by Zoe York
She handed it over. He didn’t roll away as he checked it. He stayed where he was, like it had better be pretty important if he was going to get out of her bed, and she liked that feeling a lot.
“One of my brothers,” he rumbled, looking at the screen. He tapped into the message app. Right above the most recent message was a photo she recognized—Owen holding Charlie in the hospital, right after the delivery. Her heart did a funny ping-pong thing as he read the newest message, but all she could see was Owen and his grandson, the wee little brand-new person she had just delivered.
“Huh,” Owen said. She snapped her attention to the message he was showing her. “It’s Josh.”
Josh: I’ve got big news. Coming into town tomorrow. Owen, can I crash at your house for a few weeks? Bought a place but it’ll take some work to be habitable.
Kerry didn’t know much about Josh, but this sounded exciting. “Which brother is this?”
“Josh is a mechanic. He’s worked on the racing circuit for a decade, down in the States.”
“That’s cool.” If Kerry was remembering correctly, the other brother who left home was a pilot. She wondered how Owen felt about the adventurous careers of his brothers, and if that had any impact on his secret desire for a more adventurous personal life. “He bought a place, sight unseen?”
“That’s a very Josh thing to do. It’s probably a terrifying shack, but he’s real good with his hands. He’ll fix it up.”
As they talked, more bubbles appeared.
Adam: Way to keep a secret, bro! My place or Will’s might be better. Owen’s guest room was turned into a nursery.
Will: What Adam said. This is exciting!
Owen let out a sigh of relief, which made Kerry laugh, and added his own message.
Owen: My couch is available, always, but yeah, Will’s house might be more comfortable.
Josh: Cool. Thanks. I’m in Ohio for the night. See you in the morning.
“I guess you’re going to be busy over the next few days,” she said as he closed the messages app. “We better get in a little more quality time before you leave.”
“I’ll sneak away,” Owen promised. “With Josh in town, they won’t even notice that I’m gone.”
Chapter Seventeen
Owen could not have been more wrong about his spending time with Kerry going under anyone’s radar.
The first thing Becca told Adam after he arrived was that her dad had gone on at least three dates with the midwife. Owen willed himself not to burst into flames as his internal narrator corrected her. One date and two sex-filled visits to Kerry’s apartment, but it was best for all of them if his daughter thought he was keeping things wholesome.
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Kerry, huh?” Adam went in for the high-five, which pained Owen to the core. He held up his hand reluctantly, and his brother hooted. Out loud. “Way to go. I thought that was all secret still.”
“You knew?” Becca turned on Owen. “He knew?”
“He had guesses, which I told him were none of his business because Kerry and I were just friends.”
“Were.” Adam waggled his eyebrows. “Past tense.”
“Shut up.”
The rumble of Will’s car out front was a blessed change of subject. And then, right on his heels, there was another rumble. Becca squealed and bounced Charlie in her arms. “That’s Uncle Josh, I bet! Let’s go see what he’s driving, it sounds deadly.”
She wasn’t wrong. And sure enough, behind Will’s Duster was a burly ’71 Cutlass sedan. The rebuilt car gleamed. Adam whistled. “Holy shit. Look at that.”
The last time Josh had come home, a few years earlier, he’d had an ugly vintage Mustang, which he sold on his way back south. This was a sweet upgrade. It looked like he’d done some serious customization on it, too.
By the time they got to the cars, Will was already under the hood.
“Man, it’s good to see you,” Owen said, holding out his hand to Josh.
His brother took it and pulled him, clapping him on the back. “Will says he’s still having trouble with his car.”
Owen laughed. “That’s not the only reason we’re happy to have you home.”
Becca came in for a hug next, which made Charlie cry, and that made Adam laugh. “He likes his mom and his grandpa, and that’s about it.”
“Grandpa,” Josh said, looking Owen up and down. “That’s kind of wild.”
“I’m getting used to the name.” Owen gestured to the house. “You want to come in?”
Josh glanced at the watch on his wrist. “Actually, I want to show you something. Can we go for a drive?”
Adam hopped in with Josh, Will drove himself—just in case he broke down—and Owen took Becca and Charlie in his truck.
Josh led them on a merry chase through the neighbourhood, slowing on Main Street before speeding up again and heading down the hill to the harbour. He parked in the abandoned lot across the road from the water and rolled down his window. Will parked and got out of his car, and Owen pulled up next to Josh to find out what the heck was going on.
His middle brother glanced at his watch again, then pointed out to the water—and then higher, to the sky, where a plane appeared from the north. A float plane, and Owen’s heart swelled at the surprise.
“We’re just waiting for one more person to join us,” Josh said.
Seth.
They all piled out, Becca putting Charlie in the stroller because he’d fallen asleep on the drive, and after crossing the road, they watched as the plane circled the harbour, then came in for the landing.
Pine Harbour had a much smaller marina than neighbouring towns, just a few slots. Seth taxied to the end of the row and tied up there. Owen glanced at Will, who looked just as surprised as he was. Will grinned at him. “Sometimes the kids are okay, eh?”
“What a good surprise.” He cleared his throat and lifted his voice. “Adam! How long have you known about this?”
“Only as long as you,” their youngest brother hollered back. “This is all Josh.”
Something in Owen’s chest shifted. It was more than just having all of them home at once, which was a truly rare event. It was Josh, the rebel who ran away, organizing a family reunion out of the blue. It was Seth walking down the dock like something out of Top Gun North. It was his brothers coming back, without cajoling or bribing, to this town they’d both flipped the bird to many years before.
He strode ahead of the others, meeting Seth at the entrance to the marina.
“You had to make an entrance,” Owen said.
“You love it.”
Owen laughed. “I really do. The plane’s looking great.”
“Yeah. She’s getting her miles in, too.”
“Work good?”
“Great. Busy. Thinking of hiring another pilot, too. How about you? Keeping busy?”
Seth was Owen’s original secret keeper. His middle brother had been the first person he’d told when he found out Rachel was pregnant. Fifteen-year-old Seth had pulled a bottle of vodka out from under his bed. Owen didn’t even bother to try to give him shit for it. They’d each done a shot, Seth had told him it would be okay, and the next morning, his wild but loving brother crossed the parking lot at school and gave Rach a big, tight hug.
Owen still carried guilt for that shot of vodka to this day. Big brother feelings were wild like that. But he couldn’t wait to tell Seth about Kerry. About how wild she made him feel, and how good that felt. If anyone might understand, it would be Seth. Now wasn’t the time, but soon. “We’ll have a drink tonight and I’ll fill you in. I’ve met a woman.”
Since there were no secrets in their family, everyone arrived right behind him as he said that. Becca clearly wanted to spill all the dirt. He gave her a Dad Look, and she brought Charlie forward instead. “He’s sleeping,” she explained to Seth. “He does that a lot right now, at least during the day. If you stay at our place, be prepared for middle of the night company on the couch.”
“They can both stay at my place,” Will interjected. “All right, Josh. Where to next on our caravan of surprises?”
Josh turned and pointed. They all followed the line of his arm, to the old convenience store and gas bar at the corner of Main Street and Harbour Road, shuttered for at least five years. “That’s mine. I bought it last week.”
Everyone erupted.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“What do you mean you bought it, like you’re going to live there?”
“Are you opening a store?”
“What—”
Owen put his fingers between his lips and let out a piercing whistle.
Everyone stopped talking.
He gestured to Josh. “Go on.”
“I’m not re-opening the convenience store, or opening a gas station again. They took the tanks out years ago. But it is still zoned as a garage, and there’s an apartment in the back. I’m going to do custom commissions on hot rods and muscle car rebuilds. Pine Harbour Custom Garage has a certain ring to it, don’t you think?”
Owen loved it. “Amazing. But what happened to the racing circuit?”
Josh shrugged. “It got old.”
There was more to the story than that, but maybe that too was a story for later.
Owen looked at his brothers, all home just a couple of weeks before Canadian Thanksgiving. What a gift. “This calls for a celebration. Let’s go back to my place and fire up the grill.”
They spent the afternoon at Owen’s, soaking up the sun in his backyard. Another week or two and the leaves would start to change colour, the nights would get cold, and they’d start to batten down the hatches for winter. It turned out Charlie liked Seth a lot, and he had his fourth nap of the day on his great-uncle’s chest.
They took turns talking about work. Adam didn’t bring up fire school, which surprised Owen and he made a mental note to ask him about that later. Becca dug up her old art kit, and Josh sketched out some of his ideas for the garage.
“I want to be in there before it gets cold, so the next couple of weeks are going to be a lot of hustle to get the apartment safe for occupancy.”
“Just how uninhabitable is it?” Will asked.
Josh made a face. “It was cheap, let’s leave it at that. It’s not condemned, if that helps.”
It did—barely. Owen thought about the money he’d set aside for the home gym and the four-wheeler. He thought about Kerry, and how it had felt to confess his secret wish list to her—and how, maybe, now he didn’t care about it quite that much.
He could rent a four-wheeler for a weekend. “Are you open to investors? Maybe we could hire Jake Foster to help you get it cleaned up real quick.”
Josh shook his head. “I appreciate the thought—I do—but I’ve got some money saved up. Enough for a couple of cars to get started, and I think I might be able to barter some work, too. I’ll find guys who can help. Adam, I bet you’ve got some army guys looking for work, yeah?”
“Yeah, probably do.”
From behind a pair of sunglasses he’d donned on the drive back, Josh lifted his eyebrows at Owen confidently. “I’m good. But thanks.”
Owen raised his beer in salute. His brothers had been grown for a good long time already, but every time that was underscored, it still took him by surprise. It was time for him to stop assuming they needed him.
After dinner, they left Becca and Charlie to a quiet night in with Netflix while the brothers headed over to Will’s house. He lived closer to the edge of town, in a new build home, with a big basement and a spare room. Owen and Adam caught a ride with Josh, so they could walk (or stumble) home at the end of the night.
Probably the last time Owen had had more than two drinks in a night was the last time they were all together for Christmas a few years back. He talked about Kerry a bit to his brothers. But there was no opportunity for him to talk to Seth one on one, and every time the topic of relationships came up, Josh changed it to cars, travel, or music. Anything but women, and they all got the message loud and clear.
Owen didn’t mind. He had someone else he could share his new thoughts with. He left before Adam did, and he called Kerry on his solitary walk home.
“Hello, stranger.”
“It’s been twenty-eight hours,” he said.
“A lifetime,” she teased. “How are your brothers?”
He filled her in on the day’s news.
“That’s so cool! How long is Seth in town?”
“Two more days. We’re all going to work on the garage tomorrow, and then he flies out the next morning.”
“Do you want to come over then?”
“I have to work that day…” He trailed off, trying to picture his calendar in his head. “Beer’s making my brain a bit foggy. I’ll check when I get home. I think I’m on four straight days, so I could do a late dinner?”
“Sounds nice. Where do you want to go?”
“I was thinking Mac’s. Would that be okay with you?”
“Sure. Less driving time, more talking time.”
He let out a sigh of relief. “And then if you don’t mind company…”
She laughed gently in his ear. “Oh, Owen. I never mind that kind of company. It’s a date.”
Chapter Eighteen
Two days later, the brothers all crowded into a booth at Mac’s at six in the morning for one last breakfast together before Seth flew north again.
Owen spotted Hayden in the kitchen, his bandana-covered head bopping back and forth. Owen had thought Hayden would have quit, as the summer was over and hockey season had begun again. His coach couldn’t be happy about the split focus. One thing for a junior hockey player to grab a job in the summer, another to take their focus away from training and playing during the winter.
When Hayden brought a plate of food to the pass-through window, he caught sight of the Kincaids, and his mouth pulled tight.
Owen’s last thought before he was pulled into a conversation about the garage was that the little shit better not spit in his food.
After dropping Seth at the marina and waiting for him to take off, Owen headed to work. One of Kerry’s suggestions at the interagency working group had been to create simulation cards health workers could use for micro-training sessions on the job. He wanted to carve out time in his morning to work on that.
But the schedule came first, so he plowed through that. Then he grabbed his notebook and headed into the garage. He thought if he maybe sat in the back of a bus, he might be able to sketch out what kind of conversations he wanted his paramedics to practice more.
He was nearly done when Dani poked her head around the door. “Hey, boss. You’ve got a visitor.”
Owen hopped out of the ambulance and stuck his head around the side. He scowled when he saw it was Hayden. He jerked his head to the side of the garage bay. “My office.”
To his credit, the kid didn’t flinch. He nodded stoically and followed Owen.
Once they were at his office, Owen kicked the door shut, because he wasn’t in a mood to be nice to the little shit. Not that he ever was. “What do you want?”
“I saw you at the restaurant this morning.”
“Yeah. I saw you, too. I was surprised. I thought it was just a summer gig.”
“That was the plan.”
“What happened?”
“I f— I messed up.”
“With the team?”
Hayden shook his head. “With Becca.”
Owen sighed. “This isn’t the place, son. I’m not the person you need to talk to about this.”
“I think you are. I want to show you that I mean it when I say I want Becca. And our baby.”
“The thing is, that’s easy to say. Harder to show in your actions.”
“No.” Hayden’s voice cracked, but he didn’t move. “No, sir, it’s not. It’s scary to say, to be honest.”
“You’ve jerked her around all year. I thought when you showed up in the hospital, and then I found yo
u in my house in the middle of the God damn night, that meant you got it.”
“It did. It does.”
“You’re running hot and cold on my daughter, and I don’t like it.”
“Not any more. I’m all in now.”
“Is that why you came here? To make empty promises? And you’ll do it again, if she gives you another chance. When you do, I’m going to remind her that you’ve done this before.”
“You should. But you won’t need to.”
Who the hell was this man child to be so sure of himself? “Why are you here, talking to me, instead of talking to my daughter?”
Hayden swallowed hard. “It’s not instead of. She comes first. Charlie comes first, I mean.” His face threatened to crumple, but he pulled it together. “For me, that’s true. Becca and Charlie first.”
“You have a funny way of showing it. You blew her off for a bush party.”
“She told you that.” Hayden nodded. “Of course she did.”
“She tells me other things, too. She tells me how important your hockey career is.” Becca hadn’t said that in months, but Owen was feeling righteous now.
“I’m leaving the team.”
Owen’s mouth fell open. “What?”
“Hockey is not more important than her, than Charlie. I made the wrong choices for a while there because of some misguided sense of being a certain kind of man. But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because I did talk to Becca first, and she told me to come and see you. She said, if I could stand here and take your shit, she’d hear me out.” Hayden paled. “I don’t think what you’re saying is shit, sir. That’s—”
“I recognize my daughter’s words, don’t worry,” Owen said dryly. Confusion twisted inside him. “She told you to come here?”
“No.” Hayden’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “She said I should talk to you. She meant asking to talk to you at home or something. I decided to come and see you here because you were in your uniform this morning and I didn’t want to put it off another day. Don’t get her in trouble—”