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“She took our mom’s portrait down and replaced it with a photo of the family dog. Of course I was upset.”
Rex flaps a hand. “Sarah didn’t mean for anybody to get upset. She was just trying to make the house comfortable for her family.”
“I wasn’t the only one who didn’t take it well. I was just the one who got in trouble for smashing the damn dog photo to pieces.”
Rex gives me a cold smile. “You are being emotional about it even now. How is anybody supposed to talk about the past when you are lurking around like a thundercloud, ready to rain on anyone’s parade?”
I clench my jaw. “I haven’t changed since we were kids? Tell me more about it, Mr. Baseball Hero. Tell me why you relentlessly pursued your dream of going professional, even when you had to give up your hometown and everyone you knew and loved. If I haven’t changed, you sure haven’t either.”
He gives a stunned little laugh. “That’s not what we are talking about, Cole. Jesus. I didn’t mean to get you started.”
“Well, you did.”
We stare at each other for a long time. Eventually, Rex caves with a sigh.
“Whatever. Can we continue with the house tour, or are there more past issues you want to rehash in front of Bea?”
I cock a brow. “I’m taking your cues, brother. Doing what you want to do. I am nothing if not loyal to a fault.”
His eyes flash and he favors me with a tight smile. “It’s one of your many redeeming qualities.”
Bea clears her throat. “Are you interested in seeing more?”
“Hell yeah,” my brother answers. He elbows me hard in the stomach. “Let’s go.”
Bea smiles and herds us out of the room.
“Why don’t we check out the saunas? There are also two hot tubs and a cold plunge.”
Rex rubs his hands together. “Nice!”
“I’ll wait for you in the car.” I peel off from them and stride toward the front door.
My brother is normally pretty damn demanding, and no little bit infuriating, but today he is killing me. At least he acknowledged that he brought me along to be the squeaky wheel.
I sit with the engine running for almost twenty minutes before Rex jogs up to the passenger side. He opens the door and hops in, his eyes sparkling.
“So?” I prompt.
Rex holds up a set of keys and jangles them.
“I’m buying it.”
“Of course you are.” I roll my eyes. “Put your damn seatbelt on so we can go get a drink.”
13
Savannah
When Cole pulls his silver Mercedes up outside my house, I peek out the front door. He honks the car’s horn at me, and I clatter down the front steps to cross the broken sidewalk in the yard. I have an umbrella, but it does little to protect me; it’s raining hard, almost hurricane-like. Sheets of rain pelt me from the side. The wind blows the trees in great gusts as I fling open the passenger door and fold my umbrella.
When I climb inside Cole’s car, shaking the raindrops from my light blue trench coat, Cole arches a brow as he looks at me.
“We’re going to be late.”
He flicks on a button in the console and pulls away from the curb while I’m still putting on my seat belt. The seat grows warm almost instantly.
“You’re in a mood, I see.” I lick my lips and flip down the visor to try to fix my hair. I had bouncy waves before I stepped outside, but the weather has made me look like a half-drowned Chihuahua, I am sad to discover.
