Chapter Twenty-Four

Brandy

Stretching my legs, I felt it through my whole body, extending my arms in the air and opening up my chest. I'd never been so tired, every part of my body ached from my toes to my neck. There was just something about a vacation that made me crave another vacation from it, especially the drive. All I could think about was taking a good, long, hot bubble bath to relax and curling up in my bed. But first we had to get home.

"You want me to drive the rest of the way?" I asked Wyatt outside the gas station off the highway.

He was closing up the tank when he shook his head. "I'm making good time, I'll drive the rest, if you don't mind."

"Suit yourself. You know when I was a little girl we drove to Jacksonville to get a dog, my mom and I. It was our big summer trip and it was so special because we went alone, the first time in forever we'd done anything alone. She wanted a pure breed so she could breed it. I don't know what she was thinking," I said, shaking my head. I shuttered at the thought of caring for a litter of puppies. "Anyway, we got to the breeder's in excellent timing. We spent a few days in a hotel and got the dog checked out by a local vet before leaving. Then on the way back, with the dog in hand, she hit so much traffic because of an accident on the Turnpike, we thought we'd never make it back. From that moment on, we never spoke about time when taking a road trip of any kind." I laughed remembering it and little Olive, the smallest Corgi I'd ever seen with its stubbly little legs. I loved that dog.

Wyatt opened the door and slid in. "What happened to the dog?" he asked as I did the same.

"My aunt, the one who loves big hats," I said by way of explanation, "was deathly allergic. We had to give her up. One of my teachers from school took her."

He turned to me and frowned. "You know that's like the worst story ever, right?"

I laughed and clipped my hair back. "What, I can only have good stories? Anyway, that wasn't the point of the story."

He laughed and kicked the air conditioning up, the sun making it feel hotter than it probably was outside.

"I'm dying to take a bath and lay down. What are you doing when we get home?" I asked, trying to get a read on him.

Was it wrong that exhaustion aside, part of me wanted him to say he wanted to come back with me, or invite me to his room, so we could finish whatever it was we started back in Destin? But I had a feeling that particular fantasy would go unfulfilled. Our little bubble had burst, the charade was over, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

I mean, I was getting heated just thinking about Wyatt and the way he made love to me. It was explosive, but also tender. It was some of the best sex of my life, frankly. I just loved feeling his hands on me as he explored. The way our bodies touched when we finally came together, the way he rubbed my back when it was all over.

Answering my question, Wyatt broke me from my spell. "I have to swing by my parents' house after I drop you off. Today's their anniversary, so Mom moved her weekly family dinner from Saturday to Sunday."

"You have a standing family dinner on Saturday? I thought those things happened on Sundays, or Fridays like in the Gilmore house."

He took his eyes off the road and turned to me. "What?"

Figures, he wouldn't get the television show reference. "Never mind. That sounds nice." And it did. Mom and I never did anything like that. She was always busy with her sisters, and I was always working or with Nate. I supposed now I had more time for things like that, but knew we'd never do anything sweet like that regardless. It was too organized, too structured for us.

Looking ahead again, he nodded. "It's not the worst, but sometimes I'd rather be anywhere but there. They like to give me a hard time about living out of a hotel room and not moving on with my life according to their terms."

That sucked, I knew. Nothing was worse than family pressure. I had first hand experience there. But I'd kind of wanted to know the same thing about the hotel room, so I took that as my opportunity to ask. "Yeah, I wondered about that. Why do you live there?"

He exhaled and I questioned if I made a misstep. Then he explained, "I had a house. The one I had with Susan, her dad insisted I keep it after, you know." He turned to look at me for a fleeting moment before turning his attention back to the road. "But I wasn't using it and the memories were just too hard, so I let Colt use it when he got back because he didn't have a place. Then it became Scarlet's home, too, when she all but moved in with him. Then the baby came along and they needed a place of their own, so I decided why make them move in the middle of all that. I signed over the deed and gave it to them."

"Is it hard, knowing it's still in the family?"

"Sometimes," he shrugged. "Mostly I can forget because Colt's in construction and he's done some serious renovations for Scarlet. When she first announced she was pregnant, they had a lot of work done and they made it their own. There's and little Brandon's. That's their son," he explained.

I brought my hand to his thigh and held it for a moment, so impressed by him. Not that he was so generous, that I'd already figured out, but that he was so mature, so put together. He knew what was right for him and everyone else and wasn't afraid to do the hard thing as long as it was the right thing.

"Hey, I have an idea," Wyatt said out of the blue. "Come with me."

I angled my head, not sure what he was talking about.

"Come with me to the dinner. It'll be fun. You already know Damon. Besides, your presence may just get everyone off my back for the night. All they want is to see me date."

I would've jumped at the chance, but I wasn't sure it was such a good idea. "I'll be another mouth to feed, that can't be good. And I'm not dressed for a party," I said, thinking aloud.

He shook his head and took his hand off the wheel for a second to find my hand. "So change. And it's just the family, it won't matter anyway. What's one more place to set? I'll do it myself. Come on, please. You owe me," he tried, eyebrow raised as if unsure himself if that would work.

I thought about it. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. "Okay, I'm in. But I want you to see the irony here," I teased.

He laughed and I thought about that day I dropped in on him at work. He thought I was bonkers and now look, the shoe was on the other foot. Definitely ironic.

* * *

It was a good thing we skipped the farewell brunch and left early, otherwise we never would've made it. I tried to tell that to Wyatt in the car, but he brushed me off, insisting he wasn't worried. Too bad I was worried enough for both of us.

Stopping just outside his parents' front door, I tapped Wyatt on the shoulder. "Wait! Are you sure I look okay?" I asked, hoping the dress I packed for the brunch we skipped today would do for an evening dinner with his parents.

He turned back and his eyes roamed admiringly over my long-sleeve orange maxi dress. "You look stunning."

"Are you sure this is okay?" I asked, wiping away the nonexistent wrinkles.

He laughed. "That you're here? Of course, they're going to be over the moon," he said, pushing a rogue strand of hair behind my ear.

I turned and looked back at the driveway full of cars. I knew they were his brothers' but for some reason, I was still unexplainably nervous.

As if reading me like a book, he tugged at my hands. "Come on. It's going to be fine." He brushed a light kiss on my cheek and my heartbeat kicked up a few notches.

Why'd he do that?

He made himself perfectly clear earlier.

Why would he kiss me?

But it was just my cheek, I mused. I was reading too much into this. I nodded and followed him through the door. "It's me," he shouted just inside the threshold, "and I brought a guest. Hope you don't mind."

That's all it took for the entire family to come rushing out. Three women about my age, his mother, four men, one of whom I knew was his father just by looking at him, and a baby in one of the women's arms. It was the entire Ryder clan. His mother pushed past everyone and handed the dish towel she had in her hand off to her husband.

"I never thought I'd see the day," she said, rushing over to kiss Wyatt on the cheek. Then she turned to me and studied me. "I'm Mary, Wyatt's mother. And you are?"

"Brandy," I said, my mouth suddenly all too dry.

Wyatt laughed. "Give her breathing room, you guys. Brandy, these are my parents, Mary and Jay," he said gesturing to them. "My brothers and their better halves," he added, pointing to each and giving me their names. "Everyone, this is Brandy."

"I didn't know you were seeing someone," Mary said, shaking her head as if admonishing him for leaving her out of the loop.

I wasn't sure what his angle was, so I bit my tongue, allowing him to take the lead.

"He's not. It's a fake relationship," Damon interjected and passed Wyatt a beer. "Good to see your fake relationships can last so long."

Wyatt narrowed his gaze and shook his head. I knew Wyatt was looking to get them off his back about not dating, so knowing it's fake, probably didn't help him too much. "Thanks, Damon."

"Hey, we have no secrets in this family."

They all started to disperse back to whatever they were doing, but Mary stayed put, like the doting mother hen she obviously was. "What is this about a fake relationship?"

"We're friends, Mom. Brandy needed a date for a wedding and I went with her."

"As your boyfriend?" she asked, looking at me. I nodded. "I don't understand, you look like a nice girl." Her eyes swept over me again and I could tell she had so many more questions.

Angling my head, not sure what to make of that one, I only said, "Thanks. I think."

"Isn't this supposed to be a party?" Wyatt asked pulling me into the house, leaving his mother with nothing to do but follow us.

His father stood by their bar and looked directly at me. "What'll it be?"

"Gin and tonic, please."

He nodded. "Thank you for joining us this evening." He prepared my drink and handed it to me.

I held it in my hands for a few seconds before taking a sip. I was definitely not fake date material. I was too nervous, nothing like Wyatt was—acting all natural and confident—around my family. How did he do it?

It turned out, the alcohol helped. After a few sips, I started to relax.

The girls were great, taking me into their fold and making me feel comfortable while Wyatt went off to talk with his brothers outside on the back patio.

The woman with dark brown hair and a Tiffany Co. necklace tapped my arm first. That was Jenna, I remembered. She had the most style, like something out of a fashion magazine. I looked over at her as she asked, "Fake dating? That's genius! What made you come up with that idea?"

"Yeah, who just wakes up one morning and is like oh, I'm going to fake date this guy I know?" Scarlet asked now, bouncing her son on her knee.

Sabrina took a sip of her own drink and rolled her eyes. "What's with the million questions? I'm sure she wants to take a second. It's a lot meeting the whole family."

I nodded. "Yes, it is. There are a lot of you."

Scarlet laughed and burped Brandon. "Well, actually, I was the first to join this bunch, thankfully, so it wasn't all that bad for me."

"You were the first this time around," Jenna added and turned to me. "Deke and I dated in high school. Now, about this fake relationship." She arched a brow and watched me closely as the other two girls waited on bated breath.

I shook my head, laughing. I decided to go with the abridged version. When I was done, their jaws fell open. I held up my drink before taking a sip. "So that's the long and short of it. And it all worked out because I got to spend the weekend with a great guy."

Sabrina elbowed Scarlet and Jenna. "Did you hear that? A great guy," she repeated and smiled.

Scarlet shook her head. "I remember that feeling. You have feelings for him!" she exclaimed a little too loud for my liking, and her son's it appeared because he started crying.

I spun around to make sure no one was listening and then put my finger over my lips. "It's not that simple. He doesn't feel the same way."

Jenna waved a hand in the air. "You're wrong."

I quirked a brow.

She went on, "Ryder men are really good at hiding their emotions. They can read you like a damn book, but when the shoe is on the other foot and you try to read them, they don't like it, they go into this shell or something."

Shaking her head, Sabrina said her peace. "Damon was pretty good at opening up, he knew what he wanted, and lucky for me that was me, but he also used humor or walking away a lot to get around some more sensitive topics." Then she bit down on her lip and chuckled. "Although, he was the first one to say I love you, so maybe it's not the same thing."

"Well, I get it," Scarlet said, pacing with Brandon now, "Colt and I didn't like each other when we first met, so it wasn't easy to get a read on how he was feeling later. You know, when I stopped wanting to slap him and instead wanted to," she looked off in the distance before her eyes landed back on me.

Before she could finish, Jenna inserted, "Jump his bones."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I know. It's just hard, you know? Wyatt was married before and I don't want to diminish that. I don't know if he's over her yet."

Sabrina shook her head. "He'll never be over her, but she's not here anymore. You are. And he knows that. Trust me, I saw the way he looked at you. He's smitten."

I blushed. "Thank you for this, I really appreciate it, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. I've already been let down plenty enough."

Shaking her head, Scarlet grabbed my hand. "I get it, but just be open and don't be afraid to see what's right in front of you. That's all we're saying. Sometimes these men need a little help and it's okay."

I smiled. I understood what they were saying. "Thanks. Hey, can you point me in the direction of the bathroom?" I asked, wanting to go wash up before dinner.

Once Scarlet told me where I could find it, I put my drink down and stepped away. A mere steps down the hall and I ran into Wyatt. He was stopped, staring at a wall of family photos, and he didn't hear me come up.

I slipped my arm around his waist, the gesture feeling so natural. "Wy," I started, "are you okay?"

He nodded and looked down at me. "Just thinking. That's her, you know," he said, pointing to a photo of a beautiful, young strawberry blonde.

"Susan?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.

"The summer before we got engaged. We went with her parents to the Adirondacks and spent time in their country house. It's one of the best memories I have."

I looked at the photo, closer this time. He wasn't in the photo, it was a close up of just her, looking directly at the camera, a smile on her face like she was holding back a laugh. I could see why he was attracted to her. She was as beautiful as she sounded special. "She looks happy," I noted. It sounded lame even to my own ears, but it was true.

He nodded. "She was always happy. Until her mother got sick, that was. That was one of the things I loved most about her. She never let stuff bother her. She always looked on the bright side, saw the good in everyone and everything." Then he turned to me and smiled. "Not unlike yourself, actually. That's something you have in common."

I wasn't sure why, but it felt wrong to be compared to her. I was not nearly as special as she was. I shook my head. "No, I'm not like that."

He laughed. "You are."

If what he said was true, I wondered if that was why he slept with me last night. Was the memory of Susan there with us?

Was she always with us?

I had a feeling she was, just like she was always with Wyatt. He had told me he was like the darkness, obviously he still carried around a lot of grief and couldn't let her go.

Maybe that was reason enough to accept what he said for face value and leave it as just a friendship—Susan would forever be a third wheel in any relationship we ever tried. And it wasn't that I didn't like her or I begrudged the memory he had of his deceased wife, but Wyatt was clearly still in love with her.

My stomach turned over just thinking about it. I dropped my arm and backed up. "Scarlet said the bathroom is this way," I confirmed and pointed in the right direction.

He didn't say anything, didn't even acknowledge my words.

Without giving it another thought, I left him there, staring at the photo of Susan.

By the time I got out of the bathroom, he was gone. The family had all settled into the dining room for dinner. "Brandy, come here," Mary ushered me over. "We've been looking for you. Are you okay?"

All right, so maybe I spent a little too long in the bathroom, trying to process everything. I nodded. "Yes, thank you." I looked around and saw they added a place setting next to Wyatt.

He looked up at me and beamed. It wasn't just another smile like he'd been giving me all weekend. No, this was bigger than that. Confused, I walked over as he stood up and pulled out the chair for me.

"Thank you."

I peered over my shoulder and watched as he tucked it in for me, too. It wasn't as though the chivalrous act was surprising to me because it wasn't. Wyatt was like this. He opened doors for me and pulled out my chair.

He leaned down and brushed a light kiss on my cheek before sitting down in his own seat.

I narrowed my eyes and listened to the conversation Mary started about how Brandon was growing. Jay began passing around the broccoli cheddar smashed potatoes and, as I waited my turn to take one, Wyatt placed an arm behind me, resting it on the back of my chair as though staking claim to what was his.

He must have caught me staring because he looked over at me and cocked a brow. "You okay?"

I shook my head casually and smiled. "Better than okay."

He brought his hand to the back my neck and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Me, too," he whispered.

Colt passed a dish to me filled with slices of Beef Wellington. I took a piece and offered it to Wyatt, who nodded his head, allowing me to put two slices on his plate. He was busy having a conversation with Damon across the table about something that was going on at his job.

Wyatt scoffed. "Dude, you act like you can't fix that in no time."

Damon rolled his eyes. "I know I can, but you see—"

I didn't want to interrupt, but wanted to get the dish around the table, so instead of reaching across him, I tapped his arm and cleared my throat to get his attention. He noticed and went to take it from me, our fingers brushing as he did. I backed away, not wanting him to think that was what I wanted or something, but he only winked at me.

Deacon and Jenna took their portions and set the dish down before Jenna said, "I'd like to make a toast" and rose from her seat, holding her glass up. "To Mary and Jay," she started and looked at each one of them in turn. "You are an inspiration, the very model we all need in our lives. I've always admired you both. You've kept the love alive between the two of you for so long. I only wish Deacon and I can be half as happy as the two of you are when we've been married for as long."

She looked down at Deacon, who grabbed her hand in his and laid a kiss on the top of it. Clearly getting choked up, she swallowed, and added, "So to one of the best couples I know, you seemed to have figured out the secret sauce. Now you have to share the recipe with the rest of us." She smiled and winked at Mary like they were old friends. And in many ways I supposed they were—it was very apparent she'd been around this family the longest.

We all raised our glasses in celebration of Mary and Jay as Mary mouthed a "thank you" to Jenna.

Jay cleared his throat and pulled out from his chair. "I suppose I should say something, too."

Mary chuckled. "You say enough just by sticking by my side each and every day."

"Well, at least let me add this then," he said, holding up his glass. "I don't know where I would be if not for you. These guys joke that their women are their better halves." He looked around the room and shook his head. "I still can't believe you're all paired off." Then he brought his hand to his mouth and coughed. "I misspoke. You're mostly all paired off. No rush or anything, Wyatt."

Wyatt laughed and looked over at me before responding, "Thanks. Everyone knows how I like to take my time."

Maybe with everything except a schedule, I mused, but swallowed that one.

We all raised our glasses again as Jay toasted, "To Mary, my love, my wife, who for some reason, I still haven't figured out, has chosen me to be by her side."

I glanced over at Mary who was tearing up, wiping her eyes with a napkin she had set on the table. "Oh, Jay." She got up and walked over to him on the other end of the table.

He took her in his arms and gave her a kiss, which had all us girls gushing and their sons sick.

Colt threw a napkin at them.

"Geez, get a room," Damon joked.

Once dinner was over and Mary insisted on clearing everything off the table herself, I walked with Wyatt outside for some fresh air. He grabbed my hand in his and entangled our fingers. "Thanks for coming tonight," he said. "I know my family can be a little," he stopped as if not sure how to finish that sentence.

I brushed his comment off and smiled. "Your family is lovely. You're lucky to have them. And your parents," I let out a low whistle, "they clearly care a great deal for each other and all of you. Jenna was right, they are definitely great role models for a happy marriage."

Smiling, he took my hands in his. "I suppose that's true."

I said a silent prayer that he'd kiss me, but instead, he pulled me close to his chest and just held me there. I rested my head down, letting myself really lean into him. His heartbeat was steady, just like him, but mine was going a mile a minute. It felt like I had someone playing the drums in there.

This man really threw me for a loop. I never expected to feel this way and yet it couldn't be helped. He gave me butterflies. He made me feel things I hadn't felt in forever. He was as different from Nate as two men could get and I was so glad for that fact.

And yet I loved Nate. Or so I thought.

Do I know what love is?

I liked to believe I did. I could really see myself loving Wyatt.

Dropping his arms, Wyatt took me by my shoulders and looked down at me. "Let's go back in," he nodded to the door.