“Where are you?” It hadn’t been but ten minutes since he’d left her. Cozy in her pajamas and tucked into bed already, she really was unusually tired tonight and...confused. She hadn’t expected the man she’d banked all her dreams on once to show up with apologies and promises.
Promises that she’d waited so long to hear.
“I’m at my place. Sitting here wondering what’s going on with you. Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. It wasn’t really a date, Brooks. Trace wanted to talk to me and apologize, I guess. I agreed to meet him at the Christmas carnival.”
“So, are you forgiving him?”
“I don’t know what I am at the moment, Brooks.”
The line went silent. A moment ticked by, and then a sigh came through. “Is it none of my business?”
Now, that also was unexpected. Brooks had a way of getting to the heart of the matter. “It may be your business, a little, since we’ve been seeing each other.”
She hadn’t had to deal with the reality of their relationship until now. But it was evident Brooks had made her no promises and he was bound to leave for Chicago after the holidays, while Trace was offering her something that she’d always wanted. “I want to continue seeing you, Ruby.”
“I, uh, I just don’t know, Brooks.” Could she be blunt and tell him she couldn’t afford to get her heart broken again if she gave in to her feelings for him and he left town? Could she tell him that he hadn’t offered her the sun, the moon and the stars the way Trace once had? It was silly to think Brooks would. They’d known each other only a couple of weeks. Though things had been humming along very smoothly until Trace showed up. “I can’t be pressured right now.”
“I don’t want to pressure you, Ruby. But this guy’s hurt you once, and I wouldn’t want to see that happen again. I care about you.”
“I care about you, too, Brooks. But we both know...” She hesitated, biting her lip, searching for a way to put it that wouldn’t seem callous or crude. The truth was, they were hot for each other. They’d had a chance meeting in a bar—the cliché hook-up—and it would’ve ended there if Brooks hadn’t turned out to be a Preston. Now they couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other.
“What do we know?” he asked.
“We’ve been thrown together under strange circumstances, wouldn’t you say?”
“I suppose. When I first met you, I never once thought you’d be a part of the Preston family. Shoot, it blew my mind when you walked into the barn that day. But I’m not sorry you did. Are you?”
The truth was, no. She wasn’t sorry she’d met Brooks. She liked him, and maybe her feelings went much deeper than that, but she wouldn’t face them. She couldn’t. It wasn’t just because he was Beau’s son. Or because of all of the secrecy and guilt involved in seeing Brooks. No, she couldn’t face deeper feelings because her heart wasn’t healed enough to let another man inside. So even though she’d slept with Brooks, readily giving him her body, she’d held a small part of herself back. She couldn’t give herself wholly to him, and at this point, he hadn’t asked that of her, either. “No, I’m not sorry.” Enough said for now on the subject. And because her curiosity was tapped, she asked, “Did you really come by to ask me a favor, or was that a little fib?”
“No fib. Although I’ll admit, I wanted to see you tonight.” His voice turned husky, and whenever it deepened like that, she melted a little inside.
“Did you want to go out for another ride tomorrow or something?”
“I’d love to. But that’s not the favor. The truth is, I’ve been thinking about my grandfather. I need to make my peace about him, and I’ve been putting off a visit to his nursing home. I’m not sure I’m ready to go it alone and face him. That man caused my family a lot of grief, and I don’t know how I’m going to react. But I need to put it behind me so I can move on.”
“Would you like me to go with you, Brooks?”
His relief came in the way of a quick sigh. “Would you?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll go with you whenever you want.”
“Really? That’s great. I’m... I’m thinking I’ll arrange an appointment sometime before the holiday party this weekend. I want to—”
“I’ll clear my calendar whenever you can arrange it.”
“Okay,” he said, his voice cracking a little. As if he was barely holding it together, as if this visit to his grandfather had been festering in his mind. “It means a lot.” Breath whooshed out of his lungs. “Thank you, Ruby.”
“Of course.”
Sadness swept through her when she heard the pain in Brooks’s voice. It only served to prove how much she cared about him. If she could do anything to bring him some peace and sense of closure, she was right on it. But it was more than that. She wanted to be by Brooks’s side, to give him the support and encouragement he might need to make that visit easier for him.
He was her friend, at the very least.
Brooks stood shoulder to shoulder with Beau on the steps of the ranch house as a black limo pulled up and parked. His father took a deep breath in anticipation of seeing his other son for the first time. “I’m the better-looking twin,” Brooks said, smiling.
Beau’s chuckle caught in his throat as Graham stepped out of the car. “My God.”
“Yeah, I know.” It was the typical reaction people had when they met the Newport twins for the first time. One face on two very different men. “Graham cut his hair a bit shorter than usual just so you could tell us apart.”
“That’s...smart,” Beau said with a catch in his throat. Then he took off straight toward the limo, and Brooks followed.
Graham was reaching inside the limo to help his fiancée out of the car. It had been a while since Brooks had seen Eve Winchester. Because she was Sutton Winchester’s daughter, she’d been an immediate adversary, and he hadn’t liked her for a time, but Graham was head over heels in love with Eve, and Brooks had finally made his peace with her.
“Welcome, son,” Beau said, trying his best to keep his composure. As Brooks sidled up next to him, he spotted tears glistening in his father’s eyes. “I’ve waited a long time to meet you.”
“So have I.”
The two men embraced, and Brooks gave Eve a smile and a peck on the cheek.
Graham broke away first from the bear hug, taking Eve’s hand and gently tugging her forward.
“Beau, I’d like you to meet Eve. My fiancée,” Graham said.
Beau embraced Eve carefully. Despite the beige leather jacket and blouse underneath, Eve’s baby bump couldn’t be missed on her slender, athletic body. “Pleased you meet you, Eve. Welcome to my home, and congratulations on the little one. I couldn’t be happier about all of this. My two sons, a new soon-to-be daughter and a grandbaby on the way.”
“We’re excited about it, too,” Graham said, and there were smiles all around.
“I’d appreciate it if both of you called me Dad.”
Graham shot Brooks a quick glance as if to say, Finally. We have a dad. “I think we’d both like to do that, right Eve?”
Her green eyes glittered. “Yes, of course.”
Beau’s lips curved up in a wide smile. Then he scratched his head, shifting his gaze from Graham to Brooks. “You two boys