AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Better yet, I’ll talk to the girls,” I corrected. “Explain that they can’t just let her in here without advanced notice. This is our home. We deserve privacy.”
“Yeah. Okay.” Brody nodded slowly, but his gaze was fixed on the closed door behind me. “She’s really beautiful, huh? Liza, I mean.”
“Yes,” I agreed distractedly. Objectively speaking, Liza was tanned and blonde and attractive, and I’d heard Gwen say on many occasions that she envied Liza’s trim figure. At that moment, though, my ex-wife was a huge complication who’d barged into my private space and disturbed an intimate moment between me and my husband, so I was not disposed to think kind thoughts like Brody was. He was a far better person than I.
I knew I needed to get dressed and compose myself so I could go downstairs to deal with her, so I reluctantly let Brody go and headed for the walk-in closet to grab a pair of jeans and my favorite button-down.
“I’ve seen pictures of her, of course,” Brody said, still staring blankly at the door. “Jacey once showed me your wedding album and asked if she and Liza looked alike. And I’ve seen pictures of her from the times she’s come to visit or when the girls have gone to see her. But photos don’t do her justice. There’s just this…airabout her. Confident and bold. She must have so many amazing stories about her life.”
“Yup. Millions.” I’d heard many from the girls over the years, though at the moment, I couldn’t remember a single one. I pulled on my jeans and tossed my pajama pants on the bed, determinedly ignoring how much I wanted to crawl back into it—with Brody—and keep the world at bay a little longer.
Brody sucked in a breath and shook himself like he was waking from a trance. “Right. Okay. I’ll skip breakfast,” he said matter-of-factly. He located his T-shirt from the foot of the bed, where I’d thrown it the night before, and pulled it on. “You guys will need some space to… talk and whatnot.”
“Oh.” I glanced up from fastening my shirt buttons with a frown. My whole body revolted at the idea of Brody not being with me—preferably pressed right up alongside me—but logically speaking, he was probably right.
Liza was not normally inclined to emotional outbursts or name-calling, but she hadn’t been acting like herself that morning. I needed to have a mature, rational discussion with her about boundaries, and if she made a single snarky comment to Brody or even threw a less-than-friendly glance in his direction, I’d end up raising my voice. I wouldn’t be able to stop myself. And that would be unproductive.
I sighed. “You’re right. That would probably be a good idea.” I reached for his hands and clasped them tightly, staring down at him in wonder. “Thank you for being so thoughtful. I’ll have Jacey bring you some coffee, and I’ll come find you when it’s time for cookie making later, okay?”
Brody pulled his hands away and turned to tidy the bed. “Nonsense. Cleo will want Liza to help with the cookies.” He plumped the pillows and tossed a happy-go-lucky grin over his shoulder, though his eyes didn’t quite meet mine. “The girls will have athousandthings to tell her. Every single detail about school, and their friends, and Mia’s swimming trophy from camp, and Cleo’s progress report, and the boy Jacey likes—”
“Jacey likes a boy?” I frowned. “Since when?”
Brody huffed out a laugh and moved briskly to the other side of the bed, forcing me to step aside. “All in all, it’s probably better if I give you guys the day to yourselves. I’ll head to Fen’s. I have atonof work to do.”
“But—” I frowned harder. “I thought you said yesterday that your project wouldn’t be much work at all. That you could get it done tonight. That you wanted to spend the day with us.” I didn’t want to be selfish, especially if it meant distracting him from important work, but I felt unexpectedly needy where Brody was concerned. I wanted him with me. Always.
“I did want to! Ido. But…” Brody paused with my pillow in his hands. “It’s not every day that their mom is in town,” he said softly. “The girls miss her. They deserve to have as much family time as possible, without distraction.”
Brody’s voice sounded tight, an emotion I couldn’t quite name… at least until I noticed that his fingers were gripping the pillow so hard his knuckles had turned white, and the reason for his strange behavior dawned on me.
Fuck, I was an idiot.
Brody had lost his own mother—his whole family, in fact—in a terrible car accident. Liza’s arrival had probably triggered some latent grief. So ofcoursehe wanted the girls to spend as much time with their own mom as they could. He loved them and wanted the best for them. That was the sort of selfless person he was.
I sighed again and tried to get over my unreasonable disappointment. In truth, as annoyed as I was by Liza’s appearance, the girlswouldbe over the moon to see their mom. Despite tons of FaceTime calls and texts, in addition to her irregular visits, they didn’t get nearly enough time with her.
“Thank you, Brody,” I said again, hoping he knew how deeply I meant it. “For being so understanding after… everything. And if you want to talk about—”Your parents, your feelings, your past.“—things, we can do that. Okay?”
His lips tightened, and he gave me a strange smile. “Sure. I’ll see you later.” He walked toward the door.
I blinked, and my stomach tightened. Okay, so maybe he didn’t want to talk about anything. For all my degrees and experience putting people back together physically, it was patently obvious to anyone who knew me that my skills did not extend to emotions.
Still, it felt odd that he hadn’t kissed me goodbye, or given me one of his sweet Brody smiles, or in any way acknowledged what we’d shared the night before.
He’s sad, Grant,I reminded myself.This isn’t about you.
Still, I couldn’t help but call his name as he reached for the doorknob, hoping my voice didn’t sound quite as desperate and needy as I felt.
He turned. “Yes?”
I crossed the distance between us in three steps and pulled him against me, probably a little too roughly, taking his lips with mine in a way I hoped said, “This isn’t over,” but more likely came across as, “Mine, mine, mine.”
I kissed him hungrily and without apology, and when he pulled back, he looked dazed and wobbly. The caveman part of me—the part that Brody had awakened—growled in satisfaction.
“See you later,” I said roughly before closing my mouth to keep the taste of him inside.
* * *
