CHAPTER TWELVE

Riley

I woke up in the small room that was starting to become so familiar. I breathed in the scents—warmth, laundry detergent and a hint of paint—and felt myself smile. Downstairs, I could hear the piping voice of Parker, and Brooklyn’s gentle voice answering her.

This is home.

I couldn’t quite believe it. Thinking about Brooklyn brought a warmth to my heart such as I had never felt before. I was in love. I hadn’t realized that I could fall in love, but I had.

And the fake marriage had become more real than I ever could have imagined.

Downstairs, I could smell the delicious scents of breakfast being made—toast, butter, coffee. I consulted the clock: 9:00 a.m. I yawned and slid out of bed.

“Morning,” I said, after having washed and dressed in record time. Brooklyn gave me that look—the one that made my heart flip.

“Morning,” she said. Just then Parker launched herself at my legs.

“Mister Riley! Hello!”

I blushed at the warm welcome. Brooklyn smiled tranquilly at us from across the kitchen. She was cooking breakfast at the stove.

I extricated myself gently and went to join her.

“Hi,” I whispered. “Smells good.”

She turned around as I touched her shoulder. Her smile was like the sunshine—I felt it in every part of me. I wanted to draw her into my arms and cover her with kisses. I moved my hand on her shoulder, stroking her gently there.

“I smell smoke,” a small voice piped up as I jumped back guiltily.

Brooklyn looked down. The eggs were crisping at the corners. There was indeed smoke curling up from the pan, though it must have been oil spilled on the plate.

We looked at each other and collapsed in giggles.

Parker looked back at us with a bemused smile, then she, too, started to laugh.

That was my morning.

I kissed her at the door and headed off to work, feeling like I was floating.

When I got there, I was greeted with a knowing smile by Brad. I frowned at him but he didn’t say anything. We got down to business.

“Brad,” he said. “The franchiser—he’s supposed to be meeting with us at lunch today.”

“Great,” I said.

At lunch we headed to the corner restaurant we had agreed to meet. I was surprised that I felt fairly intimidated by the guy. I usually try my best not to find guys in business suits intimidating, but today I did. I looked down at my own jeans and tan-colored shirt and felt self-conscious.

The conversation started on a positive note but very quickly went south on me. It ended up that he didn’t think it was a good idea for us to open a franchise here.

“There isn’t a large enough client base in this neighborhood,” he explained. The way he said it made me feel even more self-conscious about my jeans and tan-colored shirt than I had when he first arrived. It sounded as if it was our fault that the neighborhood couldn’t support a big enough franchise.

“So what do you suggest?” Brad asked and I could tell he was feeling as awkward as I did.

“I suggest you look elsewhere,” the man said bluntly. I felt my heart sink into my shoes.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because it’ll fold,” the man said. “I don’t like to discourage you, but if you buy this I can foresee it closing in the next months. And then you’ll have wasted your money. I’m sorry.” He added.

“Doesn’t sound like it,” I muttered. Brad raised a brow at me.

“I beg your pardon?” the man said coolly.

“I said how about a drink.”

“Oh.” He gave me a look that suggested he knew very well I’d said nothing of the sort. But he took it in the spirit in which it was meant and we continued the conversation amicably enough. I was boiling mad, but I wasn’t about to show him that.

At the business, I let it out.

“Damn him,” I said to Brad. I said other things too, and I was glad it was just Brad who knew.

At length, when we’d vented our fury, Brad sighed.

“It’s okay, Riley,” he said. “We can do something else.”

“But the loan!” I protested. “Our plan. It’s all finished.”

Brad looked at me squarely. “If you think so.”

I stood back. I thought about that for a bit. Brad was right. It was only a bad idea if I thought it was. And maybe we could think of another way to do it.

It was then that I thought of Cliff. I hadn’t thought of him for months. Or, let’s be honest—I had thought of him, but not in a positive way. Cliff was my brother.

Maybe it’s time to let bygones be bygones.

It was too long to hold a grudge. And Cliff could help. He was a mechanic—maybe one of the reasons I resented him—I’d always wanted to be one. And he could start a workshop with me. If we repaired cars, we could sell them. A secondhand dealership. That was what was needed!

I smiled. The thought of it felt right. It was a neighborhood where we probably couldn’t sell firsthand cars with any turnover. But we could sell good quality, repaired secondhand.

“Brad!” I said, a bit smile on my face. “I just got an idea.”

As I laid it out for him, he started smiling. He seemed to think it was a good idea too.

“Great,” I said. I was actually less enthusiastic than I sounded. The idea meant I couldn’t stay estranged. I’d have to speak to Cliff. Forgive him for the mean things he’d said all those years ago—the things I’d allowed to fester inside.

“Okay,” Brad said to me. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” He looked at me with an awkward smile on his face that suggested that, even though he’d no idea about my relationship with my brother, he knew.

“Thanks, Brad. That’s great.”

He went out to the backyard to do some fixing and I stayed in. My hand moved to the phone, then moved away from it.

As I sat there, a thought came to me. My anger wasn’t relevant anymore. I was happy. What Cliff said a year ago didn’t actually have any bearing on my happiness. I could forgive him. I was just where I was meant to be and I was content with my situation.

I lifted the phone. Drew a deep breath. “Cliff?”

When I heard him on the other side of the phone, my heart stopped. “Riley?” he said. I had imagined this moment—I just hadn’t imagined anything like this.

My brother is pleased it’s me.

For some reason best beknown to me, I had always thought it was mutual. That Cliff really thought so badly of me that he wouldn’t ever think of missing me. I was wrong. He was surprised. Happy surprised. The sort of surprise you get when you discover that the letter from the municipality in your mailbox isn’t a demand but a rebate. Only times a thousand.

“Cliff.”

Then I was laughing. He laughed too.

“Riley, you rascal,” he said. “How come you’ve got back to me after so long! It’s been ages! I’m…it’s great.”

I guess it was my imagination, but he sounded choked up.

I cleared my throat. To be honest, I was choked up too. “Hey,” I said. “It’s great to hear you. I…actually, there are a lot of things I want to say. First, sorry.”

“Sorry?” Cliff sounded incredulous. “Riley, for what? I was wrong.”

I blinked. “No. No, you weren’t. But thanks for saying you were.”

He laughed. “Riley. I was wrong. I should never have said…the things I said.”

He sounded embarrassed. I blinked rapidly, trying to get a hold on my voice.

“I know,” I said. “I guess not. But I’m not faultless.”

“I know,” he said. “I guess so.”

We both laughed.

“It’s great to hear you,” I said. “I wanted to ask you if…could you come around to chat sometime? There are a lot of things I want to ask you. But it’d be better if we could talk. Face to face.”

“Okay!” he sounded enthusiastic. “Let’s do that.”

I smiled. “Would you be able to come around for lunch tomorrow?”

He agreed. “Yeah! I’d like that.”

I felt a warmth in my chest. “Great,” I said. “My place, twelve in the afternoon. Okay.”

“Great.”

We hung up. When he’d gone, I leaned back. Closed my eyes. Let out a long, heavy sigh.

“Whew.”

I couldn’t believe it. After all that. It was easy.

When I thought it, I couldn’t help wondering why I hadn’t done it ages ago. I shouldn’t have kept all that anger inside me for months.

I guess I was in the wrong place to do anything about it.

I had really believed, then, that I was a loser. That nothing went right when I was around. That I’d failed my family. That was what I took from what Cliff had said, that last catastrophic argument we had. Maybe he hadn’t meant it quite the way I took it.

I was still sitting there when Brad came in.

“Do you…oh.” He turned around, hesitating in the doorway, as if unsure whether or not it would be safe to disturb.

“I did it,” I said. I sounded tired. I was, I guess.

“Oh.” He kept his voice toneless. His eyes asked questions. I nodded.

“I called my brother. He sounded interested.”

“Oh!” Brad was grinning.

“Well,” I cautioned. “We’re meeting tomorrow. So I don’t know for sure.”

“Okay,” he said. “But sounds good.”

“Yes,” I nodded. “It does.”

It did. The more I thought about it the more good it sounded. And the more good it felt. Cliff and I were finally talking again. And that was something I never thought would happen. I was excited. And the first thing I thought was how nice it would be to go home. Telling Brooklyn all about it would be nice.