Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4) (6 page)

“So, ole Maxwell has a sister? Now that you mention it, I can see the family resemblance,” Dillon said.

“Sarah? Is that really you?” A set of beefy arms wrapped around my waist from behind. I reared back, not only to see who had me, but also to catch a tiny breath of air. A somewhat familiar portly guy smiled down at me. “It’s Harry, Kurt’s cousin. Please tell me you haven’t forgotten me?”

The last time I had seen Harry Greenfield he looked like Dana Carvey from Saturday Night Live. He didn’t even remotely resemble that now. “Harry! How are you?” I asked, patting him on his chunky back. Dillon caught my eye and winked. I ignored him.

“Harry, for shit’s sake, you are strangling the poor girl. Let her go,” someone said. He released me and I sucked in a huge breath of air.

“Sarah, this is Polly and that,” Kurt pointed to someone across the bar, “is Lena.”

A blonde, curly haired, very large chested woman smiled at me. “Hiya, Sarah, I’m Polly, nice to meet you.”

“You too,” I told her.

“Take a seat and tell us what you’ve been up to.” Harry patted the stool next to him. Not wanting to hurt his feelings, I sat down and told them a little about Scotland.

Dillon handed me a beer, while Kurt went off to take care of some business. Within minutes the talk turned to Max and Ellie, and boy-oh-boy did I learn a lot. Apparently, Dillon and Ellie had a thing before Max came back. I could totally see why, as Dillon was an extremely attractive man. He seemed kind of bummed about them getting married. I tried to make him understand the situation better.

“Max and Ellie are like Superman and Lois Lane, or better yet, like Ross and Rachel from Friends,” I explained. He gave me a blank look.

“I think they’re more like Carrie and Mr. Big from Sex in the City,” the waitress named Lena chimed in. “By the way, I’m Lena.” She held out her hand.

I leaned over the bar and shook her hand. “I’m Sarah, nice to meet you.”

“She’s Max’s little sister,” Harry clarified.

“She’s much prettier than Max,” Lena stated.

“Who is Mr. Big?” Dillon asked.

Polly snorted and I laughed. “I guess you’ve never watched Sex in the City, huh?”

He raised his brow at me. “With a name like Mr. Big, the question is, should you be watching Sex in the City?” I scowled at him and he gave me a wink.

“I think they’re more like Cher and Sonny Bono,” Harry interjected. I was not about to ask who those people were.

“No, no, no,” Polly told him. “Max and Ellie are totally Johnny Cash and June Carter. End of story.”

No one argued with this, including Dillon.

I was about to ask for another beer when my phone dinged.

“Be right back,” Dillon said. I watched him walk down the bar to check on some customers.

“He has that effect on everyone,” Lena informed me. She picked up a tray of drinks and headed out to a table. Harry and Polly were busy whispering, so I took a second to check my messages.

Amanda:
Hey, when are we going out again?

Me:
Can’t tonight, but how about tomorrow night.

Amanda:
I’ve got a thing with my parents, plus Patterson’s is closed on Sundays.

Me:
What about Monday night then?

Amanda:
Sounds good.

Me:
Looking forward to it.

I smiled down at my phone.
Maybe Cas will be there.

“Something sure has you smiling,” Dillon said, sliding another beer in front of me.

“You have no idea,” I told him.

He laughed and shook his head. “You are probably right about that.”

Kurt reappeared in the middle of my second beer and was ready to go home. After saying my goodbyes to everyone, we piled into his truck and he dropped me off at the house.

Ellie and Max were already in bed, so I locked the door, turned on the alarm and slipped upstairs to my room, where I proceeded to watch television and think about Cas. I fell asleep thinking about what it would feel like to live in the same city.
Maybe I should take Max up on his offer and move back to Charlotte?

The next morning I hit the ground running. Ellie and I met Joss and Piper at a boutique for our final fitting. Poor Ellie had to let her wedding gown out a few inches because of her pregnancy. This thoroughly depressed her, so Joss, Piper and I took her to her favorite lunch place to cheer her up. After lunch, she dropped me by MMG and Max took me on a tour of the building. It was impressive and unlike any of the other garages Max owned. It was twice the size with bedrooms, a living space and a full kitchen.

On the way home from MMG, I told Max I was going out with Amanda again on Monday night.

“Has Amanda convinced you to move back home, yet?” he asked.

“No, but I am considering it,” I admitted.

His eyes snapped to mine and widened in surprise. “Really?”

“I’d have to go back for a bit to pack and say goodbye.” Once I said it out loud, I began having second thoughts. I didn’t want to upset the Hodsons by moving back to the States earlier than planned. Lyndsey depended on me helping with Heath. “I didn’t say I was. I am just thinking about it,” I corrected.

“Hey, at least you are doing that. Either way, I want you here when the baby is born.”

“Permanent babysitter?” I teased.

“No, Ellison already has childcare covered, so you’re off the hook. Seriously, you are the only family I have.” I instantly felt bad for teasing him.

“I’m sorry, Max.”

“Don’t be. I want my kid to know his aunt. I need you to be a part of our lives. The hardest thing I have ever had to do was send you away.”

I tried to keep the hurt out of my voice. “Yet you didn’t stop them. You didn’t fight to keep me with you.”

“I sure as hell did. Why would you say that? What’s more, why would you think it?” The vehemence in his tone surprised me, but the hurt surprised me more. It also made me angry.

“I know the truth Max, so you can stop pretending.”

“What truth do you think you know, Sarah?”

“Do you really want to do this now?” I asked.

“I think I do,” he clipped. He was getting pissed. Well, so was I, damn it.

“I heard you telling the agents to get me the hell out of the country, Max. I knew I messed up, but not enough for you to send me away.”

“What in the hell are you talking about?” His shocked expression spoke volumes.

Uh Oh.

The next thing I knew, we were pulling into a strip mall. Max put the truck in park and turned to me. “You thought what?” he asked. I blinked at him, but didn’t say a word. “Please tell me I heard you wrong, Sarah? Why in the fuck would I want to get rid of you? You were the only family I had.” Tears pricked the back of my eyes, but I held them in check. “Let’s get one thing straight right now. I never wanted you to go. My hands were tied and I had no choice. You have to know this.”

I cleared a golf ball lump from my throat before asking, “Because I was talking to my friends?”

Max reached across the center console and snagged my hand. “Is that what they told you?”

The disbelief in his voice forced me to look him in the eye. “They didn’t tell me anything, Max. One second they busted me texting and the next I heard you telling them to send me away. Then I was shipped off to a foreign country. I thought you were sick of me and I was a burden to you. You were building your life and traveling all the time for work. I was holding you back.”

A pained expression appeared on his face and he closed his eyes. When he opened them back up, he shook his head. “They promised me they would explain everything to you, the fuckers. No, Sarah, the reason you were sent to Scotland had nothing to do with you and everything to do with me.” I held my breath and waited for him to explain. “Remember me telling you I had been keeping tabs on Ellison?” I let out my breath and nodded. “Well, the agents who were helping me do that were afraid I was going to compromise the safe house. I didn’t listen to them and I should have. Rocky didn’t want me, he wanted you. Your conversations with your friends were nothing compared to what I was doing to keep tabs on Ellison. My selfish actions got you sent away from me, not yours.”

“I wish I had known,” I told him. Max was crazy about Ellie. I would have gladly gone away if I had known it was for her. “Dad made me feel like such a burden,” I blurted. “You and Ellie were my family. We had to run because of me. It changed you. You weren’t the same person anymore.”

“We both changed,” Max said.

“If I hadn’t been in the house that day, we wouldn’t have had to run. It was all my fault…and then they busted me talking and texting my friends and suddenly I was on a plane to Scotland. I loved you, but I hated you at the same time,” my voice cracked as the tears came and Max pulled me across the dash and into his lap.

“I never wanted you to go,” he whispered into my hair. “Dad was the burden, not you, not ever you. You were the only thing that kept me going. It killed me when I had to let you go. I want you home. Please say you’ll come home.”

I pulled back to search his face and could see it in his eyes. He was completely serious.
He didn’t want me to go.
The happiness I felt in knowing he didn’t choose to send me away was overwhelming. “Let me think about it, okay?”

“Take the time you need, but regardless, I want you here when Ellison has the baby.”

“Deal,” I told him. We both smiled and he hugged me one more time before shifting me back to my seat.

Sunday I helped Max and Ellie clean the upstairs. Max and I moved furniture around and listened to Ellie moan about which room to turn into the nursery. Three seconds after my head hit the pillow that night, I was out.

The next morning Max invited me to work with him. I kindly turned him down in favor for eating a box of donuts with Ellie. Donuts win every time. I thought about Cas all day. I decided if he wasn’t at the pub tonight, it was a sign it wasn’t meant to be and I wouldn’t go back. Ellie fixed lasagna for dinner. After cleaning up the kitchen with Max, I ran upstairs and changed my top out for my favorite fuzzy sweater. At the last second, I pulled on my black Converse.
He probably won’t be there.
After combing my hair out, I put on a coat of mascara and some lip gloss and headed for the door.

When I hit the bottom of the stairs, I could hear someone singing on the television.

“Piper’s coming over in a few. Come watch The Voice with us,” Ellie half-shouted from the living room.

“I can’t. I’m going to Amanda’s.” I set down my purse to pull on my jacket.

“I want you home before three in the morning this time,” Max warned. Ellie and I both jerked when he said this. His eyebrow shot up, but he didn’t elaborate. Instead of poking the bear, I gave them both a thumbs up. Then I got the hell out of there.

There were hardly any cars in the parking lot when I arrived at Patterson’s. Mondays were definitely not money makers in the States. Every night was a money maker at the pubs in Edinburgh. Tonight there was no one checking ID’s at the bar, so I just walked right in. Radiohead’s
Creep
blared through the speakers. I immediately spotted Amanda. She was sitting in a booth with two guys I had never seen before. My heart stuttered in my chest.
It’s a set up.
It never crossed my mind that Amanda wouldn’t come alone.
Shit! What do I do now?

Cas

‡

A
ll I had
thought about for two days was my night with Sarah. I wanted to see her again. I had to have her again.
Just once more
. The problem was I had no way of getting in touch with her. I considered asking her for her number before she bolted the other morning, but quickly changed my mind. Keeping it simple meant zero attachment. I had nothing to offer her except a good time in bed.

Bobby and I spent the last two days in hell. The case was a complete time suck, not to mention boring. Garrett told us we would be stuck on shit cases at first. It takes both money and clients to build a business. Right now we had very little of either. Good thing he had us housed in a tiny office with practically no overhead. As long as I received a paycheck each month, I was a happy camper. I had no idea how much the divorce was going to set me back and needed to save every penny I earned.

“What is up with you? You were fine when I left the office this afternoon,” Bobby stated.

We were sitting at Patterson’s bar and I was nursing my second beer. Hoping to run into Sarah tonight, I talked Bobby into meeting me here for a few drinks after we got off work.
I shouldn’t have stopped by the apartment beforehand.

Fiddling with the napkin under my drink, I told Bobby what was on my mind. “Xandria called again.”

“Say no more,” Bobby dryly stated.

“She left another incoherent message on the answering machine. This time she was screaming about how I fucked up her life,” I further explained.

“Booze again?” he asked.

“That or pills,” I shrugged.

“I’m surprised she called the house and not your cell.”