Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64765 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64765 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
“Of course you matter,” Noah said roughly.
“I do? Because right now, I feel like I might have been a handy wingman and convenient babysitter. And now that you don’t need either, I’m expendable.” Wyatt was being harsh, he knew, but it was the only way he knew to get through to him. And he needed to get through to him.
Finally, his brother looked at him again, and Wyatt looked back, taking in every ridge and pore. Every scar. He hated the pain they implied. Hated what Noah was going through. But he was going to look until he never flinched again.
Noah would hate it if he flinched.
“I’m sorry, Wyatt,” he said thickly. “I swear to God, I am. I should have said it the day Younger wheeled you in, but I knew it was my fault.”
“What?”
“I’d acted like a hothead and nearly cost both of us our lives. The guilt was too much. I couldn’t look at you without feeling it. And then I looked in a mirror and was too caught up in my personal pity party to consider anyone else’s feelings. So now I’m ugly and a dick.”
Wyatt kept studying his face, but the tension and hurt he’d been wearing for weeks started to dissipate. Thank God. “Apology accepted. Dick.”
Noah reached out his hand to grab Wyatt’s. “Don’t let me off that easily. You matter, Wyatt. I’m sorry I had any part in making you think you don’t. You’ve saved my life more times, and in more ways, than I can count. I’m the impulsive one. You’re slow and steady stick-to-it guy, remember? I don’t work without you, and I’m not the only person you matter to, either.”
Wyatt finally looked away as fresh pain bloomed in that open wound in his chest. “I wouldn’t count on it.”
“That’s what this is about, isn’t it? Fiona? I couldn’t believe it when you said you’d moved in with her and Thoreau. What were you thinking?”
“Well, first I was thinking I didn’t want to stay in Seamus and Bellamy’s Brady Bunch sex mansion,” he started, not joking even a little.
Noah snorted.
“But then I was thinking that a near-death experience was a great time to get over some of my hang-ups and to start worrying about what Fiona needs.” He clasped his palms together and resting his head on them. “I thought I was owning that new lease on life thing.”
“Until what?”
Wyatt reached into his pocket and handed Noah the crumpled image. “Until I found this in the back of her car just now.”
Noah whistled long and low as he studied the sonogram. “You didn’t know?”
Wyatt gave him a withering look.
“Sorry, stupid question.” He hesitated and then asked neutrally, “Yours?”
“Mine.” There wasn’t a doubt in his mind. “Not that she told me. And after a month of living together, I’m not sure she was ever planning to either.”
Noah’s expression didn’t change. “That’s some bullshit right there.”
“Language,” Mrs. Laurence called again.
“Sorry,” Noah called back politely, his blue eyes never leaving Wyatt’s face. “Fiona loves you, Wyatt. I’ve seen it. I know she’s been taking care of you since she got back. There has to be a good reason why she kept this to herself.”
“I asked her to marry me before she left,” Wyatt admitted. “She was pregnant then, though she might not have known it. Either way she said no and left. Since she came back, she’s never talked about the future beyond me getting the doctor’s all-clear. For all I know, she’s planning on getting on a plane to California tomorrow and never coming back. She might love me, but she doesn’t want to be tied down. At least, not by me.”
Noah was silent for a moment, then he shook his head again. “You’re missing something. She leaves, yes, but she keeps coming back. Why do you think that is if it isn’t for you?”
“She does have a job here,” Wyatt pointed out.
“At a bar! She could find work anywhere, and yet she keeps coming back to this place. To our family. To you.”
Yeah, he kept coming back to that, too.
“For all you know,” Noah added, warming up to his theory. “She’s afraid to say anything until she’s seen the baby’s heartbeat for herself. A lot of women don’t, you know, until the first trimester is over and there’s less chance of a miscarriage. Fear can make people do crazy things, man. Believe me.”
Fear can make people do crazy things.
Wyatt’s eyes widened. Was that it? She’d lost her sister—was she afraid of losing another member of her family? Her baby? Did she think he wouldn’t understand?
Hope eased the knot of misery he’d been tying in his chest.
He looked over at Noah, nudging him with his knee. “I missed talking to you.”
“Missed you, too, brother.”
Wyatt’s smile faded, but before he could say anything, Zach’s sweet voice drifted toward him, making him turn in his chair. The boy was singing to Mrs. Laurence, and his hands were dancing in front of him as if they were acting out the words.