“Feeling faint?”
“You never get tired of hearing yourself talk, do you? All that hot air could be harnessed as an alternative energy source.”
They got out of the car. “How about you?” Liam asked, shoving a water bottle into his backpack. “Anyone special in your life? Other than Mom, of course.”
Mark pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes, headed out of the parking lot to the dirt path that wandered along the creek. Their favorite hike began off to the left, a sharp switchback up into the redwoods.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Or her.
Liam grinned, slapped him on the back. “Going that well, huh?”
“Why did I agree to this? It’s like an anti-birthday present being with you.”
“You know, it gets even funnier,” Liam said. He looked excessively pleased as shit about something.
Mark stopped, suspicious. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing. Let’s get going.”
Taking a step back, Mark held out his hand, index finger pointing between his brother’s eyes. “Tell me.”
“It’s nothing! Jeez. Forget it.”
“Why are you smiling?”
“I tried to tell you, but you told me to spare you the gory details,” Liam said.
Mark relaxed. “This is about Bev?”
“Maybe.” With a shrug and a glance at the line of trees high up on the ridge, Liam’s smile grew. “We were just talking about having a baby, that’s all.”
“Bev’s pregnant?”
“Not yet,” Liam said, “but we’ve decided not to wait.” The two of them followed the trail away from the parking lot. The winter rains hadn’t started yet and the creek under the footbridge was low, almost rocky. “None of us is getting any younger.”
“That’s great. Really,” Mark said. “Does Mom know?”
“No, and don’t tell her. If you do, I’ll tell her about some single girls I know. Whether or not she’s already got her eye on somebody for you. I’m sure she’d be happy for runners-up.”
“Calm down, I was only asking.”
“I know, I know,” Liam said. “But she’s been harassing me for years. I don’t want her to stress Bev out. We’re not even married yet, you know? First things first.”
“How’s the wedding planning going?”
“My advice? Elope.”
“That bad?”
“The second after you pop the question is the moment to strike,” Liam said. “I’d give my left nut to be done with this by now. I should’ve bundled her off to Reno. When she was all gooey and romantic and thought I was perfect.”
“Now she knows better?” Mark asked.
“Exactly,” Liam replied, walking past a fork in the trail.
“Hey, right here. Aren’t we doing the French Trail?”
“Yeah, but let’s do it the other direction this time. I’m not up for that climb first thing. I’d rather take it slow today, warm up gradually,” Liam said.
“You are getting old.”
“Not the only one,” Liam said with a grin.
Two minutes later, on the way to the other end of the trail, they came out into a clearing with picnic tables, public barbecues, and familiar people gathered around them.
“You son of a bitch,” Mark said under his breath.
His brother just laughed. “Happy birthday, little brother. Mom said she invited a friend of yours. That must be her in the pink sweater.” Eyes narrowing, he studied her.
Mark’s molars pressed together in the back of his mouth. Liam wasn’t supposed to meet Rose yet. He’d ask questions, make jokes, tell embarrassing stories. “She invited both the neighbors. Looks like only one of them came.”
The group had noticed them now and was standing up, waving and calling out. “She’s just one of the neighbors?” Liam asked, still studying Rose.
Mark couldn’t let his brother get involved. Whatever he’d started with Rose was too precarious. “She moved out, actually. Now we just work together.” Mark started to walk towards the group in resignation. “That’s all.”
“You sure?”
Mark waved at his mother, avoided Liam’s eyes. “Definitely.”
He’d explain everything to Rose later.
* * *
“Look at his face,” Mark’s sister said. “He’s trying to decide if he can make a run for it.”
Rose almost regretted participating in the surprise. The horror on Mark’s face was too genuine.
I should’ve warned him at least,
she thought. Although she’d been grateful to get sent out of town for a few days, knowing she’d be unlikely to keep the secret face-to-face. And she’d had other good reasons for staying away, like keeping her job, her self-respect, her peace of mind.
And her heart. She’d thought it would be safer to have a fling with such a nice guy, that she could keep it fun, friendly.
But that scene in the office hadn’t been fun and friendly. It had been…
Insane.
He looked adorably uncomfortable, deceptively harmless, but all that niceness hid an intensity that scared her. A deep part of her responded to him, connected to him, and wanted more. More, she suspected, than he was looking for from her. Sex, yes. Obviously. Frequently. But beyond that?
Rose knew she wasn’t the one who made him trip over his feet, turn red, look like an idiot.
Blair
did that to him. Those were the feelings that ran deep to his heart, the romantic, emotional craving she herself was beginning to feel for him.
Whatever he felt for her, it wasn’t strong enough to make him nervous—whereas she was suddenly shaky just looking at him from fifty feet away.
Be careful, Rose.
“Happy birthday!” Trixie shouted, arms raised. “Don’t let him get away, Liam. Hold on to him!”
Mark’s brother was a staggeringly gorgeous blond with a lanky, athletic build and an arrogant grin. Blair told her he was an Olympic gold medalist in swimming and she believed it; he certainly had the physique.
“He’s not going anywhere,” Liam said, putting a second hand on Mark’s shoulder; Mark flinched.
“Happy birthday, you geezer!” his sister called. April, a curly brunette who looked about seventeen but was apparently much older, had one hand in the bag of corn chips and one in the rear pocket of her boyfriend’s jeans.
“I think he needs a beer,” Bev said. Rose had been surprised to find out the warm, voluptuous woman engaged to Liam was also the head of Fite Fitness, the apparel company where they both worked. Bev had just inherited it, apparently. She looked more like the preschool teacher she’d been until recently. A down-to-earth, maternal type in yoga pants and a hoodie.
Bev went over to the end of the table and got an Anchor Steam out of the cooler, popped the cap with the opener.
Rose reached out for it. “I’ll administer it.”
After a slight pause, Bev handed it to her, smiling. “Tell him there’s more where that came from.”
Rose walked over, eyes fixed on Mark’s. She handed him the bottle.
“Hi,” he said, then looked down. His jaw was tight.
Poor guy. This was torture. She resisted the urge to kiss him on the cheek and embarrass him further. “Happy birthday,” she said, settling for widening her grin.
“Thanks.” He turned red and stepped away.
“Hi, I’m Liam.” The blond Adonis cut in, held out his hand.
“Rose Devlin. Nice to meet you.”
He had a firm handshake, and held it a little extra, sizing her up. He had a hard, confident way about him, very unlike his brother. “You work at WellyNelly?”
“Just started,” she said.
Liam raised an eyebrow. “How did my mother know to call you?”
Bev waited a moment for Mark to explain. Then another. She finally said, “I was living next door. Mark got me the job.”
“Of course.” Liam regarded her steadily. “Now I remember. Your friend is engaged to Ellen’s son.”
“Yes.”
Suddenly joining them, Bev wrapped an arm around Liam’s waist, pointed at the table. “I just put out the chips. We’ll have steak and salad a little later.” Then in a lower voice to Mark and Rose, “You should get some of the guacamole now before April and her boyfriend eat it all.”
“I’ll do that,” Mark said, striding away.
Rose watched him go, her hand tightening over the beer bottle.
With his fiancée at his side, Liam seemed to lose interest in Rose. “Always feeding people, aren’t you?” He turned into Bev’s arms, lifted her a few inches off the ground.
“Can’t let the kids get cranky,” she said, laughing.
“I’m a grown man. We need beer. Beer and women.” He put Bev down and glanced at Rose. “Don’t let Bev shove food at you. She’s relentless. The more sugar the better.”
“I don’t force you to eat anything,” Bev said.
“You would if you were strong enough. But all that crap has made you weak.”
“Pfft,” Bev said, rolling her eyes.
Liam turned to Rose. “Seriously, watch out for her. You’ll end up eating way more than you should.”
Rose’s smile was no longer coming naturally. She hadn’t liked the way he’d grilled her like a steak for the barbecue, and she really didn’t like any comment, however oblique, about what she should eat.
And Mark had barely looked at her.
With a wave, she escaped from Liam and Bev and joined Mark at the table with his mother, sister, and her boyfriend. Mark wasn’t talking to them, either, so she may have misjudged him; he was just on social overload, shoving chips into his mouth to ease the pain.
“Happy birthday,” Trixie said, getting up to hug him. “Don’t be cross. I had to do something.”
Mouth full of avocado mash, he stared bleakly at her.
“I tried to invite Blair, too,” she added in a stage whisper, patting his back. “But she’s not ready yet.”
“Of course she’s not,” he said, frowning.
She leaned in closer, patting him again. “Give her time.” Then she stood up straight, smiled around at the group, obviously pleased with the party, and strode over to the grill with a wire brush in her hand.
Rose took another swig of her beer. Then another.
Blair. His mother thought he was pining over Blair.
She tried to meet his gaze, but he was making love to the guacamole.
His sister kept giving her looks, though.
She
knew.
“I like her, Mark,” April said suddenly.
Mouth around the lip of the beer bottle again, Rose realized she was talking about her.
“Way to make her feel at ease,” her boyfriend said. He was bald and dark-skinned, with a round, youthful face and a gold hoop in one ear. If it weren’t for the North Face jacket, he’d look like a baby pirate.
“Why wouldn’t it? It’s not like I said I didn’t like her,” April said.
Mark stalked around the picnic table and said something in April’s ear. She rolled her eyes at Rose and made a zipper motion across her lips.
“We haven’t met,” Mark said to April’s boyfriend, sticking his hand back into the chip bag. “I’m Mark.”
“This is Samuel, but don’t bother getting to know him. We just broke up,” April said.
Mark hesitated, then held up his chip to him in a salute. “Congratulations on your narrow escape.”
“Hey,” April said.
Samuel, who had been scowling at April, raised a bottle. “Yeah, thanks. Sorry to put a bummer on your day.”
“It’s all right. I was already depressed.”
“The big three-oh?”
Mark nodded solemnly, drained his beer. Rose watched him look around, find the cooler, his eyes lighting up.
He returned with two beers, set them both on the table. “One for you,” he said to Rose.
The first thing he’d said to her all day. “Thanks so much.”
“For the record,
I
dumped
him
,” April said.
“You wanted to wait until tomorrow,” Samuel said. “It was my idea to go ahead and end it now.”
April stole the beer out of his hand, took a sip. “What’s the big hurry? We’ve been miserable for weeks. What’s one more day?”
Samuel reached over and reclaimed his drink. “I’m not your bitch.”
“That is so offensive,” April said. “I can’t believe I ever slept with a guy so sexist.”
“Yeah? Sexist?” Samuel stood up, leaning over her, and stroked his fleece-lined chest. “‘Sexy,’ more like. You want one more night because you can’t bear the thought of living the rest of your life without one more taste of all this, baby.”
Trixie returned, dropping a bag of charcoal in the middle of the picnic table with a mushy thud. “Who wants to start the fire? I’m starving.”
April popped up. “I would
love
to set something on fire.”
“That’ll be a first,” Samuel said.
She spun to face him, eyes flashing. “I can’t believe I ever had sex with you.”
“Because you still can’t believe you could be so lucky,” Samuel replied in a low voice, moving closer to her.
“You are so full of yourself.”
“You like it.”
April’s mouth dropped open. The rest of the group watched silently, shooting sideways glances at each other. A bowl of spiced almonds on the table caught Rose’s eye; she sat down, scooped up a handful, and settled in for the rest of the show.
Mark strode away from the table to help his mother with some folding chairs. Rose stared at his long legs, remembering how they felt under her hands, strong and solid, how they flexed when he took a few minutes to fuck her on his desk.
Had that really happened?
Nothing in Mark’s demeanor suggested it had.
She shoved another handful of almonds in her mouth, washed it down with a mouthful of beer, struggling to hide the building pain—no,
rage
, she was just enraged—inside her.
Trixie slapped her forehead. “I forgot the lighter fluid in the car. April, could you please get it for me?”
After a second, April broke her unblinking gaze on her pirate baby ex-boyfriend. “What?”
“The lighter fluid. In the Volvo. Could you get it, please?”
April looked around the table, saw they were all staring, sighed. “Fine. Yeah, I get it. I mean, I’ll get it.” She leaned under the table for her shoes, then gave Samuel a dark look as she put them on. “You might as well help me.”
“Oh, I will,” he said.
The two of the marched off in single file, April leading as fast as her rubber platform flip-flops would take her.
Mark sat down at the opposite end of the table. “I hope the presents aren’t in the car. We won’t be seeing them again.”