One Look: A grumpy, single dad small town romance(82)

He wasn’t stupid enough to talk shit about our little sister, but I didn’t miss the way he tensed at her being the topic of conversation.

I still decided to poke the bear. “Think you can take her on? She’s a pistol, that one.”

Beckett’s throat bobbed and he nodded. “Yeah, it’ll be fine.”

I eyed him a second longer. He was quiet, but there was something about him that exuded confidence. Duke said he was the best, and if he was willing to help us out, despite our sister’s temper and foot stomping, then so be it.

We needed his help. We needed Katie to get Aunt Tootie on board to take care of the house before it collapsed around her, and there was no way we were hiring the Kings’ construction company and willingly welcoming them into her home.

Beckett was our guy, and she’d just have to deal with it.

I scowled at my beer and took another long pull. The bar felt crowded and too loud, and I just wanted to be home and miserable. I swallowed another gulp.

“You trying to get drunk or bail already?” Duke raised one eyebrow at me and made me feel fifteen again, the way only an older brother could.

I shook my head, unable to lie to my brother, and took another drink. “Hell if I know.”

Beckett stayed quiet in the background while Duke’s eyes scanned the crowd. They seemed to snag on someone before flitting away, and I couldn’t seem to figure out who he kept looking at. I tensed, hoping it wasn’t a King looking for trouble.

Duke shook his head. “Yeah, women will do that for you.”

I shoved one hand in my pocket. “It was stupid. I pushed her to go for the job, and now I’m not sure if she’s ever coming back.”

“So things are going well for her, then?”

“Sounds like it. She says there’s even talk about extending her part—writing her in as a more long-term cast member.”

Duke shook his head. “Shit.”

“Yeah.” I tried to ease the tension in my neck, but it was useless. The knot seemed to be a permanent part of me now. “The worst part is, she deserves this. What kind of asshole would take that away from her as soon as she got it? Mostly I just keep my mouth shut and tell her how happy I am for her.”

Beckett seemed to ease away, giving us space to talk privately. Duke turned his shoulders to face me. “You told her, though, right? How you feel?”

“I don’t want to hold her back. But I’ll be here if she ever does make it back to Michigan.”

“You know who’s great for advice?”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. I had been getting enough advice to make me sick.

“Dad.”

I huffed a humorless laugh. “I did talk to him.”

“And?”

“He said I let her go, but then”—I used air quotes to help illustrate how ridiculous Dad’s advice had been—“‘bring her pretty little ass back home.’”

Duke tipped his beer and nodded as if to say, See? There’s your game plan right there.

I sighed. “I don’t know, man. I have the season coming up, Penny’s going to start school in the fall . . . everything is just so much right now.”

Duke’s gaze fell over the growing crowd inside the bar. “You know, you’re a fucking moron. If I had the chance to be with the woman I loved, I sure as hell wouldn’t be sitting here crying about it. I’d be coming up with a way to make it happen.”

The woman he loved? What the hell does Duke Sullivan know about love and heartache?

Annoyed, I finished my beer and planted it on the wooden bar top with a clank. “Thanks for the advice, big brother, but I’m good.”

Duke laughed, and my molars ground together. “You are so far from good, it’s not even funny. Have you even seen yourself this summer? You laughed. You got to know your family again. Penny has a home here, and Lark was a big part of that. Are you really willing to risk that because you can’t muster the balls to tell her how you feel?”

I was beyond frustrated with my brother, but mostly because I didn’t appreciate him calling me out like that in the middle of a crowded bar.

“I gotta go.”

Duke scoffed and signaled the bartender for another round as I stormed out.





I couldn’t stand the thought of spending the rest of the night alone in the house. Staring up at the dark windows of Lark’s apartment every night was torture enough. Instead of going home, I headed toward the black waters of Lake Michigan. Most of the little shops that dotted the marina were closed for the night, and only a few people walked down the pier or along the quiet beach.

I slipped off my shoes and let my toes sink into the wet sand. Lark and Penny had practically lived on the beach this summer, and I couldn’t think of it without it mingling in my mind with her warm cinnamon-and-citrus scent. Even my hometown had become a place where I couldn’t escape her.

I didn’t want to.

Somewhere along the way I’d shed little bits of my controlling nature in order to let Lark in. She took the little slivers I’d offered and wedged herself so deeply into my core that I couldn’t imagine myself without her. Her smiles, her laugh, the way she loved life and everyone in it.

Lark had willingly given herself, and I had slowly, reluctantly done the same. I shared more with her than anyone before, and while it was vulnerable and frightening in a way I didn’t like, it was also safe. Comforting.