Her pale eyes lit up. “That would be really, really nice. We might have to make it lunch instead, but let me check my schedule.” Then she made an erasing gesture. “No, you know what? Even if Bella’s is busy, dinner is probably doable.”
Max studied them. “So I take it the war’s over between you two, huh?”
“Yes,” Tasha agreed with a little smile that made Luc’s heart pick up its beat. “We’ve reached a definite détente. And now that I’ve got my fabulous staff, I can go on a dinner date guilt-free. I have to tell you, hiring Jeremy was the smartest thing I’ve done since signing on Tiffany. He’s been such a boon.” She dug an elbow into Max’s side. “And I have you and Harper to thank for it. The kid has such a good head on his shoulders and he’s one hell of a hard worker.”
“Hey, you gave him a chance when a lot of people in town wouldn’t have,” Max replied. “Plus, I’ve seen you with your employees, so I think your management skills probably have more to do with his progress than our recommendation.”
“That’s true,” Luc agreed. “You have a real easy way with teens. Every time I’ve been in there during the after-school rush, I’ve caught more than a few bits of the talk going around. And, cariño, those kids luv your ass.” Tilting his head as if he had X-ray vision capable of checking out the body part under discussion, he wagged his brows at her. “I gotta admit, I do, too.”
“Yes, well...” She huffed on her nails, buffed them against her top, then curled them toward her palm to inspect their nice glossy surface. “What’s not to love, when it comes right to it? My booty is very nice.”
“She said modestly,” Jenny said dryly.
“Oh, look who decided to join the conversation.” Tasha grinned. “I thought for a while there, we were gonna have to tell you two to get a room.”
Jake gave her a satisfied look from across the table. “Jealous, Tash?” he asked.
She flashed a glance at Luc that had him shifting in his seat, then gave Jake a satisfied look of her own. “Can’t say that I am.”
Jake blinked, then slowly turned his head to look at Luc. “Seriously?”
He returned his well-honed drug-dealer hundred-yard stare.
“Well, shit.” Jake shook his head. “I leave town for a few lousy days and miss out on all the action.”
“What, you were planning on joining him?” Max asked. “With our Tasha? That’s perverted, man.”
“What?” Jake’s expression lost its usual urbane amusement, and for a second he looked downright shocked. “No, that’s not what I meant at— Ahh.” He nodded wisely. “You’re being your usual asshole self. Very funny.”
Luc knew it was a dumb thing to covet, and maybe it was because he’d grown up an only child, but he really envied his half brothers their bickering.
And he must have been losing his edge because Max studied him for a moment, then said, “What’s that look?”
“Huh?” He looked at his half bro as if he didn’t have a clue what he meant, then pointed at his face. “Normal expression, man.”
“No, for a second you got a look on your face. What were you thinking?”
His first inclination was to cling to his claim of ignorance. Then he shrugged. What the hell. He might as well come clean. “I was just thinking that I actually envy the way you give each other shit. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters growing up, and you two were obviously very close. That must have been nice.”
Jake and Max exchanged looks. Then they laughed their asses off.
Struggling not to feel left out of what was clearly an inside joke, he looked from one to the other. “What?”
“We grew up hating each other’s guts,” Max said.
“What?” he said again. He made an abrupt gesture with his hand. “I mean, I heard you. I just can’t process it.”
Jake leaned forward. “Do you remember me telling you the night you came to town how our mutual father left Max’s mom for mine?”
He nodded.
“And that once Charlie switched his allegiance to me and Mom, Max ceased to exist in his eyes?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty tough to forget, since that goes against everything I’ve ever known about my dad.” He looked at Max. “It doesn’t mean I don’t believe you. It’s just...hard to hear.”
“I can understand that since you and Charlie had a long, really good relationship,” Max said. “And the truth is, by the time he moved out on us he’d already been traveling a lot for work. And I was really little, so under ordinary circumstances I probably wouldn’t even have missed him all that much.
“But my mom couldn’t let it go, so I grew up hearing ad nauseam how Jake’s mom had stolen Charlie away and how her little shit of a son—” he shot Jake a lopsided smile “—that would be you, bro—had gotten everything that rightfully should have been mine. I’m not proud of what an angry kid that made me. But as soon as Jake was old enough to graduate to the fourth-fifth-and-sixth-graders’ playground at our elementary school, which put us together for the first time, I took great pleasure in taking it out on him.”
“That was the beginning of the two of us trying to beat the crap out of each other every opportunity we got,” Jake said. “It continued right up until Max left Razor Bay to join the Marines. It wasn’t until I came back to town last spring that we managed to cobble together a relationship.” He shoved a shoulder into Luc’s. “So, you, too, can feel free to bicker with us.”
“Yeah,” Max agreed. “You even have an advantage. We started out actually liking you.”
Every time he was together with these guys he learned something new about them. And this...
Well, for the first time he realized he probably wasn’t as far outside the friendship/brotherhood loop as he’d thought. Both Jake and Max had just basically agreed that there was a place for him in the family dynamic.
Something about their acceptance vanquished once and for all the low-grade nervousness he’d been experiencing off and on since the other morning when he’d realized how happy he was with Tasha. It was possible that he had nothing to be nervous about.
Hell, he’d been given a family when he thought the last of his was gone and that he was well and truly, once and for all, alone in life. Plus, look how successfully his brothers balanced the various aspects of their lives. Both of them were making their jobs work even as they made lives with the women they loved. And they were forging a real brotherhood with each other.
There was no reason he couldn’t do the same.
The idea stopped him in his tracks. Where the hell had that come from? He wasn’t Mr. Impulse; he didn’t just one day suddenly think, Hey, why don’t I dump the job I love and start all over again because I have the hots for some woman I’ve known for a total of, what? A month and a half?
Even if it was a woman he’d never been able to entirely scrub from his memory—and for a lot more reasons than the stellar sex they shared. Not to mention that the job was developing cracks.
Deep into contemplating that, and the randomness with which it had popped into his head, he couldn’t say how much time had elapsed when Max suddenly snapped his fingers in his face.
“Dude, you okay?” his half brother demanded, leaning over the table to peer into his face. “You look like someone dropped an anvil on your head.”
“I’m fine,” he muttered, even as he thought that was exactly the way he felt. Hell, if this were a cartoon he’d probably have little x’s in his eyes and chirping birds circling his head. Oh, my God, he thought dazedly, ignoring Max to stare at Tash across the table from him. Oh. My. God.
I love her.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
JEREMY HEARD THE CAR in his driveway and was at the door before the driver could even shut off the engine. Yanking it open, he stared out at the beater car. Then at his dad, Ben, who was climbing out of it.
He could feel the grin that split his face. “Hey!” he called. “What happened to your truck? You coming down in the world?”
For a
second he thought his dad looked uncertain. But he must have been mistaken, for the old man shrugged. “Nah, I still got it. I brought this one for you.”
He froze. “For me?”
“Yeah. I know she’s not much to look at,” his father said, “but—”
“You punkin’ me?” he interrupted. “If you’ve had a hand in tuning her up, I bet she runs better than the most precision-engineered engine in the world. Holy shit, Dad!” He cleared the stoop in one leap and strode over. Slinging his arms around his father, he hauled him in for a bear hug so enthusiastic it lifted his dad’s feet clear off the ground—and never mind that they were the same height. Then he set him loose to inspect the car.
It was a Ford Escape SUV from probably the first year they were made. It looked as if it had started out black, but was now faded to kind of a dull charcoal and generously spotted with lighter gray primer in several places. It wasn’t the prettiest ride in the world, but he turned back to his dad with a huge smile on his face.
“This is the greatest gift ever! I bought myself a thirdhand bike to get to work, and it’s been way faster than walking. But I sure wasn’t looking forward to the rainy season. So far, on the coupla days it has rained, I’ve been lucky to be picked up by the busgirl at work.” Who, okay, he’d grab any excuse to see. He managed to stay on point, however. “But having my own wheels is gonna rock!” He’d had so many mad gifts lately he could hardly process it all.
His father grinned back. “I hammered out the dents and was going to paint it for you but ran out of time. I figured you’d probably rather have it as is than wait, but maybe we can carve out a block of time when we both have a coupla days off. If you can bring it into town, we’ll paint it together at the garage. Harry said he’s got a nice forest-green that some customer decided didn’t have the exact right shade of ‘spruce,’ whatever the hell that means. His boss told him he could take it, so he’ll donate it to the cause.”
Harry was their next-door neighbor who worked at an auto-body shop—and the mention of his name had Jeremy shifting uneasily. “That’s really nice, considering the last time I saw him I kicked in his basement window and called him an asshole.”
“Let’s not sugarcoat it, kid. You called him a fucking asshole.” But his old man’s muscular shoulders hitched. “You were going through a rough patch, and he’s just happy you’re in a better place.”
“I am, Dad. I’m in a really good place. I love my job, and I’ve made some friends you’d actually like. I’m sorry I let you down so many times.”
His father reached out a callused hand and gave the back of Jeremy’s neck a squeeze. “You never let me down,” he said fiercely. “If anything, it was the other way around. Your mama let you down over and over again and so did I for not cutting her loose sooner instead of letting you put up with her craziness.”
“So you’re really going through with the divorce?”
“Yes. Screw for better or worse—I shoulda done it years ago when I saw how her refusal to take her meds was affecting you. I’m sorry I didn’t, son. I thought for way too long that she would put your needs first. It wasn’t until the judge sent you to Cedar Village that I realized that was never gonna happen. It was the final straw for me. I told her she could choose to stay well for us by taking her medicine or she could get out.” He made a face. “She chose to take a walk.”
Jeremy gave his father a brief hug, then, ending it with a manly slap to the old man’s shoulder, pulled back. “Don’t regret my time at the Village, Dad. I think maybe I was meant to go there. My counselor made me understand the patterns I’d fallen into.”
“Like what?” With a final gentle squeeze, Ben dropped his hand and stepped back, giving him his full attention.
“Like the way I kept responding to Mom’s choosing her illness over you and me with my own destructive behavior. I thought my counselor was full of it when he first suggested that’s what I’d been doing. But little by little I came to see he was right, because the truth is I did keep doing the same things over and over again. I blew up instead of trying to communicate how Mom’s choices left me feeling like a second-class citizen who was less important than what she considered her right to be an erratic maniac one moment and too depressed to get out of bed the next. I hated her when she was in a rage but seemed to think it was okay to do the same myself. And I picked friends I knew damn well would get me in trouble.
“But now, instead of just getting mad and acting out, I’m a lot better at stepping back to assess.” He gave his father a crooked smile. “Or at least at assessing the best I can. I still need some work there. But I’m taking the time to think more, so I react less.”
“And that’s a real good thing,” Ben said.
“Yeah.” Jeremy grinned. “Plus, my time at the Village got me the job at Bella T’s. I love this cooking shit, Dad. Tasha says I have a knack for it. And I really think I do. I can’t tell you how good that feels.”
“I actually know how good.” His dad hooked an elbow around his neck and pulled him in for a knuckle scrub to the skull before turning him loose. “Discovering your skills is one of the best feelings in the world. For me, when I work on an engine, I just feel kind of, I dunno know...strong, I guess. And happy.”
“Yeah.” He felt lit up inside. “That’s it exactly. That’s how I feel when I’m in the kitchen at work. Hey, while you’re here I should take you in and introduce you to the people I work with. Make you a slice.”
“I’d like that,” Ben agreed. “But you think I could see your place first?”
“Oh, man, I can’t believe I haven’t even invited you in. Sorry about that.” Then he laughed, gave his dad’s shoulder a slap and headed for his new car. “But you still gotta wait, because right now you and me are gonna take this baby out for a spin!”
* * *
PEYTON HAD HAD a crappy day and was in a foul mood as she drove into work. At the best of times, hanging around her house these days was like being caught in the middle of the Cold War. This morning hadn’t even been close to the best. The so-called adults had been going at it with more aggression than the Western and Eastern Blocs she’d been studying in history class. She’d spilled orange juice on her favorite top in her hurry to get the hell out of there, then had been late to school.
She wished she had missed it entirely. Because when she finally did get there, she’d discovered that word was out on the state of her parents’ marriage. Several of her erstwhile friends had walked right past her as if she were invisible. Others had given her a load of crap.
Not that this was a massive surprise. She’d been waiting for that particular shoe to drop for some time now.
But suspecting a storm was approaching and being caught in the eye of one were about as similar as eggplant and eyelashes.
Still, she had Marni, who was worth all the other small-minded, big-fish-little-town girls put together. And she had a great job. She loved being around Tasha and Tiffany. And Jeremy, of course.
She swallowed a snort. Who do you think you’re kidding, girlfriend? It was Jeremy who made her job particularly great.
He was practically all she could think about. Just being in the same building with him was the highlight of every day they were on the schedule together. Days like today when they didn’t share a shift seemed dull and gray by comparison.
Luckily, they were usually both on at the same time. He worked long hours, and God knew she’d been grabbing every available shift so she could save money for college next fall.
They’d also hung out at his place a few times, but while it was fun and felt grown-up to be in a place that wasn’t ruled by adults, it was never just the two of them. Either Marni or Tiffany—and sometimes both—were always there, as well.
That was why she loved the times when she gave him a ride to or from work. For the space of that too-short drive, she had him all to herself, and she lived for the moments she caught him looking at her as if he might want more than a simple friendship from her
every bit as much as she wanted more from him.
If that was the case, though, he was doing a good job of concealing it. He never invited her in when she pulled into his dark yard to drop him off. Neither had he ever actually said anything that might indicate he had feelings that went beyond those of friendly coworkers.
And yet...
Ferrying him to and fro gave her hope. Who knew? The possibility existed that this time he would invite her in. Or maybe he’d ask her if she wanted to go into Silverdale with him sometime to catch a movie.
She swung wide in the alleyway behind Bella T’s in order to squeeze into the parking space she usually occupied next to Tiffany’s car.
And had to slam on the brakes. What the hell?
An old beater SUV was in her spot. God, could this day get any worse?
Forcing herself to shake it off, she parked on the next block, walked back to the pizzeria and let herself in through the kitchen door.
And was just in time to hear Tasha exclaim, “Oh, how nice to finally meet you! I’m glad to have an opportunity to tell you in person what an invaluable addition Jeremy is to Bella T’s.”
Peyton perked up. Was he here? Moving slightly to the right, she spotted him out in the dining area with Tasha and a man who was an older, beefier version of him.
She made a beeline for the most direct route out there.
“I’m gonna give him the grand tour,” she heard Jeremy say. “Would it be okay if I made us a couple of slices? I’ll pay, of course, but I want to give Dad a peek at what I do.”
“Of course it’s okay! And your money’s no good here, kid. That’s one of the perks of being a Bella T employee—you eat free and so do your special guests.” She turned to his father. “Would you like a glass of wine, Mr. Newhall?”
“Please. Call me Ben. And I’m afraid I never developed a taste for wine. I’d love a Pepsi or a Coke, though.”
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