Winning the Right Brother (11 page)

Alex tried not to think of the physical stimulation he’d like to give Holly. He was turning into one of those guys who had a sexual thought every seven seconds and couldn’t say two words without one of them sounding like an innuendo.

He sighed. “I have about an acre of leaves to rake. I’ll keep you company.”

Will looked delighted. “That’s great! We’ll help you rake after we throw some passes. That’s good exercise, too, right, Mom?”

“Fine with me. I like creating order out of chaos, as you know. Raking is a very satisfying job. You start with a yard full of messy leaves and end up with tidy piles. Just my kind of thing.”

Holly was right: it was a gorgeous day. Blue, blue sky, and maple trees all around with leaves like flames. The colors looked as if they’d been drawn by a child: bright gold, brilliant red, burnt orange. The neighbors next door were burning leaves and the sharp, acrid scent
drifted on the wind, mixing with the cold clean smell of the air and the dry sweet smell of the leaves everywhere, on the trees, underfoot, fluttering down onto their shoulders.

Holly was looking autumnal herself, with her copper-colored hair and the brown sweater she’d put on.

The raking was forgotten as the three of them ran around like little kids, occasionally tossing the football back and forth but mostly just running, spinning, taking in huge cleansing breaths of the autumn air.

After a half an hour of that Will decided it was time to get serious. “Okay, Mom, Alex will show you how to throw a spiral pass and I’ll be your receiver. Your hands are kind of small but I know you can do it.” He took off at a trot, stopping at a distance Holly thought was well beyond the point she might hope to heave a football.

The sunlight was brilliant and Holly squinted across the yard at her son. “He’s delusional,” she said as Alex handed her the football.

“He just has faith in you. You should be flattered. Now grip the ball with your fingers on the laces and plant that back foot like we talked about. Cock your arm back and—no, not like that.”

“What do you mean, not like that? What am I doing wrong?”

He should just show her, like he would one of his players. Of course that would involve touching her, which would be bad. Or good. Or—oh, what the hell. He came up behind her and adjusted her arm position. “Like that, see? Much better. Now turn your upper body. Keep your eyes downfield. Good!”

Alex let himself enjoy the contact for just a moment
before he took a step back. “Okay, now, let it fly. Concentrate on your mechanics.” He watched critically as she made her first attempt. “All right, kid! Not bad!” He reached up for a high five and she slapped his hand in triumph as her pass made it close to where Will was, so that by running forward he could catch it easily.

“Hey, this is fun!” she said incredulously, smiling radiantly at Alex.

“You’re adorable,” he said before he could stop himself, and she blushed, but he hadn’t messed anything up because she was still grinning over her success when Will trotted back to them. The next few hours passed in a happy blur of running, passing and kicking, until the three of them threw themselves down under a maple tree to rest, staring up at the patterns of branches and flaming leaves against the azure sky.

“I feel so happy right now,” Will said after several minutes of companionable silence. “It almost hurts in my chest, I’m so happy. Has that ever happened to you?”

Holly laughed. “Once or twice in my long life. How about you, Alex?”

“Once or twice.” He fell silent, looking up at the leaves fluttering in the breeze, the restful quiet all around punctuated by bird calls, sharp and sweet. “I’m on Will’s side about today,” he said after a few minutes. “This is pretty perfect.”

“Can we stay here forever?” Will asked.

Yes,
Alex wanted to say.

“Well, not forever,” Holly said, and when Alex turned his head he saw her scrambling to her feet, brushing leaves off her jeans. She wasn’t looking at him. “In fact, I should get to the gym if I want to work out today.”

She smiled goodbye and walked back toward the house, leaving Will and Alex in the exact same positions they’d been in, under the exact same tree and the exact same sky, except that some of the golden sparkle seemed to have gone out of the afternoon.

O
n Tuesday, Will came to a decision.

He couldn’t figure out why his mom and Alex were taking so long to get together, until it occurred to him that
he
might be a factor. After all, they were all living here, and his mom could be kind of old-fashioned. Chances were, she wouldn’t feel comfortable letting anything happen with Alex while he was around.

Well, okay. He could fix that.

Tom mentioned that he and his dad were going on a fishing trip over the weekend, and Will asked if he could go along.

He decided to announce his plans Friday morning, so his mom wouldn’t have any time to adjust or come up with a counter plan. Not only was she old-fashioned, but when it came to anything emotional—her own emotions, anyway—she wasn’t exactly brave. He
didn’t want her to find a way to duck out of a weekend alone with Alex.

In the meantime, the days were falling into a familiar pattern: school, football and dinners at home.

The dinners were fun. So fun, in fact, that Will started to wonder if maybe his mom and his coach had the right idea. Maybe friendship was the way to go, after all.

Then he caught Alex looking at his mom one night when the three of them were watching a football film.

“I like this,” Holly said suddenly, causing Alex to jump guiltily.

“What?” he asked, trying to sound as if he hadn’t been staring at her for the last ten minutes.

“Football,” she said, her eyes on the screen. “It’s like financial planning. Lots of strategy and taking the long view, but also reacting to what’s happening in the present moment. Making a game plan and sticking to the broader goals you want to achieve, but being willing to explore different ways to achieve them if what you’re doing isn’t working.”

Alex looked surprised. “That’s exactly how I look at football. At least the game-planning part.” He paused for a moment. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but you’ve been such a good sport about all this football stuff I feel like it’s only fair to show a little interest in what you do. Tell me about financial planning. If anyone could make it sound interesting, you could.”

Holly turned to look at him, and there was a glint in her eye that Will recognized.

“What?” Alex asked warily.

“That pit of chaos you call an office. You’ll notice I haven’t so much as crossed the threshold on one of my ‘cleaning sprees’ as you call them. I’ve stuck to the
common areas and respected your right to live like a college student in your bedroom and your office.”

“And I appreciate it,” he said even more warily.

“Well, no more,” she said. “At least, I guess you can still have your bedroom, but we’re going to organize that office until it resembles a human habitat and then, my friend, we’re going to balance your checkbook, examine the state of your finances, discuss your long-term goals and risk tolerance, and come up with a personalized financial strategy for you. No, don’t thank me. It’s the least I can do after you gave me and Will a place to stay. Really, it’s my pleasure.”

She was grinning, and Will knew his coach was sunk. Apparently he knew it, too.

“How long will it take?” Alex asked, resigned.

“Hours and hours,” she said cheerfully. “Days probably. There’s no game this week, right? So you’re not as busy as usual. We’ll get started tonight.”

As Alex reluctantly followed a determined Holly out of the room, Will shook his head. Financial planning. How many more ways could they come up with to avoid dealing with what was right in front of them? He was starting to wonder if even leaving them alone together this weekend would do the trick. Oh, well, all he could do was hope for the best.

Why did adults always make everything so complicated?

On Friday morning, Holly got up early to make breakfast. She’d been doing that all week, telling herself it was because she wanted to be the one sending her son off to school with a nice hot meal inside him instead of the other way around. In truth, it was also because she liked
seeing Alex before they went to work. After all, eventually she and Will would be moving out, however settled they seemed to be here. Her meetings yesterday with an architect and a firm of contractors was a reminder that their stay here was temporary. Holly intended to soak up as much Alex as she could before then.

Five minutes after her son came downstairs, that suddenly seemed like a bad idea.

“I’m going away this weekend,” Will said casually, as if it was nothing, as if he wasn’t about to remove her best defense against the feelings she still entertained for Alex, late at night in the privacy of her bedroom. The feelings she couldn’t possibly act on because of the fifteen-year-old down the hall.

“What do you mean you’re going away?” she demanded. “You can’t tell me this on Friday morning.” She glared at Alex. “Do you know anything about this?” He shook his head, clearly as taken aback as she was, and she turned back to her son. “Kindly explain to me exactly where you think you’re going.”

Will took a bite of oatmeal. “Tom and his dad asked me yesterday. I forgot to mention it till now. You can call Mr. Washington if you want, to clear it. We’re going camping. We’re leaving right after school.”

“Tonight? You’re going to be gone tonight?” Holly felt panic rising and briefly considered asking if she could go along.

“Tonight and tomorrow night. We’ll be back Sunday afternoon.” He picked up a cinnamon roll, his expression cheerful.

Holly cleared her throat. “You know, I haven’t been camping since I was a little girl. Do you think Tom’s dad would—”

“Nope. Sorry. It’s kind of a guy thing. Also the tent’s only big enough for three. Besides, you guys have all that financial planning to do. And it’s supposed to rain. You’d be miserable out there.”

“Why won’t
you
be miserable?” Holly asked, knowing she was beaten but still clinging to a straw.

Will grinned. “We’re planning to do a lot of fishing. Fish bite great when it’s raining. I’m all packed and everything, Mom. I can bring my duffel bag on the bus so you don’t need to worry about a thing.” He got to his feet and gave a jaunty wave. “Have a great weekend, you two. See you Sunday.”

And before she could think of anything else to say, he was gone.

The silence felt a little awkward. Holly was sitting at the kitchen table, frowning down at her cinnamon roll, and wondering what Alex was thinking. Probably he didn’t care much. Why should he? They were friends.

“Will’s right,” she said brightly, forcing herself to meet Alex’s eyes with a cheerful smile. “A rainy weekend will be the perfect chance to concentrate on your finances.”

The smile wavered a little at Alex’s expression. He was leaning back in his chair, his head cocked to one side, his blue eyes speculative.

“Okay, it’s time for me to get going,” she added, her mind working quickly. Dinner tonight might not be a great idea. “I’m meeting some friends after work, so go ahead and have dinner without me. I’ll be home late. I probably won’t see you till tomorrow morning. We can start talking about your investment portfolio then.”

Alex frowned. “I don’t have an investment portfolio.”

“Not yet, you don’t. That’s all about to change.”

Alex shook his head at her and she grinned at him, delighted that things seemed to be back to normal. See? She didn’t need Will around to keep her from making a pass at Alex. She could rely on her maturity and good judgment.

She held on to that thought all day at work, and later during dinner at her desk with a paperback for company, and still later as she drove home. By the time she pulled into Alex’s driveway, she was actually starting to believe it.

Holly turned off her engine and sat in the warmth of her car for a few minutes, listening to the rain drum against the windows. It sure was coming down. She hoped that Will and Tom and David were warm and dry in their tent.

Of course she’d left too quickly this morning to stop and think about grabbing a raincoat or umbrella. It had been all right earlier, when it was just starting to drizzle, but now it was pouring, Alex’s driveway wasn’t all that close to his front door, and she was going to get drenched.

She sighed. At least if she came into the house wet and cold, she’d have an excuse to go straight up to her room if Alex happened to be downstairs.

Holly took a breath, ducked her head and opened the door. A blast of rain hit her and she ran for the house. She’d almost made it when something tripped her up and she went down, sprawling, in the flower bed beside the front walkway.

“Great,” she muttered, preparing to get muddily to her feet, when a soft, sad bark halted her movement.

Her own woebegone state forgotten, Holly peered around to see where the sound had come from.

A pair of big, sad dog eyes looked at her from underneath the porch.

“Come on out of there, sweetheart,” she coaxed, kneeling down despite the pelting rain and the further damage to her beige wool pantsuit.

Another soft bark. It was a young dog, maybe a puppy.

“Come on out, baby. We’ve got raccoons under there who’d eat a little pup like you for breakfast. Come out and we’ll—”

“Who are you talking to? And why are you crawling around in the mud?”

It was Alex, standing on the front porch.

“I heard a dog barking,” she said defensively, raising her voice to be heard over the wind and the rain. “He’s under the porch. I’m just trying to get him out so we can take him inside.”

“And we want to take him inside because…?”

“He’ll be the first animal we take on board when we build our ark,” she said, glaring at him. “Why do you think? It’s storming out here, in case you hadn’t noticed. No one should be out on a night like this, especially not a puppy. He’s lost and he sounds scared. Show some compassion.”

Alex sighed in resignation. “Food will probably lure him out. I’ll go get something.”

While Alex was gone Holly spoke softly to the dog, getting him used to the sound of her voice. Then Alex was there, crouching down beside her in the rain, holding out some leftover chicken and talking almost as gently as she was.

“It’s okay, buddy. You lucked out. This woman is a sucker for a sob story. We’ll fill your tummy with leftovers if you come on inside with us.”

Slowly, the owner of the eyes emerged, revealing what appeared to be a Labrador puppy, all black, shivering with the cold and wet and eyeing Alex hopefully.

“Food inside,” he said, standing up and backing away toward the house. When the puppy came forward, tail wagging, Holly gathered him into her arms and followed Alex up the stairs.

“There,” she said triumphantly as Alex closed the door behind them. “See how easy that was?”

“Sure,” he said as he dripped on the hall floor. He shook his head, but he was smiling at her and the dog she held tightly against her chest. “I’ll go get some towels. Try to keep our new friend in this general area, will you? And check to see if he’s wearing a collar.”

He was.

“It says Johnny Peterson, 43 Linden Rd,” Holly told him a few minutes later as they were toweling off the puppy and themselves. Johnny seemed to appreciate the attention, as well as the big bowl of chicken scraps Alex put down in front of him. “That’s the lady next door, right? The nice one who lent me the jeans.”

“Yep. Her name’s Anna. I’ll give her a call.” He looked at her. “Why are you always in my house looking like a disaster victim? Maybe you should go change into something a little less muddy.”

Holly made a face at him but followed his suggestion, running upstairs to put on jeans and a sweatshirt and a pair of sneakers. When she came back down Alex was wrestling with Johnny in the hall.

“She’s home, she’s frantic, she’s been looking everywhere, she can’t thank us enough. I’m going to drive over there right now.”

“I’d like to come, too.”

“But you’re actually clean and dry now. Why don’t you stay here? I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Holly shook her head. “I like Johnny. And who’s going to snuggle him while you drive? I’m coming.”

“He could probably last two minutes in the car without dying of snuggle deprivation,” Alex said, but he handed her a raincoat and the two of them headed out the door, with Johnny a warm, happy, wriggling bundle in Holly’s arms.

Anna really couldn’t thank them enough. She was in her fifties, the last of an old Scandinavian farming family, and Holly was so charmed by her she might have stayed an hour if Alex hadn’t stood up to go. “We should probably head back so we can change into dry clothes,” he said, and Anna instantly agreed.

“Of course, of course. You’ll have to come for dinner some night this week. Homemade chicken pot pie.”

“Sounds wonderful,” Holly said. She got down on one knee to say goodbye to Johnny, who covered her face in enthusiastic dog kisses until she was laughing so hard she fell over backward.

“Holly may ask for visitation rights,” he told Anna. “I think she’s attached to your dog.”

“Well, Johnny seems attached to her,” Anna said, smiling up at him. “She seems like an easy person to get attached to.”

Alex reached out a hand to help Holly to her feet. “She has her moments,” he admitted.

The rain was coming down in sheets as the two of them ran from Anna’s front door to Alex’s car. The wind was starting to pick up, too. In the five seconds it took to make it into the front seat, they were soaked.

It was even worse when they pulled into Alex’s
driveway. As soon as Holly stepped out of the car the wind snatched her hood and blew it back off her head, exposing her to the full fury of the storm.

Holly laughed out loud, suddenly exhilarated. She held out her arms and spun around, almost dancing, her face turned up to the sky and her eyes squeezed shut. She was one with the storm, with the rain, with the wind. It was glorious.

Alex made it to the porch and turned to see what had become of Holly. She was standing out there in the storm, looking up into the wild black sky with her arms outstretched, laughing as the rain lashed against her. With her long red hair streaming out behind her and every inch of her soaked, she looked like a water witch out of some seafaring folktale.