Page 38 of Players Like Us
“She’ll come around. She’s scared, afraid you might hurt her. My guess is she’s not sure you won’t get tired of her. The vulnerability isn’t welcome, nor are the feelings she has for you, which I’ll bet are what our sister would call ‘love and meant to be’. If you sit tight, she’ll figure it out and then maybe we’ll be attending your wedding.”
“Yeah, she doesn’t even want anyone to know about us except there doesn’t seem to be an us so… I wouldn’t hold out for a wedding.”
His brother smiled, patted him on the back. “There’ll be a wedding. You’ll see. I like this side of you.” Tate’s blue eyes turned bright, brighter still. “I wish I’d taken the time to get to know you better, try to understand what you were doing, instead of attempting to fix you. You don’t need fixed. You’ve got a lot to offer and the whole restaurant gig? I can’t get over it. Very impressive. If you don’t mind, I’d like Jameson Price to get in touch with you. The restaurant venture’s been a slow go and you might have a thought or two on getting it moving.”
Despite the misery in Neal’s personal life, the fact that his brother wanted his advice? That was something he’d never anticipated. “Sure. I’d be happy to talk to him.”
Neal’s conversation with Tate carried him through the rest of the day and into the evening where he and Meredith were “surprised” with an early birthday party. Yeah, Happy Birthday to Me. If he avoided the half of the room where Daniel Reese stood guard over his sister, and he made sure not to look at her, then he was fine. Apparently, Meredith and her husband were still at odds because Neal didn’t miss the “puppy dog” looks they gave each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking. He might not like the guy, but Daniel Reese loved Meredith and she loved him. It was so damn obvious.
Forty minutes later, Neal found his sister in the kitchen, squeezing lemon into her water. She looked beautiful in pink, and the floral headband was an extra-nice touch. “Hey, happy early birthday.”
She glanced up, eyes bright. “Thank you. Happy birthday to you, too.” The smile she gave him wobbled, fell flat. “How are you?”
Neal moved toward her, slung an arm around her shoulder. “Better than you.” He kissed the top of her head, pulled her against him. “I might not like the guy but he loves you. I’ve been watching you two and you’re both miserable. I thought he was going to cry.”
“Stop.” She let out a soft sigh. “You’re being ridiculous.”
Yes, but if it worked to lighten her mood, he’d do it. “Then how about Daniel looks so down right now, I bet I could take him? One solid punch to the jaw, just like he gave me. What do you think?”
“You’re being silly.” Meredith sniffed. “I will not let him hurt you or say those things about you, Neal. It’s not right and I won’t have him accusing you of trying to hurt Rachel.”
“I’d do the same for you, and if I’d been around when you two had your issues, I probably would have had the same conversation with him. Don’t blame him.” The truth settled over Neal, forced him to accept what he should have known. “If I’d been more concerned with my reputation, maybe he would have seen I really am a decent guy and wished me luck with his sister.” Pause and a laugh. “But probably not.”
Another sniff, a hoarse “I don’t want to see you hurt and I certainly don’t want my husband to be the cause of it.” She reached up, touched the black-and-blue area on his jaw.
“It’s only a bruise.” But what Rachel had done? The whole not-sure-I-want-to-be-with-you routine? Yeah, that was a big deal. Neal swiped a tear from his sister’s cheek, said in a soft voice, “How about you go find that husband of yours and make things right?”
“Okay. Thank you.” She flung her hands around his middle, buried her head against his chest. “You are such a good brother.”
No, he wasn’t or he hadn’t been, but he planned to work on it. “And you’re a great sister. Happy birthday.” Neal was thinking of ways he’d start showing his sister how much he cared when the kitchen door opened. Daniel Reese stood just inside the door, looking beaten, unhappy, and morose. Yup, Neal guessed that’s what love could do to you.
The guy’s gaze darted from Meredith to Neal, back to Meredith. “Can we talk?” Those eyes were so bright maybe he was going to cry...or maybe that was just pure emotion...
“Uh-huh.”
Neal eased from his sister’s grasp, squeezed her hands, and whispered, “I love you.” And then he approached his brother-in-law and held out a hand. No jokes, no sarcasm, just an honest handshake. “Truce.”
The man looked at his outstretched hand, stared at it. Was the guy really going to reject him? Two-second hesitation and then he shook Neal’s hand, his grasp firm, gaze intent. “Sorry about the jaw.”
Neal shrugged. “No big deal. Just make things right with my sister.”
“I will. How about you do the same?”
What to say that? I tried and she’s not interested because she wants to think about it? No, he would not humiliate himself that way. The nod was the best he could do and then he headed out the kitchen door, but not before the rush of I love you’s and I’m so sorry’s.
Neal made his way to the bar, fixed a scotch. Tonight was a scotch night—maybe a three-drink scotch night. He glanced at the side of the room where Rachel had been standing. She was gone. He tossed back his scotch, poured another, and wished he were back in Virginia.
24
“Are you going to tell me what happened in Reunion Gap or should I start guessing?”
Neal pretended he didn’t hear Dominic and kept his gaze on the menu items in front of him. If they pared down the selections to include small plates, comfort food, and homestyle cooking, customers would gravitate toward this place when they wanted to forget about calorie-counting and waistlines. This restaurant would provide respite from all of the “should and should nots” and just offer good, solid food. And if they added that to—
“Guess this isn’t something you want to discuss? Or should we pretend nothing happened between the two of you? Or how about you give me the script and I’ll follow it?” A head shake, followed by a long sigh. “Look, you two need to talk. I’m not a relationship expert, but even a guy like me can see there’s something between the two of you and I’m not just talking about the physical attraction.” Dominic’s voice shifted, turned quiet. “She seems calmer when she’s around you. More focused. And you?” He rubbed his stubbled jaw, smiled. “You seemed happy. Not pretending you don’t care about anything or life is just a big party BS, but really happy.”
“Glad you’ve been observing so much, and here I thought you were busy running this place.” Neal didn’t want anyone analyzing him or his relationship with Rachel Reese. Besides, what did it matter? So he cared about her? So what? Big deal. She might even care about him if she’d ever let herself admit it, but it didn’t mean anything. Hadn’t she told him she had to think about what she wanted and where she wanted them—if there was a them—to go?
Yup, she’d burned him with that one, and they’d still been naked. If he couldn’t persuade her to give them a chance then, it wasn’t going to happen. And did he really want to go all-in with somebody who needed to think about whether she could feel the same way? Think about it? Yeah, no thanks. He’d stepped so far out of his comfort zone he almost couldn’t recognize himself, and she had to think about it?
