Page 110 of Untethered Heart
“Thanks, man.”
My eyes well at the gesture. The way Caleb stepped right in for my brother to offer his help. He starts to step away, his phone in his hand, but I pull him back and quietly press a kiss to his lips in thanks.
He winks at me, then leaves the room.
“It’ll work out fine, Dylan. Don’t worry.”
“Yeah.” With everything that’s happened with Gage over the last few weeks, and now this, I’m missing my brother more than ever.
I’ve also been feeling unsure about moving back to Killara Bay full-time. I could manage doing all the admin from the city and then go down for a few days every fortnight. Dylan’s managed the tavern on his own since he was twenty, and we were always going to hire more people once the distillery expanded. But now I might be an aunt, what about my niece or nephew? I want to be there for my brother. I need to be. How the hell do I do that when I’m two hours away from him?
“Okay, Anna will give Dylan a call first thing tomorrow. I’m sending her his number now,” Caleb says as he walks back into the room, typing on his phone.
“Did you hear that, Dyl? A woman named Anna will call you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” he sighs. “Shit, I gotta go. I’ll call you later,” he whispers before the line goes dead.
I wrap my arms around Caleb’s middle, resting my head on his chest. I hum as I drag in his honey and citrus cologne. “Honey.”
He kisses the top of my head. “I love when you call me that.”
“Did you know, in the story of Odysseus and the sirens, he instructed his sailors to stuff their ears with beeswax so they might resist the song of the siren.”
“I didn’t know that,” he says softly.
I prop my chin up against his chest, smiling as I stare into his green eyes. “Maybe we were a siren and a sailor in another life.”
His hand comes up to glide his fingers through my hair, then he cups my cheek. With his thumb brushing over my lip, he whispers, “Will you find me again in the next one?”
Chapter fifty-two
Through Anna’s connections, and my bank account, we were able to get express testing on Dylan’s paternity test. Positive. He’s going to be a father.
Lex cried tears of joy over being an aunt, but I could tell she really missed her brother at that moment. She has a few nights off from Hallucinogens, and now that Gage has finally promoted Keeley to assistant manager and let her hire a new bartender, Lex didn’t need to step in and help. I encouraged her to take the drive down to Killara Bay and spend a few nights with her brother.
I hate any night spent away from Lex, but I could tell she wanted to be with Dylan. We had a video chat with him and Becca, the woman carrying their child. She seemed lovely but quiet, the shock of it all still sinking in.
Anna has been working with Dylan to make sure he’s protected. I offered to pay for a rental for Becca, so they didn’t have to live together, but Dylan liked her being with him in case she needed anything.
It’s going to be a lot of work with the tavern and distillery, but I think he’ll handle addingdadto the resume as well. Lex has spent every night since we found out talking about her childhood in Killara Bay and time spent at the tavern when she and Dylan were young.
It sounded like Dylan had a wonderful role model for being a single dad, but I’ll make sure I do whatever I can to help him. He’s Lex’s brother, and if she’s worried, then I’m worried. Besides, this baby girl or boy is going to be my niece or nephew, too.
The thought brings a smile to my face as I walk through the front door to my grandparents’ house for our weekly Sunday dinner. Gage is steady on his crutches and able to move around a bit more now, so he’s back at his own house from tonight. Mason picked him and Tiny up for tonight. Tiny already looks like he’s put on a bit of weight over the days he’s been fed by my grandmother. The Great Dane was already near seventy kilos. Bastard needs to learn how to walk on a leash as well.
I make my way through the house to the back, where the kitchen is, the comforting smell of my grandmother’s cooking seeping through every open doorway.
“The favourite has arrived.” I smile as I walk through the archway that opens into the kitchen and meals area.
“Yeah.” Beth snorts. “I already told them that when I got here twenty minutes ago.”
I smile as I walk over to my sister, where she sits next to a grumpy Gage at the built-in breakfast nook. He has his foot with the long leg cast propped up on a chair beside the table.
I kiss Beth’s head, then tug on her ponytail because that’s what big brothers do, before making my way over to Grams, who’s stirring something in the kitchen.
“How’s Lex? How’s Dylan?” Beth asks as I drop a kiss on Grams’s cheek
My chest feels full that my sister would even ask about them. Family is important to all of us. She knows how I feel about Lex, they all do, but it makes pride ratchet behind my ribs hearing my sister accept Lex into all their lives too.
