Chapter Seventeen
BRETT PACKED HIS clothes Tuesday evening, listening to the sounds of Sophie and her family floating up from downstairs. They were leaving the next day, and the end of their visit was bittersweet. After being woken up at the crack of dawn by Nana the Curtain Opener, Brett had learned how to milk a cow. He’d helped with the barn chores, and Nana had made an elaborate breakfast. He and Poppi put up motion-sensor lights on their house and on Sophie’s parents’ house. They spent the rest of the day picking apples at an orchard with her grandparents and baking. Brett thought Dylan, who loved to bake and who Brett loved to tease about it, would get a kick out of hearing he’d spent the day in the kitchen. The banter between Nana and Poppi had Brett in stitches, but it was the intimate moments he and Sophie shared as they worked side by side cutting apples and measuring ingredients, pouring love into the food, that made him want even more than they already had together.
“Daydreaming? Isn’t that my sister’s job?” Lindsay walked into the bedroom carrying a small stack of his and Sophie’s clothes.
“Shoot. We forgot to throw those into the dryer. I’m sorry.” He took the clothes and put them in his bag.
“No worries. Mom threw them in for you.” She sat on the edge of the bed and tucked a sock that was hanging over the edge of the bag back inside. “I heard Sophie talking to Grace on the phone earlier. You know she’s head over heels for you, right?”
He zipped up his luggage. “It’s mutual, Lindsay. You don’t need to read me the protective-sister act. I promise I’m not going to hurt her.”
“I wasn’t going to.” She rose to her feet again, and her gaze softened. “I just wanted to be sure you knew.”
“I can’t hide my feelings either. How could I miss hers?”
“From what I’ve heard, you can be a little slow on the uptake.” She smiled with the tease. “Seriously, though. I’m glad you’re in her life. I’ve never seen her this happy. And what you did for her in the barn? It almost makes me wish I wanted a long-term relationship.”
Brett laughed. “I couldn’t have coordinated that night without your help. Thank you. And as far as forever goes, love hits when you’re busy trying to avoid it, so watch out.”
“I’m pretty love repellent. Hurry down or you might not get any dessert. Your girlfriend has a thing for whipped cream and hot apple pie.”
As she left the bedroom, he mentally added whipped cream to his grocery list.
He went to the window and gazed out at her backyard, thinking about what he’d said to Lindsay about avoiding love and realized it wasn’t really true. When he’d rushed to the airport, avoiding anything having to do with Sophie wasn’t anywhere near his radar screen. But there was one thing he had been avoiding for too many years to count, and he wouldn’t have imagined it had anything to do with falling in love. But he would have been wrong, because the more deeply in love he fell with Sophie, the more he wanted her world to be everything she’d ever dreamed of. If he had a hope in hell of offering that to her, he needed to deal with the ghosts of his past.
He needed to deal with his father and try to mend the fences he’d broken. His mother had long ago forgiven him for his recklessness, but he’d never even tried to heal the pain he’d caused his father. Mick was probably right about the demise of their family, but that didn’t negate the truth of how Brett had acted in the years following Lorelei’s death. There was a great deal of shame that came along with that confession—including the thing that hurt most. If Lorelei had been able to see him in those destructive years, she’d have seen a brother she wouldn’t have looked up to.
He set his bag on the floor beside Sophie’s, determined to right his wrongs, and headed downstairs. He went slowly, taking in the pictures of Sophie and her friends and family. He recognized a few more faces now. He stopped midway down the steps at the sight of the picture he’d given Sophie of the two of them standing in his mother’s backyard. His chest constricted, but now he knew that was love, a feeling that no longer felt foreign. He didn’t think it was possible to fall in love with a family other than his own, but it was happening just as effortlessly as he’d fallen in love with Sophie.
The smell of baked apples and cinnamon surrounded him like an embrace as he came to the bottom step, and his heart took another hit. Hanging on the wall was a picture of him and Sophie standing beneath the willow tree, moonlight raining down on them. He was cradling Sophie’s face in his hands, gazing into her eyes. How had Lindsay captured the moment he’d told Sophie he loved her? He took a moment to soak it all in. He was in love, and it was as real and undeniable as Lorelei’s death.
He followed the sounds of the others into the kitchen and found Nana and Angel chatting while they sliced pie and doled out ice cream. Lindsay was ladling dollops of whipped cream on top. Del and Poppi stood by the patio door talking, and Brett spotted Sophie heading up from the creek with a handful of wildflowers.
“Thank you for hanging up the pictures of me and Sophie,” he said to Lindsay.
Lindsay smiled. “I don’t think we’ll need screws for those.”
“I have no idea how you timed it so perfectly, or how you could have gotten out there without us seeing you, but I’d really like a copy of that picture for our house.”
“Our house?” Lindsay arched a brow, and the kitchen grew quiet.
He hadn’t even realized he’d said it. He didn’t want to go back to two separate residences, not after spending this time together. He shrugged and smiled. “Slip of the tongue.”
“We like tongue slips,” Nana said as Sophie came in the door.
He imagined his brothers there, eating pie and making snappy retorts to Nana, and it made him almost as happy as Sophie walking into his arms.
“Hey, flower girl. You’ve been busy. Did you see the picture Lindsay took of us?”
“Yes. It made me cry.”
“Aw.” He brushed a kiss over her cheek. “Happy tears are good tears.”
“Tongue slips are even better,” Nana said as she passed by on her way to the table carrying two plates of pie.
“Nana!” Sophie gave Brett a chaste kiss and put the flowers in a vase her mother had filled with water. “Thanks, Mom.”
Angel set the vase on the table and everyone sat down. “I can’t believe you guys are leaving tomorrow. I’m really glad we got this extra time with both of you.”
“I’ve had a wonderful time. Thank you.” Brett pulled out a chair for Sophie, then sat beside her.
“You’ll be back in a few weeks for the Halloween shindig,” Nana said.
“Halloween shindig?” he asked.
“Celebrate every holiday, remember?” Poppi said with a confirming nod.
“And then there’s Thanksgiving and Christmas. Oh, and New Year’s Eve. That’s a biggie around here.” Nana ate a forkful of pie “Mm-mm.”
“Nana, Brett might want to spend the holidays with his family,” Angel reminded her. “But, Brett, I hope you know you’re welcome to join us. In fact, you’re welcome to bring your family here and we can all celebrate together if you’d like.”
Brett reached for Sophie’s hand and squeezed it gently. “Thank you. I guess we have some decisions to make.”
“Don’t feel any pressure to—” Sophie said.
“Feel pressure,” Nana interrupted. “Pressure to be included in family celebrations is good! We already got one slip of the tongue.”
“What…?” Sophie’s brow wrinkled in confusion.
Brett lifted a forkful of pie to Sophie’s lips in an effort to change the subject. She took the bite, and he caught Nana chuckling.
They ate too much pie, talked about Nana and Angel’s plans for upcoming celebrations, and Lindsay made Nana promise not to bring any prospective suiters to future parties. Even knowing Nana for the short time he had, Brett had a feeling Nana was already making lists of men for Lindsay, who was probably next on her matchmaking list.
A while later, they stood on the front porch saying goodbye to Lindsay, Nana, and Poppi.
“Swing by for a brown-bag breakfast.” Nana gave Brett a hug and pinched his cheek. “My friend Cora did an online search of you. It seems you’re even more impressive than you are charming. A real catch. But so is our Sophie. I’m glad you two have found each other. Take care of her in that big city.”
“I’m not sure I’m such a catch, but I only need one woman to believe I am.” He gathered Sophie in his arms and said, “She’s my number one priority, Nana, but Sophie’s a strong, capable woman. She did fine before I came along.”
“Of course she did,” Lindsay said. “You can’t grow up here and not be a badass.” She hugged Sophie. “But unlike me, most people like knowing someone’s watching out for them.”
Brett embraced her. “I guess you want me to send a security crew to your house to shore up your windows and doors?”
“Why on earth would she want that?” Sophie asked.
He winked at Lindsay and said, “We wouldn’t want anything sneaking in while she’s trying to avoid it.”