Page 15 of Bride for Keeps

Carter squinted up at Jess who hovered there above him at the arm of the couch. She and Cole had been high school sweethearts before Cole had taken off for the rodeo. But now they were a couple again, somehow figuring out their past mistakes and finding love. Here and now.

Why didtheyget that?

“You’d take Sierra’s side though if it was time to take sides.” He didn’t bother to phrase it as a question. Sierra might not have won over his parents, but Sierra, Lina and Jess had formed some sister-ish bond. “You both would.” Because there was no love lost between him and his brother. He sat up, his head going fuzzy and wishy-washy, but that didn’t change the spark of emotion inside of him. “Only I didn’t do anything. I don’t know why she left. I didn’tdoanything.”

“Maybe that’s the problem,” Jess offered.

“Relationships are hard work,” Cole said seriously, as though he had any idea.

“I suppose that’s why you shirked yours for ten years,” Carter said, and even drunk he knew it was too harsh, but he didn’t need his younger, half-brother’s lectures when hehadn’tdone anything wrong. And Cole hadn’t been here.

Cole’s mouth firmed, but then he nodded. “I suppose it is.” Cole studied Carter and Carter merely scowled.

“Have you ever had to try hard at something?” Cole asked.

Carter bristled, because that wasn’t a real question. It was one of those questions where the person was so sure they already had the answer. Except who had been here the past ten years? Who had stayed by Mom and Dad’s side? Certainly not Cole. “I have worked myassoff for years to—”

“Working hard and trying hard aren’t always the same thing, Carter. You might have put in a lot of hours, a lot of sweat. Obviously you worked hard to become a doctor, but was any of that a struggle for you? Has anything ever been a struggle? A failure you had to overcome? Or is this the first time life said: not so fast, hotshot?”

Carter pushed off the couch. “Fuck off, Cole.”

“Look, I know you don’t want to hear it from me, but I am just trying to help.”

Jess reached out, touching Carter’s arm lightly. “Have you talked to anyone—really talked—about how you’re feeling?”

“I’m feeling drunk, Jess. It’s quite nice.”

“Carter—”

“My wife is leaving me.” He opened his mouth to go on. Mypregnantwife is leaving me. Except… He didn’t want to expose himself that deeply. “How am I supposed to feel?”

“Sierra loves you. I know she does.” Jess looked torn. “But love requires a certain amount of communication.”

Cole stood, and Carter was struck by how much his brother looked like him, even though he hadn’t seen him in years. Even though they were polar opposites in doing and thinking, they were so similar physically. All Mom—blue eyes and blond hair. Their differences had to have been the differences in their fathers.

Carter felt…defenseless. Except he had a defense. A million of them. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t know why she left. I don’t know what you want from me.”

“You mean… You haven’t talked aboutwhyshe wants a divorce?” Jess asked, sounding slightly horrified.

“I told her we needed to talk and she said I’d had all the time in the world to talk and it was too late. What am I supposed to do with that?”

“I think you’re supposed to talk.”

Carter glared at his brother. “Why are you of all people lecturing me?”

“Because I’ve had to learn a thing or two about opening up and talking.”

Cole and Jess exchanged a look that made Carter’s stomach turn. He hated when people did that. He and Sierra had never mastered that art every other couple he knew had. To simply look at each other and know what the other was thinking.

He refused to believe it was because he didn’t love her, or because they’d rushed into marriage, or any of the other things his parents would happily ascribe it to. It was just he and Sierra weren’t built that way. It didn’t mean they didn’t belong together.

Except, here they were, very much not together.

“If there is anything Dad taught me, it’s that you have to fight for what you want. Getting onto the rodeo circuit was never easy. Coming home wasn’t and still isn’t easy. Hell, a relationship with Jess isn’t easy, and that’s still a hell of a lot easier than any relationship with Mom or Dad. You’ve had a lot of easy, Carter, no matter how hard you’ve worked. But now it’s time for the hard stuff, and I know deep down, there’s a man who can take it on.”

“How on earth do you know that?” Carter asked, that horrible clawing feeling growing inside him again. That awful sob-like thing building up inside of him.

“I know not being Dad’s is a blow,” Cole said in a quiet, serious voice that disturbed Carter if only because his brother was usually stoic and determined. Hard. There was a softness to this. “But regardless of the blood pumping in your veins, who you are and how you act are your decisions to make. You’re like him because you’ve wanted to be, but maybe it’s time to open your eyes to what you know deep down. You’re not as cold and hard as he is. You never have been, no matter how hard you’ve tried. I’d say if anything your marriage to Sierra proves that.”

---