Don't Let Go (22 page)

MEGAN AND HER
friends spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening moving around the house doing what they could to help. A lot of that consisted of hauling trash and sweeping, though she'd been given an opportunity to do some sanding.

And now her shoulders ached like a million tiny needles were poking them.

But at the end of the day, they'd made a ton of progress. Walls were in place, and they had started to lay floors. There were also cabinets in the kitchen, and Sam was so happy she had cried several times. Megan had finally pushed her out the door and the two of them had played with Not My Dog and Roxie in the backyard.

“This has been so helpful,” Sam said as she threw the tennis ball and Not My Dog went running for it, Roxie loping behind. “With us being so behind on the house building, I was starting to get worried.”

“You can't help the guys being busy with work. And besides, work is good for Reid's business, right?”

Sam nodded. “It definitely is. Great for business, not so
great for building our house. And with winter and early spring being so wet, we got even more behind.” Sam looked around. “But today, with all our friends showing up, wow. Everyone has saved our butts. I was beginning to think we were never going to finish this house.”

“Of course you are. The major parts are done. Now it's just the smaller details.”

She nodded. “I'm just so grateful.”

Megan noted the tears welling in her best friend's eyes. “If you cry again, I'm going to toss this tennis ball at your head.”

Sam laughed as she looked down at the gooey tennis ball Megan had just pulled out of Not My Dog's mouth. “Yuck. Okay, I promise, no more crying.”

“Good.”

Sam dragged in a deep breath. “Let's talk about something else, then. How about you and Brady?”

“How about that?”

Sam gave her a knowing smile. “So things are going well?”

“They're going very well. We see each other a lot. It's good between us.”

Sam reached over and gave her arm a squeeze. “I'm so glad, honey. You deserve to be happy.”

“I'm definitely happy.”

“So . . . anything of a more permanent nature for the two of you?”

Megan shook her head. “I think Brady is more of a right-now type of person. And I don't want to push him. We're solid, as far as I know. And I'm fine living in the right now with him.”

“But you want more.”

Megan looked over at the house. “I want this. I want forever with him. I love him.”

Sam shot a frown at her. “Hey. You said you didn't want me to cry.”

Megan laughed. “Sorry. I've never said it out loud. I'm
not sure I even realized it until just now. So you, my friend, are the first to know.”

Sam pulled her into a hug. “Your secret is safe with me.”

Megan hugged her back. “Thanks. I just hope it works out for us. I know he feels the same. It just feels that way to me, you know?”

“I do know. But men . . . they take a while to come around sometimes. So give him time.”

“I intend to. Like I said, things are great between us right now, and I'm content to leave them that way.”

And she hoped they stayed that way.

But in the meantime, she was going to continue as if nothing had changed, even though in her heart, everything had changed. She even looked at him differently when he took a break to grab a drink. She met him out back and brushed her lips across his.

“Hard day?” she asked.

“Not really. Kind of fun, actually.”

“Sure, building a house is something everyone does on the weekends.”

He laughed. “Yeah, but it's something different.”

She rubbed her hand up and down his arm. “Builds muscles. Though you already had those.”

He gave her a smile, then went back inside to work. She left him alone and spent time with Sam and Molly and the other women, catching up on their lives.

At the end of the workday, some of the guys went out and grabbed barbecue for dinner, and they set up outside, where Sam and Reid had constructed a fire pit. They had plenty of chairs and soda, beer, and water for everyone, so by the time the barbecue had arrived, everyone had a spot to sit and eat.

Megan had set aside a chair for Brady, so after he filled his plate, he joined her. He was unusually quiet, but she chalked that up to him being tired—and probably hungry—after a long day.

She leaned into him. “I brought dessert.”

He was digging into some ribs, so he just nodded and kept eating. When he didn't ask, she did.

“Aren't you going to ask me what I brought?”

He took a long swallow of water. “I figured it was something good.”

She grinned. “It is. I think you'll really like it.”

“I'm sure I will. These ribs are good. I think I'll go get a second helping. You want something?”

“No, I'm fine. Thanks.”

She watched him wander off to the serving table, refill his plate, then get waylaid by Deacon. So he stood there, ate, and talked. She finished her meal and dumped her plate in the trash, then went to find Sam, who was in her makeshift sorta-kinda kitchen, just staring.

“What are you doing?”

Sam looked over at her as if she just got caught doing something she shouldn't. “Imagining.”

“The cabinets look amazing.”

“They do, don't they? I've already got the completed kitchen in my head. And thanks to everyone who came today, we have walls. Soon I'll have flooring and countertops and bathrooms.”

Megan put her arm around Sam. “It won't be long now. I can already picture your shiny kitchen. And can I say I'm super jealous of all your cabinet space?”

Sam turned to her. “Your kitchen freaking rocks. I love your stove and your amazing island.”

“It does. But I can still covet yours.”

“Thank you. I covet it, too. And someday soon—not soon enough, mind you, but soon—it'll be done.”

Megan laughed, and they went outside. She searched for Brady, but didn't see him. He was probably off with one of the guys, inspecting their work.

“I heard there was dessert,” Luke said. “And I don't mean to be pushy or anything, but Emma texted.”

Megan's lips curved. “And she wants to know when you're coming home?”

“Something like that.”

“Then we need to get to dessert pronto. Can't keep your wife and baby waiting.”

Megan broke out the raspberry tarts and the peanut butter chocolate cupcakes she'd made, making sure she set a couple aside for Brady.

He came back outside with Reid and Deacon about ten minutes later. Fortunately, she'd made enough of the desserts that there were plenty left for them.

“I was afraid I'd missed these,” Reid said, hugging Megan, “and then I'd have been pissed.”

“I made sure to guard them against second and third comers. But Luke had to leave, and I packed him a cupcake for Emma.”

Reid bit into one, then made a moaning sound. “Allowable.”

Brady snatched a cupcake as well and polished it off in about three bites. But he didn't gush about it like he typically did with her desserts.

Not that she expected praise or anything. She didn't. He obviously enjoyed it, since he all but inhaled it, and that was good enough.

She wandered off to help Sam clean up the remnants of dinner. The party was breaking up, so they folded up the chairs and put them away in the storage shed, then carried off the trash and put it in the back of Reid's truck. By the time they finished, only Reid, Deacon, and Brady were left.

Megan grabbed a bottle of water and took one of the few remaining seats in front of the fire pit.

“I mentioned to Brady that I saw a commercial spot for sale not far from here,” Reid said to her. “I thought it might be a good spot for him to consider for his painting business.”

She looked over at Brady. “Oh, that's interesting.”

“Yeah,” Brady said.

Which was all he said, so she didn't say anything more until they found themselves alone at her place later.

“What did you think about Reid's suggestion?” she asked as they curled up on the sofa together.

“His suggestion about what?”

“That commercial space.”

“Oh. Not much.”

“So you're not interested?”

“I don't know. I don't want to talk about it.”

Wow. Was he ever cranky. Maybe he hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before, or he'd put in a hard day's work today. Whatever it was, she decided not to push him on anything tonight.

Maybe tomorrow he'd be in a better mood.

MEGAN FINISHED UP
at the bakery for the day. She closed up, cleaned up, then took the day's receipts to the bank.

She stopped in at Emma's house to visit her and the baby and stayed for a few hours.

“Are you anxious to get back to work?” she asked.

Emma looked at the gorgeous baby in her arms. “I do miss the vet clinic, my staff, and all my furry patients. But I have to admit it's going to be hard to leave Michael when it's time to go back. The only good thing is having the nanny here, and living so close to where I work, so I'll be able to come home at lunch and nurse him and visit.”

“I think you'll do fine. And you still have some time at home.”

Emma nodded. “I'm lucky that I have a great doctor taking care of the clinic while I'm on maternity leave. At least I don't have to worry about that part. But for now, I'm going to enjoy every second I have with this little guy.”

After Megan left Emma's, she ran a few more errands and stopped by Loretta's bookstore to look for a few titles she'd had on her list. The place was busy, which was a good sign.

“Business is booming, Loretta,” she said as the two of them shared a cup of coffee on one of the sofas in the back.

Loretta smiled. “Things are going well. I'm happy with the business. Someone bought the old secondhand store next to me, and I hear that's going to be renovated soon.”

“Oh, really? What are they going to do with it?”

“I haven't heard yet. But hopefully whatever it is will drive new customers to the bookstore.”

By the time she left the bookstore, it was late. Late enough to stop by Carter's shop to see Brady. And okay, she might have planned her day to coincide with the end of Brady's workday. Their conversations over the past week had been short. She'd invited him over for dinner last night, and he'd said he had work to do. Not unusual, of course, since he often did night work on motorcycles, but it was more his tone of voice than anything that concerned her.

Something was bothering him, and she wanted to make sure he was okay.

She went in through the front door. Molly and Carter were there, and it looked like they were about to head out.

“Big plans for tonight?”

“Oh, yeah,” Molly said. “We have a hot date at the grocery store.”

“Hey, it's pasta night,” Carter said. “I love pasta.”

“See?” Molly said. “It's all about the romance.”

“You bet it is. Oh, how about garlic bread? We're making garlic bread, right?”

Molly rolled her eyes. “Let's go, Carter. Now I'm really hungry. See you later, Megan.”

Megan laughed. “You two have a great night.”

She made her way back to the shop. Roxie greeted her. Brady had trained her well, and now she was off leash and didn't wander beyond the perimeter of the garage.

“Well, hello, sweetheart. What are you up to today?”

She swooped Roxie up into her arms and cuddled her close, then made her way over to where Brady was sitting by the old metal desk in the corner of the garage.

“Paperwork?” she asked.

He looked up at her. “Oh. Hi. Yeah. Totaling up the bill for this one.”

She looked over at the finished product, a dark blue Ford pickup that, to her, looked brand-new, even though it wasn't. “You can't even tell it had any body work done.”

“That's the idea.”

She waited while he worked on his numbers. Then he finally turned in his chair and looked up at her.

“So . . . what's up?” he asked.

“I just came by to see you. Maybe you want to have dinner?”

“Sorry. Someone's bringing a bike by tonight. I have to start on it right away.”

“Okay.” Something was definitely off. He was being gruff. He hadn't gotten up to hug her or kiss her, and that was typically the first thing he did.

She thought about leaving, but maybe he'd just had a rough couple of days. She could smooth it over. “You need to eat. I could grab something for us and—”

“I'm fine. I really just need to move this car out, sweep the place, and get ready for the bike.”

In other words,
You're in my way, Megan
.

“Oh. Well, okay. I guess I'll get going. See you later?”

“Sure.”

She went over to him and leaned down to brush her lips across his, depositing Roxie in his lap. “Call me, okay?”

“Yeah. I'll walk you out so I can lock the door behind you.”

She made her way to the front door and turned to face him. “Is everything all right, Brady?”

“Everything's fine. Just busy, ya know?”

“Yes. Of course. I'll talk to you later.”

She walked out the front door, turning to wave at him while he locked it.

He didn't smile. Just locked the door and closed the blinds.

Okay, then. That felt like a definite shutdown. And it made her stomach knot up.

What was wrong with him? With them? She didn't remember saying or doing anything to upset him.

But now she was upset. And she needed him to open up to her, to tell her what was bothering him.

Maybe tomorrow morning, if he didn't stop into the bakery for coffee and a roll, she'd steal a few seconds away and bring something to him.

And then they'd talk.

Because they really needed to talk.

*   *   *

BRADY MADE HIS
way back into the garage. He rolled the Ford into the parking lot and texted the customer that his truck was ready to be picked up. Then he went back into the garage and started to clean up.

Roxie had climbed onto her blanket in the corner, and he could swear she was glaring at him.

Yeah, he'd treated Megan badly, and he'd been cold to her. But he needed some distance so he could figure out these weird feelings that had surrounded him ever since that day at Reid's.

He felt like the walls of this town were closing in on him and he couldn't breathe anymore. All these thoughts of buying property and land and houses and committing to Megan and settling down were only making it worse.

He needed his freedom, to make his own choices. When and if he settled down and set up his own business and found a woman to love, it was going to be on his own timeline. And that just wasn't now. He wasn't ready yet. There were still too many questions in his head that needed answers.

None of those thoughts you just had made sense. You know that, right?

He shook his head. Even the conversations he had with himself were driving him crazy.

He took a toothpick out and shoved it between his teeth. He really wanted a cigarette right now.

No, what he really wanted was to be sitting on the dock by the lake fishing.

With Kurt. Kurt would be able to tell him what to do.

He straightened and looked over at Roxie, who was asleep. Not that she'd be able to offer any advice even if she was awake.

And Kurt wasn't here. He wasn't ever going to be here to advise him about whether his decisions were the right moves or dumbass moves. Hell, even those last couple of years before he'd left town, Kurt hadn't been there for him.

So why, in his head, did he think his brother held all the answers?

Convenient, probably. Because his brother wasn't available, so if he couldn't go to his brother for the answers, then he didn't have to make any decisions.

At least he'd gotten that part of tonight's self-analysis right.

But as confused as he was right now, it stood to reason that this wasn't the time to make any serious life decisions.

He knew what he had to do.