Blinding Rain, Season 2, Episode 7 (Rising Storm) (6 page)

He dropped into the booth and frowned up at her like she’d grown a second head. “I don’t know. A pint of whatever they have on tap, I guess.”

“Gotcha.” She turned for the bar. “I’ll get two.”

She knew he was watching her with both confusion and dismay as she crossed to the bar and stopped near Sonya to order their drinks, but she didn’t care. He needed to pull his head out of his ass, and she was tired of watching him throw his career away over a woman who wasn’t worth his time.

“Hey, Sonya,” she said as she drew close. “We’ll take two attitude adjustments.”

Sonya smiled and reached for clean glasses from below the bar, glancing past Mary Louise toward the booth where Tate—hopefully—still sat. “An attitude adjustment sounds exactly like what that boy needs.”

Mary Louise sighed and propped her elbow on the bar so she could rest her chin in her hand. “You have no idea. I just broke up an almost fight between the two Johnson brothers right on the street.”

“That would explain the irritated look on his face,” Sonya said, filling two glasses with ice.

“Yeah, but not why he insists on being such a jackass,” Mary Louise mumbled. She didn’t get it. Why the heck couldn’t he see that Hannah Grossman wasn’t worth being upset over? The woman clearly hadn’t loved him if she’d so easily dropped into bed with his brother. Tate Johnson was an incredible man. There were hundreds of women who’d be thrilled to be in a relationship with him—her included. But she didn’t even stand a chance with him because he couldn’t see any woman besides Hannah.

Sonya grinned as she added a multitude of alcohols to the glasses, then topped them off with sweet and sour mix, followed by a splash of cranberry. “Sadly, I know how men think. Got myself a houseful of men, and they’re all jackasses from time to time. Only way that boy’s gonna stop acting stupid is to mend fences with his brother.”

“Yeah, good luck with that. The only way that will happen is if Tucker stops seeing Hannah. But we all know
that
won’t happen. Those two are crazy about each other.”

“Yeah, they are.” Sonya set both drinks on the bar, added two straws, then leaned a hip against the counter and eyed Mary Louise across the space. “Tate over there isn’t upset things ended with Hannah, he’s upset she left him for his brother. Sibling rivalry’s a terrible thing. I’ve watched it happen with my own boys a few times. I saw Tate and Hannah together numerous times in here before all this nastiness with Tucker happened. They were like two friends who hadn’t realized that’s all they’d ever be. Trust me, Tate didn’t love her any more than she loved him. He’s just forgotten that fact because his pride’s been bruised. Once he and Tucker work things out, he’ll realize it.”

Mary Louise’s frustration ebbed as she stared at the older woman and realized what she needed to do. “Thank you, Sonya. That makes perfect sense.”

“Does it?” Sonya laughed. “Aiden thinks I tend to ramble.”

Mary Louise smiled as she lifted the drinks from the bar. “Tell your husband he’s wrong. And if he doesn’t believe you, I’ll help you knock some sense into him.”

Sonya laughed. “I’ll do that, honey. Enjoy your drinks. And good luck trying to make that man see what a sweet little thing you are.”

Mary Louise’s face heated. Was it obvious to everyone in town but Tate that she was hung up on the man? Apparently it was.

Tate’s scowl deepened as Mary Louise drew close and he spotted the drinks in her hands. “Those don’t look like beers.”

“They’re not. They’re attitude adjustments.” She slid onto the seat across from him. “You could use a big one. Sadly, this is the only size they make.”

He glared at her across the table as she leaned forward and sucked back a sip through her straw. “Very funny.”

He took his own sip and coughed. “Dear God, that’s awful.”

Mary Louise stirred her drink with her straw. “Expand your horizons, Tate Johnson. In fact, expand them in all areas.”

“What the heck does that mean?” He obviously didn’t think the drink was too awful. He was taking another sip. “I’m running for mayor, aren’t I? I’d say that’s expanding my horizons.”

God, he was dense. “In your career, maybe. But if you don’t learn to cool your jets with your brother, you’ll never win the election.”

He tipped his head and stared at her. “I don’t need—”

“Yeah, actually, you do. You need someone to tell it to you like it is because you’re not getting it on your own. So here it is. You’re mad at your brother. I get that. What he did was a dick move. But being angry isn’t going to change anything. It’s not going to make him break up with Hannah, and it’s not going to make her run back to you. And let’s be honest, here, shall we?”

Tate leaned back against the booth and crossed his arms over his chest, clearly not liking her bluntness, but she didn’t care. “Sounds like you already are.”

“Hannah Grossman obviously didn’t love you if she so easily fell into bed with someone else.”

“I already know that,” he said between clenched teeth. “You don’t have to state the obvious.”

“Clearly I do, because you’re acting like she broke your heart. She didn’t break your heart and we both know that. Face it. You wouldn’t be this upset if she’d cheated on you with anyone else. You’re ticked because she did it with your brother.”

“Of course I’m pissed she did it with my brother!” When Mary Louise eased back and looked around the bar, Tate’s gaze followed, and he realized several heads were turned their way. Frowning, he leaned toward her and tried to quiet his voice when he said, “If you had any siblings you’d understand why I’m so mad, but you don’t, so don’t try to act like you know what I’m feeling.”

“You’re right,” she said softly, trying to calm her own frayed temper. “I don’t have any siblings. So maybe I don’t know what it’s like to have a brother or sister betray me, but I can sure as hell tell you that I know what it’s like not to have a sibling at all. Or parents, for that matter
.
”

The fight seemed to slide right out of him. Tate’s shoulders relaxed and the fire she’d seen flare in his eyes moments before died down. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about your own family.”

“Thank you.” Mary Louise reached for her drink and took a small sip. She wasn’t sure how they’d gotten off on this tangent, but she had a feeling maybe it was for the best. “And I’m not trying to sound ungrateful. I love my aunts and everything they’ve done for me. It’s just... I’d give my left arm for the kind of family you have, Tate, but you’re so blinded by your anger you can’t see what you’re about to throw away.
All over a woman you wouldn’t even want back.
Would you take her back right now if you could?”

“No.”

“Do you love her?”

He scowled and reached for his drink. “No.”

“Did you ever?”

He lifted his drink and sucked through the straw until his drink was gone and all that remained was a slurping sound from the bottom of his glass. “I don’t know.” He set his drink down. “I thought so. Now I’m not so sure.”

“What about your brother? Do you love him?”

“Not at the moment.”

Mary Louise tipped her head and pinned him with a look. “Come on, Tate. Just because you’re mad at a family member doesn’t mean you stop loving them. I can admit that I harbor a lot of harsh feelings toward my dad for being absent from my life, and that I am not always the greatest when he tries to make an effort with me, but deep down I still love him. Even when he hurts me, I love him. Because screwed up or not, he’s still family.”

He stared at her for several heartbeats, then finally rested his hands on the table and shook his head as he glanced toward the ceiling. “Fine. I love the jerk, okay? I just don’t particularly like him very much right now. What he did...” He looked down at his hand. “I never would have done that to him.”

That was the crux of what was bothering him. Mary Louise reached across the table and laid her hand over his. Warmth seeped into her skin, but she ignored it and tried to be the friend he needed, not the woman he wasn’t interested in. “That’s because you’re the better man.”

He frowned. “You really don’t think that. If you thought that, you wouldn’t have rushed over and intervened on the sidewalk.”

“I intervened because I don’t want to see you throw away this election. I think you’ll make a wonderful mayor. I think you’re smart and funny, when you’re not upset with your brother, and that you’re just what this town needs in a leader. I also think you’re too good for Hannah Grossman.”

He blinked at her. “You really think all that?”

Her heart skipped a beat, and she smiled. Maybe she looked like a fool for putting her heart on her sleeve but she didn’t care. He needed to know he was more than just the jilted ex-lover. “I really do. I also think Hannah Grossman is a total fool for ever having let you go.”

He looked down at her hand over his but he didn’t pull away. “A fool, huh?”

“A total fool. Huge. Gigantic. ”

One corner of his lips turned up. “I could go with that.”

She smiled, because this was the Tate she remembered. The confident, easy-going one, not the angry man he’d been of late. “Do you think you could maybe go with, I don’t know, forgiving them? If not Hannah, then at least your brother.”

His smile faded, and he looked up at her again. “That’s asking a lot.”

“Maybe. But remember you are the better man. Just think about it, okay? I have a feeling if you can get past this thing with Tucker, you’ll feel a whole lot better. And then...watch out, Storm. The new Mayor Johnson will be in town.”

His eyes skipped over her features, and as he looked at her, her stomach tightened. Because she had the oddest sense he was seeing her for the first time.

“I’ll think about it.”

Mary Louise supposed that was a beginning. She started to pull her hand away from his, but Tate flipped his palm up and captured hers before she could get away.

“On one condition,” he said, lifting two fingers on his other hand and catching Sonya’s attention at the bar. Sonya nodded, and he looked back at Mary Louise. “You have to have another attitude adjustment with me.”

Mary Louise smiled and relaxed her hand against his, loving the way his fingers wrapped around hers, trying not to read too much into the gesture, hoping—for the first time in forever—that maybe there was something there. “I could probably do that.”

“Good.” Tate frowned but didn’t show any sign of wanting to let go of her. And she liked that. Boy, did she like that. “Because I have a feeling I may need two or three more of those awful drinks for liquid courage. You know, if I’m really going to consider forgiving that jackass.”

Chapter Four

Tate wasn’t sure how he’d been talked into this.

Now that the buzz from his two drinks had worn off, he suspected he could blame the alcohol. One glance across the front seat of his car though, told him he was wrong. He was on his way to talk to his good-for-nothing brother all because one very pretty strawberry blonde had looked at him as if she saw something in him no one else did.

He forced his gaze back to the road. Forced his hands to stay curled around the wheel so he wouldn’t reach for Mary Louise again. He’d liked touching her in the bar. He’d liked holding her hand. He’d liked it a hell of a lot more than he’d thought he would and he wanted to do it all again. He’d always thought Mary Louise was pretty, he just hadn’t realized they had a lot more in common than he’d known. Or that underneath all that sweetness she was a take-charge kind of woman.

He
really
liked that about her. Hannah had never looked at him the way Mary Louise had. She’d never told him he was being an idiot or tried to talk any kind of sense into him. In fact, thinking back, Hannah hadn’t ever taken any kind of initiative in their relationship. He’d been the one to do all the courting. He’d been the one to always check in on her, not the other way around. He’d been the one pushing for more in their relationship, right from the start, and she’d just sat back and let it happen.

He rested his elbow on the open window and brushed his fingers over his mouth as he thought back to Mary Louise’s questions in the bar. Had he ever really loved Hannah? He’d thought they made the perfect couple. On paper she was everything he’d always wanted. But he couldn’t deny that he’d felt more of a spark sitting with Mary Louise for an hour at Murphy’s than he’d felt with Hannah in all the time they’d been together. He glanced her way and couldn’t help but feel an increase in his pulse as he took in the soft curve of her jaw and the gentle slope of her nose. If he’d had someone like Mary Louise by his side these last few years, how different would his life be now?

“Um, Tate?” Mary Louise braced a hand on the door at her side. “You’re drifting.”

“Huh?”

“The road. You’re drifting!”

Tate glanced back at the road and quickly corrected the wheel to keep from driving onto the gravel shoulder. “Sorry.”

Mary Louise breathed easier and pressed her hand against her chest. “It’s okay. You’re nervous. I get that.”

He was nervous. But not about talking to his brother. He was nervous about
her
. He hadn’t expected her to say yes when he’d asked her to go out to the ranch with him so he could talk to Tucker, but he really liked that she was here now. Everything just seemed easier with her. More relaxed. And he was almost afraid of fixing things with his brother because he didn’t want to give her any reason to leave.

He turned down the lane to his parents’ place and pulled to a stop behind Tucker’s truck. This time of day, Tucker was probably in the barn. Tate glanced past Mary Louise toward the massive structure and frowned.

“Hey.” Mary Louise’s hand covered his on his knee. “You got this. Just remember what we talked about. She’s the fool, not you. And you’re the much better man.”

He looked down at her and felt a tug toward her, followed by an overwhelming urge to kiss her. Right here. Right in front of his parents’ place. Right where anyone could see.

His gaze drifted to her lush, pink lips. He
really
wanted to kiss her but he wasn’t sure if he should. Would he look like an ass if he did? A couple hours ago he’d been ranting and raging about his ex with his brother. Would Mary Louise think he was mental if he so quickly changed his mind about what he wanted?