Page 14 of Tempting the Heart

“Oh, right. Sorry. Bad habit.”

Brad flashed a grin in my direction. “Bad habit?”

I took a bite of calamari and let out a nod of appreciation. “The seafood here is hard to beat.”

“It is.” Mae nodded, taking a bite of shrimp. “Speaking of, where is it you live nowadays?”

I held up two fingers since my mouth was full and acted like a caveman.

“Oh, charades now. Fun,” Mae teased. “Let’s see now, two words. New York?”

I swallowed down a laugh and shook my head. “No. I have two places.”

Mae chuckled. “Oh, fancy.”

“He splits his time between Wisconsin and North Carolina,” her brother answered.

“Nice.” Mae nodded and took another bite of food.

I wasn’t sure whether she really thought it was or not.

“I tend to spend the winters in North Carolina and the spring, summer, and fall in a little town called Buttercup Lake,” I clarified.

“Cute.” She smiled, looking over my shoulder at the water.

“It is,” I agreed. “But coming back here reminds me how special this part of the world is.”

She nodded, bringing her gaze back to mine. “I’m pretty fond of it.”

“For sure.”

Her eyes lingered on mine for a beat extra, and Brad cleared his throat.

“So, how long do you think you’ll be here?”

I shook my head. “I was hoping to head out on Friday, but I don’t know. I need to make sure my dad gets the exercises down for him to do at home if the physical therapist doesn’t quit first. I told her I’d understand if she did.”

Brad’s brows rose. “Really?”

I nodded and let out a defeated sigh. “Yeah. My dad was a complete…” I glanced at Mae before bringing my attention back to Brad. “Prick.”

“Ah, old habits die hard.” Brad shook his head and took a drink of beer.

I laughed and nodded. “Something like that. It’s brought me right back to my childhood. I just don’t get it.”

Brad nodded. “It’s not fair.”

“Well, I learned a long time ago that there wasn’t such a thing as fair. I just have to do my best to get him the care he needs, clean up the place as best I can, and get out of here without World War III happening.”

“I mean it, Tyler. If you need anything this week, let me know.”

I thought back to the piles of junk my parents had stacked throughout the halls, in all the rooms, and even on the back porch. My plan had been to get it all taken care of before I left. I’d even managed to call a dump truck to drop off a container for me to fill on Wednesday and Thursday. They’d come back to pick it up on Friday.

But I didn’t even know if getting everything sorted and tossed was humanely possible.

“Same,” Mae’s cheerful voice popped up as she set her drink down. “I’m free on Wednesday.”

“What about your coffee shop?” I asked, frowning.

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