Page 60 of Sweet Passions at Bayside
“I guess he mentioned that we’re dating?”Dating?She never used that word when referencing a guy with any of her brothers before.Going out with, sure.Hooking up with, yup.Dating?Nope. In their family, the word was rarely spoken. They were the broken ones, after all. Or so she used to think.
“Dating?” Austin cleared his throat. “No.”
Uh-oh.She was equally surprised and touched that her possessive boyfriend hadn’t staked claim and had left it up to her to reveal their relationship to her family. Although she could think of a hundred better ways than what she’d just done. Emery drew in a deep, calming breath that did not calm her nerves one iota, and explained, as best she could, how she hadn’t realized what was developing between them until recently. She didn’t tell him she had stayed with Dean when she’d first arrived. Why add fuel to the fire?
“You expect me to believe that for all this time you had no clue? Come on, pistol. You’re no dummy.”
Her heart squeezed at the endearment he’d called her since she was thirteen and their father had taken them to the shooting range. They’d grown up on a rural farm, and her father had insisted they all know how to defend their property. She’d been a better shot than all three of her brothers even though she hated firearms.
“I know, it’s weird,” she admitted. “But I swear, I blocked out my feelings or something. Austin, I know I’ve kept some things from you in the past, but I’ve never been happier.”
“You mean like keepingeverythingfrom me since you met Viking?”
She thought about that. Yeah, she had shared more with Austin before she and Dean began talking every night. “See? I hadn’t even put that together in my head until just now.”
“C’mon, pistol. I could see it in your eyes at Easter. It took me a while to figure out that was why you broke up with your old boss, which, by the way, you could have told me and saved me a big showdown with the guy. The poor guy only wanted you to go out with him more and to commit to only seeing him. Even though that was never going to happen, I could have approached him in a less threatening way.”
She winced. “Sorry?”
“Geez, P. How could younotknow?”
“What? There was nothingtoknow at that point.” At least she hadn’t realized it at the time.
Austin was silent, which meant he was deciding how to react.
“Aus?” When he said nothing, Emery knew he was being extra careful. “He’s more like you than me, if that helps. He’s thoughtful and protective. He’s not going to hurt me. I know that’s what you’re worried about, but he’s different from anyone I’ve ever known. I can feel how much he cares for me. I’m happy we’re dating.”
“You used theDword.”
“Yeah. Scary, right? It just came out. But like I said, this feels like nothing ever has. It feels real, and Iwantit to be real.”
He was quiet for a long moment. And then he said, “What if something goes wrong? You’ve got no one there.”
“I have Desiree,” she said. “And I’m perfectly capable of handling myself. I know you like to think of me as your angelic sister who doesn’t go out with guys.”
He laughed. “Hardly. But theDword? That takes guts, P.”
“I know, but with Dean it doesn’t feel like it does.”
“So weird. I hate you being that far away. And we haven’t met Viking in person. Maybe I need to take a weekend trip to the Cape.”
She pulled into the facility parking lot, smiling. “Austin…”
“I’m just pulling your leg.Sort of.He seems like a good guy, and if he’s not,thenI’ll break his legs.”
They joked about who would break whose legs, and he filled her in on her brothers’ latest shenanigans, which included a midnight rodeo with the usual rowdy crowd. She had a pang of longing for the life she’d left behind and the friends who did crazy things at all hours. But even as the thought hit her, she knew that somehow she’d grown up in the days since she’d left. Maybe it was traveling so far on her own and knowing she had no family here to fall back on, or perhaps it was the idea that now her nights were spent in the arms of a man who wasn’t interested in being wild and crazy, but being stable and loving. No man had ever made herwantto climb into his bed and just be held. Until Dean.
She tried to push those thoughts to the side, but they refused to be contained as she told Austin about the fancy dinner they were going to in a few weeks and promised to text him pictures—and to tell Dean to behave himself. She’d crossed her fingers on that last part.
As she headed inside with her yoga bag and mats for her first appointment with Rose, the empty spot she’d felt at being so far away from her brothers seemed a little fuller. And having admitted to Austin that she wasdatingDean was proof that she was indeed stepping into a new phase in her life.
EMERY HAD LEARNED from Chloe that the assisted living facility had several wings, designated by the level of care the residents needed. The wings ranged from Helper’s Hand, which meant someone was always a call away, to Live-in Assistance, for those who had hired full-time, live-in care providers, to the Nursing Care and Hospice wings. Rose lived in the Helper’s Hand area. Emery squared her shoulders and knocked on the door, her friendliest smile in place. When a tall, broad, and intimidatingly stern, gray-haired man answered the door wearing an expensive, perfectly tailored suit and a pinched expression, she was thrown a little off her game. His cold blue eyes swept over her tank top and yoga pants with a look of irritation.
“Yes?” he snapped.
“Hi…I’m Emery Andrews. I have an appointment with Rose.”
“Oh, yes! Come in, sweetheart,” Rose called out from behind the stoic door blocker. Her wheelchair appeared beside him and she pushed at his hip. “Step aside, will you? Let the girl in. Where are your manners?”
