Page 227 of Steamy Ever After

It was cold again tonight. Before he came out, he’d grabbed a jacket, but now, he realized he should’ve grabbed a hat too.

He’d asked Kade once why he shaved his head. “I’m gettin’ thin up top. Decided to shave it instead of fighting it. Chicks like bald heads, Brode.”

There was something else nagging at him. His whole family knew Kade had intended to propose to Peyton when he returned from his last mission. He even had a ring. Brodie wondered where it was now. Did his mother have it?

“Did she know how you felt? Did she know you wanted to marry her?”

When he got close to the wine caves, he sat on the bench outside the entrance, leaned forward, and put his elbows on his knees, like he had at the market. “I really like her, man. More than like. I’m crazy about her, and I don’t know what the hell to do about it.”

He wiped his face with his hand when tears slid down his cheeks. He had so many questions the stars couldn’t answer for him. Only Kade could, and he was gone.

PEYTON

After Brodie drove away, Peyton pulled out her phone and saw she had two voicemails and several texts. She hadn’t looked at her cell since they left Big Sky Café, and that wasn’t like her. It wasn’t responsible either. What if her boys needed her? Her heart raced as she looked at the texts first. Both were from Alex, saying she was checking in. If anything had happened to them, Alex was her emergency contact; she wouldn’t have just “checked in.”

She didn’t recognize the phone numbers from the voicemails and was irritated when she listened and discovered they were sales calls.

“Well, hello there. Where on earth have you been?” asked Alex when she answered her cell.

“Wait, what? You didn’t want to run.”

“Settle down! You’re right. I didn’t want to run. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to know where you’ve been.”

“I’ll tell you later.” Peyton wasn’t ready to admit she’d spent the day with Brodie Butler, even to her best friend.

“You’ve got to be kidding. First, you give no clue as to why you canceled something you nag endlessly about, and now, after I haven’t talked to you all day, you’re still holding out on me?”

“I said I’ll tell you later. I have to leave to pick the boys up from school.”

“When will you be home?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know, fifteen minutes?”

“I’ll see you in twenty, and have a bottle of wine open.”

“Alex…”

“Are you hungry? I can pick up takeout on my way over.”

“I’ll ask the boys what they want and let you know.”

“Sounds good, and I’ll see you soon. I’m warning you, though. You’ll pay for torturing me like this.”

“I’m rolling my eyes.”

“As if you wouldn’t react the same way if the situations were reversed. In fact, you’d be worse.”

Peyton laughed and disconnected the call. Alex was right. She would’ve been relentless if Alex disappeared for an entire day. Unfortunately for her friend, she would be making her wait even longer. There was no way she’d tell her about her day with Brodie if either of her boys were still awake.

“I’m seriously craving seafood. Too bad the Sea Chest is closed,” Peyton said when Alex called again.

“I’ll drive by and see if Stormy is there. If she is, I can probably talk her into letting me have some chowder, maybe some oysters too.”

Stormy Blue, her given name, was the manager of the Sea Chest and had gone to high school with her and Alex. Peyton hoped their friend was there, because no one else in town compared when it came to clam chowder.

“If not, I’ll swing by the market. Can you wait that long?”

“I can wait. I’ll nibble on a piece of the pizza I ordered for the boys.”

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