Why Not Tonight (Happily Inc. #3)(44)

Nick and Mathias exchanged a look. Natalie tried to figure out what they were thinking, but there was too much brother communication for her to decipher.

“We know when his birthday is,” Nick told her. “As for doing something, Ronan’s not really a party guy.”

There was something about the way he spoke, she thought. Not the words as much as the tone. As if he was trying to warn her not to wade out too far into the emotional pool.

She knew that, until a few years ago, Mathias and Ronan had thought they were fraternal twins. To make that story work, they would have shared a birthday, only it wouldn’t have been their real birthday—at least not for Ronan.

“You usually celebrate together,” she breathed, staring at Mathias. “You and he probably planned the parties, or at least told your mom what you wanted. But that’s been lost, too, along with everything else, and you haven’t known what to do about it.”

Mathias set down the light pendant and settled on a stool. “Maybe.”

“Have you talked about your birthdays?” she asked.

“Talk?” Nick asked. “Right. You’ve met our other brother, haven’t you? Ronan’s not exactly a chatty guy.”

She pulled up a third stool, took a seat and looked at Mathias. “What happened when he found out about who he was? Did he leave right away? Did you come up with a plan together?”

“There was no plan,” Mathias told her. “He didn’t say anything for weeks. I mean, anything. He didn’t work, didn’t do much of anything. Then one day he came to me and said he was leaving. He’d found a town where he wanted to live. Happily Inc. We’d sold a lot of our work through the gallery here. It’s not a huge place, like a gallery in New York or Chicago, but Atsuko has connections.”

Natalie nodded. She was forever shipping pieces all over the world or collecting payments from international clients.

“Did he ask you to go with him?” she asked.

“No. He gave me the information. What I did with it was up to me. But he was my twin, no matter what our father said, so I came with him.” He hesitated. “At first it was okay. We rented a place together, and Atsuko gave us this studio so we could work. I thought we were going to go back to the way it had been.”

Only they hadn’t, she thought sadly. Ronan had started pulling away. She’d seen that when she’d started working here. How week after week he grew less and less communicative. How he wasn’t working, or if he was, he worked from home.

“If he leaves again, we’re going to lose him,” Nick said bluntly. “Mathias can’t go with him this time. He’s got Carol and everything else.”

Of course, she thought. Mathias loved his wife and Carol was tied to Happily Inc. Her work was here and it wasn’t as if the animal preserve could be packed up and moved.

“He’s not going anywhere,” she said quickly. “Why would he? His work is here, his family.”

Me. Only she couldn’t say that. She and Ronan weren’t involved—not seriously. They were having fun. Even if she wanted more, it wasn’t going to happen. She couldn’t give her heart to someone she couldn’t trust to treasure their connection as much as she did. He’d turned his back on his brothers and his mother. What if he decided to turn his back on her? On their children? She hated to admit it, but she and Ronan didn’t have a future. She would enjoy what they had now and be careful to keep herself from getting too emotionally involved with him.

That sensible plan in place, she returned her attention to the conversation at hand. “Whether or not he’s leaving isn’t the issue. What about his birthday? His actual birthday. Have you ever celebrated it?”

Nick and Mathias looked at each other.

“I don’t think so,” Nick began before Mathias interrupted him.

“No. He never wanted to acknowledge it.”

“Then that is going to change. We’re going to have a party.”

Mathias looked doubtful. “He’s not going to like that.”

“He’s going to say he’s not going to like it, but until he walks into the party, he won’t really know, will he? We can have all his friends there. We’ll have food and cake and silly presents. It will be great. You’ll see.”

Mathias didn’t look convinced.

She stood and walked over to him, then poked him in the arm. “You owe me. When you had your mom’s dog last year, I took care of her every single day. Every. Single. Day. You said that whatever I wanted from you was mine. Well, I want this.”

Mathias muttered something under his breath. “You’re right. We’ll have a party.”

She smiled. “I knew you’d see reason.” She turned to Nick. “You’re helping, too.”

“You think I don’t know that? Sure.”

“Excellent. We’ll celebrate Ronan’s birthday and strengthen the family bond so he doesn’t want to leave.”

The brothers exchanged another one of those infuriatingly secret looks.

“What?” she demanded. “You know something. What is it?”

Mathias nodded and Nick spoke.

“We’re way ahead of you, Natalie. On the brother front. Do you remember the poster at The Boardroom for the outdoor challenge?”