“To use your word at the hospital, fine.”
She accepted the glass he offered. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” The swing creaked as he sat down beside her. “You should have seen him just before I left the house. In true grandmother fashion, my mother has him settled on the couch in the den, pillow behind his head, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, oatmeal cookies and milk on a tray and the TV remote within reach.”
“Sounds like a true man of leisure.” She took a sip and set her glass on the side table. “When is he coming back to school?”
“First thing Monday morning. It would have been sooner than that if he had his way.”
“I’ll do my best to make sure he doesn’t get hurt again.”
“I know that.” He tipped his glass to take a drink. “You seem to enjoy being around kids.”
“Kids are safe for me. If you think about it, they ask for so little—”
“—and give so much. I don’t know what I would have done these past few months without mine.” When his voice quivered, some of the defenses she’d so meticulously constructed around her heart began to wear away.
“I can imagine how hard this is for you.”
“I’ve been working more hours than I thought I would.” He indicated their surroundings with an understated arm sweep. “This extra stuff takes me away from my boy, too.”
“As I’ve said before. I’ll do my best to take care of him.” Right or wrong, from an emotional standpoint she was getting in deeper here, but at this moment didn’t care. Forget about him being from such a nice family. One she was coming to love. This brother seemed to be a decent sort, too. “You two have been through a lot.”
Wanting to reach for his forearm, her hand twitched. She held it back. Rule number one of the new standards she lived by. No touching. She needed to remember Vince could be a good guy too—when and if it pleased him.
He leaned across her to set down his glass and she noticed a tiny dab of shaving cream at the corner of his ear. Without thinking about it, she drew in a long breath containing the pleasant mixture of spice, musk and soap.
“Anyway. Today, my dad was more than happy to stay home with him.”
“And miss all of this?”
“Yeah. Go figure.”
She angled toward him as he returned to his side of the swing. That she may have lost one battle today didn’t mean she’d have to cede the war. “How are your parents doing? I haven’t had a chance to see them for a while.”
His legs flexed to set them into a to and fro motion. “They’re doing okay. My dad’s a little down.”
“What about?”
“Well, I wasn’t going to mention this, but—” He went on to detail how his father fell out of a tree “—of all things.”
She almost forgot the no touching rule—almost. “He wasn’t hurt was he?”
“As they say, just his pride. You’re nicer about this than I was. I sort of gave him a hard time.”
“Yeah. That’s ‘cause you’re a guy.”
“Probably. But that wasn’t the worst of it for him.”
She listened as he told her about the mourning dove incident. The further he got into the story, the more concern grew around her heart. “How awful. That’s so sad.”
“It’s really bothered him. That’s for sure. Most people don’t realize how sensitive my dad is.”
“Beneath a gruff exterior as they say. From what I’ve seen of Chris, he’s nothing like him. Your brother seems to wear his heart on his sleeve.”
“I’d have to agree with that.” At another reach across her, this time to pick up his glass, she closed her eyes and breathed deep. “I’m the son who’s good at hiding his emotions. Plus, Chris was always the one to bring home strays.”
“And what did his older brother do?”
He took a hefty drink then choked as he tried to swallow. “Took care of them once they got there.”
When he reached across again, the material of his sport shirt was surprisingly soft against the bare skin of her upper arm. Then he twisted slightly without breaking contact and she had all she could do to keep from wrapping her arm in his.
With a subtle body shift, she brought a degree of separation between them and cast around for some piece of small talk to prolong things. “That outfit looks good on you.”
“Thank you. My mother picked out my clothes this morning.”
Her response was a rather unladylike snort. “Most men wouldn’t have the—uh—character to admit to that.”
Laughter sparkled in the gaze that met hers “It’s nice of you to say so.”
“Why wouldn’t I? According to Angela, you’re an honorable man. But, anyone could see that if they bothered to look.”
He brought his lips dangerously close to her ear. “Can you keep a secret?”
As his breath feathered over it, she could have sworn the sensitive flesh beneath her lobe burst into flame. “Usually,” she croaked.
“What’d you say? Absolutely?” The sparkle never had left those eyes and combined with the engaging grin that played hide and seek around his mouth.
“Okay. Absolutely.”
“As best man I’m expected to make a toast at the reception, right?”
She took a sip of her drink and nodded. “And as matron of honor I am, too.”
“I’ve never been good at speaking to crowds.”
“But, you know these people—”
“Even friendly crowds.”
“—better than I.”
“So you’re saying I’m a wimp?”
Her eyes twinkled at his attempt to be gruff. “Your word. Not mine.”
“Not that I’m going to deny my brother and your sister a chance for some beautiful memories. I’ll come up with a few appropriate words. And shake in my boots while I deliver them.”
He leaned forward and she didn’t feel the need to lean away from him. “It’s a lot of pomp and ceremony, isn’t it?”
“Even before the true pomp and ceremony of the ceremony.”
“We could toast the happy couple together. Side by side. Give each other moral support.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“Why not? Given my many years as a defense attorney, public speaking is one thing that’s not hard for me to do.”
“Hey, man. How have you been?”
Eric stood as a tall red head hurried up and grabbed for his hand. “Not bad, Randy how about you?”
“The usual. You know.” He glanced down at Elyse. “You keeping my old high school buddy entertained?”
When she stood to join the conversation, Eric offered her a hand up. “I’m doing my best to keep him out of trouble.”
“And don’t think we don’t appreciate it.” Randy laughed then looked at his friend. “It’s been awhile since we’ve seen you. Did you have a chance to talk to Ginger when you came in?”
“Briefly.”
“Quite a lady, huh?” When Eric nodded he looked over at Elyse. “We were sweethearts in high school. Been together ever since. Like Eric and—” He stopped speaking, his expression stricken. “That didn’t come out quite right. Sorry man.”
“Don’t be. It’s not like my life with Jan didn’t happen.”
They all heard his response, except the pain of his expression fairly screamed at Elyse to do something to help him. At another time or place, she may have placed her hands ever so lightly on either side of his face and stroked away the hurt. She spoke up instead.
“Jay is precious evidence of that.” Feeling Eric squeeze her hand, she kept up the smile until she was sure her face would break from the effort. Judging by the way he’d grown rigid beside her, he was doing the same.
“There you two are.” Ginger continued to speak as she walked up to them. “It’s present opening time. Let’s all gather on the side patio.”
Without waiting for answers, she headed that way and the threesome followed. On either side of a gift-laden card table, two wicker loveseats were arranged in a V shape.
“Bride and groom, you sit here.” Ginger indicated one loveseat then the other. “Matron of honor and best man, over there.”
Randy threw an arm around his wife. “Bossy little thing, isn’t she?”
Not in the least offended by her husband’s teasing, she went on without missing a beat. “That way, Elyse, you can make up a bouquet of the bows and, Eric, you can write down who gave them what. Come on, everyone. Gather around.”
“Duty calls,” Eric muttered so just Elyse could hear.
She smiled, whispering back, “And we’re up to it.”
As the other guests took seats on the assortment of chairs and bar stools, the matron of honor and best man walked over to the loveseat they’d been assigned.
We only need one more wedding, not ten
.
It wasn’t until they sat down that Elyse noticed they were still holding hands.
Chapter Seven
At two o’clock in the afternoon, the bustle of a Friday lunch crowd had come and gone from Sinclair’s Patio and Restaurant. In the lull that followed, the Matthews brothers stood at the bar near the entrance nursing a couple of beers.
“A text from Angela,” Chris said as he checked the screen on his phone he then snapped back into the holder on his belt. “She says they’re just finishing up at the beauty salon and should be here shortly.”
“Oh. Okay.” Eric brought the beer bottle to his lips. The cool liquid gave an understated burn as it slid down his throat.
Lunch was supposed to be with Chris. Only. Just the two of them who hadn’t been alone in a while and had a lot of catching up to do. Then when Chris picked him up, he learned the sisters had been thrown into the mix. He wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about that. And sure as hell wondered what Elyse’s husband’s take on the impromptu meal would be.
A question that nagged at him more than ever. Though he saw the woman, briefly, on an almost daily basis over the past month, he wasn’t able to stop thinking about her when he wasn’t seeing her. Especially since they’d been a—he may as well admit it—couple at Randy’s party the weekend before. And, despite not thinking they would, ended up having a good time.
As he thought about it now, nobody volunteered an explanation for her husband’s absence then, and no way had he wanted to ask for one.
“Congrats on the new job,” Chris said after taking a drink from the bottle he set back on the bar. “For the county, right?”
“Doing their accident work on certain roads. A national traffic safety grant.” He brought the long neck up for a quick swallow. “It feels good to earn a paycheck again. My savings ran out two months ago, my retirement is in shambles.”
“Living with Mom and Dad should give you a chance to get the finances back in order quicker, huh?”
“In theory.” He took another swig. “Though I maintained all along the move was temporary. Jay goes to day care three days a week since I’m on call much of the time. Take some of the load off of Ma. Happy Times. How’s that for a name?”
“That’s where Angela’s sister Elyse works, isn’t it?” Chris leaned both elbows on the bar and turned to look at his brother. “I thought you two acted awfully chummy at that shower we all went to. For just having been introduced. So tell me, what’d ya think of her?”
Busted!
Eric took another sip and swallowed. For the sake of maintaining peace in the family and all that, he’d have to tone down his real first impression. “She seems nice enough.”
“Up until a few months ago, Elyse lived and worked in Los Angeles. According to Angela, she was the kind of attorney who made judges toe the mark, not the other way around.”
“Sounds like a colorful character,” he noted as both men waved off the bartender’s silent offer of another round.
“She is that,” Chris replied.
“Why day care? She get downsized like me?”
“Hardly. She was a partner. Their family owns the firm. Has for a couple of generations. I’m sure in some way she’s still tied into it.”
“Good for her.”
Chris stared down at his hands before he brought his gaze up to meet his brother’s. “I’m not sure of all the details about Elyse, but Angela told me they were abused as children. By their father.”
Reflecting on the brothers’ idyllic childhood and his current experience raising Jay, Eric had a hard time wrapping his mind around the information that had just been shared. “You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was. And when they got up the courage to tell, their mother refused to believe them.” Chris took a long pull on his beer. “The abuse Angela had was, in her words, nothing compared to what Elyse suffered. To put it politely, she was their father’s favorite.”
Eric balled his hands into fists. “People like that deserve to be shot.”
“Oddly enough they were.”
“No way.”
“Gunned down in a convenience store robbery. Wrong place, wrong time, I guess.”
“Maybe not. Could have been right where they were meant to be and karma finally caught up with them.”
A tingling traveled along the side of his hands and up to his wrists. He flexed his fingers to step up the blood flow.
“For Elyse that wasn’t the worst of it.”
Unable to imagine anything worse, Eric looked at his brother. “How so?”
“She was married for a time. Turned out the guy was after her money. And there sure is a lot of that.”
Eric could only sit silently and listen. Lately, in his mind, he was the only person on the face of the Earth who had to deal with adversity. He tended to forget other people had bad things happen in their lives, too.
“Beat her up once that Angela’s aware of. Elyse is the only one who knows what else happened.”
“Damn. What a bunch of bastards.”
Myself included.
Recollections of how he’d thoughtlessly gripped her arms at the hospital reared up. Along with the way he’d so arrogantly taken her hand when she, he realized now, didn’t want to be touched.
He accepted a healthy dose of self-loathing as he reentered their conversation. “Who told you all of this?”
“Angela.” He picked up a cork coaster he set back down. “I plan to spend my life with this lady. We long ago brought out and worked through each other’s baggage. Bottom line, I got lucky. Snagged the most wonderful woman in the world.”
Elbows out, Eric folded the hands he rested on the bar. “Haven’t we all said that at one time or another?”
Chris looked as if his brother had just slapped him across the face. “Hey, Man I—I’m sorry.”
He did his best to shrug off the concern. “Nothing to be sorry about, little brother. Even Dad thinks he’s got the best wife ever in Ma.” He’d grown to hate the awkward silence that always followed this kind of conversation so he decided to fill it. “Look, I lost the better part of my family and I’m still grieving. But, let’s not pretend Jan and my baby daughter’s deaths didn’t happen.”