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Watching TV wasn’t working. Maybe he’d try another recipe after all. Then he remembered the book he had stuffed into his bag at the last minute. The copy of Swallows and Amazons he’d gotten Thorne. It had been on the nightstand, and he’d grabbed it. It was a crazy impulse. He’d been meaning to read it, but he should have taken Thorne’s other copy which wasn’t a first edition. He hoped Thorne wasn’t looking for it.
He pulled it from his suitcase and settled back on the couch. It took him a while to get into the story. The fact that he was pausing for bites of pie and trying to be extra careful not to get any on the book didn’t help, but eventually the story pulled him in. Hours after he’d intended to go to sleep, he was still reading.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Kathryn shook her head. “Don’t you see?”
“See what?” That I should never have agreed to meet you for breakfast because you’re doing nothing but giving me grief?
“You’re doing the same thing to Riley that you did before.”
No, he wasn’t. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You’ve decided you know what he’s thinking and what he’ll say so you won’t talk to him. Instead, you throw money at any problems that come up, and when that doesn’t work, you drink yourself into oblivion and whine.”
So he’d had a drink or six after he’d made Riley a business plan. He couldn’t fucking sleep. “I. Do. Not. Whine.”
Kathryn raised a brow, and Thorne glared at her. “Fine. But I’m not—”
“You are.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.” But he had a feeling she did.
“You can’t possibly know why he’s angry about the building if you don’t ask him,” Kathryn insisted.
“I do too. He’s angry because I bought it. He says you can’t give people buildings for their birthday. But I do. I’d give one to you if you needed it. Besides, it’s an investment for me. He won’t be the only tenant and—”
“Thorne. Stop.”
Thorne looked away from his sister. He hated how well she knew him.
“Did you listen to Riley, really listen?”
Thorne ignored her questions. “Why can’t he just take a fucking gift like it’s meant?”
“Because it hurts his pride. It makes him feel like he’s not your equal. If you want to do something for him, you have to talk to him about it, not just command and then get pissed off.”
“I do not—”
She gave him The Look again.
“This is not the same as me assuming he wouldn’t want a personal relationship. And if I talk to him about it, he just says no and refuses to listen to me.” Goddammit, he sounded like a whiny baby.
“You assumed he didn’t want a relationship, so you didn’t ask him. I don’t think it’s so different than your current situation.”
Thorne’s pulse sped up as he got what she was implying. “Wait, you’re not talking about the building and the plans, are you?”
“Not only that.”
How the fuck did she know? Okay, he’d hinted at it, wanting her opinion without having the nerve to ask, but still… “You think I should propose to him?”
“You’ll never know if you don’t ask.”
“You actually think he might say yes?” Thorne didn’t think there was a chance of that at the moment. Riley was still unnerved as fuck about them living together.
“He’s almost as stubborn as you are. And just like you, he’s trying to read your mind without talking to you.”
“Oh, good. I’m not the only asshole here.”
Kathryn rolled her eyes.
“You really think I should just drive out to the lake and ask him to fucking marry me?”
“I wouldn’t phrase it like that, but yes.”
Thorne hated the way she smirked. “I told him I wouldn’t bother him, that he should call me when he was ready.”
“Is that what he wanted or what you decided he wanted?”
Thorne was now sure of it. Kathryn was even more annoying than she’d been in high school.
“Go get your man like you did before, but with less drama and more baring your soul.”
Way more annoying. “I hate you.”
She waved her hand at him. “Yeah. Yeah. I love you too.”
***
Riley’s phone buzzed. He’d fallen asleep on the couch, woken up, gotten more pie for breakfast, and gone right back to reading. He forced himself to put down Swallows and Amazons long enough to look at the screen.
It was Thorne. Answer it or not? He wanted to talk to Thorne, but he was afraid he might break down if Thorne wasn’t willing to come to the cottage or let him come home.
The buzzing died, and the phone lay silent in his hand.
A knot that had been in his chest since he’d gotten to the cabin tightened until he could barely breathe. Before he could talk himself out of it, he returned the call.
