Page 2 of Mine to Love
Yet the second Rumor stole his brother’s heart, everything shifted. Miles couldn’t figure out why, not that he’d spent too much time trying and he’d certainly not chatted about it with anyone. But he found himself wanting more than a roll in the hay here and a short-lived fling there. Besides, as his family constantly joked, he’d run out of women to date in Lighthouse Cove.
Miles sipped his bourbon and eyed the groom as Emmerson strolled across the pool deck. “Hey, man.” Miles lifted his drink. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile so wide before.”
“I take it you’ve heard the good news like everyone else in this family. Before me.” Emmerson set his drink on the table and pulled up a chair. “I should be pissed at the lot of you, but that would mean I’d have to be mad at my wife and how could I be angry at that sweet thing.”
Miles laughed. “I’ve seen the two of you fight and you always lose.” He slapped his brother on the back. “Congratulations. On both the nuptials and the baby. I couldn’t be happier for you.”
“Then why are you sitting over here, all by yourself, with a sourpuss look on your face?” Emmerson clanked his drink against Miles’ before taking a swig.
Miles had a special relationship with each of his brothers. They all did. And not a single one of them ever got jealous. They were good that way, regardless of age differences. Seth and Nathan, the two oldest, were tight. Miles and Jameson, being the two youngest, had their own bond. The three in the middle, Rhett, Emmett, and Emmerson, had been as thick as thieves growing up.
But that didn’t stop each of them developing side relationships. And Miles and Emmerson had been each other’s sounding boards for the last couple of years. They owned a boat together. They went on fishing trips together.
However, that had been because they were the two single dudes left.
Not anymore.
“Avoiding Mother.” Miles cocked his head. “Now that you’ve tied the knot, she’s in rare form and it’s starting to really piss me off.”
“I bet she is, which is why Rumor’s over there chatting with her about the baby’s room.” Emmerson leaned in. “Which wehave no intention of letting Mom decorate, but Rumor thought you might be avoiding Mom and maybe even Dad too. They shouldn’t be putting the pressure on you at our wedding.”
“Dad’s nowhere near as bad. Actually, he didn’t say one word when I didn’t bring a date. I think he was pleased that I left the flavor of the month at the ice cream shop. As if I ever brought anyone to a family gathering before. But Mom was all over that shit. She told me the family’s lopsided, whatever the fuck that means.” Miles didn’t mean to sound short. Or even resentful. At least not about himself. This was Emmerson and Rumor’s special day. The focus shouldn’t be on Miles and his decision to remain single for the rest of his life.
“That’s an odd thing to say, even for Mom.” Emmerson leaned back in his chair. “I’ll say something to her. It’s really none of her business and it’s obviously got you in a foul mood.”
“I’m sorry, man. I don’t mean to be. I really don’t.” He ran a hand over his jaw, letting his thumb and forefinger come to a point at his jaw. He sighed. “You and Rumor might have only been engaged for two weeks, but we all knew a couple of months ago it was only a matter of time. The two of you were talking about it.”
“Rumor and I made the decision two months ago. We even had a date in mind. I just wanted to give her a proper proposal. Make it special for her,” Emmerson said. “I’ve been watching what Mom and even Dad have been doing to you and I’m sorry. It’s worse than anything she’s ever done or said to me.” Emmerson held up his hand. “But it’s just because you’re the only one of us who has ever specifically stated you’re never getting married or having kids and while I get your reasons, I don’t agree. The rest of us have always wanted it, even if I thought I gave up on the idea.”
Miles laughed. “You never gave up on it; you just had to wait for the right woman to knock down your walls.”
“That may be true,” Emmerson said. “But I have to ask, and don’t get pissed. You haven’t dated in months, which isn’t like you. What’s going on?”
That was a loaded question and one he wasn’t sure he really wanted to get into. But it did open the door to a different conversation. “You know, Nathan, Seth, Rhett, and even Emmett have different memories of Mom and Dad’s marriage than you, me, and Jameson do.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Emmerson cocked his head.
“They remember the good times. We remember the bullshit.”
“That’s crap. They were older and saw all of it.” Emmerson arched a brow. “And I know where you’re going. Nathan and Seth got married young. But so did Jameson.”
“Jameson was looking for someone to love him because he didn’t feel like he fit in. He just didn’t know why. And it was all our mother’s fault.”
“No. It was Dad’s too for lying.” Emmerson took a sip of his drink. “None of this has to do with why you’re not dipping into any dating pool. It does have a shit ton to do with why you don’t do relationships and I’m not even going to start in on that,” Emmerson said. “But I thought you were going to ask your neighbor to come today. I told you that Rumor and I were fine with that. Rumor loves working with her at Safe Harbor Café and every time I go in there, she’s so sweet. She seems like a really good person. And her brother has a wicked sense of humor for someone on the spectrum.”
Leave it to Emmerson to bring up Liberty. The one woman who had turned down the Miles charm. It happened, but it didn’t happen often. Miles understood why and her reasons were twofold. Both were reasonable, and both should make him stop trying.
“She’s cool.” Miles nodded, wondering how much he should tell Emmerson. Not much was kept in the vault when it came to his family. Not because they all gossiped about each other, but because they all cared. He valued that about his family. Loved that about each and every one.
But sometimes it was annoying as fuck.
“She had plans with Gabriel,” Miles said. When Miles had strolled across the yards to ask Liberty, she’d mentioned taking Gabriel to the movies, but she hadn’t actually said when.
Liberty had moved in two months ago with her special needs little brother, who wasn’t so little. Nope. He was a grown-ass man at twenty-two. Funny as hell guy with a sense of humor that had Miles in stitches half the time. It had taken Gabriel a good three weeks to warm up to Miles, but now that he was working at the auto shop, they were like two peas in a pod.
His sister, on the other hand?
She still struggled to understand why Miles enjoyed her brother.
