Page 70 of Caught Up In You (The Monroes 2)

“How are you so calm?” Braxton asked. “You loved working there.”

“I’ll have to love working here.” Liam finally straightened and met Braxton’s eyes. “Looks like you won’t have to be in such a hurry to find another chef.”

Braxton knew this was hard for Liam to handle, knew the last thing his brother wanted to do was move back home. Braxton actually hurt for Liam. For the past decade Liam had made a life for himself away from Haven, only coming home when needed. After the accident he’d wanted to get away, to ignore the pain and the memories that came along with this little town.

But maybe it was time for him to come home

and heal. Maybe this was the path in life Liam was supposed to go down. And maybe Chelsea was somewhere smiling down on them, loving that all of her brothers were finally going to be in the same town, working on the resort she’d always dreamed of.

“What are you going to do with your condo?”

“My lease is up at the end of the year.” Liam glanced down to the pile of red circles and went back to cutting more. “I’ll look for a place here for now, but I don’t plan on staying.”

“You can stay with me.”

“Not a good idea.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Braxton leaned against the island. “And why is that?”

With a snort, Liam shook his head.

“What? Just say it.”

On a sigh, Liam laid down his knife and braced his palms on the counter before focusing on Braxton. “Whatever you and Cora have going on, I don’t want to be in the middle of.”

“I didn’t plan on inviting you into our relationship.”

Liam narrowed his eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“I’m trying to help and you’re being stubborn.”

“Stupid, stubborn man.” Sophie stormed through the kitchen and slammed her hands on the island. “What does he know about decorations?”

She glanced back and forth between Liam and Braxton as if they’d actually answer her. Hell no. Braxton knew when to keep his mouth shut when it came to women and fits of rage. He’d lived with Chelsea long enough to know sometimes it’s best to just weather through the storm. Women’s moods changed fast enough, he’d hold out for the next one.

“You have a wreath hanging on the mirror in the entryway,” Zach defended as he came into the kitchen. His mess of hair was even more disheveled than usual.

“Because it’s pretty.” Sophie whirled around and glared at him. “If you don’t like how I’m doing things, then leave. Chelsea would’ve—”

Her last words died off in a sob, and Sophie turned her back on Zach and covered her face with her hands.

“Well, shit.” Braxton rounded the island, but stopped short when Zach jerked his gaze in his direction.

Liam fisted his hands on the counter and stared at Zach, who rubbed a hand down his face before reaching out to grip Sophie’s shoulders. He turned her around and held her, patting her back and whispering something Braxton couldn’t hear.

Stupid jerk. Emotions were high, everyone was stressed, and by next week they were supposed to be at their top performing level with smiles on their faces. The first time those doors opened to the public, they knew there better be perfection staring back at them or this dream of Chelsea’s would fade and all of their work would be in vain.

“Keep the wreaths,” Zach stated, still holding Sophie. “I’ll go get more. We’ll put them over every window outside and I’ll keep Braxton off the ladder this time. I swear we can put up any decoration you want, but please stop crying.”

Braxton exchanged a look with Liam. Only Sophie could pull out such emotions and compassion from Zach. She’d always been the one for him, it just took him a tragic accident and a decade to get his head on straight and wake up to what was in front of him.

Sophie sniffed as she eased back and curled her hands into Zach’s T-shirt. “Sorry. I just want it all to be perfect. I want Chelsea to be proud and I want this place to be packed just like she envisioned.”

“It will be,” Zach assured her. “With all of us taking charge, there’s no way this place will fail.”

Sophie swiped at her eyes and straightened her shoulders. “I’m going to go call Macy. She ordered some extra wire and hangers for me and I need to see if they came in.”

When Sophie left the room, Zach blew out a breath and stared up at the ceiling.

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