Let Me Be the One (27 page)

“What the fuck is going on?” Jason roared.

“Suzi went completely cuckoo and ran.” Logan started lifting away branches from the mouth of the stream. “Suzi!”

Something crashed down the hillside.

The knot in Brian’s stomach tightened. He’d explored these woods with her. Snagging branches. Rocks covered in slime. Holes hidden under leaves. Ledges and small cliffs appeared out of nowhere. There were snakes and spiders and other critters. She was always careful because if she wasn’t, she could break her neck.

She was following the stream.

Brian bounded down the hill.

“Where are you going?” Logan demanded, trying to block the way.

“After her.” Brian ducked around him and slid down the first drop.

He should have kept his temper when she came to talk to him. He remembered the surprise in her eyes, but at the time, it hadn’t penetrated. Surprise and something else. Brian frowned. When he had pinned her to the tree, her eyes had gone dark, excited. Like she’d expected him to make love to her.

She’d come to him to confess almost screwing Logan within hours of being in bed with him and not long enough after Jason insinuated he’d never be able to keep her satisfied. Why would she be turned on? Was it because he was mad? She and Logan had a stormy relationship. Maybe that was the way their relationship worked. They fought so they could make up. Bonnie had been like that. Most of the conversations he had with Suzi about her relationship had been about not getting into fights with Logan. How to keep things calm. Most of the time, when drama got whipped up around her, Suzi found a reason to leave. She ran, she wrote, she found a burning need to leave the scene. She was passionate enough about things without having to induce.

He didn’t hear anything behind him or in front. Neither Logan or Jason was following. Suzi had been blundering through the undergrowth like an army. Why was she quiet now? Had she fallen and hit her head? He’d be glad she wasn’t screaming in pain if he didn’t have the image of her slumped at the bottom of a ledge unconscious.

His foot slipped, and he grabbed a tree branch before he went down. If he didn’t slow down, he was going to crack open his head, and then he wouldn’t do her any good.

If he’d kept calm when she came to him just now, they wouldn’t be in this fix at all. Instead, he’d told her she needed to make up her mind and stormed away. What made him think he couldn’t keep up with her? Over the years, she’d made comments about needing a break from Logan’s demands. At the time, he hadn’t put it together, but he doubted she was talking about cooking.

And she’d
almost
slept with Logan, not that she did. Logan had always had that hold over her, so of course he’d try to use it on her to get her back. If things were reversed, Brian knew he’d have done the same. He’d have given it a shot just to have one last time with her.

A fallen tree blocked the stream. He didn’t remember it being here last time. In the mud, he saw footprints and a muddy smear on the trunk, but he couldn’t see how she’d gotten through. He picked his way around and back to the stream.

“Suzi?” he called. “It’s me. Brian. Where are you?”

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

No birds, no critters, no cracking twigs. Just the wind in the trees and the water over the rocks.

Brian searched around for prints and regretted quitting Boy Scouts when he was ten. He’d know a little more about tracking if he’d kept with it, but at the time, guitar had been more interesting. “Suz?”

He slogged through the water. The rocks were just as slippery as he remembered. Everything was slippery. Every action, every word.

She was standing in the middle of the stream, soaking wet, legs braced, staring over the edge of the falls.

“Suzi?”

She didn’t turn around.

Brian walked up to her. She’d stopped at the edge of the waterfall. The handholds didn’t look any better than they had before, and there was still no way around it. “If you’re thinking of jumping, I’d have to recommend against. At worst, you’d sprain something, and it’s a long way back up.”

“I was trying to figure out a way to climb down,” Suzi whispered. “Besides, I think I already sprained my wrist.” She held one arm cradled in the other.

Brian put his hands on her shoulders and guided her back. Just because she wasn’t thinking about jumping didn’t mean she wouldn’t slip and fall. “Why don’t you come over here and sit down?” He led her to a boulder. The angle wasn’t perfect for sitting, but it did well enough, and there weren’t any bugs on it. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

She shook her head.

Brian crouched in front of her and ran his hands down her legs. She had a collection of scratches and scrapes, but nothing too serious. Her arms had another collection, and there was a nasty slash across her cheek. Her eyes were swollen and red.

“I’m sorry,” she whimpered.

“So am I.” He gathered her hands into his and kissed her scraped knuckles. “I’m sorry about what I said before. I was just pissed you’d think about going back to him at all.”

“I didn’t know what to do. You and Jason were fighting.” She blinked.

“I’ve been fighting with Jason since before you were born. Jason likes things to stay the same, and he doesn’t like to be wrong. Don’t you worry about a few cross words. Those fly around all the time.” Brian smoothed his palms down her thighs.

“Does it bother you that I’m fifteen years younger than you?”

Brian frowned. “Why would it?”

“Jason said something about it this morning, and you said something the other day.” Suzi licked her lips. “And isn’t it a little bit of a cliche? The May-December romance.”

“Suzi, that’s every man’s fantasy.” He sat back on his heels, pulling her into his lap. “Every man in the world would envy me for having a hot, talented, wonderful girlfriend. Besides, like you said, you’re very mature, and I’m immature, so we meet in the middle.”

A little smile lifted the corners of her lips.

She did look awful. Dirty, scratched, frightened, and confused. She might be more mature than he was, but sometimes he had to be stronger. “Suzi, I love you. I want to take care of you. Marry me.”

Suzi jerked back, and if he hadn’t had a sure grip on her, she would have banged into the rocks behind her. “What?”

He ran his fingers through her wet hair. “I love you. You seem to love me. You know my kids, and you love them. They love you.”

“You love your kids. Your kids love you,” Suzi joked.

“Exactly. We can all be one big happy family.”

“You’re serious.”

“Absolutely serious.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder. “You want to take care of me,” she whispered.

“Yes, I do.”

She wasn’t going to answer. The proposal took her too much by surprise. Next time he’d have to do it over a candlelit dinner with the ring in his pocket. “We’ll have to get you out of here. I think up is going to be better than down this time. With a hurt wrist, you won’t be able to get down the waterfall.”

“Everything with Logan always felt like foreplay.” She sat up. “Every glance, every touch, every breath was seduction.”

Brian studied her eyes, trying to decide if she
had
hit her head. She was staring at him as if she’d never seen him before. The intensity of her gaze unnerved him.

“You were always more concerned with my wellbeing. You even got mad at me for thinking about going back to Logan because he would hurt me.”

Brian shifted his grip on her so she didn’t slide off his lap and into the boulder. Logan said she’d gone crazy. “I don’t want to see you hurt, Suzi.”

“And you want to marry me.”

“Yes, I do.” He should have known after reading her books all these years that she wasn’t going to go from point A to point B in a straight line.

“Your divorce dragged on for ages.”

“I wasn’t planning on divorcing again. Once was enough.”

She nodded. “I want to marry you, too.”

“You do?”

“Yep.” She grinned and nodded.

“Well, hallelujah. Now let’s get out of here. The rocks are digging into my legs.”

Suzi rearranged the mail on the hall table as an excuse to peek out the window, watching for Brian’s car.

“Dad’ll be home any second. Just go sit down already,” Tess said. “It’s not like he’s going to hide from you.”

“I know, but I want to know what Tessa tells him so we’ll know if we can move ahead.”

“Then why didn’t you go with him?”

Suzi bit her lip.

“Oh, right. Morning sickness.” Tess rolled her eyes. “I am never having kids if that’s what you’ve got to go through. I’ll do what Candy did and adopt a couple from China or something.”

“You’re sure you’re okay with all this?” Their first logical step in changing the custody agreement with Bonnie was to ask the kids what they wanted. They were excited by the idea of a new sibling and living with their dad so if Tessa agreed, then it was off to Brian’s divorce lawyer.

“Totally. What’s not to be okay with?”

Hmm, moving in with their dad and his new wife and getting a brand new half sibling at the same time. Nothing to not be okay with there. “I’m just making sure.”

“You worry too much. Dad’s here.”

Suzi turned to the window, and sure enough, Brian’s car was pulling up the drive. She ran to the door and met him as he drove into the garage. Why did she still get so excited to see him? Back when they were friends, she smothered her eagerness because she shouldn’t have been so happy to see a man who wasn’t her boyfriend. Then when they first got together, she let herself be excited because he was excited, too. Now, over a year since they got together and after a lavish wedding and a wonderful family honeymoon, she still couldn’t wait to throw her arms around him. “Well?”

“I talked to Tessa. She said we should look into getting you legal guardianship for Tess and Bri, and I need to consult with my divorce lawyer about support. Tessa thinks Bonnie would be happier with a onetime settlement. That’ll make things tight for a while, but then it’ll all be over except for visitations.”

Suzi threw her arms around his shoulders. “Truly?”

“Yup, you and me and Tess and Bri and baby makes five.” He lifted her off the floor, nuzzling her neck. “It’s going to be just like we planned.”

“Finally.”

“I did have to tell her.”

“Oh, Brian! I didn’t want anybody to know.” Suzi clenched her teeth. Now, if she lost the baby, she was going to get pitying looks from Tessa.

“It’s only Tessa, and she guessed, so I had to tell her.” Brian stroked her hair. “Just relax. I’m gonna take care of you. Everything will be fine.”

Suzi squeezed her eyes closed and nodded. “I know.”

Brian set her back on the floor. “I saw your buddy at the office.”

“My buddy?”

“Brett Cherney.”

“Brett? What was he doing there?”

“Dunno. He’s either dating or not dating Tessa, depending on whose story you believe.”

“What do you mean?” Suzi allowed Brian to guide her into the house. Candy had emailed her during the honeymoon to say that Tessa, Jody, Logan, and Brett all disappeared very early from the reception, but no one knew where any of them went. No surprise that Logan had left early. He’d only shown up to prove that he was growing as a person. At least he was still trying. “What happened?”

“I was talking to Tessa in her office with the door closed, and when I went to leave, Brett was standing outside all pissed off.”

“I thought he was out in WVA with Jason.”

“He’s home getting his ears back in tune, and he told me he’d stopped by to see what Tessa was doing over the weekend.”

“The weekend?”

“I thought he said weekend. Why? Is that important?”

Suzi groaned. “Men. What happened?”

“I asked if they were dating. He said yes, but she said no, and she looked pissed that he was at the office, too.”

“What happened then?”

Brian dropped onto the couch, pulling Suzi into his lap. “I got the hell outta Dodge, that’s what happened. I’m not stupid.”

“She’s not going to tell Brett about…you know.”

“The baby?”

Suzi leaned her head on his shoulder. So sensitive. So intelligent. And at the same time such a dolt. A darling dolt.

“She won’t say anything. Don’t sweat it.” Brian massaged the small of her back. “Everything will be fine, babe. I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“I keep all my promises. Even the ones I make in my sleep.”

Suzi let whatever tension remained in her to drain out. He would, and he did, and everything would be fine.

“Suzi, your phone is ringing!” Tess shouted.

“My phone is ringing.” Suzi dragged herself off Brian’s lap. “Where is my phone?”

“You lost it again?” Brian stood up. “I’m going to hang the damn thing from a lanyard around your neck.”

“Has anybody seen my phone?” Suzi shouted up the stairs.

“No!” Tess shouted back.

No answer from Bri. Big surprise. Her phone chimed again. She had one more round before it stopped. Maybe she should let it go and catch it later.

Brian sifted through the newspaper on the coffee table. “Not here.”

Suzi found her purse on the bottom of the stairs, but it wasn’t making enough noise, and the ringing had stopped.

Bub shuffled into the living room and held out her phone that was playing the voicemail tune.

“Thanks, Bub. Where was it?”

“Kitchen counter.” He shuffled out again.

“Where does he get the talkativeness from? You or Bonnie?”

Brian shrugged. “He’s gearing up for his teens.”

“He’s got a couple of years to gear yet.” Suzi navigated into her messages.

“Hey Suzi, it’s Brett. I heard you were back in town, and I’m around, too. I wondered if you wanted to get together for lunch or something. If you have time. Anyway, give me a call. Bye.”

“Aw, it was Brett. He sounds upset.”

“No saving the world.”

“I’m not saving the world. Just Brett.” She hit the button to dial him back.

“Yeah.”

“Brett! Hi, you just called, and by the time I found the phone, it had sent you to voicemail. Then it started playing that awful voicemail song. Bleh. So, you wanted to get together for lunch?”