Page 92 of Choosing Skyler

“You aiming for brownie points with Mom already?” He chuckles, raising an eyebrow.

I shrug and grin up at him. “Maybe I was just tired of wearing my shoes.”

“Well, if youwereafter brownie points—that would work,” he says, pointing to the cubby under me. “She hated dirt tracked in on the wood and tile floors. She liked to walk around barefoot, too and didn’t like the grit under her feet.”

I smile at learning that I have something in common with his mom. It feels like I’m getting to know her even though I never will. The realization makes my smile fall.

“Don’t do that, Beautiful. She would have loved you,” Brady tells me, setting the bags by the door and kicking his shoes off.

I nod and stand to follow him through the house. Past the coat rack is a wide archway that leads into a…library? My gaze wanders around the room with built in bookcases full of books covering every inch of the walls except for the far corner next to another archway that leads to the kitchen where there’s a brick fireplace. There’s a large area rug in the center of the room and a cozy looking chaise chair in the corner next to the archway we entered through, but no other furniture.

“This was originally the formal dining room, but mom had it converted into a library. She loved to sit in here and read. When her health declined, and she couldn’t make it upstairs, we had her hospital bed set up in here. This was her favorite place in the house,” Brady says.

I walk further into the room, breathing in the smell of wood polish and books. I scan the titles of the books on the shelves next to the chair and giggle.

“Your mom was a romance reader, huh?” I ask.

“Yeah, she said if she couldn’t live it, she may as well read about it,” he says, rolling his eyes. “You read romance too? Is that how you know what they are?”

I nod, giggling again. “I have a lot of these same books on my Kindle.”I wonder if Brady knows exactly what his mom was reading?“Have you ever read any of them?” I ask him.

“Hell no! Why would I want to read sappy love stories? Besides. Mom forbid me touching her books,” he answers.

“I bet she did.” I laugh. “Brady, these aren’tsappylove stories. They’respicylove stories,” I say, bouncing my eyebrows up and down.

“Eww, I don’t want to know that about my mom.” He grimaces.

I laugh harder and snort before covering my mouth.

“You think this is pretty funny, huh?” he says, stalking toward me.

I nod, backing up from his advance when he lifts his hands and wiggles his fingers. My legs hit the chair and I fall into it. A whiff of floral perfume hits the air and Brady freezes, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath through his nose.

“It’s like she’s right here,” he says, keeping his eyes closed as he continues. “Mom, meet Skyler. She’s the love of my life and apparently your new co-conspirator.” He smiles, opening his eyes. “She loved a good laugh.”

He reaches out his hand to pull me up and wrap me in a hug. I wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze as the floral perfume smell dissipates. It’s strange to feel such a kinship to someone I’ve never met. Then again, she raised Brady—and Devon. How could Inotlove her?

We continue the tour of the house through the kitchen. Which is huge with an island in the center and a breakfast nook in the back corner under a window that looks through the sunroom. There’s a laundry room that connects the kitchen to the garage where her red Buick sits in the neatly arranged space. Brady points out the half bathroom at one end of the laundry room. There’s another door in at the other end which I assume is a closet. We walk back the way we came. On the other side of the foyer is the living room with a sliding glass door that leads into the sunroom at the back corner of the house. Directly in front of the front door are the stairs that lead to the second floor. Brady grabs our bags and starts up the stairs.

“The first door on the left is Mom’s tech room, the second is her bedroom. The door on the right is her bathroom and the door at the end is my room with a connecting bathroom,” he tells me as he passes each door and enters the one at the end of the hall.

“You have the master bedroom?” I ask, walking into the room behind him.

“Yeah, when Devon and I outgrew our bunkbeds, she traded rooms and got us two full size beds,” he answers, setting our bags on the bed to the left. “Mine is there, closest to the bathroom.” He points at the bed on the right. “I’ll grab us some clean sheets to make the bed so we can take a nap. I know you’re exhausted after traveling all day.”

“I’m okay. I wouldn’t mind a shower, though,” I tell him.

“Okay. My home is your home, Beautiful. You don’t have to ask for anything here anymore than I do in Thorngrove. Got it?” he says, raising a brow.

I nod, going up on my toes to kiss him before grabbing the small bag and heading into the bathroom. I gasp when I flip the light switch and see the bathroom. There’s a double sink, a tiled shower big enough for half a dozen people with double shower heads, and a huge clawfoot bathtub.Now I don’t know if I want a shower or a bath,I think as I set the bag on the counter and start unpacking it, deciding on a quick shower for now.

Brady

I sit on my bed after Skyler goes into the bathroom, thinking about how good it feels to have her here, in my home. It really does feel like she’s getting to know my mom through the house and my shared memories.

When Skyler fell into Mom’s chair earlier and the smell of Japanese Cherry Blossom filled the room, it was like my mom had just walked into the room. I closed my eyes, and I could almost hear her chuckle at my embarrassment after learning what kind of books she had all over the room.

She would have loved Skyler’s teasing and silly laugh. Jillian Hargrove loved a good laugh, whether it was her laughing or someone else’s amusement. She always said that smiles and laughter were good for the soul. I think she just loved seeing people happy in general.

---