What Might Have Been: Daniels Brother #4 (Daniels Brothers)

by Sherri Hayes

  Trent glanced over his shoulder at the fountains of water, looking for a control panel. “Where’s the shutoff?”

  That was when the man he didn’t know spoke up. “There isn’t one. Not that I can find, anyway. The only shutoff is the main one inside and we can’t leave the whole building without water.”

  Who installed a sprinkler system without a shutoff?

  “Trent, this is Marty, the property manager,” Abby said, gesturing to the grumpy-looking man to her left.

  “Is there a control panel at least?” Trent directed his question to Marty.

  “Yeah.” Marty frowned and started walking around the side of the building.

  Trent turned to Abby before following the guy. “I’ll be back.”

  He was able to dodge the streams of water until they got close to the control panel. There was no way to tell for sure what he was dealing with unless he got a closer look. That meant he was going to have to get wet.

  The cold water felt like little knives poking at his skin. It was a good thing it was the middle of summer.

  By the time he crawled behind the bush where the control panel was, he was pretty much drenched. Trent tried to ignore the water pelting him from behind as he searched for a shutoff. The setup was fairly basic. He pressed and held what should have been the reset button, but nothing happened.

  “There’s not a valve on the other side of this wall that can be closed?” Trent asked.

  “If there is, then it’s behind drywall.”

  Trent got up and ran out of the line of fire. He raked a hand through his hair to get some of the water off him. “There’s a finished wall on the other side of this?”

  “Yep. Bathroom.”

  Shaking his head, Trent headed back toward Abby. When he’d been out to take a look at the property the week before, he’d made a note to upgrade the control panel for the sprinkler system. He had no idea why it was outside to begin with.

  Abby’s eyes widened as he neared her. He knew he was probably a mess. Not only was he wet, he’d been crawling around in mulch behind bushes. His khakis were covered in mud.

  Luckily, he always kept a towel in his truck. This wasn’t the first time he’d gotten an unexpected shower on the job.

  He dried off the best he could, and then walked over to where Abby was standing in front of her vehicle. She still had that wide-eyed look and he wondered what was going through her mind. If they’d been alone, he would have asked her.

  Trent cleared his throat.

  Abby met his gaze and blushed. It made him even more curious as to the direction of her thoughts.

  “So what do you think?” Marty asked. “Can you fix it?”

  Trent turned away from Abby. There would be time to find out what had caused that blush later. “It will take some doing, but yeah, I can fix it. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to turn off the water inside the building. I’ll try to keep it to under an hour, but I can’t guarantee that.”

  Marty shook his head. “They ain’t going to be happy.”

  The man was beginning to get on Trent’s nerves. “There’s no way to redo the system with the water free flowing like it is now.”

  The other man nodded reluctantly.

  “When can you get it done?” Abby asked, breaking her silence.

  Trent noticed that the blush had faded. He had to admit he was a little disappointed. Still, he was there to do a job, not flirt with Abby. “I’ll need to head back to the office and pick up some supplies. Shouldn’t take me more than an hour to get everything together and get back here.” Then he looked to Marty. “Think you can spread the word inside the building that they’re going to be without water in about an hour or so?”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Abby said a little too quickly. It made him wonder what was going through that head of hers. “Trent, you need to get out of those wet clothes, and Marty, you should probably change into something you don’t mind getting dirty, in case Trent needs your assistance.”

  Marty didn’t look all that happy that Abby had volunteered him. Trent doubted he’d need the other man’s help, but considering he would be on his own with this one, he wasn’t going to turn down the extra pair of hands.

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Trent said as he gave the back of his neck another swipe with the towel.

  Abby headed into the building, careful to avoid the sprinklers that were positioned to cover the walkway. It reminded Trent a little of playing hopscotch.

  Marty didn’t wait for Abby to get inside the building before he got into his van and drove away. Trent shook his head. He wasn’t sure if Marty was in a bad mood because of the sprinklers or if that was his normal demeanor. Either way, his short responses to Abby weren’t likely to gain him any points with his new boss.

  Not wanting to follow that train of thought, Trent drove to his house to change and get another set of clean clothes. Chances were good that he’d get this set wet or muddy, or both, before the day was over. He still couldn’t figure out why someone would install a sprinkler system without an emergency shutoff. It made no sense.

  He threw the extra set of clothes in the cab of his truck and slid behind the wheel. As he backed out of his driveway and headed to the office, his thoughts returned to Abby. Was it too much to hope that her blush had been triggered by seeing him standing there with his clothes plastered to his body from the water?

  Trent knew a good deal of women found him attractive. He’d used it to his advantage more than once and he wasn’t ashamed of it. But with Abby it was different. It always was.

  He’d sat on the sidelines back when they were teenagers. Chris had asked her to be his girlfriend and she’d said yes. As much as he hated it, he’d respected her choice and settled for being her friend. Trent wasn’t willing to do that this time. Not when there was a chance she felt something for him.

  His phone rang as he pulled up in front of his office. Figuring it was Trinity checking in with him, Trent let it go to voice mail. Before he could turn the engine off, his cell was ringing again. He unbuckled his seat belt and removed his phone from his pocket.

  Gage’s name was on the caller ID. He hit accept and held the phone up to his ear. “Hey, little brother, what’s up?”

  “Rebecca went into labor last night. I’m a dad.”

  Trent could hear the pure joy in Gage’s voice. “That’s great! Congratulations.”

  “We named her Madison Elaine.” The pride in his brother’s voice resonated through the phone.

  Trent was happy for Gage. He’d come a long way since Rebecca steamrolled into his life, which made it that much more fun to poke at him. “Your wife won that one, huh?”

  “You know, I can be in Cincinnati in less than four hours.”

  Trent chuckled as he imagined the look on his brother’s face. “I think I’m safe.”

  “For now.”

  Trent shifted the phone so it rested between his ear and his shoulder, leaving his hands free to grab the paperwork he had piled on the other side of the truck. “How is Rebecca doing?”

  “Good, but exhausted. She was in labor for about sixteen hours.” Gage paused. “I had no idea it would be like that.”

  “Did something happen with Rebecca? The baby?” Trent asked, concerned.

  “No. Nothing like that.” Gage paused. “Madison showed up a couple weeks early, but she’s healthy. That’s what’s important. I’ve just . . . I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. Rebecca was in so much pain and there wasn’t anything I could do.”

  “Can’t say I know what that’s like,” Trent said as he leaned against his truck.

  “You will one of these days.”

  Trent’s thoughts immediately turned to Abby, but he shook them off. “That would require me to have a lady in my life. Which I don’t.”

  “Things happen. Sometimes love knocks you on your ass when you least expect it.”

  He was quiet for a long moment before he responded to his brother. “Maybe.”


  Chapter 5

  It felt like hours had passed since Trent left to go get whatever he needed to repair the sprinkler system. She’d let the building’s occupants know what was going on so they could prepare, and then returned to her car to wait. It would have been easy to go back to the office and leave Marty and Trent to handle everything. She could call Marty later and get a rundown of all they’d done. It would be easy.

  The problem was she didn’t really want to leave. Being around Trent brought with it a lot of mixed emotions. At one point in her life, he’d been her safe place to fall. She still felt that, but there was other stuff in there as well, including how she’d reacted to seeing his wet clothes plastered to his body. It was confusing and frustrating—and that didn’t even factor in the complicated history she had with his brother.

  Abby closed her eyes. Nothing could change the past. Her life hadn’t turned out the way she’d planned, but that was all right. She’d come to terms with it.

  A knock on her car window made her jump.

  She opened her eyes to find Trent smiling at her. His eyes sparkled with mischief and Abby felt a tiny fluttering in the pit of her stomach.

  After opening the door, she stepped out of the vehicle and plastered a smile on her face.

  The sparkle in his eyes dimmed as he looked her over. “What’s wrong?”

  “Not a thing.”

  “Abby, I know you well enough to know that’s not true.”

  “You haven’t known me for twelve years. You know nothing about me anymore,” she snapped.

  Trent was quiet for a long moment. He seemed to be weighing his options. “Fair enough. But that doesn’t mean I can’t tell that something’s bothering you. I was always your friend, Abby. I’d like to be again.”

  “That’s not all you want.” She had no idea why she was reacting this way. His concern appeared to be genuine. Why was she getting so irritated?

  Again, he took his time answering and when he did his voice was lower and softer. “You’re right. It’s not.”

  The air around them seemed to change. She had the urge to run away, but for whatever reason her feet didn’t want to move.

  Abby took a deep breath and tried to push all the conflicting emotions away. Trent had done nothing to deserve her wrath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

  He shrugged and gave her that signature grin of his. “I can take it.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled back at him. “Still, I’m sorry.”

  “Apology accepted.”

  He held her gaze until she felt that fluttering start up again, then turned his attention to something behind her. “I need to see about getting this sprinkler problem fixed. Are you sticking around?”

  When he looked at her again, the light in his eyes was back.

  “Yeah. I told Max I’d report back to him when it was fixed.”

  Abby followed Trent up the walkway and they made their way into the building. Marty stood there waiting for them. He’d changed into jeans and a T-shirt that said Collins & Baxter Properties on it, and he looked as if he’d rather be anywhere but where he was.

  For the next hour, Abby stood off to the side while the two men tore apart the old system and replaced it with the one Trent had brought with him. This new one looked a lot more complicated than the original, but it did have a shutoff valve and it was in the boiler room where the rest of the mechanics were located.

  “Thanks for your help,” Trent said to Marty as they walked out of the building toward the parking lot.

  Marty released a grunt of assent before heading to his van.

  She and Trent watched as Marty drove off.

  “Interesting fellow,” Trent said.

  “Yeah. Interesting.”

  Trent loaded some tools he’d brought with him into the back of his truck. “I’m starving. You want to join me for lunch?”

  Abby hesitated. “I don’t know. I should probably get back to the office.”

  He took a step forward. There was still at least two feet between them, but she suddenly felt crowded. “I think they can manage for another hour or two without you.”

  It was a warm day, but it felt as if the temperature had gone up about ten degrees in the last few minutes. “This isn’t a good idea.”

  “What isn’t? Going to lunch? We both have to eat.” The look on his face was pure innocence but his eyes told a different story. He was flirting with her and that wasn’t good. She couldn’t go there.

  “You know that’s not what I mean.”

  Trent took another step forward. He was close enough that she could reach out and touch him if she wanted.

  “You don’t think it’s a good idea for us to spend time together?” That soft seductive voice was back.

  Abby shook her head. She needed to stay strong.

  “I disagree.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I think us spending time together is an excellent idea.”

  She grabbed on to the only thing she could think of at the moment—the only thing she thought might put some much needed distance between them. “What about Chris? I don’t want to cause problems between you and your brother.”

  “Chris is happily married. Why would he care if we spent time together?” The tips of his fingers trailed along her neck. “We were friends once.”

  Abby released a shuddering breath. “Trent.”

  “It’s just lunch.” His voice was like a caress against her skin.

  He made it sound so simple.

  She opened her mouth, ready to give some excuse as to why she couldn’t go, but instead she heard herself say, “All right.”

  Trent’s answering smile had Abby’s pulse racing. What was he doing? What was she doing?

  He dropped his hand and went to open the passenger side door of his truck for her.

  “Shall we?”

  Abby nodded and climbed inside.

  In the time it took him to walk around his vehicle and get behind the wheel, her sanity began to return. This wasn’t a good idea. The look in Trent’s eyes when he’d touched her wasn’t one of innocent friendship. It was full of heat and promise. She couldn’t go there with him.

  But even as Abby was sitting there counting the reasons why going to lunch with him would be a bad idea, she made no move to get out of the truck. Maybe this was part of her punishment. Maybe Trent coming back into her life and turning his charm on her was the universe telling her she hadn’t suffered enough all those years ago.

  She snuck a peek at Trent as he drove. He had been cute as a teenager, but as a man, he’d grown into his long limbs and broad shoulders. She had no doubt that Trent Daniels had to chase the females away.

  “How long have you owned your own business?” That’s something an old friend would ask.

  Trent glanced over at her before returning his attention to the road. “About eight years.”

  He was only thirty-one. That would mean he had to have been twenty-two or twenty-three. “Not many people would open a business like that right out of college.”

  “I did an internship with a landscape designer my senior year, and then I spent a year working as a landscaper. I wanted to get a feel for everything before I ventured out on my own. I knew I wanted to do more than just design the spaces and then subcontract everything out.” He talked like it wasn’t a big deal, but she knew it was.

  “You seem to have done very well for yourself. Lillian Baxter doesn’t recommend just anyone.”

  “Thanks. I’ve worked hard to get where I am. Ma and Dad always told us to go after what we wanted in life, so that’s what I did. It paid off.” He smiled at her and she felt her stomach flip-flop again. So much for keeping it friendly.

  She looked out the window, trying to regain her equilibrium.

  Trent cleared his throat as he pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant that had a big rooster on its sign. “Speaking of my parents . . . Ma wanted me to invite you to Sunday dinner.”

  All not
ion of being hungry disappeared. “Come to dinner?”

  He found a parking spot and maneuvered the truck into it. “They would love to see you.”

  Abby twisted her hands in her lap, unsure of what to say. If she refused, it would most likely hurt Marilyn’s feelings. That was the last thing she wanted. Abby could never repay Mr. and Mrs. Daniels for all they’d done for her growing up.

  But how could she say yes? How could she face them knowing what she’d done?

  ***

  Trent walked behind Abby as they made their way inside the restaurant. They were shown to a table along the wall and he took a seat across from her. She hadn’t uttered a word since he’d extended the invitation to join his family for dinner. Given her comment about Chris earlier, Trent wondered if she was nervous about seeing him again. No one in the family really knew why the two had broken up.

  “You gonna tell me what’s wrong?”

  Before she could answer him, they were interrupted by their server. Once they’d placed their order, he waited for her to answer his question but she didn’t.

  “Abby?”

  She took a sip of her water and looked anywhere but at him. “I don’t know if it’s such a good idea for me to come to dinner with your family.”

  “Why wouldn’t it be a good idea? My family loves you. They always have.” It was true. When she’d stopped writing him, it had stung. She might not have been born into their family, but she was still part of it. She always would be.

  “I know.” Abby picked up her napkin and began folding over the corners. She still wouldn’t meet his gaze.

  “I don’t understand. Is it Chris? Are you worried about seeing him again?” He wasn’t sure how he would feel if her answer was yes. If she cared that much about Chris’ feelings then maybe she wasn’t completely over him.

  “It’s complicated.”

  “I’m listening.” He winked, hoping to put her at ease. His stomach was in knots waiting to see what she’d say, but he didn’t want her to know that.

  She continued to play with her napkin for several minutes. He was beginning to think she wasn’t going to answer, but then she looked up at him through her lashes. “Chris and I . . . we sort of left things unfinished, I guess you could say. I don’t know how he’d feel about me showing up unannounced like that.”