“Ah, so the thought’s already gone through your mind then?”
“What do you think? She’s still the nicest person I’ve ever met. I’ll always have a soft spot for her regardless of how things ended between us.”
Footsteps sounded behind him. “I hope you remember that when it comes to looking at the price of the renovations then.” Mari walked in and stood beside them. “That’s some major repair work there, isn’t it?”
“Sorry, Mari.” Christian looked deflated. “I had no idea. No idea at all. I guess it was just lucky that we found it now before someone got badly hurt. Doesn’t help you out though.”
“I don’t blame you, Christian. Really I don’t. I’m a little concerned at the cost though. I don’t have a never-ending budget to play with.” Her shoulders slumped and if Christian hadn’t been there, Ethan would have taken her in his arms to console her.
“We were just discussing that. I don’t know if it will worry you but we do have some timber beams at the yard that would do the job. Perfectly suitable for this repair work and I can do them really cheap too.” He gave her his trademark winning smile. “You’re never going to see them so a few nail holes won’t matter.”
“It doesn’t worry me. Give me a price and we can get the job moving again.” She glanced up at the hole and shuddered. “I can’t believe I wasn’t badly hurt. Luckily Ethan was so quick or I could’ve fallen right through.”
“Yes, it was.” Christian moved over to the old bar and leaned on it, doodling with the figures in his notebook. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll be able to tell you how much this will cost.”
Mari blew out a breath. “Can I offer you guys a beer? It’s been an eventful day.”
“If you’re sure we’re not holding you up with anything, I’d love one.” Ethan looked over at his partner scribbling madly. “Pretty sure he’ll have one too. We usually catch up at the yard this time of day to discuss work anyway.”
“Great. I’ll go and get you a drink then.”
“You sure you don’t want me to get it for you?” He looked down at her ankle where an excessive amount of bandages covered the scratches. David had gone overboard in an attempt to placate April who’d taken it harder than anyone else despite the brave face she’d put on during the excitement.
“No, I’m fine. Hardly a bruise but David didn’t want the scratches to get infected.” She took their orders and ducked out.
“You can stop looking like a lost puppy and pull that tongue back into your mouth.” Christian closed his notebook and slipped it in his top pocket. “I’ll be out of here in minutes, promise. You can have the lady to yourself.”
“No, that’s not necessary. I can…um…” He sighed. “Just because I saved her today doesn’t mean she’s forgiven me or I’ve forgotten what she kept from me. It’s going to take more work on both sides before we can trust each other again and see if there’s still something between us.”
“But you can make a move easier if I’m not here looking over your shoulder. Yeah, that.”
Mari came back in carrying a tray of drinks. “We can stand here or go and sit in the lounge if you don’t want to head into the bar. It’s a bit noisy for discussing business I think.”
“Wherever suits you. Lead the way.” Christian followed her out of the construction zone with a wink for Ethan. His friend had a lot to answer for when they were alone.
Mari put the tray down on the table and sank onto one of the leather couches. Christian sat opposite her and pulled his notebook out, dropping it beside him, giving Ethan no option but to sit with Mari. Strategic on his best friend’s part? Hell, yes. But would he thank Christian for it or give him an earful when they were alone for meddling in his business?
“It’s been an eventful day for you and I have to say, Mari, you’re taking it remarkably well.”
“I’ve had far worse as I’m sure you know.” She took a sip of her beer and shrugged. “If there’s one thing my husband taught me, it’s that life is what you make it. You can let it define you or you can move on and make the best of it. I like to think that helps me cope with the days when all I want to do is crawl into bed and hide my head under the blankets.”
Christian reached for his beer. “Thanks for this. So, Rake. I was sorry to hear of his passing. He was too young to die.”
“Thank you. It was a horrible business. Some days it only feels like yesterday, it’s still so fresh in my mind.” She tucked her feet up under her on the couch. “He was a good man, Christian.”
“I always liked him. He was a damned good boxer. Did well when he went professional too. I bought myself a ticket once when he was fighting in Vegas. Boy, he had a great right hook. So fast, I’m sure half his opponents never saw it coming.”
She smiled, nodded, but didn’t say anything. It still hurt to think about his death even after all this time. So utterly senseless and easily preventable.
“You’ve managed a lot since we saw you last. I checked out your business online when you asked me to quote this job. Built yourself up quite a following, I see.”
“I did and it was all because Rake talked me into following my dreams. He was convinced I had the skills to build my own business and he was right. He’s also the one who convinced me I needed to come back to Cherry Lake once we learned of his diagnosis.”
“What was it he had exactly? The papers didn’t really say much.” Christian took a sip of his beer, placed it on the table and gave her his full attention.
“Chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE as it’s called more often. It’s caused from repeated concussions.”
“But didn’t he…”
“Take his own life? Yes, he did. It’s quite common among people that have this disease. They find it too hard to live with the effects of it and there’s no cure. Of course, it’s not easy to give a definite diagnosis until an autopsy but his doctors were pretty convinced.”
“Really?” Ethan wanted to know more but was a little bit scared to get into it and have her close up and lock him out when they’d only just managed to find a comfortable level even though he deserved answers. He shouldn’t have worried.
Mari was in a sharing mood.
“I wish I’d had more time with him. Known what he was up to.”
“I know you do, Ethan, but he wanted to hide away from everyone especially since your folks didn’t want him to be a boxer in the first place. I didn’t blame him either. It was a horrible way to live, a ghastly way to die. But, he knew how much I missed you all and, despite the issues he had with Jeff, he insisted this was still home. He wanted me to bring Noah here to raise him around family and for you to get to know him. Said the small country town would be a better place than the city. It was Rake that found the hotel for sale online. He started the purchase before telling me about it.”
“Seriously? He made that decision for you?” Ethan couldn’t believe it.
The Mari he knew had never been a pushover before. He couldn’t see anyone telling her what to do now.
“Doesn’t sound like the me you remember, right?” She laughed, a sound that went straight to his gut. “He knew me well—I have to give him that. Rake was convinced that if I had no choice but to come back and face what I’d left behind, I’d do it. I actually wonder if he felt a small amount of guilt for not sending me back here when I found out I was pregnant.”
“We’ll never know.”
“True. But I’m glad I came home. The hotel was the icing on the cake for me. Love at first sight, regardless of the flaws the old girl has. It took me a couple years to pluck up the courage to return but eventually I couldn’t stay away.” She looked at the two men, enjoying having someone to tell the story to. “Rake called them character-building choices and he was right.”
“Clever man.” Christian tipped his bottle toward her. “I’ll drink to his savvy marketing skills. You’ll do well here, I’m sure of it.”
“Thank you. It’s all I could hope for and more. Especially sinc
e my half-sisters are all here now too.” She dropped her head and ran her hand over the leg of her jeans. “I only have to face Mr. Benson and try to make things right there and I’ll feel like Rake’s achieved his dream for me.”
“And, on that note, it’s time I left.” Christian stood up. “Before I go, though, here are the figures for us replacing all the rotten beams with the timbers I told you about. If you could look them over and get back to me ASAP, I’d appreciate it. I don’t want to leave that room like that for longer than I need to.” He tore the page from the notebook and handed it to Mari.
“See you around and thanks for the beer.” Christian walked out leaving them alone.
Chapter Nine
“Sorry about that. He was never one for being subtle and he hasn’t changed much.”
“It’s okay, Ethan. The three of us have all known each other for years. I get it. If your best friends can’t say it like it is, who can?” She sat back on the deep couch, unable to keep a smile from breaking out. “Not that much has changed as far as I can see. We’ve all gotten older, but that’s it. Sitting here with you two is reminiscent of our youth.”
“I thought that saying was supposed to be older and wiser. Where he’s concerned, I doubt that’s the case at all.”
She laughed. “That’s so mean. He’s a nice guy and always was.”
“Yeah, I know. Wouldn’t have gone into business with him if I didn’t agree with you. Seems to me, he needs to mind his own business though. Get himself a life instead of meddling in mine.”
“Do you object to being left alone with me?” She tilted her head and watched the color deepen on his cheeks.
Seeing him uncomfortable pleased her in a selfish kind of way. It meant he still cared. Maybe there was hope for them once again but it would be dangerous to assume anything until all the secrets were out in the open.
Ethan turned to face her. “No. I think I’m a little more concerned that he’s putting you in an uncomfortable position. I don’t want you to think I’m trying to take back up where we left off. We’re different people now and there’re things we need to deal with before either of us can feel that comfortable again.”
Because that would be too easy and it seemed like it worried Ethan. “Right. Well, let me assure you that I agree with you. We both have issues to deal with and until they’re resolved, it’s going to come between us and I don’t want that for Noah.” She fiddled with the label on her beer. “I want him to get to know you, Ethan. It’s only fair considering you’re his father.”
He looked up at her with a frown between his eyes. “Am I really?”
A dark hand clenched at her gut. How could he doubt her? “Are you serious? Why would I come back here, put myself through this, if he wasn’t yours?”
“I don’t know. You tell me.”
Mari gasped, stunned by this new line of thought. Never had she considered the fact he might not believe her.
“You could be lying. You might be telling the truth but here’s the thing. You never told me you were pregnant and instead married my brother.” He held up his hand. “I know what you’re going to say, you tried. But if you were really keen for me to see my child, didn’t you think you could have called the house? Spoken to Mom before standing in front of a judge and sharing vows with Rake?”
“You really want to go there, Ethan? Fine. After we had that fight when you broke up with me, remember that night when you said you didn’t want to marry me or have children with me? I came looking for you to try and have an adult conversation and guess what I found?”
He shrugged and had the grace to look uncomfortable. “You’re the one telling the story here.”
“I found you making out with someone else. You were so intent on making love to her that you didn’t even see me.” The vision of his partly naked body wrapped around another girl was still burned in the back of her brain. Everything she thought she knew about him had gone in that minute.
Mari had stumbled away and gone home hoping to lock herself in her room and cry away the pain. But that wasn’t to be. The house had been broken into and the living room trashed. Books were scattered over the floor, cushions ripped apart, and she’d panicked in case someone was still inside and ran.
“I had to get away from the house and the only place I could turn to was the gym where Rake was fighting. Your folks were there and I had every intention of telling Jeff what happened. But something was wrong.” She sucked in a breath and continued. She wasn’t prepared to tell Ethan the whole story until she’d had a chance to talk to his father but he needed to hear some of it. “Your father and Rake were arguing, again. I didn’t want to get in the middle of that so I backed out before they could see me. Goodness knows where Pearl was. I couldn’t find her in the crowd.” She brushed her hair from her face, the memory haunting her. “I waited for Rake and Jeff to finish up the night and go home so I wouldn’t have to go back to the house alone.”
“And the police were already there.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
“Yes, they were and someone had seen me running out of the place earlier. No matter what I said, your father wouldn’t believe that it wasn’t me who’d trashed the place.”
“And I backed him because I was being an idiot and trying to hurt you.”
“Yeah. That’s what I figured.”
“No wonder you didn’t want to tell me.” He rubbed his hands over his face and groaned.
“It’s probably not a good enough excuse in the scheme of things but it’s all I had at the time. I’ve grown up a lot since that night and, if I had my time again, I might do things differently. Back then I was hurting and scared. I felt like I had nobody that cared what I did. Rake offered me a way out and, call me a coward if you like, but I took it.”
*
How could he have treated her so badly? It wasn’t like him but he’d felt trapped as if his whole life was mapped out for him. He’d overreacted and lashed out at the one person who loved him unconditionally. Now he had to take the consequences and try to make the best of it.
“I’m so sorry. What else can I say?”
“I’m sorry too, Ethan. We both made mistakes. But we have a child together no matter what you believe and that’s the most important thing in my life right now. It’s the reason I came back. If you want to keep being mad at me, that’s fine. I’ll deal with it but I won’t let any of that impact on Noah.” She put her hand on his arm. “If you want to do a paternity test, go ahead. I won’t take it personally but don’t go pushing my buttons too hard. If anyone does anything to hurt that child, they will see how much of a bitch I can be. He’s the most important person in my life right now.”
“Understood and you know I didn’t mean that. I did the math. It all fits and I believe you.” He leaned his head back on the wall and sighed. “I’m sorry. I tend to lash out when I’m hurt and it’s unforgiveable.”
“I get you’re angry, Ethan. I would be too. But we need to work through this as best we can for everyone concerned.”
“I’m not angry at you but I still have questions that need to be answered. Even if we agree that we both made a mistake that night and I understand you not getting in touch, there’s still the secrecy about you and Rake. Those issues need to be dealt with.”
“Fair enough. Although you’re not going to get all of your answers now. Some things need to be discussed with other people first. Things that don’t really concern you.”
“He was my brother. Of course they concern me.” How could she possibly believe they didn’t?
Mari fiddled with a bandage that had come unstuck on one corner of her ankle. She pressed it down before continuing. “Before Rake took his life, he gave me a plan and I promised to follow it. I owed him a great deal, Ethan. He took me with him when he left and looked after me when I didn’t have anyone else. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be what I am today.”
“So how long am I expected to wait for answers?”
“Not too l
ong, I promise and it’s nothing that will impact on our relationship.”
“Can we call a truce then? I want to get to know my son, and I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“I’d like that.”
He reached out and ran a finger over her hand. “I missed us when you left. Despite what happened, it was like half of me went away too.”
“I understand the feeling. We’d been so close for so long. Remember when we spent the whole day sitting up in that big old tree near the back of the farm?” Her lips curved into a delightful smile and for a moment he forgot the widening gap between them. “And we were so sick! Your father was so angry at us and your mother, oh my goodness. How on earth did she not lose her temper with us? We were so ill that day.” She laughed. “I don’t know how I manage to eat cherries again after that but I still can’t resist a bowl of them.”
Ethan twisted his fingers through hers. “You should come out and pick some cherries, bring Noah with you.”
She tensed and moved to pull her hand away but he didn’t let go.
“If you’re going to win Dad over, you need to face him. We need to get this family on track so we can be a family. That means facing him and dealing with whatever it is that you need to sort out. I’ll be with you so you don’t have to face him alone. I wouldn’t do that to you again.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
He felt bad for her but now they were both adults, his father shouldn’t have that much of a hold over them. “You’re a big girl now. He can’t control you, take away your television privileges, or ground you. If anything, he’d probably respect you for standing up to him. Might not agree with, but respect, yes.”
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