Page 11 of A False Start
“Ah, come on, Nadi. Don’t be a stick in the mud. You’re only young once.”
My arms fold across my chest. The problem is, I don’t feel that young after the shit I’ve lived through.“I like to start my week well-rested. If that’s what you’d like to do, I won’t stop you. I can hitch a ride back to the ranch with someone else.”
He snorts and rolls his eyes like I’m being ridiculous. “We’ll see. I’ve got a couple of hours to loosen you back up again.”
I turn my head, glance out the window, and say nothing. What I really want to say is,more like I only have to endure you for a couple more hours.But I’ve worked hard at taming that spark inside me, the one that lights easily and races across everything I touch. My temper can be a wildfire, and I hate to think where that aspect of me comes from, so I tamp it down.
We pull through the gates at Cascade Acres, and I direct him up to the house, all river rock and exposed lumber. It’s quite something, perched up on the hill overlooking the lake. Stefan sprinkled our mom’s ashes in that lake. I still don’t quite know how to feel about that.
Every Sunday, our friend group takes turns hosting dinner. I look forward to it every week. Our get-togethers have that family vibe I’ve dreamed about my entire life. The one that was not present with my much older brother gone and two alcoholic parents who fought non-stop. With a sperm donor who was heavy with his fists, something I escaped less and less the mouthier I got, the warm fuzzy feelings that most people attach to their childhood are foreign to me.
It’s been years since anyone has hit me. But I can still feel the burn across my cheek and the sting of tears across the bridge of my nose. I still have nightmares about cowering at his feet while he screams at me with my mother drunk and passed out on a couch somewhere.
I push those memories away once Tommy has parked and hop out without waiting for him. I just want to get into the safe haven that is my brother’s house, to be surrounded by all the people I’ve come to love and trust. To get away from the guy who calls meNadilike he knows me well enough to use a shitty nickname.
I suck in a deep breath as my hand wraps around the front door handle.I’m being too hard on him. Tommy is sweet. Relaxed. He will be good for me. I just need to lighten up and act my age.
His warm palm lands on my shoulder and his friendly surfer-boy grin takes over his heart-shaped face. “Let’s go, babe.”
Babe.
I absently think to myself that Tommy is like a Golden Retriever. Cute and friendly, but just a bit dumb. Or a little too eager to please. But I stomp on those thoughts—it’s unfair to a Golden Retriever now that I think about it—and step into the house.
Music and laughter filter in from the open concept kitchen, echoing down the hall. These sounds in a house still make me do a double take. Four years ago, I would have never heard these sounds.
“Hi!” I call out as I toe off my shoes and head down the hallway toward everyone. “We’re here.”
“Come on in, sweetie.” Mira pops around the corner with a big bell of red wine in hand. “Your brother is cooking up a storm in here. I hope you’re hungr—”
Her head quirks as she takes in Tommy standing behind me. “You brought someone.”
“Yeah,” I worry at my bottom lip, realizing I should have told them before now. “Sorry. I hope that’s okay.”
Her full lips curl up as she studies Tommy. “Of course, of course.” She steps forward and holds her hand out to my date. “Hi, I’m Mira.”
“Tommy.” Even his voice sounds like he’s smiling as he claps his broad palm into hers. “Nice to meet you.”
She nods, but her head tilts, and her dark eyes dart between us. I love Mira. I love how she loves my brother. But goddamn, she is impossible to get a read on sometimes. “Come on in. I’ll introduce you to everyone.” Then she swaggers back through the wood beam archway, waving us in over her shoulder.
“Nadia is here,” she announces to the room as she slides herself onto one of the stools at the oversized island. “And she brought a date.” My cheeks heat, and I momentarily inspect the ceiling, wishing the floor would swallow me up.This was my worst idea ever.“Everyone, meet Tommy.”
Tommy steps up beside me with a wave and a breezy, “Hey, Gang.”
It’s a dopey thing to say to a bunch of people you’ve never met, but I can’t pay attention to Tommy right now because I feel like there’s a collar around my neck, and someone just gave it a good, hard tug. I give myself over to that sensation, meeting the stony gaze of Griffin Sinclaire. He’s sitting at the dinner table, dark eyes drilling into me like he could grind me into dust if he stares hard enough.
Everyone is staring at Tommy and me, but I can’t take my eyes off Griffin. No hat, hair slicked back, looking fucking delicious. I’m immediately plunged back into our encounter in the bathroom.
Will that night never fade?
It’s then that I notice Silas, my nephew, is sitting beside him coloring. In fact, so is Griffin. His huge hand holds a small purple crayon while they draw an underwater scene on a plain sheet of paper together. Silas is bent over the page like some sort of prodigy. Tiny, chubby hand fisted around a blue crayon, so small next to the big mountain man seated beside him.
He must notice that Griffin has stopped coloring because his elbow juts out, nudging the inked arm beside him. “More fish,” he says simply, in his sugary baby voice. “Do a biiiig fish.”
It’s then that Griffin drops my gaze and leans into the little boy next to him and hits him with a soft, playful sort of smile. One that jabs me right in the ovaries. “Yes, boss,” he says, with more animation than I’ve ever heard him use. “How big? Shark big?”
Silas claps, grinning up at the man who has no business looking this good. No business looking this sweet. It’s almost more than I can take.
I plaster a smile on my face and turn away before I turn into a total puddle, focusing my attention back over on the rest of my friends spread throughout the living space. Billie, Violet, and Mira sitting at the island, Hank and Trixie playing with Cole and Violet’s two little girls in the adjoined living room, and Cole and Vaughn sitting with Griff at the table. Everyone acts like family, although the relations are a little convoluted by marriage, by blood, and by choice. Either way, it’s a tight-knit group and what we all have in common is Gold Rush Ranch.
