CADEN PULLED HIS phone out of his pocket. A seldom-used smile spread across his lips when he read the text.
AUNT TAFFY: She’ll be there, so you better be there, too!!! Or else!!!
That was a lot of exclamation-point undertone, meaning he was a dead man if he stood up Mia one more time.
“Is she coming?” His little sister, Alina, practically bounced out of her canvas shoes with anticipation.
“Yes.”
“What did I tell you about using your words?” his sister scolded with a familiar eye roll.
He’d gotten quite the lecture from Aunt Taffy, his mother, and his baby sister about his bad behavior. Alina took it upon herself to give him a verbal tutorial on dating, stating that everything besides his handsome face put women off.
Uh, thanks for the compliment?
He’d objected that despite recent events his behavior didn’t scare women off, but Alina pointed out that he had no serious girlfriend or any prospects for a wife. He had to agree. He couldn’t fight the truth, not when his bed remained empty. He was tired of taking a woman home—to her place, never his—and leaving right after because he’d never found a woman who made him want to stay the whole night. He’d never found a woman he wanted in his bed, which made it damn lonely to go home each night to his empty house.
He recited his sister’s admonition back to her: “Women hate it when you answer with one word.”
“Exactly. So be nice. Use the manners Mama taught you.”
“Alina, I got this.”
“Better check her for weapons before you let her sit down. She’s liable to shoot you on sight.”
Caden and Alina both stared at Beck, taken off guard that he’d actually strung that many words together. He’d barely spoken at all in the last three weeks since the bust went to shit. Beck spent a week grumbling in the hospital after surgery to remove the bullets from his chest and side and the last two weeks holed up here in his house in the middle of nowhere ordering them to get out and don’t come back.
Beck needed time, but Caden and Alina didn’t leave him alone for long. Which brought them out here today with groceries and family drama to get him to see life went on and you had to move along with it.
“I know this is a total long shot, but I need to make it up to her. I hate to think about her sitting there waiting for me, and I totally forgot all about it both times.”
“You didn’t forget, so much as you got swept up in work. You couldn’t help it. She’ll understand.” Alina touched his arm, another show of support to go along with her defending what he did, or didn’t do, though there was no defense for his bad behavior.
“You make work your only priority, you’ll end up living and dying alone. Don’t let that happen,” Beck ordered, his gaze locked on the mountain view out the back windows, his cane propped against the recliner he lounged in, his still-healing burnt leg propped up.
Caden worried even more about his brother’s somber mood. He couldn’t remember the last time his brother smiled or laughed.
He wondered if Beck’s line of thinking about the future matched his.
Family. A home. Someone to talk to and confide in, who understood him and listened. A woman messing with his head and heart—in a good way—and messing up his bed. A life worth living outside of work. A woman he looked forward to coming home to each night, instead of wasting away the hours doing paperwork, or chasing down the next bad guy when ten more popped up for every one he put away.
“Ask about her. Talk about things she’s interested in,” Alina coached. “Did you get her a gift to say you’re sorry, like I told you?”
“I got this covered. It’s not like I’ve never been on a date.”
“When’s the last time you took a woman to dinner? I’m not talking a few drinks at the bar before you talk her into your bed, but an actual dinner with conversation.” Alina cocked her head and eyed him.
He tried to remember, but the only woman who came to mind turned out to be bat-shit crazy, talking about getting married and having kids on their first date immediately after the “Hi, how are you?” That had been eight, nine months ago. After the woman drilled him with questions about what he did for a living, how much he made, where he lived, and how many women he slept with, it was no wonder he’d immersed himself in work.
He hoped his date with Mia went a hell of a lot better. If nothing else, he’d get a chance to at least say he was sorry and show her he wasn’t the kind of guy who dismissed people without a second thought, despite the evidence against him.
Alina rolled her eyes again. “If it takes you this long to answer, you’re way overdue for a real date. I thought you wanted to settle down, get married, have some kids, you know, live a normal life.”
“I do. I’m working on it.”
This time, Beck rolled his eyes. “Let’s hope you get it right tonight.”
“The best I can hope for is that she shows up and gives me a chance to apologize.”
“Smile,” his sister ordered. “Be charming. You can do that, right?”
Caden let out a heavy sigh. He didn’t need this on top of being nervous about tonight. “Yes. I can do that.” Probably. Hopefully.
He didn’t know a lot about Mia, but Aunt Taffy seemed awfully fond of her. Aunt Taffy wasn’t one to like everyone just because. She said Mia was sweet, kind, a woman who loved to cook and garden. The opposite of the types of people he dealt with day in and day out. He could certainly use some sweet and kind in his sour life.
Though his mother and Aunt Taffy often beleaguered him with comments about settling down with a nice girl, they’d never actually set him up on a date. Aunt Taffy went out of her way to push him toward Mia. And he’d royally messed it up, but he hoped to make amends and try to turn this date into something lasting before Aunt Taffy poisoned his sweet potatoes this Christmas.
He really hoped Mia turned out to be different from the other women he’d dated in the past.
“I gotta go, or I’ll be late.”
“You’re not wearing that, are you?” Alina checked him out head to foot with a disapproving frown.
He didn’t think the black jeans and white polo were that bad, but he planned to stop by his place, change into his dark gray suit, and pick up the few things he’d bought Mia. His sister knew nothing about that, and he had no intention of getting into it with her. If a man had to grovel, he could do it without giving his sister ammunition for teasing him the rest of his life.
“I’ll be back out to see you in the next couple of days, Beck. If you need anything before then, call me.”
“I’m fine.” Beck’s automatic response didn’t ring true when he barely spoke or looked at Caden and Alina 95 percent of the time. “I don’t need the two of you watching over me every second.”
“You need something besides TV and your own bad company.” Alina touched her hand to Beck’s shoulder. All he did was change the channel to a hockey game.
Alina shook her head and looked at Caden with a what should we do? question in her eyes.
Caden shrugged. Nothing they said or did pulled Beck out of his dark thoughts. He needed time to heal. Time to come to terms with Paula’s death and that it was a horrible accident and not Beck’s fault. He hadn’t meant to shoot her. Caden hoped Beck came to that conclusion soon, because he hated seeing his brother this quiet and withdrawn. Though that wasn’t out of character because of the job he did, this intensity was unlike him. Caden didn’t like it. Not one bit. He hoped something pulled him out of it soon.
Still worried about his brother, he said his good-byes to Beck and Alina, then climbed in his truck focused on the night ahead, planning what he’d say and how it would all go down. A nice, quiet evening with a woman was exactly what he needed.
He prayed nothing went wrong.