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I looked away. That put things into perspective.
“I saw you with that girl earlier,” I blurted out.
I hadn’t planned to mention the gorgeous brunette I’d seen him kiss outside the tennis club as I’d walked by with the dogs. I’d ducked partially behind a tree and then I’d watched him watch her peel away from the curb. Even from across the street, I’d seen the way his jaw tightened with protectiveness, his hand beginning to rise and his mouth opening partway as though he was going to call after her to slow down. It’d made my stomach plunge and maybe that’s why I’d been distracted enough that I’d allowed the dogs to get the best of me. I took another bite of the peach to keep my mouth occupied.
“Blakely,” he said. “Her name is Blakely.”
“Oh.” I swallowed, the small bite of peach feeling like a stone and making me wonder if I’d accidentally eaten the pit. I glanced down at it to see that I hadn’t. Why did a simple name make my stomach ball up? I hadn’t asked Gage if he was dating anyone, or even perhaps several someones. We’d had a one-night fling, and then we’d found out there was the possibility we were related. The circumstances had meant there had never been a question of whether we wanted to date each other, and so what did it matter what the details of his personal life were?
That was still true. It had to be true.
“You’re dating her?” I asked, trying my damnedest to sound as breezy as the weather. And I thought I succeeded considering the air was utterly still.
“No.” He paused, and I held my breath momentarily, sensing the no was a little more complicated than the one word would otherwise indicate. “She’s my sister Lexi’s best friend. I grew up with her.” He paused and I gave the half-eaten peach a toss. The birds could have the rest of it. I couldn’t swallow another bite, even though it was dinnertime and I was mildly hungry. “We joked about this pact, many years ago. We said we’d—”
“Let me guess. You’d marry each other if both of you were single at a certain age.”
“That cliché, huh?”
Geez, seriously? What was wrong with the silver spoon crowd? I pictured the portrait of the Bellamys, the husband’s hands hovering just above his wife’s shoulder as though he didn’t really want to touch her. Did they seek out lackluster marriages on purpose? Or was this part of Gage’s expected legacy? “I mean, I guess it’s hard when you know you want a marriage and a family to be part of your future but are worried they won’t happen naturally. I assume…you both want that? A partner? Kids?”
I didn’t glance at him, but I could sense his discomfort from next to me, both in the way he paused before speaking, and how his movements in my peripheral vision became less fluid. “We both want that,” he said. “In the past few years, I made the conscious decision to date women with that goal in mind.”
“Meaning nothing temporary or purely physical?” I stopped and turned. My balance suddenly felt off and I wished for that bench again so I could sink down onto it. I’d seen her lean in and kiss him, and the sight had distressed me, but I’d thought, well, lots of women in Calliope were probably vying for Gage Buchanan’s attention. And maybe he was even dating a few of them. But I hadn’t for one second thought he was considering marriage.
He’d broken off a leaf and he twirled it in his fingers now, staring at it as though it held the answer to that question. “I’d decided on nothing temporary or physical, yes.”
“Until me.”
“Until you.”
My ribs felt tight and I brought my hand to the place beneath my breasts. What he was saying about what we were—a one-night fling—was something I’d already known. So why did it make me feel suddenly hollow inside?
Because you’re friends now.
Were we though? Friends? Not really. Because if we were, we wouldn’t care if we turned out to be brother and sister. Sexual energy still thrummed between us. And maybe that’s why I felt sort of…defeated. Because Gage Buchanan did want something serious, he’d just never considered it with me.
Which made sense. We lived in two different towns. He was moving to London. And we might be related.
And yet…it still hurt to know he might be considering marrying this Blakely person. The beautiful woman with the beautiful car whom I’d watched from behind a tree with three dogs.
“Listen, Rory, I know things are sort of…confusing with us. The truth is, Blakely is the one who approached me with this idea.” He huffed out a breath, dropped the leaf, and ran a hand through his dark hair. “I hadn’t decided anything. I told her I’d think about it. But”—he let out a small laugh devoid of humor—“she’s more like family to me. I don’t know that I can ever see her as anything other than a sister. I don’t know that I want to. However…there’s also a comfort level there. And our families are close. They’re involved in the charitable foundations my mother runs. Our fathers work together. There are reasons it made sense when she first brought it up.”
“And she’s available to go to London with you.”
He paused, watching me. “Yes. She’s available to go to London with me.”
“I get it, Gage.” And I did, even if it caused my throat to clog up and made me feel disappointed for him. It seemed like yet another arrangement he was going along with. And maybe it did make sense for him, but it also made more sense for everyone else, and Gage didn’t seem to be able to do anything that didn’t check that box. I also wondered if there was any chemistry between them at all and had to guess the answer was no. Because I knew very well Gage was an impassioned man when he allowed himself to be, and if he felt that way for her, I was all but certain he wouldn’t be here with me.
“But Rory, I want to make it clear to you that at this point, I’m not even seeing her. I never was. I told her I’d consider the offer and then…well, you showed up here and I—”
“Found out I might be your sister.”
He let out another weak laugh, followed by a grimace. “Right.”
“You don’t have to explain it to me. You don’t owe me that. What we had…well, it was a one-night thing and we might be related. But beyond all that, my life is in Mud Gulch. My priorities are very different.” I turned and started walking even though I suddenly felt a little breathless. Gage took up beside me. “Not that, you know, you even asked about any of that.”
“We make no sense,” he murmured.
