Page 98 of Push

I leaned over his shoulder to keep our latest war of words between us. “Thisis where you sign up new clients?” My skin crawled just looking at the stains on the velvet lounge.

“I thought you might enjoy a trip down memory lane.”

“You thought wrong. I’m two seconds away from dragging you out of here like I did the last time. Explain to me why you choose to do business here.”

“Look around.” Liam waved his hand absently at the haze before scribbling his initials at the spot my finger pointed at. “The decor may be a touch outdated, but my client and his charming business associates have hardly noticed. I believe men quite enjoy leering at the sight of a half-naked woman.”

“Somemen,” I pointed out. “Youhaven’t glanced at a single one.”

“Shh, clever Gwen,” he murmured. “You’ve always noticed too much.” He pushed the paperwork across the table to one of the shadowed strangers. “Keep that our little secret.”

Whatever the hell that meant.

Liam inclined his head. “Something else is bothering you.” His eyes swept over my face as if some clue would be revealed. “Is the dentist misbehaving?”

“No.”

“Who then?”

“No one.”

“Who?”

“Just… His business partner… It’s…” I gnawed on my lower lip. “Complicated.”

Liam drummed his fingers on the table, staring at me for an eternity. “I see.” He snatched the signed agreement and shoved it at me. “Run along now and leave me to my debauchery.”

“Gladly.”

A battle-hardened lawyer strode out of the club, but the little sister in me desperately wanted to cling to Liam and drag him to safety. That part of me knew the truth.

My brother hadn’t battled any of his demons. He was as broken as ever.

With an extra-large emergency coffee and the signed agreement in my hands, I headed up the driveway to the house.

Usually, when I arrived home, Toby wandered over and chatted about his plans for the day. Today, he was too distracted to notice my heels clicking across the driveway. He hung beside his car. The passenger door was wide open, and his hand was braced on the roof as he scowled down at…something.

I snuck up behind him and tapped his shoulder.

He shot ten feet in the air. “Oh, hey!” He scrambled to grab a cardboard box off the front seat and slammed the car door as if he couldn’t shut it quickly enough. “Back from the city already?”

“Uh-huh. Liam needed an agreement signed.” Leaning over, I peeked into his box. “What you got there?”

“Just a couple of things I needed from the hardware store.” Toby squared his shoulders, chin held high, and proudly declared, “I’m fixing the side gate today.”

“Cool.” It was. That rusty old thing had never shut properly—one of the many joys of buying a house with “nostalgic charm.” I craned my neck to see how much junk he needed to fix a gate. A lot, apparently. “Don’t you have a hundred screwdrivers already?”

“Uh, I did.” Toby rubbed the back of his neck. “You sold all my tools at the yard sale. But!” He rummaged around in his box, and a second later, he stuck a screwdriver in the air. “This one’s even better! Check out the cushioned grip, doll.” He rolled it around for me to examine the handle, but I didn’t know what to do except smile and nod. “No more blisters!”

“Blisters, huh?” I hid my smile by taking a sip of my coffee. “Couldn’t you just wear gloves?”

“Gloves?” He scoffed. “What am I? A delicate princess?Please.”

Two hours later, I had an elated Toby—who confirmed with waggling eyebrows that he, in fact, had no blisters—and a closing gate. He made me test it. Twice. Then, he scouted the house for new ways to keep busy. It was as if he was scared that if he ran out of ways to be useful, I’d send him back to the apartment.

I hadn’t yet.

Having Toby around at night was easier. Whenever I heard Noah fuss on the baby monitor, by the time I peeled back the sheets and stumbled half-asleep to the nursery, Toby was already there. I got used to long showers and having an extra sleep-in after my grizzly baby had his morning feed. Then, there were the impromptu brunches with Marnie and the afternoons where I sat out back worrying about nothing except enjoying my coffee.

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