Rhett ran a hand down his face. He almost lied and said Axel was leaving tomorrow just to keep them from giving him shit. But he knew in less than twenty-four hours the Easton wives would descend on his house, with casserole dishes, dating advice, and a list of phone numbers belonging to single their friends. The numbers would lead to dinners, which would lead to sex and eventually him sneaking out before dawn.
That’s all he’d done since the divorce. The first few months, he was in stunned disbelief that he’d failed at the most important thing a man was supposed to do. After that, people started wondering where the infamous Rhett Easton had disappeared to. To get his label—and the women in his family—off his back he’d found appropriate dates to take to appropriate events, where both parties involved knew the deal.
Here he was a year later, and the deal was starting to get old.
“It isn’t Axel,” he admitted. “It’s Elsie.”
It was as if he’d admitted Elvis was in the building. The entire group went silent. Pin-drop, jaws-on-the-table, Elvis-is-really-alive kind of silent that told Rhett it was coming.
Owen was the first to crack a smile, which was followed by loads of laughter. “Elsie?” he asked, wiping at the humor in his eyes. “Way to bury the lede. You’re living with Elsie Ross?”
“I think it’s Dodd now, and that’s not what I said.”
“So, she’s single now. On the market, so the speak,” Owen said.
Clay was notorious for using silence to his benefit, so when he spoke, Rhett listened. “Recent divorce, I imagine she’s still pretty tender and raw.”
“What are you saying?”
“Tread lightly.”
“I’m not looking to tread at all,” he explained, but his brothers were already taking bets on just how big of an ass Rhett was about to make of himself. He didn’t bother to tell them he’d already accomplished that. “My flight was late, I’d barely gotten to the house, and Elsie interrupted my shower.”
“So now you were showering with Elsie Ross?” Owen joked.
“Dodd.” Why was he getting so defensive? “There was a mix-up and Axel told me I could have the house for the summer. Elsie claimed she didn’t get the memo.”
“And you believehim?” Josh asked.
“Why shouldn’t I?” Although his brain was telling him something different than what his mouth was telling his brothers.
Clay sat back and folded his arms over his chest, studying Rhett for a long, uncomfortable moment. Even though he was the youngest, he was the most introspective. He was patient and precise, skills that made him one of the best running backs in the NFL. “What are you going to do?”
“Hotel rooms are out since I need quiet to write.” And it wasn’t as if he were some Regular Joe, who could check into a room and expect the privacy and anonymity that comes with a vacation. Not that this was a vacation.
Although today had felt like one. He might have given his brothers a hard time earlier for crashing his party of one, but being on the boat with them that afternoon—away from the prying eyes, fishing like they used to—felt good. Normal.
He needed some normal in his life. Another reason he’d come home. Take tonight for example. Even though his brothers were giving him shit, it felt like he was himself—at least more himself than he’d felt in months.
Man, his dad would’ve been happy to see his sons keeping up the Easton family tradition of spending summer days on the water. Which brought him to the thing that he didn’t think his dad would have been happy to know, that his son couldn’t make his marriage work.
Love. It was something every other Easton had managed to do and do spectacularly. Kids, wife, the whole package. That’s what he wanted. Or had wanted, past tense. He didn’t think he had it in him to give marriage another go-around.
Being gone for long stretches, new city every night, the invasiveness of the business.Nah, his life wasn’t conducive to lasting relationships. That’s why there was such a high rate of divorce in his world.
“So what’s the plan?” Josh asked.
He didn’t really know. Other than crashing in an actual bed for the next twelve hours, he had nothing. “The plan is I’m going to go back to the house I bought and sleep in my very expensive bed.”
For all he knew, Elsie had found other accommodations. Then again, she was the most stubborn woman he’d ever met, and she’d never surrender that easily.
“What if she’s still there?” Clay asked.
“Oh, she’s there.” Enjoying her little party. “We already talked about it. We’ll divide up the house.”
It wasn’t as if he could kick her out—even if he was in the right. And it wasn’t like he could pack up and move out. One of the reasons he’d bought that house, for an inflated price, was to help reestablish residency in Oregon for tax reasons and that started as soon as he closed escrow.
“You two gonna share the bathroom?” Owen asked.
