Page 27 of When I Fall In Love

“Who?” Ethan asks when nobody says anything.

Derek and Raiden shoot me questioning stares. “Is she?”

Ugh. “Beth Anderson. And yes. She arrived in the dead of night.” And none of them need to know about our afternoon surprise encounter.

“Beth Anderson?” Ethan leans back in his seat, eyes wide as he stares at me. “Your Beth Anderson?”

“Keep your voice down,” I huff. Beth after all wants nobody to know she’s in town, but I bet after this afternoon the grapevine is burning the news to the ground. Nevertheless, she doesn’t need to find out that the news she’s back in town hit the grapevine courtesy of the Logan brothers while they got hammered at Sharky’s.

“It’s O’Neill now,” Derek chips in. “But divorced, for what it’s worth.”

“Oh. Okay.” Ethan’s gaze sweeps the table. “What’s she doing here? It’s been like… what? Fifteen years?”

“Sixteen,” Raiden says, then fills Ethan in on everything that has transpired over the past few weeks.

“So have you seen her since she arrived? This morning?” Ethan asks, failing to hide his enthusiasm.

I plan to respect her wishes, even if every part of my heart, body, and soul wanted to sprint out of my house last night to help her carry in her things, make sure she was comfortable, just see her. Make sure she was real. In the end I did nothing and did the only thing I usually do when I get restless: row. “I didn’t plan to, but she was at Collingwood Farm this afternoon. I was there with Uncle Bill.”

“And?” Ethan prods.

“And? Nothing. She’s in and out of town for business, only a—”

“Ugh, Hunter, stop being such a fucking good guy.” Ethan rolls his eyes at me. “At least take her out on a date while she’s in town. She’s divorced!”

“Doesn’t mean she’s single,” Raiden says as he goodheartedly elbows Ethan in the ribs.

“Doesn’t mean she’s exclusive with whoever she’s dating,” Derek adds, hitching his eyebrows at me. “If she’s dating.”

Oh, they are riling me up and enjoying every second of it. Just thinking of Beth’s sex life is enough to make my stomach fist with jealousy and my dick hard with the memories of us. But I’m not going to fall for their bait and make no comment.

“Where’s she staying?” Ethan asks.

Another drumroll of silence follows as gazes do the rounds of the table.

“My cottage.”

Ethan breaks out in a loud laugh and the other two lean back with fat-cat smiles on their faces. “Ah fuck, Hunter, well done dude, even I couldn’t top that strategic move.”

Another waitress brings our food and the table quiets down as my bros dig in. I’ve lost my appetite and for a while just nurse my beer. The problem is that I have no strategy, no moves, no plan to fix the mess I’m in. Since leaving San Francisco and even more so since Britt told me Beth was coming to Ashleigh Lake, I’ve been in a kind of freeze, unable to think beyond seeing her again and then… this afternoon happened. Fucking lasagna?

“Well, you let us know when you need a helping hand, won’t you, Hunter?” Derek says as he wipes his fingertips with a napkin.

“I don’t need a helping hand, the cottage isn’t a strategic move, and Beth isn’t stupid.” She is out of touch, but that happens when you’re out of your usual environment like this afternoon. City girl Beth has clearly forgotten the realities of food production. Dairy cows end up as ground beef, mostly, at the end of their milking years. I pin my brothers down one by one with a hard stare. “Beth won’t fall for any of your shit. Remember the last time she saw all of you, you were still leaving skid marks in your boxers and thought farting in public was funny. So you all just calm down and give her space, okay?”

Raiden chuckles but looks down at his plate. Derek smiles and lets his gaze travel over to the bar, not returning to mine. Only Ethan levels back at me with a cool stare. “I like the idea of a family get-together tomorrow night. At your place.”

Ah fuck. I might not have a strategy; doesn’t mean my brothers don’t.

“Are we going to grill or what tomorrow night? The weather is still great and I have nothing else to do but sort it all out. Booze, meat, garlic bread, man, I’ll even fix us up some salads for the ladies,” Ethan carries on, now fully invested in this idea he didn’t give a second thought to half an hour ago. “Plus, I still need to meet Georgiana.”

“Sounds great to me,” Derek seconds the idea.

“I can help in the morning with buying food. In the afternoon I’m picking up a surprise for Georgiana.”

“What surprise?” Derek asks.

I’m having a hard time following as all I can think of is the twenty-odd people who will swamp my place tomorrow night, not allowing Beth much privacy. Her deck and mine are only separated by my canoe rack. My jetty is right there, in full view from her living room windows. Maybe I did have a subconscious strategy. I’m not stupid either. I knew all of this when I allowed Jessie to rent out my cottage.

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