Chapter 4

FOUR

"Son of a bitch!" I slammed on my brakes —again—at the brand new light that had been added to Main Street.

Crescent Cove was getting busier and busier these days. Enough that Main Street and Barrow Avenue needed some organization. Then again, Barrow Avenue was the main road out to the suburbs from town.

Which was where I was headed like a chump. But my mom would have my ass if I didn't get home with her goods for dinner.

And of course, I'd seen my mystery girl when I couldn't go chat her up. There had been cars on either side of me, and I'd almost slammed into that stupid truck that would have eaten my car for dinner—pancake-style.

"Focus, idiot."

I had been out of sorts since I'd gotten off the phone with Larsen. The numbers we had gone over had been one dollar away from obscene. Hell, more like ten-thousand dollars away from obscene.

For Pete's sake, I would have to start shuffling money around again to get the second printing done for Ryan Moon's book. She had already sold out beyond the preorder numbers I'd forecasted.

Amazing for her—and Duality Press.

Not so awesome to have to fund a second printing before we got the money for the first. First-world problems for any other publishing house, but I was still small, dammit.

Even if I wanted to fork over some of my capital to snag a bigger printer, there were other books in the queue before me. But I did not want to kill Ryan's momentum.

Not to mention my own for "Knights of Chaos", which was currently at our printer.

Who was holding it hostage for more money.

They did not fucking care if I had a contract, not to mention a preorder for my novel.

"Fuck." I slapped my palm against my steering wheel again before taking care with the left-hand turn onto Barrows.

I did not need to be worrying about a mystery woman right now. I had to worry about keeping Duality Press alive.

My phone buzzed in my cup holder, a text coming over my dash screen. At least he didn't call.

"Larsen says, I'll have more names for you at dinner. Don't sweat it too hard, boss."

"Sure, I won't." I answered Siri.

"Would you like to reply?"

I blew out a breath. "No."

The in-dash went back to my music. Jeff Buckley's guitars filled the car speakers.

I tried to empty my brain, but my brain never allowed me to let a puzzle go. Especially when it was attached to my livelihood. I'd known full well there would be growing pains when I added artists to my roster.

While I'd originally been upset that Nolan Devereaux had been forced to bow out because of his accident and recovery, I was now sort of glad he had. He was one less person to deal with. We agreed to regroup next year after he got the hang of marriage and his kid.

And the ghost that kept things very interesting over at his mansion.

The ghost…

My brain clicked over from Duality Press mode to what made me want to do this in the first place. My art. The art that had been stubbornly repressed with all the moving parts of the specifics of the business.

Could I use a ghost from my character's past?

From before he was the knight?

By the time I rolled up the drive of my parents' house, I had an idea fully formed. I had no memory of the drive home. Not great.

I unloaded the groceries with the assist of my dad who had definitely been looking for another cigarette, which I was not giving him.

No matter what kind of hangdog looks he slid my way.

I escaped to my room for my sketchpad and headphones for a few hours until my mother's voice finally dented my fugue state. I lifted away one of the headphones to make sure I had heard her, and sure enough, she was hollering up the stairs.

Feeling much like my teen self, I pushed the five pages of sketches away and put my headphones on top. I grumbled my way out of my room then headed down the stairs, skipping the squeaky step automatically. I really was back in my typical home mode.

Jesus.

"What's up?"

"There you are." She looked harried. A row of book bags were stacked on the dining room table. "I've been calling for five minutes."

"Sorry, I was sketching."

"Could you bring the kids to Murphy's? He's stuck in a meeting, and Vee is at a school thing."

"Sure. I don't think I can fit two car seats in my Jag."

"That's fine. I have their backups in my van."

Dear God, my mother wanted to make me drive a minivan. I was officially plummeting into bizarro world. I didn't have time to say no before she was shoving a book bag-style diaper bag at me for Harmony—one of the new babies in the Masterson clan—and the Paw Patrol one for Theo.

"Not that I'm complaining, but where's the other twin?"

"The school thing that Vee is at. Was parent teacher day and Elijah is meeting with the music teacher. He wants to learn how to play the piano."

"Wow. He's five, right?"

My mother shrugged. "Never too early, I guess."

"Theo: get your jacket on!"

"They don't need a jacket, Ma. It's gorgeous out."

She gave me a hard look. "Right. Jackets all around." I knew not to argue with my mother in pit bull-mode.

Theo came running in, his drawings fisted in his cinnamon-coated hand.

"Whatcha got, bud?"

"More demon cows!"

I knew I was going to regret the demon cow thing. Vee, their mom and my brother Murphy's wife, was going to kick my ass.

"They look great. How about we put them in here?" I unzipped the bag and in went the drawings with the remnants of what looked like Teddy Grahams

Those were still a thing?

I shook my head when Theo dragged his palm against his shirt then careened around me to where my mom was holding out his jacket. I just shook my head and closed up the bag, hooking both around my shoulder as my mom shoved a carrier at me with a bundled Harmony all buckled in.

"I'll show you how to snap her in."

"I'm a reasonably intelligent guy."

She pressed her lips together against what I figured was a smirk. "All right, smart guy."

This wasn't going to be good.

I fumbled my way through the door, pinching my finger against the door and the carrier as Theo blasted around me.

"Wait for me," I yelled after him.

A cat wound its way through the slats in the fence between the house and the next-door neighbor's.

Theo ran straight for him.

"Hey!" I looked over my shoulder to see my mom in the doorway, waving at me. "You're good, right?"

I huffed out a breath. "Right. I got this."

I lumbered to the van and stepped back as the door slid open. I glanced back at where my mom was standing.

"Need these?" She waggled the keys.

This so wasn't going well.

I spared a look at Theo, who was sitting on the leaf-strewn grass with the cat on his lap. At least they were friends—I was pretty sure, anyway. I tossed the bags in the third row of the van.

Dear God, the third row.

What the hell had I gotten myself into?

I lifted the carrier, my arms protesting a bit at the weight. "You are going to be like your daddy," I said to Harmony.

She just giggled at me, her cheeks reddening. Did that mean she was going to cry? I frowned and looked at her closer.

Nope, she was just hot.

Who the hell needed a full jacket and a blanket in this heat? It was still in the high sixties, for God's sake. Even as the sun was making its descent.

Whatever, I wasn't a parent. My mom probably knew better than me, that was for sure. I looked under the carrier to see the little slots.

Was that how it went?

I shuffled around the van to make sure Theo was still with the cat and tried four times to click the stupid carrier in place. Thankfully, Harmony thought it was a game and giggled each time I didn't make it into the right slot.

I sighed as my mother came up behind me.

"Move." She handed me the keys and clicked the stupid seat in place in one stealthy move. "Go get Theo while I give this princess all the kisses."

Admitting defeat, I pocketed the keys and went around to wrangle Theo, who was chasing the cat around the yard. The little gray and white cat was adorable and about as energetic as my nephew.

"C'mon, bud, we're going home to see dad."

"No!" Theo dove at the cat, who leaped away only to come racing at him again.

This didn't seem like it was the first time they had played this game.

I glanced over at my mother, who just leaned against the van with her arms folded, an indulgent smile on her face.

I definitely wasn't getting any help from her.

I sighed and decided I'd probably end up getting this done faster if I jumped in with him. I did a tuck and roll, a handy memory from my Tae Kwon Do days. Of course, back then I'd been a bit more limber.

Hours at a drafting table or my desk wasn't great for my former athletic self.

Now I did the rowing machine an hour a day, so I wasn't a complete schlub. But that was definitely not helping me right now.

Theo was distracted enough by the tumble that he turned shocked eyes my way. "Unca P!"

"I know. Cool, right? If you get in the van, we can practice some rolls at your house."

"Really?"

Kitten forgotten, he leaped up out of the leaves.

I was a little slower getting up. Forty was closer than thirty these days, and executing maneuvers like this made me feel every single one of them. I gave the cat a long, quick stroke then flicked the little bell with his name tag. "Catch ya later, Spuds."

The cat sat and held his paw up, much like he was waving.

I laughed and scooped my nephew up like a football. My chest eased a bit at his delighted giggles.

Getting Theo into the van was a lot easier than Harmony, though the five-point harness was impressive in his car seat.

"Not coming out of this sucker," I said with a grin as I tugged at the straps.

Theo hooked his thumbs under the strap as if he sat this way a million times. "Can I have Bluey for the ride?"

I glanced over at my mom. She nodded.

"Sure, pal." There was a tablet hooked to the back of the passenger seat, and I turned it on.

"I can do it!"

"Have at it."

He tried to lean forward, but the harness said no.

"How about I do it just this once?"

With a belabored sigh, he sat back. "Fine."

I flicked until I found his cartoon and spent another minute picking out the perfect episode.

Since the trip out to Murphy's house in the hills was about the same amount of time as a full episode, I was thankful for technology.

Harmony had a binky in her mouth, and she was already half asleep. Maybe I could do this whole Uncle Penn thing.

"Thanks, sweetie. Saved me a trip out. I'm making chicken and dumplings tonight if you want dinner with us."

My stomach growled at the thought.

Good thing my dad had a rowing machine in the garage. I was going to need it with this trip home.

"Sounds good." I kissed her cheek and hopped up into the seat. The dash was full of sparkles and kid things as well as a host of stickers. I shook my head and started the van, praying that none of my old friends saw me driving this monstrosity.

Thankfully, the trip out to Murphy and Vee's place was uneventful. My brother had done another remodel on the house since they had expanded their family yet again.

I was pretty sure they were done at this point, but one never knew with Vee. She had severe baby lust. So much so that she'd actually created a website with Murphy on matching people with various pregnancy woes.

From donor eggs to fertility treatments, there was no end to what they helped people do for their baby needs.

While Crescent Cove had the baby lore, there were plenty of others who weren't so lucky to be easy as Sunday morning on the fertility train. My brother and Vee had been among those people until the first baby had kick-started Vee's baby-making machine.

The image of a baby machine popped into my twisted mind, and I had to shake it away as I drove up the winding drive.

The front of the house was much the same as the original house, but now there were wide wings along each side of the home with massive windows.

I could see my brother in the big picture window speaking with another man who was just about the same size as my brother. There was a reason my brother's nickname was Moose. He wasn't a tiny guy. The bearded man beside him was crouched over Murphy's impressive desk.

Must be in programming mode.

Where I was the artist in the family, Murphy was our tech genius. He used to work more with Gideon's handyman business, but with the addition of the kids to their family, he'd become more of a work-from-home dad. Though he definitely still kept his hand in.

I glanced over my shoulder at the kids to find Theo had nodded off sometime on the way home. Both kids had blinked out like lights.

I wasn't sure if I should stick in the van and let them sleep or wake them up.

Before I had to make the decision, my brother was hurrying down the steps.

I opened the door. "Hey, little brother."

Murphy grabbed me into a bear hug and lifted me off the ground. "It's been a minute, Penn."

" Oof . Put me down, Moose."

He set me down with a laugh. "Sorry. We kept missing each other for the family dinner nights. I missed you."

I grinned up at him. "Me too." I nodded to the van. "They're out, man."

Murphy scratched the back of his head. "Man, Vee will kick my ass if I let them sleep, but they are grumpy when they wake up."

I laughed. "Afraid of your little wife?"

"Very." Murphy laughed. "I'll grab Theo, you get the princess?"

I nodded. "If you can unlock that contraption."

He laughed and smacked my arm as he headed for the other side of the van. "Tricky, but you can keep the carrier. Just take her out of the harness."

I was used to roughhousing with the boys or drawing with Carrington—who was into the double digits. Babies—not exactly my thing.

Harmony wasn't exactly small—she was two- ish ? I wasn't sure. I couldn't keep track of the ages these days. Carefully, I unhooked her and gently slipped my arm under her. She was warm as hell thanks to the three layers my mom had put her in.

At least I hoped that was the only reason she was warm.

I gently transferred her onto my shoulder, and she settled there so trustingly. My chest tightened when her soft breath sighed out and she stuck her face into my hair.

"You look good with a kid, Penn."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't get any ideas. I'm not drinking the baby water in this town. I like my uncle status."

Murphy just shrugged. "Hits all of us. Mom won't rest until she's got a kid out of you too."

I patted sweet Harmony's butt as I grabbed the bags and followed Murphy inside. She didn't stir in the least.

The minute I got inside, Latte jumped around my feet, happily barking. "You wake this kid, and there will be no biscuits out of me, miscreant."

Undeterred, Latte kept yipping and then a chorus of barks ensued as their other dog, CC, came out to join the fray.

Harmony slept on blissfully.

"Don't worry about them. Vee always said it was best to let them sleep in chaos, so they didn't wake at every little sound. All my kids sleep like freaking rocks, man."

I followed Murphy into the massive living room and spotted the playpen, setting the sleeping toddler inside. She snuggled onto her side with a sweet sigh that arrowed into my chest. I smoothed the blond curls back from her face. Sweet and beautiful just like her mama.

When I straightened, Murphy was giving me another look.

"What? She's cute. I'm not an ogre."

"Didn't say you were." Murphy laughed as he settled Theo on the couch with a blanket.

"Should I take her jacket off? She looks hot."

"She's fine."

Then I remembered the other man that had been in the window when I had pulled in. I'd forgotten with the kids.

"Sorry, man. Didn't mean to interrupt your meeting."

"It's fine." Murphy crossed to me. "I've got a camera feed in the office. Let's let them sleep."

Of course, my brother had cameras in the house. His wife called him Fortress for a host of reasons. Some I didn't want to think about too hard.

"I can get out of your way."

"Nah. You probably would like Dom. C'mon in."

I followed him down the hall. There was a door on the right and at the end of the hall was a huge atrium room with all sorts of windows. It was a playroom and a hang room when the kids weren't around—which wasn't too often.

Murphy and Vee's lives happily revolved around their four kids.

I stepped in and the dude seemed even bigger than I had originally thought when I pulled in. He was an inch or two taller than Murphy and wore the same uniform my brother had adopted—flannel and denim.

"Dominic Lockwood, my brother Penn."

The man stuffed his phone into his pocket and held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you. Big fan."

"Oh. Thanks."

"Dominic and I are working on a new project together. Just working out the bugs."

"You never rest." I dropped into the huge chair near the window and sat forward when something squeaked behind my back.

It was a siren song for the two Morkies who dashed into the open door and launched themself into my lap. Used to the crazy, I sat back and let them burrow on either side of my thighs.

"I could say the same about you." Murphy leaned on his huge console desk. It had four monitors and an array of keyboards and tools I couldn't name. When I had no answer, he folded his arms. "Dominic is looking for people to beta his new app. You interested?"

I glanced at Dominic, and then back to Murph. "Dare I ask what it's for?"

"Dating app."

"God, no." I lifted CC, the smaller Morkie, to cuddle into my chest. He liked to climb up to my neck to hide in my hair. "I'm definitely not looking for love."

"This one's a little different. Not just love. The love. The happily ever after some people are looking for instead of a hookup." Dominic's voice was deep.

I craned my neck to look closer at Murphy's friend. "Looking for love, man? Just walk into the center of the Cove, and you'll have a ton of women throwing themselves at you."

"No." Dominic's voice brooked no argument. "But I know there are plenty of people—women, specifically—who are looking for this."

"Ahh, so you are just in it for the money." I hooked my ankle over my knee, and Latte crawled under to settle himself between my legs. I gave his head a little scratch. "There are tons of women who are tired of the game, man."

"I'm simply filling a hole in the market."

Murphy tossed his phone at me. "Dom is what we call an angel investor. He finds good people who need a leg up."

I caught it against my belly and almost blurted out that I needed a damn leg up, but couldn't quite align myself with the idea of an investor. Investors meant sharing profits, and I wasn't ready for that. Not exactly.

"You need help, Murph?"

"No, I needed the help this time," Dominic said with a bit of annoyance in his voice. "I don't have the programming prowess he has. I know it's a good product. It'll be even better once Murphy helps me tweak it."

I picked up the phone. It was already unlocked. The app was appealing. Simple without a bunch of ads to slow it down. Of course, that might be different when it went live, but for now, it seemed aces.

Profiles, photos of women and men, a very lengthy application.

"People really fill this all out?" I glanced up at Dominic.

"They do. I didn't want it to be easy. Only people interested in actually doing the work for a relationship need apply."

I tossed the phone back at my brother. He caught it neatly and set it back on the desk. "I have a few friends in the city who might be interested. Meeting people when you're glued to your desk is rough."

"Sure you're not talking about yourself?" Murphy asked genially.

I didn't have trouble with the meeting, just the keeping. But that was because I was too busy to give time to a real relationship right now. Nor had I met anyone who made me want to make the time.

The quick image of the smirking blond woman from this afternoon flashed, and I shook it off.

It was the first time a woman had interested me in a hot minute, that was all. She was a stranger—though was there an actual stranger in a town as small as Crescent Cove? I wasn't so sure about that.

"Mom will make a profile for you if you don't get settled soon, man."

I gave my brother the middle finger.

Dominic huffed out a small laugh. "Thanks for the help, Murphy. I'll send you the code once I tweak it some more to test for me."

Murphy nodded. "Sounds good. I'll walk you out."

I slid down on the monstrous chair until both dogs were draped over me and snoozing. They weren't helping my already tired self. I was sure Murphy wouldn't mind me following suit in his office.

He came back in holding a Coke Zero for each of us. He got close to me and kicked my boot. "How come you're in town so long? Not that I'm complaining." He handed me a bottle.

I cracked it and took a long sip. "I'm doing a signing over at Colette's and we have family dinner. Just figured I'd stick around a few days instead of going up and back twice."

Murphy dropped into his office chair and swung around to face me. "Then why didn't you come in Friday?"

I sighed. Of course, he knew when the signing was. My mother kept the family grapevine full of big juicy fruit, that was for sure. "You're too intuitive for being the baby brother."

He laughed and settled the bottle against his buckle. "What's going on?"

"I'm just trying to figure out some admin crap for the press."

He frowned. "Anything I can help with?"

"I wish it was a backend programming thing. Nope, it's mostly the cost of printing. Every company that is willing to work with me—a relatively small press—is trying to put me in the poorhouse."

"Ah." He sipped from his bottle thoughtfully. "Does it have to be in the city? I imagine it doesn't help keep costs down in one of the most expensive cities in the world."

Latte wiggled his little body up until he was stretched out near the center of my chest. Absently, I stroked behind his ears then he let out an awfully big sigh for a little dude who lived the high life in this house.

"I've tried using some smaller ones out of the city—as far as Buffalo, to be honest. I think it's the setup and printing that is the cost as much as the actual paper, ink, et cetera."

Murphy swayed back and forth in his chair. I recognized the thinking swing as we used to call it at home. Murphy wasn't great at staying still. He was one of the most active of our crazy clan. He did his best thinking while he was doing something else.

I couldn't knock it. There was a reason I kicked my own ass on the rowing machine when I had to figure out where a story needed to go. Now that I thought about it, seemed like it was a Masterson trait all around.

"What about a newspaper?"

I arched a brow at him. "I'm definitely not thinking about creating a newspaper."

Murphy rolled his eyes and set his soda aside as he leaned forward, his fingers clasped between his knees. "Here me out—I don't know if it'll actually work, but we actually have a printing press here in the Cove."

"The newspaper?"

"Yeah. I don't know if it would work out, but as the Pennysaver and the newspapers are waning, Asher has had to adjust. He's gotten into podcasting among other things to offset the lag."

"Right. I've listened to it a time or two. He likes the spooky. I appreciate that."

"Right? Vee and the girls are obsessed around here. Vee got dragged into it by all the moms. Which is why I've had to increase our tech in the house. She freaks herself out."

I grinned. "And big, bad hubby has to soothe her fears."

Murphy's lips twitched. "Maybe."

"Uh-huh."

He laughed. "But maybe something to look into. Asher is a good businessman, he might be interested in a meeting, at the very least. You might be doing each other a favor."

When I opened my mouth, Murphy held up a finger.

"Can't hurt to ask, right? I don't know if changing a newspaper printing place into printing books could even be done, but what do you have to lose?"

Pride?

Looking like an idiot?

Oh, wait, that's under pride.

Regardless, I'd always been the hometown boy done good. To let people here know I was struggling sucked.

But it wasn't just about me anymore.

"Since when were you the wise one, Moose?"

He grinned. "Trained well by a certain love of my life."

"Ugh." I pulled Latte to cover my face. "Gross."

The pup thought it was a game, and then I had a wiggling lap of Morkies attacking me.

My brother stood and picked up his soda, then he headed for the door.

"Hey! I could use a little help."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out, you always do. I hear one of the kids."

Then I heard the voice from the living room. Mostly through the camera set-up on one of his monitors. Did my brother have freaking bat ears? I hadn't heard them at all until now.

Then CC stomped on my balls, and I crumpled up on the couch.

The dogs thought it was yet another game, and I gave myself up to the melee. At least it wasn't a wasted trip.

Murphy had definitely given me food for thought.