JD barked out a bitter laugh. “Yeah. Right.” He tipped his hat. “I’ve gotta go take these to my buddy so he can get started on them.”
Gail stepped away from JD’s truck. “By all means.” She watched as JD drove away before turning to Edward. “I bet you worked up an appetite doing all that work.”
Edward glanced toward Alex’s office.
Gail laced her arm through this. “Don’t even worry about Alex right now. Give her a little space to think things over.” She patted his arm as they walked toward Danny’s house. “Tell me about your parents.”
“My parents are great.” He glanced Gail’s way. “I have two dads.”
Gail kept walking, unfazed by a fact that surprised most people. “Good for you, honey.”
“They adopted me from their friend’s sister.” It was a story he didn’t tell often, mostly because it wasn’t as relevant as most people thought it should be, but Gail’s non-reaction made it easier to explain. “She was only sixteen.”
Gail smiled. “Things always work out the way they’re supposed to.”
Edward glanced around, breathing in the mountain air, listening to the soft sounds of the trees as they moved with the breeze. “They definitely do.”
Shadow Pine was about as different as it could get from the life he lived in Virginia.
Which was exactly what he was looking for.
“I’m thinking of inviting my dads for a visit.”
Gail’s eyes lit up. “Oh, honey. That would be wonderful.” She leaned closer. “They might want to figure out a place to stay before they come. The pickins are pretty slim around here.”
“I’ll make sure I let them know.” He knew the minute he told his dads the situation they would be making whatever arrangements the trip required. It was part of the reason he was still holding back. “I’m not sure what Alex will think of it.”
“She will think whatever she’s going to think.” Gail walked up the steps to Danny’s house, sticking close by his side. “You can’t control what other people do. Only what you do. Their choices are their own.”
He’d been trying to walk the line, partially because he wanted to give Alex a chance to get her bearings, but also partly because it all seemed fast.
Like he was rushing something that was supposed to take time.
But Gail was right. He couldn’t control what Alex or anyone else did. What they thought.
Only what he did.
And he’d already wasted a hell of a lot of time on something he knew was wrong.
How wrong could it be to not waste time on something he knew was right?
“You’re a smart lady, Gail.”
“I’m an old lady with lots of experience under her belt.”
The door swung open and Jude smiled out at them.
“There’s my boy.” Gail pulled Danny’s son into a tight hug. “How was your day today?”
Gail and Jude walked down the hall together, leaving Edward standing on the stoop. He glanced back toward downtown. Toward where Alex was still locked into her office, hiding out.
“Hey, Gail.” He thumbed over one shoulder when she turned toward him. “I’m gonna go.”
She gave him a wink. “See you later.”
Edward skipped down the steps and headed across the large green space sitting between Danny’s house and the backside of her shop. A fenced-in area was filled with all sorts of plants, lined in neat rows. The garden was huge.
It was one more thing that settled into the feeling lodged in his gut.
This was right.
Shadow Pine was right.
Alex was right.
He went straight to Charlie’s house, knocking on the door. A few seconds later it opened. Alex’s sister stood on the other side, holding the cat he’d helped wrangle his first morning in town. “Can you let me into Alex’s house?”
Charlie’s eyes narrowed. “Why can’t she let you in?”
“She’s locked in her office.” Edward turned toward the dim glow illuminating the dusky evening.
Charlie shrugged, her face scrunching into a regretful grimace. “Sorry, Edward. I think you’re a nice guy and all, but if Alex doesn’t want you in her house, I’m not going to be the one to let you in.”
“I get it.” He reached out to scratch behind the ear of the cat in her arms. “Have a good night with Dashwood.”
Edward went to sit on Alex’s porch, intending to wait her out. She had to come home sometime, and when she did he planned to be there. He couldn’t control what she thought, but he was done tempering what he felt.
After an hour his back started to ache, forcing him to reevaluate his plan. Edward went to the camper, grabbing a pillow and a blanket. He spread the blanket across the floorboards of the porch and leaned the pillow vertically against the side of the house. He sat down, adjusting the pillow behind his back until the position was moderately comfortable.
Then he waited another hour.
Still no sign of Alex.
He was about to find another position to try out when a sound caught his attention.
It wasn’t quite footsteps, but the rhythmic pace of it made it sound like them. Edward held perfectly still, holding his breath as he tried to get a better sense of what the sound was and where it came from.
The lights were off in Alex’s house and the only light on at Charlie’s was the porch light on the opposite side. Without any additional street lights to illuminate the area, he was sitting in almost complete darkness. No one should have seen him.
But he would swear someone was watching him.
The non-steps stopped and the air went still.
Completely silent.
The slam of a door made him jump.
The sound from before came again, this time faster.
More like running.
Edward stood on the porch as Alex stormed across the field. He raced toward her, the hair on the back of his neck lifting as an odd feeling crept across his skin.
He stumbled to a stop as he realized Alex was no longer walking toward him.
She stood in the center of the grassy field, blue eyes seeming to glow in the moonlight as she stared into the darkness.
“Al?” He turned to look in the direction she was staring. It was impossible to make out much more than the outline of the trees flanking the edge of town. The darkness was all-consuming, smothering out anything but the most basic of silhouettes.
One finger slowly lifted to rest against her lips as she continued to stare into the black.
Edward held his breath, straining to listen for the sounds he’d heard earlier.
There was nothing.
Nothing to hear. Nothing to see.
But Alex still watched that invisible thing.
The ghost of a sound.
Finally her eyes came to his, something he never expected to see hanging in their cool blue depths.
Fear.
FIFTEEN
“WHAT DID YOU see?”
“Nothing.” Alex dug through her fridge, pulling out the leftover potato soup Gail made for lunch. She flipped off the lid and grabbed a spoon, scooping a bite into her mouth.
Edward snagged the container of cold soup from her hand and slid it into the microwave, setting the timer and starting it before turning back to face her. “You saw something that upset you, Al. I know you did.”
“You know I did? How could you possibly know I saw something that upset me?” She went back to the fridge and pulled out a half-empty bottle of wine, yanking the cork free before tipping it back.
“You’re drinking from a wine bottle for starters.” He took the bottle and walked to the cabinet, retrieving a wine glass and pouring in some of the rosé before passing it to her. “And I know this is hard for you to believe, but I know you well enough to recognize that something out there scared you.”
“Nothing scares me.” She tipped back the wine, taking a few long swallows.
She didn’t want to be scared.
Shouldn’t be. She and her sisters could handle anything. It was a fact they’d proven more than once.
And it looked like they were going to have to prove it again.
“Okay.” Edward pulled the hot soup from the microwave and handed it over. “Whatever it was caused you to be concerned.”
“Lots of things are concerning out here.” Alex took her wine and soup to the living room and fell onto the sofa. “Bears. Cougars.” She stretched her legs down the bend in the sectional. “Hell, a rabid raccoon can fuck you up.”
Edward followed her into the living room but he didn’t sit. Instead he stood and stared at her. Like he thought she’d tell him what he wanted to know if he just waited long enough.
“Why are you here?” Alex drank a few more swallows of her wine. She was either going to have to discuss what was in the woods or why she locked him out of the office, and unfortunately neither of those sounded appealing.
So maybe she could bait him into a nice anger-fueled bedroom romp.
“I’m here because I want to be here.” Edward stared her down. “I want to be with you.”
“Listen, I think you’re being blinded by fantastic sex—”
“Come on, Al. You know we only have fantastic sex because of everything else we have going on.” Edward wasn’t backing down on this whole ‘we have a connection’ thing he decided.
It was insane.
Just because they might possibly have things in common.
Could potentially have a similar sense of humor.
Might even communicate in the same sort of ways.
At the end of the day he was still what he was.
“We have fantastic sex because we are physically compatible.” Alex scooped in some soup, doing her best to give him the same reasons she’d been giving herself all afternoon.
They were just sexually attracted to each other. That was it.
He was still the same, too-handsome man she should have run out of town the second he showed up.
And she was still the same woman who intended to live her life by her own rules.
And attractive men thought what they said should go. They were used to women doing their bidding. Falling all over them with the hopes they could snag them for the long-term.
Not her. Not ever.
“We are more than physically compatible, Al.” He pointed to where she sat on the sofa before turning the finger back on himself. “This right here is proof of that.”
“What are you talking about?” She was tired. She was frustrated.
And like Edward said, she was concerned.
“I’m talking about what’s happening right now.” He came closer. “We’re talking, Al. We’re disagreeing, but we’re still talking about it. Working it out.” He shook his head. “I’ve never done that before.”
“Well that’s your fault.” She focused her attention on the container of soup resting against her chest.
“It is my fault. I should have realized this was what I wanted before I wasted ten years of my life.” Edward sat down, picking up her feet and resting them in his lap. “And ten years of her life.”
“She could have dumped you if she was unhappy.”
“It’s not that simple sometimes.” Edward’s fingers carefully moved over her bruised ankle. “We didn’t dislike each other. We didn’t fight. We didn’t really have what felt like a real reason to want to split up.”
“Did you love her?” It was an odd question. One she didn’t expect to ask.
But for some reason it felt relevant.
“Of course.” Edward stroked gently down her skin. “But love doesn’t automatically mean a happy relationship.”
Alex moved around the soup in her container. “I’m not sure I would know a happy relationship if I saw it.”
“It’s different for different people.” Edward gently worked his fingers into the arch of her foot, easing the sympathetic tension collected there. “Some people would have been thrilled with a low-conflict, non-communicative relationship.”
“That’s a big word you’re throwing around there, Edward.” Alex relaxed her head back against the cushion behind her.
“It’s a big word for a big deal.” He glanced her way. “To me.”
“So you don’t feel like Alicia communicated with you?”
“It’s not just how I feel. It’s how it was.” Edward’s dark eyes rested on hers. “And it’s interesting that you remembered her name.”
“You talk about her all the time. How could I forget it?”
“I’ve said her name once, Al. And I talk about my relationship with her all the time because I want you to know what I’m looking for.”
“Maybe you talk about it all the time because you’re not over it.” She lifted her brows. “Maybe you’re just looking for a rebound.”
Edward cocked a brow at her. “Did you spend the entire afternoon coming up with reasons this isn’t what it is?”
“No.” Yes. “I spent the afternoon doing the work you were supposed to help me with.”
“Probably shouldn’t have locked me out of the office then.” Edward continued working on her aching feet. “I had to spend the afternoon with JD, watching him throw a tantrum about your sister.”
Alex wrinkled her nose. “He’s liked Frankie forever. She pretends not to notice.”
“Mm-hmm.” He peeked up at her from the corner of his eye. “Sounds like someone else I know.”
Alex pointed at him. “Two totally different things.”
“How’s that?”
“JD has been our friend since we got away from our father. He works with Danny. We’re all close with him. What if they don’t work out? JD’s not just going to be able to move across the country and pretend like it never happened.”
“Am I talking about her all the time or pretending like my relationship with Alicia never happened? You’ve got to pick one or the other, Al.”
She shot Edward a dirty look. “I don’t have to do anything.”
“You’re gonna have to get over yourself.” He tipped his head toward the large window at the front of her living room. “Especially after whoever that was outside came back around. I’m not leaving you in here on your own.”
“I think you underestimate my ability to take care of myself.” Alex almost laughed. Poor Edward was under the impression she was in need of his protection. He would probably shit his pants if he knew the truth of what she and her sisters were capable of.
What they were.
“Why don’t you go stay with Charlie? She’s into the whole chivalry thing.”
“Because while I think Charlie is sweet and amusing, I don’t have any interest in making her more than my sister-in-law.”
Alex sat up straight. “Sister-in-law?”
She tried to come up with more words, but all that came out of her mouth was sputtered half syllables.
Edward sat massaging each of her toes with his fingers as she spewed nonsensical bits and pieces of the thoughts clogging up the path between her brain and her mouth.
“Relax, Al.” He eased back against the couch, stretching one arm across the back, his fingers catching her hair. “I didn’t say I was going to try to marry you this week.”
The almost words she’d been managing to get out dried up instantly, leaving her to gape at him.
“I always thought my dads were crazy.” An easy smile worked onto his lips. “Now I’m thinking I was wrong.”
“Maybe that’s because you’re crazy too.” Alex pulled her feet from Edward’s lap and jumped off the couch. She needed some space. Some distance from him.
From what he was trying to make her believe.
That there was a man who would be happy to hear what she had to say.
That there might be a man who wanted to be a partner instead of a dictator.
That a man existed who was the polar opposite of the one who tried to control her whole world.
And he might look like Edward.
�
�I’m okay with being crazy.” Edward watched as she went to the kitchen. “Sometimes the best things come from taking a crazy risk, Al. And I’m willing to take a risk.”
“Why now?” She dropped the container in the sink. “You didn’t want to take one before. Why does it sound like so much fun all the sudden?”
“Because you are fun.” Edward stood from the couch and slowly started her way. “You check all my boxes. The ones I didn’t know I had until I met you.” He came through the kitchen door. “The ones I was scared to admit existed.” He blocked her in, backing her against the sink. “You are what fits with me, Al. It’s as simple as that.”
“What if you’re not what fits with me?” The question came out softer than she wanted. It made it seem like she already knew the answer.
Like she was doing exactly what he accused her of doing.
Edward’s dark eyes held hers. “What if I am?”
That was the part she was most concerned about. What made her want to go out into the mountains and hide until he finally gave up and went back to Virginia.
“I don’t want to think about that.” She didn’t want to give him the truth. Didn’t particularly want to own it herself.
“Then don’t think about it. Just let it be what it is.” Edward’s lips brushed hers. “Everything will be fine, Al. I promise.”
She leaned into him a little, relaxing against the solid wall of his chest. “What if everything’s not fine?”
“Then we’ll still be just fine.” Edward’s lips eased into the relaxed smile he’d worn almost his whole stay in Shadow Pine.
Outside of the times they were bickering like old people.
An old couple who’d known each other forever.
Who felt comfortable voicing what they wanted. What they thought.
What pissed them off.
“I’ve never been in a relationship.” Alex dropped her eyes to his chest, letting them rest on a spot that felt less exposing. Less intimate.
“You don’t have to have been in a relationship to know what you want out of one.” He eased a little closer. “You just have to know who you are and the rest falls into place.”
Alex (BIG Northwest Book 2) Page 14