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He couldn’t even imagine that one. In high school he’d had a lot of things on his mind, but not one of them included any kind of life plan. Or family plan, either, for that matter.
It was what he’d ended up with, though. Not that he was unhappy about that. He loved his brother. They had a good life together.
Darin and Maddie stopped again and bent down to look at something. Maddie shrieked and jumped back, fell on her butt in the wet sand. Laughing uproariously, Darin reached down to help her up. When she was standing again, he kept an arm around Maddie’s waist.
And they moved on. Off in their own world.
Neither of them had glanced back toward Grant and Lynn.
“I don’t get it,” Grant said, moving a little closer to Lynn, threading his fingers more snugly with hers. “Is he a philanderer? He loves you but doesn’t want to be married to you because he wants to have flings on the side?”
“I don’t… It’s hard to explain….”
What was hard was understanding why a woman like Lynn—smart, successful, gorgeous as hell—would allow a man to treat her that way. Let him divorce her but still do everything she could to keep their “family” intact.
Including allow Kara to fly to San Francisco with the man when she didn’t have to let the little girl leave the city.
“Try me,” he said. The waves rushed to the shore. And he couldn’t let this go. He was on a date.
And wanted, at the very least, a kiss good-night.
He had to know what her situation was.
At least, that was what he told himself. And since much of what was going on with him where she was concerned didn’t make a hell of a lot of sense, he just went with what he told himself.
“Brandon doesn’t have flings. He’s only ever had one lover, other than me.”
“How do you know? A bachelor, living alone…”
She stubbed her toe in the sand, lurched and tightened her grip on his hand as she righted herself. “He doesn’t live alone.”
That was too much. The man lived with his mistress, but still kept Lynn on the hook? Then something else hit him….
“Kara’s with her father’s lover this weekend?”
Lynn’s chin dropped. And he regretted his outburst. He’d been living alone with Darin too long. Lost his ability to have some tact.
“I’m sorry. That was completely insensitive.”
She licked her lips. Sucked them in. The moonlight glistened on her face, and he caught shadows of emotions he couldn’t read.
His hand holding hers was the only right thing at the moment. Darin and Maddie had made some time on them. They were visible in the distance, but he could no longer hear them at all.
Maybe they should think about turning back.
He had miles to go before he’d be ready.
“I’m sorry,” Lynn finally said. Her voice sounded normal. Pretty much. But it wasn’t open. Not the same as it had been when she’d talked about her and Brandon being best friends in high school.
“Yes, Kara is with her father and his spouse. But it’s not quite what you think. Douglas respects me and my place in Brandon’s life. It’s a bit unusual, but…it works for us. Mostly.”
Darin and Maddie had stopped walking. They were sitting in the sand by the water, but not close enough to get drenched, pulling handfuls of wet sand between them. Grant watched for a second. Remembering.
Darin was the most incredible builder of sand castles. As a little kid he’d begged Darin to take him to the beach and build castles. More times than not, his big brother had done so. Together they’d add wings and build moats and then Grant would start to look for branches that would be trees. He’d use pieces of colored candy wrappers he scavenged on the beach with tiny pieces of drift bark stuck into them to resemble flowers. He’d build shell fountains….
If Darin was going to build a castle for Maddie they’d be a while.
He pulled Lynn behind the jagged side of a cliff that jutted out onto the beach.
He tilted her head up. Looked her straight in the eye. And had to swallow. There was so much there for him to read.
He wasn’t sure he could take it all in.
The hurt. The doubt. And the desire to be wanted.
