Brynn was used to them having inside jokes or references she didn’t always totally understand, but this one went completely over her head.
“She was good cop,” Jess said as she pointed to Ali and then herself. “And I was bad cop.”
“Jess and I were talking and from the texts you were sending we really couldn’t understand why you were so upset with Axel, and she thought maybe you didn’t really know either. So, she said that we should play good cop, bad cop. I’d stick up for him and she’d put him down to see how you really felt about him.” Ali nervously rushed to explain.
“Wow.” Brynn looked between her friends. “That’s actually kind of genius.”
“Oh good.” Ali let out a breath.
“I’ve been saying I’m a genius forever, I’m glad you’re finally on board,” Jess joked.
The girls chuckled and were shushed by several other knitters in their area. They spent the rest of the club discussing the play that was happening in two weeks and catching up on Jess’s wedding plans. They’d decided to get married in the summer on the pier. Ali talked about the boys and how Kade kept dropping hints that he wanted to start trying for a baby.
As Brynn sat with her friends, she didn’t feel the same twinge of envy that she used to. It was replaced with a different emotion. She’d never honestly believed that she would find someone that she’d feel the same about as her friends felt about their significant others. Now, Brynn knew that not only she could, she had.
And somehow, knowing what was possible was worse than thinking it was impossible.
CHAPTER 25
“Great job! You killed it!” Axel gave Ricky a one-arm hug as he waited backstage for Izzy.
He wasn’t blowing smoke or trying to be nice. Ricky had some serious acting chops. It was opening night and most of the kids’ jitters were painfully obvious, but not Ricky’s. That kid seemed like he was born for the stage.
“Thanks.” Ricky smiled but looked past Axel at the parents and classmates that had gathered backstage. “Do you know where Izzy is?”
“She said she’d be right back. Fiona asked her to go somewhere.”
She’d asked her to go to the restroom with her, but Axel didn’t feel comfortable announcing that.
Ricky stood up a little taller and all the nerves that he hadn’t had on stage seemed to be coming out now. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think that the kid was about to ask his sister to marry him. He cleared his throat before saying, “Izzy told me that you guys are staying.”
“We are.”
Ricky took a deep breath and Axel could see that he was starting to get a little choked up. “I just wanted to say, thank you. Since my dad…since I lost my dad, it’s been hard. And Izzy is just, she’s the best thing in the world. And I’m just really glad that I’m not losing her, too.”
“So am I.” Axel said sincerely.
He’d never thought that he’d think anyone was good enough for his sister, but he’d been wrong. He couldn’t be happier that Izzy was dating Ricky. Granted, they were young and Axel didn’t think it would last, but Ricky was setting the bar pretty damn high for any guys that came after him. And for that Axel would be forever grateful.
It wasn’t the reason he’d made the decision to stay in Whisper Lake, but it had been one in the pro column. He’d been thinking about it for a while but had waited to tell his sister because he wanted to work out all the details before he got her hopes up. He’d finalized things today and he’d told her when she got out of school. She’d hugged him so tight that he almost passed out. Seriously, she had a mean sleeper hold.
Earlier that day, he’d let Seth know that his leave of absence was a permanent one. Then he’d looked at a few houses that he was thinking he could renovate and flip. And he’d rented a space that he planned on using for building, restoring, and refurbishing furniture. The work at the theater might’ve been a cover, but it turned out that he’d forgotten how much he enjoyed working with his hands. It was therapeutic.
Therapeutic.
The last conversation he’d had with Brynn, before the shit hit the fan, played back in his mind. When he’d told her that he knew a better therapy than crying. It was the last time that she’d looked at him with complete trust.
And he only had himself to blame for it.
The way she found out was probably one of the worst ways she could’ve found out. But again, he only had himself to blame for it.
Over the past month, he’d played and replayed all of the times he could’ve told her what was going on. He’d lost sleep, even considered not staying in town, just because it was so painful to see her and be reminded of what could’ve been, and just how badly he’d fucked up.
But then he decided that he needed to do what was best for Izzy. He was her guardian now, after all. This town and the people here were special, and she deserved as much special in her life as he could possibly give her.
“Iz, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Axel heard Ricky ask and he turned to see his sister walking toward them, her bottom eyelids filled with moisture.
He was about to ask the same question when it was answered for him.
“Hi, honey!” His mother waved wildly at him from behind his sister.
“Mom. You’re back.” He said as she pulled him into a hug.
“That’s right. I’m back. And I was just telling Izzy that I already found a great place for us back in California.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Izzy start to break down. Ricky put his arm around her and she crumbled into him.
“Mom, let me talk to you outside.” He started to guide his mom out the back of the theater and looked over his shoulder to see if he could get his sister’s attention, but Ricky was already leading her away. He wanted to tell her not to worry but he didn’t want to cause a scene.
He’d deal with his mom first and then find Izzy. He knew that Ricky would make sure she was okay until then. And if Ricky was called away for some reason, he’d make sure that Brynn or Ali, Fiona or Presley, or Ryder or KJ were with her. And if for some reason they were all busy, then there was Karen Carpenter (not the singer) who ran the B&B, or Kade, or Ethan, or Ethan’s grandmother Daisy, or Jess’s parents John and Bonnie…the list went on and on. There were so many people, layers of people, that truly cared about his sister in Whisper Lake. Which was exactly why she wasn’t going anywhere.
* * *
Brynn hugged Ali when her friend finally made her way through the backstage crowd to the alcove that Brynn was taking a breather in. She’d been going nonstop for the past week and it had all been worth it. Tonight had been a huge success, but there was definitely a standout. “Ricky did such an amazing job!”
“So did Ryder!” Ali enthused.
“I love my son,” Brynn smiled. “But the only reason he was on that stage was because of Fiona and it showed. Ricky owned it.”
Ali’s grin reached from ear to ear. “He is really good, huh?”
“Are we talking about Ricky? Because that boy was on fire tonight,” Jess said, as she joined Brynn and Ali.
“Yes!” Brynn exclaimed. “We are. I just can’t get over it!”
“I know! He had me crying and it’s not like I didn’t already know the ending.”
They were all laughing when Ricky and Izzy turned the corner to the small area they were hiding in.
“There’s the man of the hour!” Jess yelled when both teens looked up.
“What’s wrong?” Brynn, Ali, and Jess all asked in unison when they saw tears pouring down Izzy’s face.
“My…mom…” She was gasping for air between sobs “…is…here…and…” Her sobs grew more violent.
“It’s
okay,” Ali assured her. “It’s okay.”
“Breathe.” Brynn instructed, scared she was going to hyperventilate. She stepped in front of her and demonstrated breathing slowly in through her nose and out through her mouth. “Good. In and out.”
“I’ll get some water.” Ali offered.
When she started to calm down, she looked at Ricky and the tears started again. She tilted her head. “You tell them.”
“Axel told her today that they could stay here. For good.”
Brynn’s heart slammed into her chest. She hadn’t yet talked to him, and she realized then that a big part of the reason for that was because she thought he was leaving.
“And then tonight,” Ryder continued, “their mom showed up and said that she’s taking Izzy back to California.”
Izzy cried harder at this as Ali showed up with the water. “Here you go, sweetie, drink this.”
After a few sips, Izzy took a deep breath and looked at everyone and apologized. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” the women chorused.
She looked at Ricky. “I didn’t mean to ruin your night. You were so good.”
He pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the top of her head. “You could never ruin any night that we’re together.”
His sentiment was so sweet that Izzy started crying again.
Thankfully, the four of them were able to calm her down fairly quickly. When she was able to talk again, she looked at Brynn. “He went to talk to her out back. Will you go find out what he’s saying?”
“Oh, sweetie,” Brynn shook her head no. “I don’t think that’s a good—”
“Of course we will!” Jess volunteered. “We’ll be right back.”
She then pulled both Brynn and Ali out of there so fast that Brynn tripped over her own feet.
“What are you doing?” She tried to tug her arm away, but Jess had a death grip on it.
“Axel and Izzy are staying.” Jess said definitively, speaking loudly so her friends could hear her over the rumble of the crowd. “Did you see how upset that girl was? Her mother is not going to take her anywhere.”
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