Dating a Single Dad (24 page)

“He didn’t say anything on the way home?”

Hank snorted and shoved his hands in his pockets. “The only thing he said was, ‘Pull over, now.’ Not much of a conversation.”

Thank God.

“Will he be okay alone?”

Hank stared at her, his face unreadable. He probably thought she didn’t really care, that she was simply trying to deflect the conversation. Could she blame him?

“Cash was on his way over,” he said at last. “He said he could babysit.”

“Good.” She didn’t want Carter to be alone. She had called him once after Taylor left, but he had made it clear that she was more of an unwanted reminder than a help. All her calls and texts since then had gone unanswered. She had planned to follow him home after tonight’s rehearsal, just to be sure he really was okay—Taylor kept asking—but that plan had blown up in her face, too.

It was all slipping through her fingers. No matter what she did, she was only making things worse. Twisting knives. Breaking more hearts.

“I should leave,” she said, but Hank’s hand shot out and gripped her arm.

“The hell, Brynn? Is that your answer to everything?”

No.
She wanted to say it, but she couldn’t because she wasn’t sure. Not anymore.

“Maybe I was too blown away to let that happen after Ian and Taylor, but not again. Something is wrong with my brother and you know what it is, and even though walking away is the only thing you know how to do I’ll be damned if I let you—”

She saw the moment he put it together. It was all there in his face, so heartbreakingly easy to read. The sudden halt as he made the connection between what she had said after Taylor’s departure and Carter’s actions tonight. The moment of wide-eyed disbelief. His small, instinctive step back, as if he were trying to distance himself from the truth. And then...oh, then, the hopelessness in his eyes as he shook his head and looked at her, begging her to tell him he was wrong without saying a word.

Brynn’s last, slender hope snapped.

“No.” His voice was rough, hoarse, as if he’d dragged the words free. “That can’t be.”

She closed her eyes, hoping he wouldn’t read the answer she knew he didn’t want to admit.

His hand tightened on her arm. “Tell me, Brynn. Tell me I’m wrong, that Carter... That Taylor...”

Her eyes were still closed. It didn’t matter. She knew his face too well. The image was raw and clear in her mind, magnified by his fingers tightening on her arm.

He knew. He knew, and now the one hope that had given Taylor some measure of comfort—that the family would be fine—had been shredded. As long as it had been simply Carter’s secret there had been hope, but Hank—Hank wouldn’t be able to keep this to himself. He would try but it would leak out, maybe not in his words but perhaps in his actions. His mother would pick up on it. Or Moxie, who already suspected, she was sure of it. They were all going to find out. They would all know.

“Brynn, for the love of God...”

There was nothing she could do now—for Taylor, for Carter, for Ian, for any of them.

Except—

She could tell Hank everything. All of it. There was no point in pretending anymore. She could tell him, and maybe make him see that even though she had stayed silent it was for good reasons. Make him see that she had truly been trying to help. Then maybe, just maybe, he could understand why she did it. Maybe, someday, he could forgive her. Maybe they could find a way past this, could get back to that point when he held her in this very room and said that if she were staying, he would want to keep—

No.

She had failed Taylor in every way possible. She would not—
could
not—fail her now. Even though it wouldn’t make a difference. Even though it wouldn’t change anything.

Even though it would cost her that last fragile possibility with Hank.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

This time, when she tried to pull her arm free and run away, he made no move to stop her.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

H
ANK
FELT
LIKE
the walking dead when he pulled into the Northstar parking lot the next morning. He hoped his head would be clearer after he did what he’d come to do, but given the way things had been spinning lately, he didn’t hold out much hope.

He double-timed it toward the building, not even faltering when he passed Brynn’s car. He’d seen it at the cabins a dozen times the past few days while she supervised the setup for the festival. He was immune.

At least that was what he told himself.

Moxie’s door was open, as usual, so Hank sailed past her assistant with the bare minimum greeting required by politeness. There were times when being family came in damned handy.

Moxie raised a hand as he approached, her gaze never leaving the computer screen. She pulled headphones from her ears. “Hold on. I’m almost done.”

“But—”

“Henry. Patience. I need two more minutes.”

It was so much like the way she used to talk to him when he was a kid that he couldn’t protest. Instead, he sent a pleading glance at the portrait of Grandpa Gordon hanging behind the desk and closed the door. He edged behind Moxie’s chair in the hope of seeing what was so vital, fully expecting her to give him hell for spying on a top secret document. Instead, he saw that she was watching an episode of
The Big Bang Theory.

“Seriously?” he asked once the final credits appeared and she pulled off the headphones. “You made me wait for the ‘Soft Kitty’ guy?”

Moxie, of course, was totally unmoved. “When you’re my age, you know that things can change in the snap of a finger. I like that show. If I died without knowing how that episode ended, I’d have to haunt you for all eternity.”

Not that he believed in ghosts, but the thought of having Moxie hang around him for the rest of his life was enough to make him think that maybe she had been doing him a favor.

“Listen.” He grabbed a chair, flipped it around and straddled it, his arms resting on the top of the backrest. “I found out something last night, and I don’t know what to do with it.”

“This have anything to do with Carter’s bonehead move?”

“Yeah. I think—”

“Did he say anything to you when you took him home?”

“No. But I—”

“Dammit to hell, I thought he might finally—”

“Moxie, would you let me finish?”

She gave him an evil eye that quickly morphed into something a whole lot warmer.

“Well, well, well,” she said with far too much satisfaction.

“Look.” He gripped the rail of the chair. “If you want to play Zen master, you go ahead, but I have a to-do list twelve pages long. So maybe you could save the questions for a minute.”

She waved her hand in a spot-on imitation of the queen. “Continue.”

“Brynn said something last night.” He frowned as he replayed the conversation for about the five millionth time. “Well, actually, she didn’t. But I said something, and remembered something else she said, and I think...” He took a deep breath, checked to make sure the door was still closed. “I think the reason Taylor broke up with Ian is because—”

“Because of Carter.”

Thank God—she hadn’t phrased it as a question. It meant he wasn’t the only one who had put things together in this seriously twisted way.

On the other hand...

On the other hand, if Moxie thought it was true, then dammit to hell, it probably was. And God, but he had hoped he was wrong.

Didn’t it figure—the first time in his life he was the one who had the inside scoop, and he would give anything to not know it.

Moxie let out a long sigh and swiveled to stare at the photo of her and Gramps that sat at the corner of her desk. “Well, one good thing. You coming in here today saves me from going down the hall to choke the truth out of Brynn.”

“You wouldn’t have got very far.”

“Oh?” Moxie could say more with one word and a quirked eyebrow than most people could with a novel.

“Last night, even after I put it together, she still wouldn’t admit it.”

“’Course not. She likely promised Taylor she wouldn’t breathe a word.”

“But I already knew.”

“You already suspected.” Moxie pointed at him. “Big difference. And your Brynn might be a lot of things, but she’s not one to let down her family.”

“She’s not my—”

He stopped, sidetracked by Moxie’s words.
Family.
That word kept whispering in the back of his brain whenever he thought about her. If he could only think about that for a moment...

But there was no time because Moxie was off and running.

“No, siree. If she said she wouldn’t tell anyone, then that’s the way it’s going to be. The only way to get the truth out of her is to make her see that it’s for the better.”

“How could anything be better about this?”

“You leave that to me.” She turned in her chair once more. “I have to say, of all the things I thought might be coming down the pike, this wasn’t one of them.”

“Seriously, Moxie? I know you think you’re the great and powerful Oz, but you can’t convince me that you saw this coming.”

“What, Carter and Taylor? Of course I did. Why do you think I sent him to the conference?”

Thank God he was already sitting. “You’re kidding. You knew about this and you sent him anyway?”

“I didn’t know. I suspected, same as you. And yes siree bob, that was exactly why I sent him. Anyone with eyes and seventy-odd years of experience could tell that something was fishy with those two. They just needed the chance to admit it.”

“Forget the dairy, Moxie. You should be working with the Mounties.”

She shrugged. “I never looked good in red. Now, leave Carter and Taylor to me. It’s time to talk about you.”

Brynn.
“Remember that to-do list I mentioned? I think it’s time I got back to it.”

“No,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “I can’t say I’m surprised that you figured out what was up with those two. What really threw me for a curve was you walking in here all worried.”

Well, that was unexpected. “You think I wouldn’t worry about my own family?”

“It wasn’t the worry that took me by surprise. It was the walk.” She pushed up from her chair and leaned across the desk, giving him the stare that had launched a thousand nightmares. “It wasn’t that long ago, Henry William North, that you were so hell-bent on doing things yourself that it was like you’d built a wall between you and the rest of the family. One with lots of windows, mind you, but a wall all the same. Yet today you waltzed in here because you knew something was wrong. Three, four months ago, you would have sat back and waited to see how it played out. Today, you’re trying to make it better.”

He wanted to say she was wrong but given her track record, he figured he should save his breath.

“I guess, now that Millie and I are in the cabins, maybe it’s easier—”

He was interrupted by a very loud, very rude snort.

“You’re not stupid, Hank. Don’t try to fake it now.”

* * *

B
RYNN
ENDED
HER
CALL
with the electrician, rubbed her forehead—wiring would be the death of her yet—grabbed her bottle of water from the desk and almost choked when she tipped her head back to take a drink and spotted Moxie lounging in the doorway.

“You know,” she wheezed as soon as she caught her breath, “the stealth ninja thing is really getting old.”

“Not as old as I am, kid.”

“Yet you move faster and more silently than my mother’s cat.”

“Is that so?” Moxie’s smile was decidedly unsettling. “In that case, Brynn, I’m giving you fair warning. You just turned into a mouse.”

“What do you—”

Moxie stepped into the room, pulled the door closed. “No more secrets, girl. Tell me the real reason Taylor left.”

Oh,
shit.
This wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Don’t bother acting like you don’t know what I’m talking about.” Moxie dropped into Taylor’s chair with a groan. “Something’s wrong, and it’s time to deal with it once and for all.”

“Why do you—” Brynn began, but Moxie leaned forward and pointed her finger.

“Listen to me, girlie. There’s two things on the line here—my company and my family. I can and will get the dairy through this. People leave all the time. But my family is a different story altogether. I can’t make this work unless I know what I’m dealing with, and as far as I can tell, you’re the only one who can help.”

Brynn shook her head. “It will only make things worse.”

“Let me be the judge of that.”

The temptation was strong. She had a pretty good idea that Moxie had figured things out already. But if she hadn’t confirmed things with Hank last night, she certainly wasn’t going to do so now with Moxie.

Moxie sighed. “You ever have a splinter, Brynn?”

The question was so unexpected that Brynn nodded in agreement before she even realized it.

“Good. So you know that while the splinter is stuck, it hurts like a mother. If you pull it out, things might be tender for a while, but eventually it will heal. But if you don’t pull it out, what happens?”

“It gets infected.” The sick feeling in her stomach strengthened her suspicions. Moxie’s cat-and-mouse comparison had been spot on.

“That’s right. It festers. And what are you left with? A messy, slimy wound that’s worse than it had to be. Takes a hell of a lot longer to heal, too. So what of it, Brynn? Are you going to help my family get rid of this splinter now, or are you going to push it underground until it explodes?”

What did explosions have to do with splinters?

“I’m guessing you promised Taylor you’d keep silent. I respect that. Just nod. Is she in love with Carter?”

Brynn was certain she gave nothing away—she didn’t so much as blink—but Moxie crumpled a little anyway.

“Ah, hell.” The chair creaked as she leaned back. “I wouldn’t have minded being wrong just this once.”

“But I didn’t—”

“That’s right. You didn’t do anything because you knew what I was going to ask. If I was wrong, you’d-a been jumping out of your chair asking what the hell I was smoking.”

Despite everything, Brynn couldn’t help but smile. “I can truthfully say that I never would have asked that.”

“And that’s all you’re going to say?”

“If you suspected something like this—” Brynn chose her words carefully, seeking to avoid flat-out confirming Moxie’s theory “—why did you send Carter to the conference?”

“The truth had to come to light. If it hadn’t, and Taylor went ahead and married Ian... Well, there’s your slimy mess, for sure.”

“But you didn’t say anything.”

Moxie snorted. “Good God, child. You think anyone would have listened to me? One wrong word and they would have been so deep in pretending there was no problem that there would be no getting to the truth. It had to come from them. All I could do was put the pieces in place and let them make the moves.”

Why did those words have a familiar ring to them?

“But it doesn’t matter anymore. Taylor is in Charlottetown and—”

“I know that. The question is what’s going to happen next.”

“What?” The ache in Brynn’s stomach turned into an uneasy roll. “But there is no next. She’s gone.”

“Oh, and here I thought you were smarter than that.” Moxie leaned forward. “Taylor isn’t the splinter. Carter is. Well, his feelings for her. Those aren’t going to go away just because she’s taken her cute little behind to the east coast.”

Oh, hell and damnation.

“But surely with her gone...”

“Leaving isn’t always the answer, Brynn.”

Walking away is the only thing you know how to do.

Moxie leaned forward, cutting through the memory of Hank’s angry words. “Listen to me, girl. I know nobody meant for this to get so messy, and that you two cooked up this solution to keep from hurting Ian any more than necessary. That’s understandable. But what do you think will happen when Ian comes home and everyone is looking after him because he lost the woman he loved, and there’s Carter, who lost her, too, but can’t say a thing?”

Mentioning that Taylor had asked her to help Carter would only add fuel to Moxie’s fire. Luckily—or not—Moxie wasn’t waiting for feedback.

“That’s gonna hurt, Brynn, and it’s not the kind of hurt that goes away easy. It’s going to eat at him. It’s going to make him resent his brother, and Ian won’t know why, and if we try to hide this, even though you’d think it should help, I’m telling you, it will only make things worse.”

She was right. Brynn bowed her head as the truth sank into her. Moxie knew love and she knew her family. If she thought it would be worse to stay silent, then the odds were that someone needed to speak up.

“What do you suggest?”

Moxie sighed. “There’s going to be hurt no matter what. The question is how many people are going to end up hurting.”

“You don’t— Are you saying I should tell Taylor to come home?” Home to
Carter?

“Hell no, girl.” Moxie reached forward and knocked Brynn on the forehead. “I’m going to tell Carter to haul ass and go after her.”

* * *

L
ATER
THAT
AFTERNOON
,
Hank was adding bits of river rock to the stone fence surrounding the house when he heard the slam of a car door. No surprise, given that the cabins had become Comeback Cove’s version of Grand Central as the festival approached. Stages were being assembled. Vendor booths were going up. The cooking tent was in place and the Grenadier cabin had been turned into a living history display, overflowing with photos and memorabilia and period clothing. Hank had gone in there when he returned from his little chat with Moxie, checked out the exhibit she’d suggested on Northstar Sweethearts and shook his head at how she had used it for her own nefarious means.

With all the comings and goings, a slamming door was par for the course. But Brynn had texted to say she was on her way and he wanted to be sure he was out of range when she arrived.

Cowardly? Hell, yeah. But even though he had thought he couldn’t get any more confused when it came to her, it turned out he’d been wrong. Ever since he walked out of Moxie’s office he’d had the weirdest feeling in his gut—like he was missing something big. Something about Brynn. Something about family.