The Lemon Sisters (Wildstone #3)(58)

“Leaving, right?”

Right. It was night and day. Only a few minutes before he’d been completely open and relaxed. Now he was completely closed off to her, and hey, hadn’t that been exactly what she wanted? But while she had her faults—many of them, actually—she thought maybe Garrett had a few surprising ones of his own, such as an obstinate streak a mile wide and, surprisingly, not a whole lot of capacity for forgiveness. Not that his dad deserved it. Nor did she, for that matter. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked quietly.

He laughed, though it held no mirth. “Definitely not.”

“Are you sure? It’s a big deal, him showing up out of the blue after all this time. We could—”

“‘We’?” he asked. “When have we ever been a ‘we,’ Brooke?”

A direct hit. She nearly staggered back from it, but instead forced herself to meet his gaze, knowing he was reeling. “I get it. You’re upset at what just happened. But we could talk about it and—”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said. “And there’s certainly no ‘we.’”

Okay, so he’d just faced down his dad and been forcibly reminded of his abandonment.

And she’d done the same thing to him seven years ago.

If he wasn’t going to forgive his father, he sure as hell wasn’t going to forgive her. “Garrett—”

“Save it. This was a mistake.” And with that, he moved past her, vanishing into the bathroom, leaving her with a clear understanding that she was the mistake. The lock clicking into place sounded like a cannon and carried a clear message—stay out. She was still standing there in the hallway when the shower went on. She exhaled slowly and told herself it didn’t matter what he thought of her—none of it mattered. She was leaving soon anyway.

But she was lying to herself, because it did matter. Feeling more hurt than she thought possible, she made the walk across the yard, past the constantly improving—and ridiculously complicated—Slip ’N Slide.

Apparently, Linc and Garrett bought into the bigger-is-better mentality.

Men were dumb.

Still telling herself she didn’t give a shit about anything, especially what Garrett thought of her, she got all the way to the guesthouse before realizing she’d left her keys at Garrett’s. Perfect. Since she’d rather jump off a cliff than go back for them, she detoured to the big house, sneaking in the kitchen door wearing Garrett’s shirt, her shorts, no shoes—which, like her keys, were still at Garrett’s, where they could rot right along with him.

This early, the kitchen should’ve been empty. But of course it wasn’t. Mindy sat at the kitchen table sipping tea. She eyed Brooke’s appearance. “Huh. I thought you didn’t need a man.”

“I don’t,” Brooke said. “But I could use a box of cookies and a nap.”

Mindy snorted. “My walk of shame’s usually going back for a shopping cart after figuring out I can’t carry twenty-three items in my arms through the store.”

Brooke sighed and headed for the teapot, because she was going to require caffeine. Copious amounts of it.

“Where were you? What were you doing?” Mindy gave Brooke another once-over. “Maybe the better question is, who were you doing?”

If she didn’t recognize Garrett’s shirt, no way was Brooke going to enlighten her. That was a can of worms best left shut. If she’d managed to keep her thing with Garrett to herself for all these years, she could sure as hell keep it up now. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Anyone I know?”

“Leave it alone, Min.”

“Right.” Her sister got up and refilled her mug, her posture projecting butt-hurt feelings. “I have to leave a lot of things alone when it comes to you, apparently. Like why you changed jobs. But hey, I get it, I’m not important enough in your life for you to confide in me anymore.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I meant you have enough going on with you and Linc. You guys doing okay?”

Mindy shot her an are you serious? look. “You saw what he did.”

“Look, I’m not exactly a fan of men right now, but I really do think he believed he was giving you what you wanted.”

“By putting a huge load of more responsibility on my plate?”

“So he went about it wrong.” Brooke shrugged. “His heart was in the right place. And it’s Mom and Dad, Min. They probably sold the shop to him at a steal. If you’re not into it, then sell it, make a mint, and sit on a pot of money.”

“You think money is going to make me happy?”

“I think the only thing that’s going to make you happy is you figuring out what you want.”

Mindy looked stricken, then quickly turned her back on Brooke. “I thought you were on my side.”

Brooke sighed. “It’s not about sides. It’s about liking where you’re at in life. And I’m sure not going to judge anyone on that. I came here because you needed me. I wanted to help with the kids, and as it turns out . . .” She lifted her shoulders. “I like them. A whole lot.”

Mindy turned back, her eyes bright. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. They’re . . . amazing. You’ve done an amazing job with them. But, Min, you know I can’t stay, right? Not even if you get me pretend jobs.”