The Lemon Sisters (Wildstone #3)(38)

Garrett waited until the couple moved on before saying, “Admit it, you wanted to kill her.”

“Only a little.”

“Proud of you,” he murmured.

She had no idea why, but the words warmed her to her toes.

A little bit later, they pulled back into Mindy’s driveway. While the kids were running around on the lawn like wild things, Brooke turned to Garrett. In spite of the day they’d had and the “proud of you,” he was now looking at her like maybe she was a puzzle he couldn’t solve. Or didn’t want to. “What?” she asked.

He shook his head. “It’s irrelevant.”

“I doubt that.”

He stared at her for another beat. “It’s irrelevant because I no longer give in to impulses that are going to mess me up.”

She felt herself run the pads of her thumbs over her fingertips, back and forth. “And you think I’m going to mess you up.”

“I know it,” he said.

“Wow.” She absorbed the blow of that. “Nice.”

He shook his head. “I’m not trying to hurt you, Brooke. I’m trying to avoid getting hurt. Like I said, we’re in a different place now, and I promised myself I wasn’t going to go there with you again. Not ever.”

“Says the man who had his tongue down my throat last night.” Nodding like it all made perfect sense, and also to show that she was fine with it, she began to move toward the house. Because she was totally 100 percent fine, dammit.

“Brooke—”

“No, it’s good to know, and I hear you. Loud and clear. Kids!” she called. “Let’s go!”

Garrett scooped up Maddox and helped them all into the house, in spite of Brooke not wanting him to.

There they found a surprise in the kitchen.

Linc.

He’d removed his suit jacket, loosened his tie, and kicked off his shoes, and was drinking Brooke’s lemonade right from the pitcher she’d had in the fridge.

“Daddy!” Millie cried, and flung herself at him. He set down the pitcher—and just in time, because Mason was right behind her, with Maddox closing up the parade. Linc caught Millie, hugged her, and slung her around his back so she was hanging from his neck. Mason went into one arm and Maddox into the other.

“Hey, big man,” he said, giving each of his babies a squeeze and a kiss. He palmed Maddox’s tush. “No more diapers?”

Maddox grinned.

Linc shifted Mason onto the same arm as Maddox so he and Garrett could bump fists and do one of those half man-hugs, aka slapping each other on the back.

“Daddy, Maddox doesn’t understand the lid-up rule,” Millie said. “I fell into the toilet last night!”

“We’ll have to work on that if any of us wants to live,” Linc said, but his attention was now on Brooke, his eyes full of questions. “Not that it’s not great to see you, but where’s Min?”

“Still in LA,” Brooke said. “She didn’t tell you?”

“No. Granted, I had terrible reception, so we only texted. What’s wrong?”

“We need to talk.”

“Hey, kids,” Garrett said. “Let’s go build a fort.” Loading them up on him one by one, he then pretended to stagger to the door, making monster sounds. The kids were squealing in delight as they all left the kitchen.

“Is she okay?” Linc asked the minute they were alone.

“Physically, yes. Mentally? I don’t think so. She lost her collective shit, Linc. And I’m about to lose mine on you.”

“Okay,” he said. “You’re freaking me out. Talk faster.”

She blew out a breath. “She had a meltdown of epic proportions on the way home from Palm Springs. She showed up on my doorstep and fell in love with my bed. She was sad, over whelmed, and exhausted. Long story short, she stayed in LA, and I brought the kids home. She needed some time off.”

Linc looked surprised. “From the kids?”

Brooke gave him a long look.

“From me, too?” He seemed stricken by this. “Why? And what do you mean, she’s sad?” He pulled out his phone, but Brooke put her hand over his.

“Before you call her, I need you to tell me you’re still in this marriage.”

Linc met her gaze, his own not defensive or guilty, but utterly shocked. “Of course I’m in this marriage. What the hell’s going on?”

His reaction was real. She knew him well enough to know it deep in her gut. “She feels alone.”

He inhaled a deep, shaky breath and nodded, like he’d absorbed the situation and made an assessment. “Okay, I’m going to LA. I’ll see if Garrett can watch the kids so you can leave—”

“No,” she said. “I’m not leaving until she’s home and okay.”

He looked both hugely relieved and touched by this. It had always been incredibly difficult to be mad at Linc for anything. For one, he was fun and charismatic as hell and, though somewhat softer than Garrett given the differences in the physicality of their jobs, still very fit. And two, he’d been her friend for as long as she could remember, and there’d been some really good times before she’d screwed up her entire life and left everyone and everything behind in Wildstone.