Brendan leaned on the shelf in a futile effort to get the boy to look at him in the eyes. “We’ve got to do something. Nothing can come of nothing.”
Chase stopped and looked at him. “What did you say?”
Brendan motioned with his hands. “Nothing can come of nothing. It’s a quote by—”
Chase turned to the row of shelves on the other side of the pantry. “Shakespeare. King Lear. I know.”
Brendan’s mouth opened, bemused. He certainly hadn’t been quoting Shakespeare when he attended Wyatt Bend High School.
Chase’s eyes shot in Brendan’s direction. “I don’t say much, but I’m not dumb.”
“Definitely not,” Brendan said. “So, do you like Shakespeare?”
“I guess.” Chase poured the last of the chips into his mouth as he walked out the pantry door.
Brendan followed Chase into the kitchen and slid another tub of dirty dishes to Chase. “Why don’t we finish up these dishes?”
Chase rolled his eyes. He reached for the tub but stopped and crossed his arms. “Why did you ask me all that stuff? Do you like my sister or something?”
Brendan laughed and put a hand on Chase’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get to work.”
The couch springs under Beth squeaked as she rolled over to her back. She struggled to move her heavy head, which felt more like a boulder. Her plan to wake up from the catnap without the pain and ready to work had backfired. The migraine had only gotten worse. She lifted herself to sitting and held her watch to her face. The tiny numbers fell in and out of focus.
She blinked through the blurriness. 9:30.
Beth bolted to her feet and almost tripped across the room. She stopped on the top step and gripped the handrail of the narrow stairwell as the dizziness threatened to knock her down. When Beth made it downstairs, she flung open the door separating the kitchen and the stairwell. “Why didn’t anyone wake me up?”
Brendan and Chase froze.
She clenched the door handle. “I asked you to wake me up,” she said, staring at Brendan who wore a white apron over his dark jeans and shirt.
Brendan’s lips formed a thin, tight line. “I went up there to get you, but you were asleep, and we still had a few things to finish down here.”
Her perfectly baked pies cooled on the counter. “But I wanted you to come get me.”
Brendan and Chase exchanged glances that made Beth feel like she’d escaped from her asylum cell.
The faster her pulse raced, the more Beth’s head ached.
Brendan approached her. Chase stuck an earbud back into his ear and turned back to their task of rinsing dishes.
“I’m sorry I didn’t wake you up, but I was only trying to help,” Brendan said.
Beth still couldn’t understand why he was doing this for her after she wouldn’t let him stay upstairs or go to Cassie’s birthday party with him. “If you’re here because you think I’ll change my mind—”
“I’m not. You have your reasons for saying no,” he said. “I can respect that.”
The migraine, combined with the fluorescent lights, made her queasy. Brendan shot a thumb to the dishwasher where Chase stood. “Your brother is great.”
Her brother’s head bobbed to the music she could hear pounding through his headphones. She normally had to beg or threaten Chase to get him to help in the kitchen.
Brendan smiled a crooked smile. “He’s a good kid.”
The tension in Beth’s shoulders relaxed as she watched her brother. “Yeah. He is.”
After Brendan had disappeared out the back door, Beth turned around to see Chase removing a hooded sweatshirt from the hook by the pantry door. Beth had missed the wide smile that was on her brother’s face. She hadn’t seen enough of it lately. All she ever got was the grouchy fifteen-year-old with the smelly room.
“Are you ready to go home?” Beth asked him.
Chase tugged the sweatshirt over his head. “Yeah, but Brendan said he’d give me a ride home.”
Beth crossed her arms low across her stomach. “You were suspended from school. You can’t go ride a motorcycle tonight.”
Chase’s mouth fell open. “But I’ll be with Brendan.”
Beth’s body went rigid. Questions flew through her mind. “I understand, but you’re not going.”
Chase’s top lip curled into a sneer. “But Brendan is taking me for a ride on a motorcycle.” He walked toward the back door.
Beth’s pulse surged through her veins. She jogged to catch up with Chase before he reached the door. “You’re not going out on his motorcycle tonight.”
Chase’s eyes narrowed into slits. “But he’s waiting for me.”
She stepped in front of the door. “I don’t care, Chase. You’re not going,” she said in a rare moment of putting her foot down.
The motorcycle engine revved, and Chase brushed past her out the door. Beth marched out behind him.
Brendan sat on his bike in the back alley. “You ready to go?” he asked.
Chase’s eyes widened. “Yeah.”
Beth crossed her arms. “Thank you for the offer, Brendan, but Chase can’t go with you.”
Chase let out a huff in protest.
Brendan’s eyes darted from Chase’s face to hers. “Why not?”
Because he was suspended. Because the last influence Chase needed in his life right now was Brendan Overman’s. How had she let Brendan slip back into her life after all these years? “I’m sorry, Chase, but no.”
“Are you serious?” Chase asked, his voice escalating.
Brendan moved to stand between them. “I’ll have him home in a few minutes. He helped out a lot tonight.”
Beth shot Brendan a look, warning him not to say any more. She turned to Chase. “You’re suspended. If you think you’re going to spend the next week doing whatever you want, you’re going to be in for a surprise.”
Chase rolled his eyes back in his head. “You don’t want me to do anything cool because you never have any fun.”
Chase stomped away. He swung the door open, and the bright lights from the kitchen illuminated the dim alley. The metal door of the kitchen slammed behind him.
Chase was right about one thing. Nothing about this was fun. She couldn’t recall enjoying much of anything since her grandmother had died. She looked up at Brendan who stared at her.
“He’s suspended? What happened?”
Beth struggled to swallow her annoyance at Brendan. She felt like it was two against one. The guy who had added so much drama and strife to her life was now sticking up for the new source of drama. “He was suspended for fighting,” she said.
Brendan frowned. “That’s too bad. He seems like a great kid.”
“He is, but …” She sighed. “Chase and I have a complicated relationship.”
Brendan looked down toward the dirty asphalt of the alley. “I can probably relate more than you think. I’m too familiar with what it’s like to have a complicated relationship with a brother.”
Beth pressed her back against the rough bricks of the wall. “I appreciate you helping tonight, and I appreciate you being friendly with Chase. I do.”
Brendan’s blond eyebrows rose. “But?”
Beth’s eyes darted to the trash that had blown into the corner of the alley. “I have it under control.”
Chase didn’t have any men in his life to speak of, but Brendan wasn’t the role model Beth would have chosen for him.
Brendan grabbed the helmet sitting on the back of his motorcycle. “Okay. Well, I guess I’ll get out of here.” He formed a tense smile. “I hope you’re feeling better.”
Remorse nagged at her in the back of her mind. He had helped her tonight—and motivated Chase to do the same. “Why don’t you stay in the apartment upstairs?” she blurted.
He lowered the helmet to his side. “You don’t have to do that,” he said, his eyes sincere.
She drummed her fingers on the side of her leg. “I want to,” she said. It almost sounded convi
ncing. “As a thank-you for tonight.”
“And the party?” he asked with a boyish grin on his lips.
Beth’s brain screamed no, but she couldn’t turn him away. She scrunched her eyes together and nodded. “We’re both going. We might as well carpool.”
Shock spread across his face.
“But I can’t promise it will do any good,” she said. “Right now I can’t even have a normal conversation with my own brother. I don’t know if I’ll be able to help you with yours.”
He pulled her in and hugged her tight.
She closed her eyes as his warm arms blocked out the cool night.
Brendan took her shoulders and moved her away from him. “What made you change your mind?”
Beth shrugged. “Brothers are worth fighting for.”
Chapter 5
Brendan parked his motorcycle in the circle driveway of his parents’ house and pulled off his helmet. The manicured lawn and the neat flower beds covered in morning dew felt like another world from where he had been recently. He’d thought his short trip to Bolivia would be like any other foreign assignment. A fellow photographer had set him up with a Christian nonprofit organization working with children living in poverty. His career as a photographer had taken him all over the world, but he’d never expected this recent assignment to lead him back home.
He rang the doorbell surrounded by a shiny brass plate. In seconds the door flew open. His mom wore a floral print dress, almost as bright as her personality. She squealed. “Brendan. You’re here. I can’t believe you’re really here.”
“Hi, Mom,” he said.
She stepped out the door and hugged him so tight he almost stumbled backward. He squeezed her back.
She pulled back and slapped him on the shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home?”
He rubbed his stinging arm but couldn’t keep the laugh from escaping his lips. “I wanted it to be a surprise. Besides, you would have made a big fuss.”
She engulfed him in another jarring hug.
“Come in. Come in,” his mom said, grabbing his hand.
The moment he walked through the door, the familiar smells of his mom’s potpourri and cleaning liquid made him feel at home.
The inside of the house was still as meticulous as the outside, with marble tile in the entryway and a chandelier hanging above them. Family pictures in silver frames of all different sizes and shapes sat on every open table, shelf, and mantel. His mom led him past the large fireplace and the two matching wingback chairs with a stack of books on the carved end table between them.
“I’m guessing Dad is at work,” Brendan said as he followed his mom to the bright breakfast room off the kitchen.
She pulled a kitchen chair out for him at the oak table. “Of course. I keep trying to convince him to slow down, but he just can’t sit still for two seconds. Do you want coffee?” she asked.
Before he could answer, she was already at the counter pouring two mugs full. “I’d love some,” he said with a smile.
He loved his mom and hated that it hurt her that he never came home. But he hoped she could see that he had worked hard to make it out in the world on his own.
His mother practically bounced back to the table, working hard not to spill the steaming mugs of coffee. “How is your work going? Connor keeps us up-to-date every time he sees your byline.”
Brendan leaned back in his chair. “I just returned from Bolivia where I took some photographs for a nonprofit.”
He still couldn’t shake the images of the faces of the kids at the mission. Of all the assignments he had been on, nothing had stuck with him like those kids.
His mother wrapped her hands around her mug. “That is a very impoverished area. I’m sure you encountered a lot of need there.”
“That’s true.” Brendan shook his head. “But it wasn’t their need that stood out to me. It was …” He searched for the right description. “It was their joy that I remember the most.”
A smile spread across his mother’s face. “Go on.”
He turned and looked out the plantation shutters to the mature trees and shrubs behind their house. “Many of those kids ate their only meal of the day at the mission. They walked miles for their water each morning, but in their eyes, in their laughs, there was a joy I’d never seen before.”
His mother nodded. “And you wanted joy like that.”
Brendan pressed his hand against the table. “Exactly. But not just me, I want everyone to have joy like that.”
His mother clapped her hands together. “Sounds like Jesus has gotten ahold of you.”
He used to hate when his mother talked like this. He had been a believer since grade school, but sometimes his mom made him uncomfortable with her bold talk of Christ. But this time he thought she was right. It felt exactly like Jesus had gotten ahold of him. “There’s so many things I want to do,” Brendan said. “I want to take another trip out there. I’d love to take more photos and maybe create a book to bring awareness to how we can help. They made me want to live differently.”
“Brendan, that’s wonderful,” his mom said more quietly. She leaned toward him. “But you need to know one thing.”
He tilted his head so that he could hear her.
She put her hand on Brendan’s arm. “When God starts working in your life, it’s not all easy. If you’re serious about this, the Lord is probably going to ask you to make some tough decisions.”
“All I know is I made some bad decisions through the years.” He looked into his mother’s eyes. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t here for you when you needed me.”
She patted his hand. “But you’re here now. That’s what matters. Right?”
Brendan took a sip of his coffee. “To you, maybe, but I’m worried about Will. I don’t think he’s going to want to see me tonight at the party. What if he doesn’t accept my apology?”
She stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. “You can only do your part. Pray about it. Reach out to him. Let God take care of the rest.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Brendan held two small white bags with purple tissue paper sticking up from the top. He stared at the incredible lodge-style house on the edge of the canyon.
Beth walked around to the front of the car and balanced a plain white box on both her hands. “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?”
The house wasn’t the only beautiful thing he saw. Beth looked great in a chunky cream sweater, jeans, and brown boots. All these years Brendan didn’t know if the real Beth could live up to the memories of her, but seeing her again brought back all those emotions as fresh and real as the day she had walked into her grandmother’s restaurant.
Beth had been the first girl he’d ever really cared about. The only girl he’d ever cared about, but he’d lost her. Seeing her again had unearthed all those old feelings. “I’ll carry this in for you,” he said reaching for the box.
The stress on her face from last night had disappeared. “Thanks,” she said. “But be careful. If you drop it, this party won’t have a cake.”
As they walked toward the house, the adrenaline from his upcoming encounter with his family pulsed through him. He hadn’t seen his brother in years, and he was unsure how Will would react to being in the same room as Brendan.
It felt right to have Beth there beside him. “Connor built the house for Will and Cassie,” she said. “Wait until you see the inside.”
Regret poked at Brendan. His family members were so intertwined in each other’s lives, and he had chosen to be on the outside.
Music led them to the side of the house where a gate with balloons tied to the handle stood open. A low cedar fence that matched the canyon walls ran along the perimeter of the backyard.
Beth gave him a reassuring smile before he turned the corner to the back patio where a long table stood with trays of food and bottles of water and soda. A man he didn’t know stood in front of the grill with a spatula, and a few groups of unfamiliar faces
were scattered throughout the backyard.
Cassie held a little girl with a bright yellow bow tied around a tiny ponytail on top of her head. “Beth!”
Beth hugged Cassie and kissed the forehead of the little girl in Cassie’s arms. Cassie glanced back at Brendan, and a warm smile spread across her face. “You came.”
Brendan rocked back on his heels and nodded. “Thanks for inviting me, and happy birthday.”
Realization crept across Cassie’s face. She moved a finger from Beth to Brendan. “Did you two come together?”
Before Brendan could say anything, Beth shrugged. “Brendan is staying in the apartment above the restaurant. It made sense to carpool.”
One of Cassie’s eyebrows rose. “I see.”
Brendan didn’t protest.
Beth took the box from Brendan. “I’m going to put this cake in the kitchen.”
Brendan held the two gifts out to Cassie and his beautiful niece with his mother’s big brown eyes. “I brought Abby a gift, too, since I wasn’t here on her first birthday.”
“That was so thoughtful.” Cassie took the gifts and tucked her face in to look at the little girl. “This is your uncle Brendan. Can you say, ‘Hi’?”
Abby laid her head against her mother’s shoulder but didn’t take her eyes off Brendan.
Cassie waved at someone who walked through the back door to the patio. “Will ran into town to get ice,” she said to Brendan.
“How’d he take it when you told him you’d invited me?”
Her smile faded. “It’ll be okay. You two need to have a heart-to-heart.”
Brendan rubbed his creased forehead. Heart-to-hearts weren’t his area of expertise. “You two enjoy your party,” he said. “I’ll go say hello to everyone.”
Cassie patted his arm. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Brendan walked across the elaborate patio with the outdoor kitchen and through the back door to the house.
After hugging Lillian, his older sister, and her family, Brendan found Beth in the kitchen. She placed candles on the chocolate-brown birthday cake with hot-pink polka dots. His mouth watered at the sweet smell of the sugary icing.
Brendan nudged Beth with his elbow. “That looks exactly like my last birthday cake.”
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