Page 33 of Second Chance Wedding
“It’s great to hear your voice, man. See you November tenth.”
The ball was only a week away. And even though it was the last thing he felt like doing at the moment, Cole knew he’d better figure out a date. Maybe his kid sister, Isla? That would simplify things.
“Yo! You working today?” Brooks asked.
Cole looked up, only then realizing that during the course of the conversation he’d walked back to the station and rental building without conscious thought. It’s a wonder he hadn’t walked out in front of traffic. “Going in to check on Ben.”
“He’s hitting the bathroom and on his way out to come with me. If you’re free, I could use a hand. Got a tow call, and it sounds like a doozy.” Brooks’s gaze narrowed, and he canted his head to one side. “Are you okay? Who were you talking to? Was it something about the limo?”
Cole pocketed the phone and ran his fingers through his hair. “No, a buddy of mine. Wants me to meet up at the corps ball being held here in town.”
Brooks’s grin widened.
“What?”
“You gonna ask the boy’s mom?”
Cole blinked. He didn’t really want to go and had thought of asking Isla because he wasn’t currently dating, but now that Brooks mentioned Analise…
Would she say yes?
Cole realized he’d said the words aloud when Brooks responded.
“Who knows?” Brooks said. “But you could always say it’s part of the payback plan.”
Cole glared at his grinning brother. “She isn’t for hire like that.”
“Didn’t say that. Just said if she says no, there’s your counteroffer.”
Before Cole could respond, Ben exited the building and ended the conversation. The three of them piled into the huge tow truck for the trip to the far end of the island.
“So, Ben, you like any of your mom’s boyfriends?” Brooks asked almost as soon as they were on the road.
Cole felt Ben tense beside him.
“She doesn’t have boyfriends.”
“Maybe not right now, but what about before?” Brooks asked.
Cole wanted to tell Brooks to lay off, but he turned his attention to the scenery outside the passenger window and let his brother grill Ben.
“She doesn’t date. She just works all the time.”
“Come on, Ben. She can’t workallthe time. What about your dad?”
“What about him?” Ben shot back.
“What’d he have to say about you taking the limo? Did he and your mom have words when he found out?”
“I’ve never met him.”
Silence filled the cab, and Cole glanced over Ben’s head to see Brooks gripping the wheel like he wanted to rip it off the base.
Maybe it was losing their parents so young, but none of them took parents or parental figures for granted.
Aunt Rose had given up her life and moved in with them after the car accident that had killed her sister and brother-in-law, and she and Alec, along with Brooks and Cole as the oldest of the Blackwell siblings, worked hard to keep the family of nine kids together under one roof.
It hadn’t been easy, but to this day, they were close. Grief and death did that to families when it didn’t have the opposite effect of tearing them apart.
