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Shane’s glare was incredulous. “You’ve been in love with Jules from the beginning.”
The final brick in that fortress around his heart fell away. Not admitting it, even to himself, was another one of those brilliant strategies he had for keeping sane. It was up there with avoiding kitchens and liking his women loose and drinking himself into a stupor once a year. Absolutely brilliant.
“Tad, I’m not asking you, I’m telling you that you’d better come clean or I’m calling Cara and Lili in to get it done.”
Gripping the bottle tighter, Tad drew a deep breath to fuel what he had to say next.
“It was the night Jack was taping his show at DeLuca’s. She waltzed in like the world owed her a living, all bravado and hair and attitude. I turned to Lili and asked who the shit was that and next thing I knew this blond spitfire was marching into the kitchen on a mission. The second I saw her, I knew that was it for me.”
Colpo di fulmine.The thunderbolt had struck him to his knees.
“Two minutes later, she announces she’s pregnant to Jack and the crew, but for that two minutes, Shane…”
He paused, his heart too full with the emotion of it. That perfect 120 seconds when he watched her take that first step to becoming so strong. He had known she was special then and every second with her since confirmed it—and confirmed he wasn’t worthy.
“For that two minutes, everything was stripped away and all that was left was possibility.”And hope.“But then, boom, she’s Jack’s sister, and boom, she’s pregnant, and boom, she needs a friend, not some horn dog who wanted in her pants.”
Shane studied his beer, then pointed it at Tad for emphasis. “And boom, you’re still not doing anything about it. You are such a wimp.”
Should have known better than to expect a smidge of sympathy from his so-called friend. The bubble of rage in his chest threatened to rise up and choke his throat.
“This from the guy who knew Jack Kilroy was his brother for twelve years before he decided to show his smug-as-all-get-out, pointy-ass, Irish face.”
That just got Tad a shake of that smug-as-all-get-out, pointy-ass, Irish head.
“We’re not talking about me and my now-perfect life. We’re figuring out how a guy who has been in love with a woman since the first day he laid eyes on her still can’t get his head out of his Italian arse and work it out. But if you want to go there, be my guest. I let a million things get in the way of connecting with Jack. I built up the barriers in my head—he didn’t want to know, he hated our father so he was going to hate me, he was doing just fine without another hanger-on. Etcetera, etcetera. All my life, I wanted a family. Jack, Cara, you guys. I wasted a shitload of time and if I could do it differently, I’d have called Jack the day I found out he was my brother and told him I wanted to see him.”
Tad downed his beer, praying for the cool liquid to take the edge off. Shane had excellent reasons for not reaching out to Jack sooner, the primary one being their violent, abusive father who’d beat Shane senseless when he was a kid. Feeling worthless was usually a perfectly adequate reason not to take the next step.
“Well, it all worked out in the end. You got Cara and Jack and soon, you’ll have your kids. And you got a cool cousin-in-law in the form of Yours Truly.” The guy had nothing to complain about.
They both took long draughts of their beers, the swallows cool and satisfying in the muggy heat.
“Swing set would look nice over there,” Shane said after an extended beat.
“Real subtle, asshole.”
Shane laughed and pulled out his buzzing phone. “Hey, gorgeous. What’s up?” His expression turned to granite as he listened to whatever Cara was saying. “I’ll be right there.”
He bolted out of his seat. “Come on, Cara’s at the hospital.”
* * *
Thwack.
Tad turned the corner on his way to the emergency room waiting area and found his uncle dealing a deathblow to an uncooperative vending machine.
“How’s Cara?” Shane had jumped out of the car and raced inside while Tad parked.
“No news yet. Shane is with her now.”
Thwack.
“What happened?”
“She was meeting with a client, the big one who is the son of the mayor, when she started getting cramps. Of course, she carried on with the meeting. When she left, she headed here and then called Shane.”
“Jesus.” He knew Cara was a workaholic and the consummate professional but that took the cake. Assuming she made it out of this okay, Shane was going to kill her.
