Come Together by Marie Force
Chapter Twelve
“You can victimize yourself by
wallowing around in your own past."
—Wayne Dyer
Noah hung his coat in the mudroom and sat on the bench to untie his boots. He wanted to follow Brianna home and spend the night with her, but she was right that his family would be all over him if he did that. The Colemans were awfully good at minding each other’s business, especially when they were sleeping under the same roof.
He went into the kitchen, where Nessa was pouring herself a glass of wine.
“She seems nice,” Nessa said.
“Who?” He knew who she meant but wasn’t going to make it easy for his sister to pry into his business.
“You know who. Don’t be obtuse, Noah. Brianna seems very nice.”
“She is.”
“Didn’t I hear somewhere that you don’t get along with her?”
“We’ve had our challenges at work, but it’s no big deal.”
“Hmmm.”
“What do you want to say, Nessa?”
“Just that I’m glad to see you smiling again, brother. It’s been too long. If your architect friend is making you smile, then I like her.”
Sarah came shuffling into the kitchen, sliding over the floor in her socks and coming to a stop right next to him. “Did you get the scoop on lasagna lady?” she asked Nessa.
“There’s no scoop to get,” Noah told his youngest sister. “We’re friends, and that’s it.”
“Really?” Sarah asked. “Because I picked up on a vibe.”
“What vibe?”
“The I-want-to-rip-your-clothes-off kind of vibe.”
Noah rolled his eyes, unnerved by his sister’s insight. “You picked that up while we were eating lasagna with her?”
“Yep.”
“I sorta picked up the same thing,” Nessa said. “There were all these veiled looks and yearning.”
“Yes!” Sarah said. “Exactly.”
“You people are insane. I’m going to bed. Help yourself to whatever you need.”
Sarah grabbed his arm. “Noah, wait. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to run you out. I just wanted to say that it’s nice to see you having fun again. We’ve all been worried about you.”
“What she said.” Nessa used her thumb to point to Sarah. “We don’t know what happened a few years ago, and we don’t need to know. We’re just thankful to see you coming back to life.”
Moved by their sweetness, he kissed them both on the forehead and left them to ponder the status of his private life without him there to hear it. He said good night to Ally and Henry in the living room and went upstairs to shower. One of his siblings had built up the fire in the woodstove, so he didn’t have to worry about that for once.
Standing under the hot water, he thought about kissing Brianna in the cold and how much he wished she could’ve stayed with him tonight.
After how crazy she’d made him at work for months, it was amazing how one wild night had changed everything between them. Now all he could think about was how long he had to wait to be alone with her again.
After his shower, he got dressed in a long-sleeved thermal T-shirt and flannel pajama pants. He got in bed and reached for the bedside phone to call the number she’d given him earlier.
“Didn’t I just leave you?” she asked, sounding as if she’d run for the phone.
“Just making sure you didn’t encounter Fred the moose on the way home.”
“No moose sightings, and no near misses on icy roads either.”
“That’s good news.”
“It’s nice of you to check on me.”
“You can’t be too careful driving in the mountains, especially in the winter.”
“It’s kind of scary to know someone like your sister, who grew up here, can end up off the road.”
“She probably hit ice. That’s the one thing you can’t learn how to control, no matter how many winters you spend in Vermont.”
“That’s terrifying.”
“Thankfully, it doesn’t happen all that often.” He didn’t think she needed to know how many times his firefighter-paramedic cousins rescued people in similar crashes each year. “You just have to be careful and take it slow.”
“I can do that. I enjoyed meeting your family.”
“That’s not even all of them. You haven’t met Gray, Izzy or Jackson, or Gray’s fiancée, Emma, and her daughter, Simone.”
“That’s a lot of siblings. Your brother is getting a ready-made family when he gets married, huh?”
“Yeah, but he’s crazy about Simone. Her father has never been in her life, so they’re both enjoying having the other one around. They’re very cute together. In fact, she’s the one who suggested he ask out her mother.”
“That’s adorable! How old is she?”
“Ten or eleven. I forget, and she’s very cute. They met at my cousin Hunter’s wedding, and from what Gray told me, Simone gave him a push in her mother’s direction, not that he needed much of a push. He was already intrigued by her. Emma’s sister, Lucy, is married to my cousin Colton. And Ray is Emma and Lucy’s dad.”
“I’m going to need a chart that shows how everyone is related.”
“I can do that for you.” He tugged the quilt up. “I wish you hadn’t left.”
“It’s probably for the best. We don’t want things to get…”
“What?”
“Complicated. While we’re working together.”
“Complicated happened a couple of nights ago.”
“That was a fun night, and I’m glad it happened, but I just… I don’t know, Noah. I’m still such a mess over everything with my ex. I don’t trust myself or my judgment.”
“You can’t let him do that to you. There’s nothing wrong with your judgment. He was the problem. You know that.”
“I do, but I ignored some things that I now see should’ve been red flags. I was so in love with being in love that I let it make me stupid.”
“You’re wiser now. You’d never make those mistakes again, and besides, I’m kind of a what-you-see-is-what-you-get sort of guy. I’m not big on games or drama or nonsense.”
“Are you trying to talk me into something more than a one-night stand?”
“Maybe.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Maybe.”
“Noah!” she said, laughing. “Quit with the one-word answers.”
“Sorry.” He chuckled at her outrage. “I’m not sure what I want. I just know I had more fun with you the other night than I’ve had with anyone in years, and I didn’t want you to leave earlier. Beyond that, I don’t know.”
“I had fun, too,” she said softly. “You made me feel good about myself, which is a pretty big deal after feeling like shit for a year.”
“You shouldn’t let anyone make you feel like shit, Bri. You’re a smart, beautiful, accomplished woman who doesn’t have to take any crap from anyone.”
“Even you?”
He could hear the smile in her voice. “Especially me. But not from anyone, least of all a man who didn’t deserve you.”
“He didn’t. I loved him so much. So, so much. And the whole thing was just a big game to him. He never loved me at all, because the only one he’s capable of loving is himself.”
“Can you see how there’s nothing you could’ve done to change the outcome with him?”
“Yeah, I can with hindsight, but I still feel like a fool for being so easily taken for a ride.”
“Does that mean you’re never again going to take a chance with someone else?”
“No, it doesn’t mean that. It just means I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet.”
“Fair enough.” For someone who’d made it his mission to remain uninvolved with other people, Noah was far more disappointed than he ought to have been. “Believe it or not, I get it.”
“I’m sorry, Noah.”
“Don’t be. Nothing says we can’t be friends as well as colleagues.”
“I’d like very much to be your friend.”
“Consider it done. Get some sleep.”
“You, too.”
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
“See you then.”
Noah pressed the button to end the call and put the phone back on the bedside charger. He shut off the light and settled into bed. He stared up at the ceiling for a long time, processing their conversation and the overwhelming disappointment. She didn’t want anything more than a friendship and working relationship with him, which was a huge bummer.
She’d ignited something in him that he’d assumed died forever when his marriage ended, and he’d liked it.
However, she wasn’t ready for anything more than friendship, and he had to respect her wishes.
Even if it totally sucked.
* * *
Pain wasIzzy’s constant companion. They’d given her a morphine pump that she could use whenever it got bad, but she could only have so much. The medicine dulled the pain but didn’t eradicate it, which made it hard to sleep. She’d sent her mother home to rest, but now that she was facing a sleepless, painful night, she wished she hadn’t done that.
She also wished the room had a TV or something she could do to while away the time until morning, but the ICU room had nothing but a bed, chair and tons of beeping equipment that could drive a sane person crazy.
How in the heck had she ended up in the ICU in the first place? One minute, she was driving home from St. Johnsbury, and the next, she was in an ambulance, or that’s how it had seemed to her. She had no memory of the accident itself, which was a blessing.
She pressed the morphine button, hoping enough time had elapsed to allow her another dose, but the machine beeped to let her know that wasn’t the case.
Gritting her teeth, she tried to find a more comfortable position in the bed and instantly regretted the movement.
“Izzy.”
The familiar voice had her turning toward the door and wondering if she was hallucinating from all the meds she was on. Was that Cabot? In her hospital room? And was he coming toward her with concern and affection and dismay in his expression?
“Cabot.”
“I got here as soon as I could. I was in New Jersey when Linc and Mia called me.” He came to her bedside, took hold of the hand on her uninjured arm and kissed the back of it, being careful to avoid the IV needle. With his other hand, he swept the hair back from her face. “You gave us such a scare, my sweet girl.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m just so glad you’re okay, or that you will be.”
“Hurts.”
“I’m sure it does. Can’t they give you anything for that?”
She held up the morphine pump. “I’m maxed out for now.”
“What can I do for you?”
Before she could answer that question, a nurse came into the room. “I’m sorry, sir, but visiting hours are over.”
“I drove six hours to see her,” Cabot said.
“Please let him stay. I’m wide awake and in pain. I could use the company.”
“I won’t be any trouble,” Cabot said with the same charming smile that had turned Izzy’s head at her cousin Wade’s wedding.
Like her, the nurse was powerless to resist him. “I want her to rest.”
“She will. I promise.”
“He’s a charmer, this one, isn’t he?” the nurse asked Izzy.
“You have no idea.” Izzy had been thoroughly charmed by him at the wedding and had hoped something more might come of their flirtation, but to her disappointment, she hadn’t heard from him in weeks.
“I’m going to check in with the doctor about your pain management,” the nurse said. “I’ll be back shortly.”
“Thank you,” Izzy said.
Cabot walked around her bed and sat in the chair her mother had occupied all day. “Phew, I’m glad she let me stay.”
“I am, too, but I have to admit I’m surprised you’re here. I didn’t think you were, you know, interested in me.” The medication had loosened her lips and her inhibitions. Normally, she’d never say such a thing to a man. She liked to let them chase her, not the other way around.
“I’m interested in you, Izzy, even if I’ve done a poor job of showing you that.”
“I thought I might hear from you after the last time we saw each other.” In October, she’d been in Boston to shoot a friend’s wedding and had called to invite him to dinner. They’d had a wonderful evening that had ended in him walking her back to her hotel and leaving her with a chaste kiss on the cheek. She hadn’t heard from him since.
“I’d planned to call you. I thought of you every day. I’m just…”
“What, Cabot? I hope you know you can talk to me about anything.” They’d had the best conversations at the wedding and the night they had dinner in Boston. That’d been the thing she liked best about him, how they could talk for hours about anything and everything and never run out of things they needed to tell each other.
“I do know that, and I appreciate it so much. More than you could ever know.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“It’s me.”
Izzy rolled her eyes. “If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard a guy say, ‘it’s not you, it’s me.’”
His brows lifted in surprise. “Men say that to you?”
“More often than you’d think. I’m starting to believe it might be me.”
“It’s not you. You’re… You’re beautiful and funny and talented and sweet and so sexy, you make my heart beat fast.”
“I do?”
He reached for her hand and placed it on his chest. “You do.”
She could feel the fast gallop of his heart under her palm. “Even when I look like I got hit by a truck?”
“Even then, and PS, you don’t look like you got hit by a truck.”
“You’re silly. I look terrible.”
He shook his head. “You look beautiful, as always.”
“All this flattery could go to a girl’s head. She might start to get ideas about the man who says such lovely things to her.” Funny how the pain had subsided since he arrived and gave her something else to think about.
“She probably shouldn’t do that,” he said, his smile dimming. “He’s kind of a mess underneath it all.”
“He is not.”
“He is. You see, once upon a time, he married a woman he loved with all his heart. They had a beautiful little girl who was the best thing to ever happen to him. And then one day, he came home to find them gone. He never saw either of them again until he finally found his precious daughter, who was now an amazing woman married to a wonderful guy. He missed everything with her, and his bitterness and resentment toward her mother are deeper than the ocean.”
Of course, she knew the story of how Mia had found her long-lost father by accident when she joined the family business, and Hunter discovered her Social Security number was a fake. Her mother’s scheme had come unraveled after that, and Mia had learned her father had been looking for her the entire time she’d been “missing.”
“You see,” he said, “it wouldn’t be fair to burden someone as special as you are with all that bitterness and resentment.”
“Well, at least now I understand why I didn’t hear from you when I was so sure I would.”
“I’m sorry for that. I’ve wanted to call you. So many times, I thought of something I wanted to tell you or a funny thing that happened that I wanted to share with you. I wish you knew how much I’ve thought of you.”
“I’ve thought of you, too.”
“And when I heard you were hurt, getting to you as quickly as I possibly could was my top priority.”
“That’s very sweet of you.”
The nurse came in and injected something into Izzy’s IV that had an immediate calming effect. “That ought to help you get some rest tonight, honey.”
“Thank you so much.”
“I’ll be back to check on you in a bit.”
After she left the room, Cabot picked up the thread of their conversation. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. I left as soon as I could get free of the meeting I was there for.”
“I can’t help but wonder…”
“What do you wonder?” he asked as he ran his fingers through her hair as if he couldn’t resist touching her in some way.
“If you’re nothing but bitterness and resentment, why was seeing me your top priority?”
His slow smile unfolded across his handsome face. He was twelve years older than her but didn’t look it. His hair had gone gray early, but everything else about him was youthful, except, it seemed, the heart that’d been broken decades ago by the woman who’d left him and taken his beloved daughter. “I’m not sure why. It just was.”
“Hmmm.” Izzy couldn’t keep her eyes open. Whatever the nurse had given her had finally dulled the pain. Thank God.
Cabot’s fingers skimmed her forehead as he continued to stroke her hair.
She wanted to ask him what it meant that he was there, that he’d needed to get to her as fast as he could, that he was stroking her hair. But her questions would have to wait.
For now, anyway.
