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“Okay, you two, break it up.”
I make a show of placing myself between the women before Brody’s grandmother takes my hands and lifts them between us. I soak in her soft gaze, letting it fill me up inside.
“You’ll come to the ranch and spend Christmas with us.”
Her words are kind, but they hold a firmness to them that tells me she’s more so telling than offering. I nearly melt right then and there. It’s truly no wonder Brody is the way he is. Not when he was raised by a woman like this.
“Are you sure I won’t be overstepping? I don’t want to impose.”
“Dear, I don’t think you could impose on our family even if you tried. I’m sure you’re the only thing on Brody’s Christmas list anyway.”
There’s no stopping my smile. God, it spreads so wide my cheeks burn from the stretch. “Then I’d love to spend Christmas at the ranch. I can’t wait.”
35
BRODY
I washmy hands in the kitchen sink, watching the water turn pink in the white basin. The scent of paint lingers in my hair and on my clothes. An old, ripped tee and dirty jeans. I speed up my washing, not wanting my grandmother to catch me in here looking like I just crawled out of a barn. Even if that’s exactly what I’ve just done.
“Is that you, Brody?” she calls, voice distant enough I know I have a couple of minutes to get gone.
I twist the taps to cut the water and don’t waste time drying my hands before I’m slipping out the back door, sights set on the guest house. It’s a bit of a walk, but that makes it all the more private. I need the time to myself the walk will grant me. I’m a mess of nerves, more than I’ve felt in a long, long time.
Over the past few years, Christmas has become a bit of a tense time around here. Before coming back home those few months ago, I hadn’t been back for the holidays since the first year I moved to Nashville. The resentment my grandfather held for me was too strong to endure for days at a time. Snide comments and unnecessary digs at the dinner table. It became too much.
So, I hid. I came up with a million excuses, knowing damn well each one was hurting my grandmother deeper and deeper. She’ll never tell me that I hurt her, but she doesn’t have to. I’m aware of my actions and the consequences of them. That’s how I know having me home this year means so much to her.
She invited Annalise for two reasons. The first being the most obvious—that nobody should spend the holidays alone. Hearing that Anna was going to be alone for the holidays poked at her strong caretaker instincts, urging her to take her beneath her wing. The second reason is the one she’s tried to deny. That she was thinking of me. That this was a matchmaking effort. One I didn’t need her to bother with.
I told her as much when she got back from her hair appointment.
Grandma walks into the dining room, bouncing her curls against her open palms and grinning up a storm. “Do you like my new do, Brody?”
Something in her voice makes the hairs on my arms stand as I look up from my seat at the table, a glass of water in my dirty hands. I’ve just finished fixing up the bucket on Grandpa’s broken-down skid steer, a near crick in my neck hurting like a motherfucker.
“Looks great. And let me guess, you asked Anna to fit you into her schedule?”
“As if I’d have anyone else touch my hair now that that sweet girl is available.”
“Well, she did a great job,” I say, not falling for her oh-so-obvious trap.
“You should get her to give you a trim again. Maybe on Christmas.”
Suspicion flares. “Why would she want to cut my hair on Christmas?”
She glances around the room, eyes wide and too innocent. When she makes for the bowl of apples on the table, I tug it out of reach. Her grin only grows in size.
“You want the apples to yourself? Go ahead, I know how much you love them.”
I fight a cringe. I’ve hated apples since I was a boy. Used to sneak all mine out to the stable and hand ’em off the to the horses.
“You’re trying to distract me from the fact you stuck your nose somewhere it didn’t belong, aren’t you?”
Her lips pop open. “How dare you?”
“How dare I? Grandma, you might be old, but you’re notthatold.”
“Brody Christopher Steele, you did not just mention my age!”
