Page 52 of Harvest Moon

“The only Alexis in town, as far as I know,” I answered after a moment. “And I’m sorry to say it, but I wouldn’t know where to begin in helping you come home.”

“Fair enough,” he answered quickly. “Birch’s wife okay?”

And there was a loaded question. But the simplest answer was also public knowledge, so there was no reason to hide it. “She’s pregnant.”

The pause after that wasn’t unexpected. There was no way for him to know if it was just a normal pregnancy or one tainted by the Condition. Technically, we didn’t know yet either.

A few minutes passed, so I filled the time by rinsing the dishes I’d used to cook and setting them into the dishwasher. The phone buzzed again just as I was finishing. “Have lunch with me?”

Well, I had an answer for that.

“Shouldn’t this text have gone to Brook Morgan?”

The little dots to indicate he was responding popped up immediately, so apparently I hadn’t rendered him speechless. I felt a little that way, though, when I got the answer. “No. I owe Brook more than a lunch invitation, and until I know where to start, I don’t feel right even talking to him. He should have better than a broken-down old sailor who walked away.”

“In that case I’d love to have lunch with you. As a gateway to discuss you getting your shit together and coming home. Because it’s going to be good and bad and I’ll bet some people are going to be pissed at you. But tiptoeing around it isn’t going to fix anything.”

Another pause, then, “Chadwick’s at one? Clearly I’m talking to the right man to set my wayward ass back on the right path.”

Fortunately for me, Colt was the one who had agreed to come spend the afternoon with Claudia, so I didn’t have to leave Brook doing my job to go have lunch with his ex. That would have felt super sleazy.

Aspen wasn’t there when I arrived at Chadwick’s, though. I scowled at the notion of going out of my way to leave Claud alone to come help him, and then have him stand me up. I whipped Claudia’s phone out of my pocket.

He hadn’t sent another message since the previous conversation.

The curling tendril of something earthy and homey and sweet hit my nose just as Aspen appeared in front of me. “Hey. Sorry I’m late. Shall we?”

He stretched out a hand in the direction of the restaurant, and I dipped my head in agreement. I glanced around, but didn’t catch sight of where the scent had come from.

Ridge. I didn’t see Ridge. Because I would know that scent anywhere.

And something about it, right then, with Aspen Grove standing next to me, annoyed the hell out of me. “So you’ve decided to just waltz back into Brook’s life and ask him to forgive you?”

It was cruel, and that fact was driven home at the pained look on Aspen’s face. “No. I don’t think I deserve that. I don’t expect him to be waiting for me.”

“But you left,” I pointed out, oh-so-helpfully.

He held the door of the diner for me, and the place went quiet as we walked in. Oh jeez. Everyone was looking at him. I should have expected that. Almost certainly, he had expected it. He knew these people, so he had to know something about how they would respond to his return.

No, he had definitely expected this, because he didn’t react. He just led me over to a table, smiled and waved at the proprietor, and settled into one side of the booth. “I did leave,” he agreed, just loud enough for everyone in the place to hear. Ah, so we were dinner theater. I didn’t mind being used in an effort to reintroduce Aspen to his hometown, so I slid onto the bench opposite him, nodding, and waited for him to continue. “It wasn’t too hard to see that Linden was the right alpha for the pack. You’ve met my brother, right?”

“I have met Alpha Grove,” I agreed with a nod. “And you’re right. He’s very good at his job.”

The smile that stretched his lips was wide and genuine. “Knew he would be.” He swallowed hard, taking a deep breath and then looking down at the table before continuing. “But Dad wouldn’t listen to me when I told him. He was a great guy, but he just couldn’t hear that he was wrong.”

“So you took the decision out of his hands,” I said, pitching my voice so everyone in the restaurant could hear me too.

He nodded then scrubbed his palms down his face. “It was a shitty, childish way to do it. I have no excuse. I didn’t want to disappoint my father, so I ran away.”

“You could have talked to your brother, you know. He’s a pretty great guy.” I wasn’t sure if my arguing helped or hurt Aspen’s plan, but dammit, I wanted to understand. And I thought probably everyone else in town did too.

He gave me a crooked smile, lowering his eyes to the table like he had to think. Or possibly as a sign of non-aggression, like I was a big scary alpha and he didn’t want me to attack. “Yeah. I do. I should have known then, too, but I was wrong about everything at the time. I was still buying into that whole ‘alphas need to provide’ crap, like it’s the eighteenth century and the pack needed me to go out and kill a buffalo or something.”

And that was when it hit me square in the face.

That was exactly what Ridge was doing.

The fucking asshole.

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