The Lemon Sisters Read online

  Her phone rang again and she glanced at the screen. “It’s Mindy.”

  “So answer it,” he said.

  “I can’t—she wants to know if I made Millie floss this morning and I didn’t.”

  Something about his amused snort made her hit answer on speaker. “Hey,” she said, in a false upbeat tone.

  This had Garrett’s small smile spreading, the ass.

  “Hey back,” Mindy said. “Why are you talking with your fake happy voice?”

  “I don’t have a fake happy voice.”

  “You so have a fake happy voice.”

  Garrett nodded in agreement.

  She flipped him the bird. “What’s up?” she asked her sister. “I’m super busy keeping your children alive.”

  “I’d freak about that,” Mindy said, “but when I talked to Millie, she said you were the best and that I could take my time coming home.”

  “Millie doesn’t know shit. You should most definitely not take your time coming home.”

  “You’re not swearing in front of my kids.”

  “You know what?” Brooke said. “I am. I’m swearing in front of your kids. Come home and kick me out.”

  Garrett laughed.

  “Who’s that?” Mindy asked.

  “Your annoying-as-shit neighbor,” Brooke said, glaring at him.

  “Oh good, you’re there, too,” Mindy said with obvious relief. “Listen, I was going to send Rafe over with food for the next few days. He’s the chef and owner of the new Mexican place in town. Be nice to him, Brooke, okay? He’s single and I’m going to set you two up. Don’t you think they’d be great together, Garrett?”

  Garrett shrugged. “Sure, if she likes assholes.”

  “Oh crap, really?” Mindy asked. “He’s an asshole? I guess that makes sense. He’s way too hot. Okay, no worries. How about Dennis? Remember him from high school? He runs his own landscaping company. He’d be perfect for her, right?”

  “Right,” Garrett said. “And I’m sure his fiancée wouldn’t mind at all.”

  “Seriously?” Mindy asked. “How did I miss the fiancée part? Damn. I thought if I fixed Brooke up, she’d stick.”

  “Standing right here,” Brooke said.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll think of someone. Garrett, you think, too, okay? You must know a guy suited for her.”

  Garrett, who hadn’t taken his eyes off Brooke, kept mum.

  Brooke rolled her eyes. “I’m here to help you,” she told her ungrateful sister. “So get your shit together, woman.” She disconnected and put her hands on her hips. “And you’re here why?” she asked Garrett, baffled. Irritated. Embarrassed.

  “It’s my job.”

  Right. Unlike her presence in his barn, his presence here in this house had nothing to do with her. “I thought general contractors ran their companies from behind a desk, not getting their own hands dirty building homes,” she said.

  “Being behind a desk isn’t my thing.”

  Something she knew firsthand from all those long, hot summers they’d spent climbing every mountain and rafting every river within a couple of hundred miles of here.

  “I don’t build homes, I renovate them,” he said. “I like to do the work myself, with my own hands. Fixing something old is far more satisfying to me than building new.” His phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket, eyed the screen, and blew out a breath.

  “Hey,” he answered, his voice soft and . . . sweet? “Yeah, I planned to be there, just like I promised you the other day. Sure. Tonight, then.” Disconnecting, he shoved the phone back in his pocket.

  And because she couldn’t help herself, she asked, “Wife? Girlfriend?”

  “Neither.”

  “Liar.”

  “Nope,” he said. “That’s your specialty.”

  She let him walk away because it was true. She was lying. Or at least omitting. Because even though he believed he knew everything that had happened to her, he was wrong. Not that she intended to tell him—or anyone—anything different.

  Chapter 6

  He was screwed, upside down and backward, screwed in every way but the way he wanted to be.

  It’s not you, it’s me.”

  This wasn’t the first time Garrett had heard the line, but usually he was the one saying it. He looked across the high-top table at Lisa Weston. Over the past month or so, they’d been out three times. On night one, before their drinks had even been delivered, she’d told him this wasn’t a friends-with-benefits situation because they weren’t friends, just benefits.

  Not exactly a hardship for him, since she was sexy and fun.

  On night two, she’d reminded him of their deal. In fact, her exact quote had been “You give good benefits, so let’s leave it at that.”

  Again, fine with him.

  On night three, there’d been no talking at all. Even better.

  Tonight was night four. They were in the Whiskey River Bar and Grill in downtown Wildstone—the word downtown being a bit of a deception as the main strip was two streets wide and two blocks long. And because Whiskey River was the only bar in town, it was packed. But Lisa wasn’t seated with him. She stood tableside wearing an apron, the pockets stuffed with tips and an order pad. She worked as a waitress in the restaurant part of the bar and was on a break.

  From everything, apparently, including him.

  “Actually,” she said. “I take that back. It is you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, Man of Mystery and Very Few Words.” She shook her head, sighed, and put her hand over his. “Look, you’re great, okay? And better yet, you’re not only employed, you’re successful, and your work’s hugely sought-after. And you look sexy as hell in a tool belt.”

  “I’ll add that to my résumé,” he said dryly. “But if I’m all that, what’s the problem?”

  Her smile was just a little sad as she sat and looked at him. “We go out, we sleep together, and after, you get up and go home and I don’t hear from you for days or even a week, unless I contact you.”

  All true, although when she said it out loud like that, it made him sound like an asshole. “You made it clear you didn’t want to get serious,” he said.

  She met his gaze. “I lied.”

  He hadn’t expected that. She’d told him they weren’t going to be a thing, and he’d taken her at her word without putting much thought into it. But he could see by her expression that he’d hurt her. Not what he’d intended.

  “I want love,” she said.

  Hell. Okay, yeah, they had a problem. He wanted a family—actually, he wanted that quite badly. But to get there, he had to fall in love. Love hadn’t exactly worked out for him. In fact, love had led to a whole lot of loss. His mom. Ann. And then there were the people who’d chosen to walk away from him, like his dad. And Brooke. And in a way, being walked away from had been even worse, and Brooke being back in town had stirred all that up inside him again. “Lisa—”

  “Don’t panic,” she said. “I get that this is my fault. I wanted you, and I thought I could sneak my way into your heart.” She paused, clearly waiting for a response.

  He didn’t have one, at least not one she’d like. His heart was guarded. The last person he’d let “sneak” in was Brooke. He could admit he’d been half in love with her from the day he met her. Her adventurous spirit had drawn him in, but what had held him spellbound was her innate sweetness, proving quite the contrast to her bravado. Up until that point, he hadn’t had much sweetness in his life, and no one had asked so little of him and rewarded him so much for what he’d given.

  Lisa shook her head. “It was a mistake—my mistake, because you, Garrett Montgomery, are emotionally deficient.”

  He thought about that on the drive home. He opened up to people when it suited him. Didn’t he? He strained to remember the last time he’d done so, but couldn’t.

  Huh.

  He pulled into Ann’s driveway. No, his driveway, he corrected himself. Ann had been struggling financially,