Page 23 of Wildflower and Whiskey
Luc leaned against the counter, arms crossed, studying me with the kind of stubborn patience only brothers could manage. “Maybe you should let Phoenix decide that, instead of assuming for him.”
I shook my head, desperate to push the conversation elsewhere. “We’re not talking about this anymore. You should go find Izzy. I need to unpack my clothes and set everything up for Braden.”
He sighed but didn’t argue, which told me he knew I was at my breaking point. Still, as he moved toward the door, his fingers brushed the wildflowers once more, like he was leaving me with a reminder.
When the loft finally went quiet, I dropped into one of the sleek new chairs and buried my face in my hands.
Phoenix Thorne was not for me.
So why did it feel like he was everywhere?
CHAPTER 13
Phoenix
I should’ve been checking invoices, but instead I found myself pacing the length of my kitchen like a caged animal. The loft was above my garage. It was the only part of my house that had a second floor. It was a part of my house and now she was living here with her son. I saw Izzy bring him over. I watched Elyna as she opened the door and smiled, her arms open with love and affection. I hated how I wanted to be the person to make her smile. I told myself I didn’t care. I’d provided her with a roof over her head and that was the end of it. But that was a blatant lie.
The truth? That loft hadn’t been built with her in mind. I’d wanted a clean space for guests, a place that felt modern and simple with cream cabinets, wood counters, new furniture, a king bed. Nothing sentimental, just practical. I had my house designed in an L-shape with my bungalow on the long part of the L and my garage perpendicular to it. The way I had the loft built with all those windows allowed me to see everything that was going on inside. I was now torturing myself with Elyna there because I could see her moving things in, setting Braden’s playpen in the corner, the place suddenly looked like it had beenwaiting for her all along. Like somehow the loft fit her, or maybe she fit it. And that thought did things to me I didn’t even want to unpack.
I grabbed a beer from the fridge, popped the cap, and leaned against the counter. The cold glass bit into my palm, but it wasn’t enough to cool me off.
Every interaction with her felt like a damn war. Both of us too damn stubborn to give an inch. It shouldn’t get to me the way it did, but it did. Because underneath her sharp comebacks and narrowed eyes was a woman carrying too much weight and refusing to bend. And for reasons I couldn’t shake, I wanted to be the one to shoulder some of it for her.
But she wouldn’t let me.
So I stayed in my kitchen because sitting on my porch watching her would be pathetic. Yet, I still felt like some kind of lovesick fool because it didn’t feel like I handed over four walls and a roof, it felt like I handed over a piece of me, and it was not something I intended to do, ever.
Hours slipped by, the light sky fading to a dusky blue. I was halfway through my second beer, still pacing the kitchen like a man without a tether, when the back door creaked open.
“You look like a caged animal.”
Cooper’s voice cut through the quiet, and I turned to see him stroll in, still in his work shirt from the brewery, sleeves rolled up, smelling faintly of whiskey and lemon cleaner. He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching me like I was some puzzle he was about to solve.
“You checking invoices?” he asked.
I barked out a laugh. “I should be, but nah.”
His gaze slid toward the windows above the garage. Even in the dim light, I knew he could see what I’d been avoiding, Elyna’s silhouette moving around the loft, the space looking lived in already.
“Ah, I see what’s going on here,” he said, dragging it out, like everything suddenly made sense. “So that’s what’s eating you alive.”
“Don’t start,” I warned, tipping the beer to my lips.
Cooper smirked. “You want my advice?”
“No,” I deadpanned.
“You’re getting it anyway.” He stepped into the kitchen, plucking an unopened beer off the counter, cracking it open like he owned the place. “Go up there. Take her some food. Welcome her properly. You might not realize it, but she’s not just moving into the loft, she’s moving into your life, whether you like it or not.”
I set my bottle down harder than I meant to. “You don’t get it. We have history, Coop. And it isn’t good. Elyna Chabot wasn’t kind in high school.”
His brows rose, his expression pitying. “And you were? Don’t rewrite the past, man. After your mom left, you went inside yourself and never really came back out. When we met after high school, you were a shutdown introvert who didn’t speak very much. The only reason you got laid on occasion was because you’re a handsome bloke.” He chuckled deep and hearty. Leave it to Coop to say it like it was.
His words stung but they rang true.
Cooper leaned on the counter, leveling me with a steady look. “You think you’re protecting yourself by keeping that wall up. But I see the way you watch her. Hell, anyone with eyes can see it. You’re already in too deep, whether you admit it or not.”
I rubbed a hand over my face, the weight of his words pressing down. Cooper leaned forward, elbows on the counter, eyes steady. “You think this is about school? About how she treated you back then? Don’t be daft. You were teenagers. Kids are all about rubbish in one way or another.”
