Whispering Rock (Virgin River #3)(42)

“He has a knack for that,” Jack blustered. “He seems to know exactly what it is a woman’s looking for.”

“Looking for? You jackass, I’m not looking for anything! I’m trying to get on with my life!”

“Great, that’s great, but if you’d at least talk to me about the ways you’re considering doing that—”

“I know you’ve been to war with him a couple of times and hunting with him a bunch of times, but what do you think you know about Mike that I can’t figure out in a few months?” Brie asked rather too loudly. “And how the hell is he any different around women than you were for about twenty years?”

Mel took a sip of her coffee and tried, desperately, to remind herself that siblings fought. She and Joey hadn’t had a good knock-down-drag-out since Mel’s first husband had been killed, but growing up, becoming adults, hadn’t exactly put a total end to all disagreements.

“I was never married!” Jack fired back.

“Probably through no wisdom of your own!” Brie retorted loudly.

Mike’s SUV came into the clearing and Mel smiled and gave him a wave. Then she walked into the cabin. “Brie, your ride is here,” she said more calmly than she felt.

Brie glared at her brother and plucked her purse off the counter.

“You have that new gun in your purse?” Jack asked sarcastically.

“No. It’s upstairs in my suitcase. If it had been handy, you might be bleeding through a hole in your stupid head by now.” And she whirled away from them, storming out the door.

Left alone in the kitchen, Mel stared Jack down for just a second before he turned away from her, presenting his back. He’d just been beaten to a pulp by his little sister; he wasn’t in the mood to go a round with his wife.

The baby fussed.

“Asshole,” Mel said, leaving the kitchen to see about David.

When Brie got into Mike’s SUV she was clearly flustered. “Whew,” Mike said. “Wanna talk about it?”

“No!” she snapped. Then, taking a deep breath, “We had…Words, we had words, me and Jack. About my new gun, which I do not have with me, so relax.”

He put the car in gear and smiled at her. “I will if you will.”

“I’ll need about five minutes,” she said. She took a couple of deep breaths. Then it slowly dawned on her—she’d fought! She wasn’t weak and sniveling, wasn’t scared, wasn’t sheepish—she’d gone right back after him! Sure, it was only Jack, not a homicidal predator, but still… She’d always looked for Jack’s approval, and this once she’d stood right up to him, the jerk. A slow smile spread across her lips. Maybe all was not lost. Maybe she could get her life back. She relaxed back onto the seat. “Ah,” she said. “I need a day off. A day away.” From my buttinsky brother, she thought.

Mel had decided to give Jack some time to cool off and get his head wrapped around the idea that Brie had gone away with Mike for the day, but in the end it was really she who needed the time. Her husband had made her furious. She was spitting tacks.

When David was down for his morning nap in the crib Mel kept at Doc’s, she left the Hummer at the clinic and took Doc’s old truck out to their homesite. If Doc had to leave, he would call Paige to babysit. When she got to their property, Jack was inside the house where she couldn’t see him, but she could hear the power saw as she pulled up. She drove right up to the front of the house, parked within a few feet and jumped out. She gripped a solid board to hoist herself up onto the foundation and stood there, facing his back. He didn’t turn around and her blood started to boil; he knew she was there. He always knew. When the saw stopped whirring she yelled, “Don’t you dare pretend you don’t know I’m here!”

He slowly turned around, and he had the audacity to still be wearing that stubborn frown. His eyes were narrowed to slits.

“Jack Sheridan! Knock it off!”

“She’s my sister. She’s been through a lot,” he said, his voice gravelly and impatient.

“That’s right—and she’s entitled to enjoy herself. Make her own choices. It’s important she make her own choices! If she wants to spend time with Mike, she doesn’t need your permission.”

Jack stepped toward her. “You don’t understand. I’ve seen him with women!”

“Yeah, I bet! At about the same time he was seeing you with women!”

“That’s different! That was over when I met you!”

“Maybe it’s over for him!”

“Hah! You don’t get it! That guy ran through women real quick, never even gave it a thought—”

“And this is different from you how?”

“He screwed up two marriages! Brie’s already been through a painful divorce, not to mention the other horrible crap she’s endured! I don’t want her hurt!”

“Then you better butt out before you’re the one who hurts her!”

“I would never hurt her! I want to keep her safe!”

Mel put her hands on her h*ps and lifted one finely arched brow. “The way you wanted to keep Preacher safe from Paige and almost cost the man the most joy he’s had in his lifetime?”

“I admit—I was wrong about that.”