"No, not at all. I haven't had pizza since Blay made some… hell that was a couple months ago."
"Blay is staying with you?"
Brody nodded. "When he's not at the firehouse or out with one of his women. That man has a stable full of ladies. But, I have more than enough space, and he cooks dinner when he's there, so it’s a good swap. He's saving for a down payment on a house. Brock is the only one that isn't looking at putting down roots in the form of a house, but he and Kallie seem happy living downtown in their apartment."
"Where is the... warehouse?" She tried not to let the shock and disbelief tinge the question.
"Ha! You sounded so much like my mom right there. Seriously, it was a great investment even though I didn't know about the revitalization of the inner harbor that was starting when I bought it. The place was structurally sound, was coded as residential and business, and has a water view. Well, it has a water view now that I installed windows and sliding glass doors."
"How could you afford to buy an entire warehouse?"
"When my grandfather passed, he left each of us kids some money. Not much, but enough to put a down payment on the place. So, I bought it, and I squeezed every dime from my paychecks for the last eight years to refurbish it. At first, I built one room that I could lock and lived in it. Each paycheck, I'd buy what I could afford, and I've refurbished the entire building. What I didn't know how to do, I hired out. The electrical and plumbing were the most expensive. It took two years to pay off the debt those two jobs put on my plastic."
"Sounds like a huge project."
"It keeps me sane. Gave me something to do. So now I have rentals, apartments that are below mine. They pay the mortgage for the building, and I'm able to breathe... finally. I pinched every penny, but it was worth it."
"Sounds nice." She reached for her wine again.
"It is. I've been meaning to ask, do you need anything, I mean for Gage? I've been looking at my financials, and I can start making payments, you know for support. Back pay I'll have to work on. My savings is gone, but I have equity in the property now. I could get a loan."
"No. We don't need anything. Eventually, Gage is going to want to go to college. I'll take help paying for that." She chuckled. "We don't have riches, but what we have is enough."
"I'd still like to help out. Something every month." Brody opened his other water.
"You do what you feel you can do. Every penny will go to him or into a savings account for him." She ran her finger around the rim of her glass. "I wish I’d been braver back then."
"I do too, but we can't change the past. We can only live in the present."
She drew a breath and held it for a moment. "Yeah, I know, but if I would have told you, then maybe we would be a family today."
He leaned forward, held the water bottle in his hands, and placed his elbows on his knees. "That would have been the dream, right?"
"A perfect dream. I miss you." She held his stare. Please God, let him see the regret and love she felt for him.
"A perfect dream." He echoed the words before he stood up and tossed the empty water bottle into the trash, not addressing her comment about missing him.
Well, that shut that door didn't it?
"I'm heading to the parents’. I'm telling Mom about Gage tonight, so she'll be able to land the hover-copter before we get there tomorrow. I'll pick you guys up at three?"
"Yeah, that'd be great. We'll be ready." She stood and walked him back to the front of the house through the side yard. They could hear Gage talking animatedly inside. "He's so excited."
Brody turned, and she bumped into him. He caught her, pressing her against him for a moment. His eyes locked with hers in the fading light. "Yeah, I know the feeling. I missed you, too. So damn much."
He eased forward, and then shook his head, pulling away. She could have sworn, for a second, he was going to kiss her. "'Night." He dropped his arm from her waist and spun, heading toward the front of the house.
"’Night," she called, and watched him walk through the front yard and drive away. She closed the gate and flopped back against it. Damn, what she wouldn't give to feel that man's lips against hers again.
Chapter 12
Brody drove into the driveway and smiled. He could see the lights on in the backyard. He, Blay, and Kyle McBride had strung small fairy lights this spring and his mom and Sharon McBride loved the effect. If the lights were on, that meant his parents and the McBrides were in the back, relaxing. He turned off the truck and headed to the backyard.
"Hey! What are you doing here on a Saturday night?" His mom sprang from her chair and hugged him.
"Well, I was wondering if I could talk to you."
"Oh, we can go back to the house." Sharon started to rise from her chair, motioning for Colm, her husband, to get up.
Brody stopped her. "No, it's okay. I'm sure Mom will tell you what I'm going to say anyway."
His mother laughed and swatted at him as she sat down by his dad. His father arched an eyebrow in question, and he nodded as he sat down across from his mom. "Mom, do you remember after my accident when Amber came to the house and wanted to talk with me?"
His mother's expression closed off immediately. "Yes. Why?"
"Well, I should have listened to you. I should have called her." He cleared his throat and removed the small stack of photos from his shirt pocket. "She was pregnant. I have a ten-year-old son. His name is Gage, and I met him today."
The sounds of nocturnal insects filled the vast expanse of silence after his mother and Sharon gasped in unison. Brody held the photos out to his mother. Sharon gripped Colm's hand, and his father placed a hand on his mom's back as she reached forward to take the pictures. She gasped again when she saw Gage.
"Oh, he is the spitting image of you!" She wiped at tears but didn't say anything else until she'd finished looking at each picture. She handed them to Sharon and drew a deep, ragged breath before she looked at him. "How did you find out?"
Brody braced himself and launched into the retelling of the story. Four sets of eyes stared at him when he finished.
"She should have told you. It wasn't right to keep him from us." His mom's tears streamed down her face. "What have I ever done to make her think I didn't like her?" She looked from Brody to Sharon, Colm, and then to his dad. "Am I such an ogre?"
"No way, you're a fantastic mom, but you have to remember she was young and brought up in a vastly different way than we were. Her mother wanted nothing to do with her. She thought Amber ruined her life so Amber had no real foundation. You're a great mom, but you do tend to..."
Hannah finished his sentence, "Stick my nose into my children's business."
Sharon added, "And hover."
Colm fake-coughed his comment, "Dominate the conversation."
Brody nodded. "You do tend to take over."
His mom's mouth dropped open, and she stared at the people surrounding her. "Really?"
"Yes, but in the best possible way." Sharon smiled, leaned in, and hugged his mom.
"Am I really that much of a busy body?"
"No, dear, never you." His dad's over-the-top denial provided the comic relief the night desperately needed.
His mom swatted his dad, and the man drew her into a hug, kissing the top of her head. "When can we meet him?"
Brody smiled and looked directly at his mom. "Well, if it is all right, I can bring Gage and Amber tomorrow. We could maybe have a family football game in the backyard and cook out? Something casual, so everyone feels comfortable?"
"That's an excellent idea." His mom stood and extended a hand to Sharon. "Come on, we need to decide what to cook. Oh!" She spun toward Brody. "Does he have any allergies?"
"Not that I'm aware of, and he loves chocolate."
"Wonderful!" Sharon clapped her hands. "I can make my Death by Chocolate Trifle!"
"Perfect, let's make a double batch. We need to call the kids and invite them. Goodness, maybe a triple batch. Oh, let's do steaks," Hannah
added as they walked toward the house.
"Baked potatoes or potato salad?" Sharon opened the door as she asked.
"Salad has mayo, and it is supposed to be hot tomorrow, but we can put it on ice or in a cooler––" The door shut behind them.
"Well, that went better than I anticipated." Brody released a long exhale.
"Wait for it. She's excited now. About two o'clock this morning, she's going to wake me up and start asking me the hard questions." Chauncey chuckled. "How was today?"
Brody smiled at his father and Colm. "It was amazing. He's a fantastic kid. My God, the energy that boy has is ridiculous. I taught him how to catch a football, the right way, and he's got a good sized hand, so his spiral is going to be awesome with some practice. He's smart, and he asked a thousand questions. We talked and threw that damn ball all afternoon. I'm going to need a couple muscle relaxers tomorrow."
"How are you and Amber getting along?" Colm rose from his chair. "Wait, don't answer that. I'm getting a refill. This has turned into an interesting evening. Chauncey, Brody, can I pour you one?"
His father handed Colm his rocks glass. "Small portion, please."
Brody nodded. "Small also, please. I need to drive home."
"Will do." Colm strode to the back door. His mother and Sharon's excited voices filled the air for a moment.
"You're pretty protective of Amber. That's a recent change." His father crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair.
"Every time I've mentioned her name, people get hostile. I mean, I appreciate the support, but she wasn't the one who caused that accident. I could have driven slower. Hell, I could have let her have time to settle down without following her. She wasn't responsible for what happened any more than I was."
Chauncey smiled. "That's a revelation, isn't it?"
He nodded. "Yes. I guess it comes with examining the past rather than ignoring it." He knew all the facts now. He still needed to wade through all the emotions, his attachment to Gage, and yes, his feelings for Amber because he still had them. The tough part was trying to determine if what he felt for her was an echo from the past or feelings that had lived through the annihilation of their relationship.
"Funny thing about the past. The further away from it we get, the easier it is to look at." His dad reached toward him and put a hand on his shoulder. He immediately felt the warmth of that big hand. "Make sure you don't romanticize it, though. You both made mistakes. Make sure you examine them. Drag them out into the light of day and talk about them, otherwise you could make the same ones again."
Brody angled his head to look into his father's eyes. "I still care for her."
"I know you do. You never stopped."
Brody drew a deep breath before he asked, "Am I being a fool?"
"No son, you're not."
Colm came from the house carrying three glasses and distributed them before he sat down. "So, what are we talking about?"
"Fools and women." His dad lifted his glass, and he and Colm followed suit. "To the women in our lives who tolerate fools like us."
Brody took a sip of his bourbon. He didn't want to be tolerated. What he wanted hadn't changed in ten years. He stared at the tumbler in his hand. Yeah, he was a damn fool.
Gage padded down the hall to the front room and sat down on the sofa. His hair was wet and going a million different directions, and his pajamas rode up to his ankles. He grew so fast. She needed to buy him some new ones. "Did you have a good day?"
"Yeah, Brody is cool. He's really good at football. Whatcha watching?"
"Reruns. You want the remote?" She'd let him watch a few minutes of television to help him unwind. He'd had an emotional day even though he didn't know it.
"Nah. This is okay." He flopped onto his side and propped his head up on his elbow. "It was weird."
Amber leaned back in the couch and plopped her feet onto the cushion. "What's that?"
Gage moved his head in his hand so he could see her. "Meeting him."
"Why's that?"
"Cause we're strangers; well, not now, but we were." He turned back to the television and smiled at the sitcom.
She sighed. It was hard for everyone, but Gage seemed to like Brody. "You seemed to get along well."
"Yeah. I like the photo book he gave me. That was cool." Gage yawned and his entire body shuddered.
She gave a hum of agreement and watched the show until it went into commercial. She muted the television. "What do you think about going to meet your grandparents tomorrow?"
Gage lifted up. "Why? Did you change your mind?"
"No, I wanted to make sure you really wanted to go and weren't caught up in the moment."
Gage sat quiet for a while. "Do you want to go?"
"Sure, it will be fun." Interesting, nerve-wracking, terrifyingly awkward. "We don't have to go if you don't want to. No pressure."
"I want to go, but..."
"But?"
"What if they don't like me?"
"What? Why wouldn't they like you?"
"They didn't like you."
She sat shell-shocked. "Who told you that?"
"I heard you and Aunt Dawn talking. You said that Brody's mom didn't approve of you."
"Oh honey." How the hell did she explain her relationship with Brody's mom? "You know maybe she didn't, but maybe that is on me."
"Why?"
"Lord above, that's your favorite word isn't it?"
He smiled and nodded.
"Well, I think I was more afraid of not being what she expected me to be, rather than being myself."
His face screwed up. "What's that mean?"
"I tried to be someone I wasn't. I was pretending because I was afraid that his family wouldn't like me. I felt, I don't know, out of place I guess when I was with them. They are a big family, and maybe I was intimidated. I don't know. But I do know that I acted differently when I was around them. Maybe that is why your grandma and I didn't really hit it off."
"So, she doesn't like you?"
"No, we like each other. We weren't really close, though, you know?"
"Like friends, but not best friends." Gage yawned again.
"Right. Like that." She flicked the remote at the television and turned it off. "Come on Mr. Football Star. Bedtime."
Gage got up off the couch and padded ahead of her to his room. He slid into his bed and she kissed him on the forehead. "’Night kiddo. I love you."
"Love you, too." Gage snuggled into his pillow. "Hey, Mom?" She stopped at the door. "When do I call Brody Dad?"
Her heart skipped a beat. "Whenever it feels right to you."
"Okay. ‘Night."
"’Night." She shut his door, leaving it open an inch or two. She wandered down the hall and sat down on the couch. The silence of the room surrounded her in a soft cocoon of solitude. The magnitude of today settled in the middle of her chest. Her son had met his father. She'd imagined how such an event would play out. A smile tilted the corners of her mouth. Never in a million years would she have thought they would have literally played and talked for hours on end. There were no awkward silences between them after they started to play. None. They slotted together as if they belonged together. Well… they did, didn't they?
A tiny niggling of jealousy ate at her, and she batted it away with a firm mental slap. She wouldn't begrudge either of the males in her life the time to get to know each other. She'd done enough to keep them apart. Damn it, she wanted there to be a bridge, some way to negotiate the past and have a future. She closed her eyes and shook her head. A foolish desire, and yet it burned hot and bright.
Chapter 13
"Are you sure?" Brody asked her again as they waited for Gage to use the restroom before they headed to his mom and dad's house.
"I'm positive. It was nice of Brianna to agree to be my buffer, but I don't need one." She hoped. Brody's mom had always intimidated her, but it was time for her to lift her head up and be proud of her son and herself.
"She said she’d try to ge
t someone to come down and watch the plumber."
Amber chuckled. "I'm okay, honestly. Brianna needs to take care of her restaurant, and taking care of a backed-up drain in the kitchen is way more important than standing guard over me. I'll be fine."
"Ready! Oh, should I bring my football?" Gage stopped two steps from them, his eyes wide as he waited for an answer.
"That would be great."
"Okay! Be right back!" He tore off down the hall.
"He's excited."
"He's also scared." She'd fielded a hundred questions, most of them variations of 'what if they don't like me?'
"Of what?"
"That your family won't like him."
"Why would he think that?"
"Because he's ten? Even though he's bigger than most kids in his grade, he's still young. He's worried, so anything you can say that would ease that fear would be––"
"Got it!" Gage barreled toward them again.
"Okay, then let's head out. I know your grandma and grandpa are so excited to meet you." Brody opened the door for them.
"They are?" Gage nearly twisted in half trying to see Brody.
"Of course. My brother, Blay, the fireman is going to be there and so is my little sister, Bekki. You said you've seen her on television, right?"
Amber ushered Gage into the truck and helped him connect the middle seat belt. "Yeah, she's a reporter."
"Right. Do you want to know a secret about her?" Brody waited for her to get in the truck, holding the door open for her.
"What?"
"She stinks at football. Never get put on her team." Brody wiggled his eyebrows and shut the door, jogging around the front of the truck.
Gage laughed and glanced up at her. She winked at him and smiled. "See, I told you, they are excited to meet you."
Brody opened the driver's side door and jumped in.
"Who else is going to be there?" Gage rolled his football in his hands as he spoke.
"Well, I know our neighbors will be there. We grew up with their kids. Between the two families, there were eleven of us kids."
Brody (Hope City Book 3) Page 12