The Lemon Sisters Read online

  “There’s not.” Brooke forced a smile. “Believe me, we tried. Now give me a hug good-bye.”

  “No.” Mindy shook her head. “You’re not hugging me good-bye, because you’re not leaving. It makes no sense. You’re just afraid to put down roots, but you know what? You’ve never even given putting down roots a chance! And you know what else? My friend at the county offices said they were so excited about you and your work for them that they’re wanting more. A lot more.”

  Brooke knew this—they’d contacted her as well.

  “Are you really just going to walk away from the job?” Mindy asked.

  “They knew I was temporary.”

  “Your entire life’s temporary!”

  Brooke took Mindy’s hand and gently squeezed. “I’ve been in touch with them. They know I’m going. They’ve got all the work I’ve done up to this point.”

  “Oh my God, this is all so wrong! You belong here. With us.” Mindy whirled to Linc. “Tell her.”

  “She’s a big girl, babe. She makes her own decisions. We just back them.”

  Mindy huffed out a breath. “Well, if you’re going to be reasonable.” Her eyes filled with tears as she yanked Brooke in for a hard hug. A strangling hug.

  “Too tight,” Brooke gasped out dramatically. “Seriously, Min. Can’t. Breathe.” When Mindy didn’t let go, Brooke sighed and squeezed her back. “Don’t.” She closed her eyes. “Please don’t make this harder than it already is.”

  “But last time you left, you didn’t come back for years!”

  “I’ll come back, Min, I promise,” she heard herself say. “Besides, I love your kids.”

  “Really?”

  Brooke’s throat burned. “Of course I do. I love them like they’re my own.” And look at that, saying so didn’t almost kill her like it would’ve a couple of weeks ago.

  Mindy lifted her head, her drenched eyes meeting Brooke’s, clearly understanding exactly how much this statement had cost her.

  “We love you, too, Auntie Bee,” Princess Millie said as she skipped into the room in a sunshine-yellow dress with a smiley-face emoji on the front and a kissy-face one on the back. Her tights were black and her high-top sneakers matched her dress. So did her beanie.

  “Baby, you’re going to melt at camp,” Linc said. “It’s going to be a hot one. Pick a different outfit.”

  “But Mommy didn’t get me the one I wanted to wear. If she had, I’d be nice and cool.”

  “What did we say about manipulating and passive-aggressiveness?” Linc asked.

  Millie huffed out a sigh. “That it’s unbecoming.” She looked at the tears on her mom’s and Brooke’s faces. “Did you tell Auntie Brooke about the tooth fairy and Santa Claus, too, Mommy?”

  Just then Maddox and Mason tumbled into the room mid–sword fight, their weapons of choice being golf clubs.

  Linc expertly disarmed his boys. “No murder or mayhem in the house,” he said mildly. “Now give Auntie Bee kisses goodbye. She’s going home, but she’ll be back.” He met Brooke’s gaze. “She promised.”

  The kids all flew at her, and Brooke went to her knees to gather them in. Millie smelled like strawberries and rainbows. The boys smelled like fresh-cut grass, the outdoors, and, in Maddox’s case, like maybe he had to go to the bathroom very soon. She hugged them tight until they began to make the same dramatic noises she’d made when Mindy had hugged her too tight. God, she loved these little soul-suckers with all her heart. “I’ll be back,” she whispered, her throat raw.

  “Will you bring ice cream?” Mason asked.

  “Whatever you want,” she managed.

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.” Listen to her. Handing out promises left and right, and she knew with all her heart that she’d never break a single one of them.

  Chapter 25

  “Good to know the asshole trait flows down.”

  Garrett woke up with a huge weight on his chest. He lay there, eyes closed, knowing exactly what it was. While he knew he wasn’t responsible for his mom dying young or his dad being in and out of jail and not available to parent, and then the string of foster homes . . . he was responsible for how he’d let it all affect him.

  He knew he tended to skate through life. Oh, he enjoyed himself. He did. He loved renovating, so it’d never even felt like a job. He loved being outdoors and adventure seeking. He loved coaching and mentoring kids.

  And all those things came easy to him.

  The things that didn’t come easy? He just didn’t do. Like forging relationships that required any depth, at least outside of his tribe—Linc, Mindy, and, once upon a time, Brooke. And let’s be honest: They’d chosen him, simply collecting him and claiming him with an ease he’d never seen before. He hadn’t had to do a thing.

  When his dad had showed up on his doorstep looking for forgiveness and a new start, it’d seemed insurmountably hard, so what had he done? He’d pulled his usual I-don’t-need-anyone bullshit so that eventually his dad would walk away again. And he had.

  That was on Garrett.

  When Brooke had been skittish and nervous, even panicked, about coming back into his life, had he given her the patience and love that she’d needed? No. He’d concentrated on his own issues, and when things had started to get too deep and she’d gotten scared and turned tail and run, he’d let her go.

  He hated what that said about him. Because of his fears and hang-ups, the best thing to ever happen to him had walked away.

  For a second time.

  He’d tried telling himself that his life had gone back to basics, that’s all. His dad was gone, and that was normal. Brooke was gone, and that was normal, too. He was on his own again, not worrying about complicated relationships and how to make them all work. It was how he’d lived his entire life. It worked for him.

  And if his chest ached with regrets and a sense of loneliness he hadn’t expected, he told himself it would pass.

  Everything passed, especially people.

  That’s what he’d always believed. But something had changed deep inside him. He was done with accepting these things without a fight.

  It was time to go after what he wanted.

  So, with that decided and all, why did he still feel like an elephant was sitting on his chest? He opened his eyes and figured it out. Not an elephant. Just three fat cats. He shifted and dumped them onto the mattress, and six narrowed eyes leveled him with varying degrees of scorn, annoyance, and temper. “Please feel free to sleep literally anywhere else,” he said, and grabbed some clothes.

  Brooke’s car was gone, which sucked and made his stomach feel hollow. When his phone rang, he snatched at it, hoping it was her.

  His luck wasn’t that good. It was Mark Capriotti. “I just got in,” Mark said. “And there’s a note here from our overnight desk clerk. There was a sighting of your dad at the convenience store, but it’s from yesterday, man.”

  “Better than nothing. And thanks.” Garrett grabbed his keys and headed out. He knew his dad could be anywhere by now, but he’d start at the store.

  “Seen my dad lately?” he asked Ace, who was behind the counter.

  “You’ve asked me that just about every day for over a week now.”

  “Which isn’t an answer,” Garrett noted.

  Ace blew out a breath and hesitated, looking guilty as hell.

  Dammit. “Look, it’s important. I wouldn’t ask you to betray a confidence otherwise.”

  “Dude, I made a promise.”

  “He’s sick,” Garrett said. “Did he tell you that?”

  From Ace’s expression, it was clear he hadn’t known. “He told me he refused to upend your life, not ever again.”

  Garrett absorbed the blow of that. “He didn’t upend my life. I managed that all on my own. I owe him an apology and a real effort.”

  Ace looked at him for a long moment. “He’s at the campground. In a gray tent he . . . appropriated.”

  “I’ve been there every damn day,” Garrett