Brody (19 page)

“Have you talked to anyone about how you’re feeling?”

“I’ve tried talking to you, but you’ve been ignoring me. That’s why I had to come here tonight,” he said, gripping my hands so tight, I fought the urge to wince. “To make you understand that we belong together. Can’t you see that?”

It was as though the last few minutes had never happened. He knew I was back with Brody, but he couldn’t accept it, or didn’t want to.

“What I see,” I said, choosing my words carefully, “is a good, kind, decent man who’s looking for someone to love, someone to share his life with. And you’ll find her. You just have to be patient.”

“I’ve already found her,” he said, stroking my cheek.

He was seriously creeping me out, but I feared for his safety more than my own.
Please let me take you to the hospital.
If he wouldn’t, I wouldn’t get a wink of sleep tonight, worrying about what he might do next. If this was a cry for attention, it was working. He had my attention. “I really think you should talk to someone, Stephan. A professional.”

“Doctors don’t spill their guts to a shrink,” he said, sounding disgusted. “How would it look to my colleagues if they knew the truth about me?”

“The truth? What does that mean?”

“That my life is falling apart.” He started to cry, leaning his head on my shoulder.

I did the only thing I could—I closed my arms around him and patted his head as I would a small child’s. “I know it seems that way now. We all go through times when we can’t imagine things getting better, but they always do. You know that.”

“I worked my whole life to be a pediatrician. Got good grades, scholarships, went to the best schools. I’m highly regarded in my field.”

“I know,” I said, reaching for a tissue and handing it to him. “You’re important to every child you treat. Those kids and their parents trust you. You save lives, Stephan.”

“Then why do I wake up feeling so miserable, like I can’t stand another day of it?”

After work, he’d often seemed mentally and physically drained, and he didn’t seem to take as much pleasure in his work as some other doctors, but I never thought it would be a source of depression.

“Do you know what it’s like to spend your entire life chasing a dream only to realize it was the wrong dream? It was someone else’s, not yours.”

“Someone else’s?”

“My father’s. He’s a doctor. He always wanted me to be one too.”

“So you did it to make him happy?” I understood the desire to please one’s parents. I’d wrestled with that for too many years.

“Yeah.” He balled up the tissue I offered him before leaning back into the sofa’s cushions. “How pathetic is that? All my life, I never had the guts to tell him what I wanted.”

“What do you want?” I asked, shifting my body so we were farther apart.

“That’s just it. I don’t even know.”

“Oh.” I was starting to understand that his depression had little to do with me. I was just the most recent in a long line of failed relationships that led him to believe things would never work out the way he wanted them to. “Well, maybe you need to take some time to think about that. How about a vacation?”

His eyes swept over my body, taking in my tight gray skirt and tank as though he was seeing it for the first time. “Would you come with me?”

With a brittle smile, I said, “No, I don’t think so.” I hesitated slightly before asking, “Can I make a suggestion?”

He gestured to the door as if he hadn’t heard me. “Sorry I busted in here tonight. That was dumb.”

“As long as we’re on the subject…” I held out my hand. “Can I have my key, please?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a very familiar key dangling off a silver ring. “Here.”

“Are there any more?”

“No.”

I’d be changing the locks tomorrow anyway, just to be on the safe side. “As I was saying, why not think about getting away for a while? There are some great facilities where you could go to get a little R&R and maybe some therapy to figure out what your next step should be?”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “You think I’m having some sort of breakdown, don’t you? I’m not, I pro—”

“Stephan,” I said, silencing him, “I really think you need to do this. If you want, I can drive you home. While you’re packing, I can make some calls, see if we can get you into a treatment facility right away.”

I didn’t feel good about letting him return to a life he hated. And I especially didn’t feel good about the patients he would be treating tomorrow, those who would be counting on him to come to work with a clear head.

“Why would you do that?” he asked, seeming surprised. “You’ve obviously moved on. Compared to Brody, I must be a pretty insignificant part of your past.”

Every man seemed insignificant compared to Brody, but Stephan didn’t need to hear that.

“I’m doing this because you need a friend right now, and if our situations were reversed, I’d like to think you’d do the same for me.”

“You know I would.”

***

Fortunately, we’d found a treatment facility for Stephan in Orlando, and he’d be able to check in tonight. I waited with him until the hired Town Car showed up at his house, and I wished Stephan well with a friendly hug.

Now I was dying to talk to Brody. I’d been trying to call him for almost an hour, but his phone went straight to voice mail. It was getting late, and I knew I should wait until tomorrow to talk to him, give him a chance to cool off, but I needed to see him now. I needed to feel his arms around me, to hear him tell me he didn’t hate me for chasing him off like that.

I drove past all of his brothers’ houses, expecting to see his car, but I had no luck. When I drove past Kane’s house last and saw my sister’s Jeep instead, I had to pull in and find out what was going on with them. And Brody.

I rang the doorbell, turning my back to the door as I waited for Kane to answer.

“Hey,” he said, smiling. “What’re you doing here, beautiful? I expected you and my brother to be celebrating tonight.”

“Celebrating what?” I asked, accepting his unspoken invitation to come in.

My sister was sitting on Kane’s couch with a bowl of popcorn in her lap. “Hey, what’s going on?” She set the bowl on the coffee table, her gaze dropping to my hand. “What happened? Please tell me you didn’t say no.”

“Say no to what?” I rubbed my temple when I felt a headache coming on. After the night I’d had, I wasn’t surprised. “What are you guys talking about? And what are you doing here, by the way?”

“Watching
The Battle of Five Armies
.”

I rolled my eyes at my sister. “You’ve seen that, like, five times. Do you really need to watch it again?”

“Turns out we’re both huge Hobbit fans,” Kane said, curling his hands around my shoulders from behind. “So I talked her into coming over for a movie marathon. I wanted the company.”

“Huh.” My sister and Kane were friends? I didn’t know what to make of that, nor did I have time to worry about it. I was sure later I’d worry about it plenty, but right now, the only thing on my mind was finding my man. At least, I hoped he was still my man after the way he’d stormed out. “Have you guys seen or heard from Brody tonight?”

“No, we expected him to be enjoying a romantic evening with you,” Macy said. “You haven’t seen him?”

“I did see him earlier, but…” How was I supposed to tell Brody’s brother that I’d asked him to leave so I could have a heart-to-heart with my ex-boyfriend?

“Brody was on cloud nine last time I saw him,” Macy said, studying me closely. “I assumed by now you would be too. What the hell happened?”

“Let me open a bottle of wine,” Kane said. “I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”

“Thanks,” I said, squeezing one of his hands before he released me. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Okay, so spill,” Macy said, pointing at a chair next to the sofa she’d camped out on. “Why are you so freaked out?”

“You’ll never guess who was at my place when I got home tonight,” I said, sinking into the chair with a sigh.

“I’m guessing it wasn’t Brody?”

“Stephan.”

“Wait a minute, what?” Macy sat up straighter, pulling her legs into her chest. “He was waiting for you in your apartment? What the hell? You said he gave his key back.”

“Yeah, well, apparently he had another one cut.” I raised my hand. “Don’t worry, I intend to have the locks changed just as soon as I can.” I hoped Stephan would come back from his little vacay with a healthier perspective, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

“You better! Okay, so I’m guessing Brody wasn’t there.” She chuckled. “If he was, he would have beaten the shit out of Stephan for letting himself into your place like that.”

“Brody doesn’t know he let himself in.”

Kane returned with an open wine bottle and two glasses, looking wary. “If you need a little girl time, just say the word.”

“No,” I said, pointing at the free chair across from me. “Please. Sit. I need your take on this.” If anyone would know where Brody would run to, it was Kane.

Kane sat down and set the wine on the table before pouring a glass for each of us and handing them out. “All right, let’s hear it, Ri. What’d my little brother do to screw things up this time?”

“He didn’t do anything. I did.” I took a big sip of wine before curling my hands around the cool glass.

“You said no when he asked you to marry him?” Macy asked. “I was so sure you’d say yes when you saw that ring.”

I sputtered around my second mouthful of wine and wiped my lips with the back of my hand. “What ring?”

Macy winced. “He, uh, didn’t propose?”

“No!” I set my wine glass on the table before I could drop it. “He was going to propose tonight? He had a ring? How do you know that? He told you?”

“I went with him to pick it out.” Macy cast a look at Kane. “He’s going to hate me for telling her, isn’t he? I spoiled the surprise. I’m so sorry, sis.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I couldn’t believe he’d bought me an engagement ring. And he planned to give it to me tonight of all nights? Talk about lousy timing.

“I guess since I’ve already spilled the beans, I might as well tell you the rest.”

“Mace,” Kane said, furrowing his brow, “don’t you think you should leave it to Brody to tell her about that?”

“Tell me what?” If someone didn’t tell me soon, I was going to start hyperventilating.

“He bought the house, the last one you saw.”

I stared at her, my mouth hanging open. “He bought a house and a ring… in one day?”

“And he accepted the coaching job,” Macy said, unable to contain her smile. “But that’s not the best part. He went to see Mom and Dad.”

“No!” I thought they would be the last two people Brody would want to see. “Why?”

“Because he didn’t intend to propose to you without talking to them first. Isn’t that sweet?”

“Depends. How did they react?” I would kill my parents if they’d said or done anything to deter him.

She pursed her lips. “You know how they are—judgmental, sanctimonious pains in the as—”

“Hey,” Kane said, laughing. “Go easy. They’re still your parents.”

Macy gave him a look as if to remind him of some of the choice names he’d called his father. “Anyways”—she slid her gaze back to me—“Brody wasn’t taking any of their crap. He told them that he loved you and wanted to marry you. Period.”

“Really?” My heart swelled with pride as I imagined him standing up to them. For us. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t told them off before. He had. Plenty of times—that was part of why they despised him—but this was different.

Macy looked like a little girl about to spill a secret. “And the topic of grandchildren just might have come up. You know that’s all it took to soften Mom.”

“Who mentioned kids?” I asked suspiciously. “You or Brody?”

“It may have been me, but—”

I groaned. “What the hell were you thinking? You can’t put words in his mouth. This has to be something he wants, a decision we make together. He can’t feel pressured into it.”

“Trust me, he doesn’t,” Macy said, waving off my concern. “We talked about it at the house, before we went to see the folks.”

“What house?” This conversation was getting stranger by the minute.

“Your house,” she said, giving me the
duh
look she’d perfected when she was four.

“You went to
my
house—uh, his house? Our house? Whatever! You know what I mean! You went there with him? You saw it?”

“Yeah, he wanted my opinion before he put in an offer on it. He said you seemed to love it.”

“I did.” I thought it was perfect. “But I still can’t believe he bought it.”

“He wanted to surprise you,” Macy said. “I think it’s romantic.”

Kane snorted. “My brother doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body.”

“Oh, but I suppose you do?” Macy asked, the challenge clear in her eyes. “What’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever done, Romeo?”

“Can we please get back to the matter at hand?” I asked my sister. “My boyfriend walked out on me, and I can’t find him.”

That got her attention. “Why’d he walk out on you? Did you guys have a fight?”

“Sort of,” I admitted.

“What a dumbass,” Kane muttered.

“It wasn’t his fault.” Brody’d taken a lot of grief from his brothers over the years for the way he treated me, but I wouldn’t let him take the fall this time. This was all on me. Well, technically it was Stephan’s fault, but…

“Hello,” Macy said, snapping her fingers in front of my face. “We’re waiting. What happened?”

“So like I told you, Stephan was waiting for me when I got home from work.”

“Hold up a minute,” Kane said, raising his hand. “Did you just say your ex was waiting for you when you got home? Like, in your apartment?”

“Yeah, long story,” I said, waving him off. “Anyhow, he was in a really bad place, saying all kinds of crazy things that made me think maybe he was thinking about harming himself.”

Kane rolled his eyes. “And you believed him? He was just going for the pity fu—”

Macy glared at him. “Be careful, Steele.”

“Fine.” He looked adorably contrite. “He was just trying to get you to feel sorry for him.”