Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Rhodes

L ess than a second after a knock sounded on my office door, it was pushed open and Marco came sauntering in. He sat in the chair across from me, casually leaned back, and kicked his cowboy boots up on the edge of my desk, all without saying a word.

My brows hitched up and a grin pulled my lips wide. “You forget this isn’t your office anymore? Ah, shit. I don’t have to tell Gypsy your mind’s slippin’ do I?”

He chuckled, shooting me the middle finger as he scooted lower in the seat to get even more comfortable. “Still such a shithead.” He shook his head good-naturedly. “You know, I can still beat your ass if I have to.”

I didn’t doubt that for a single second. I might have been Army just like he was, but I never made it to Rangers like him. My brother-in-law wasn’t an example of a badass. Like Linc and all the rest of the men he worked with back when he’d been here, they were the very definition of the word.

“Guess that means you aren’t goin’ senile, then.”

“Not just yet. Just wanted to swing by and see how things were goin’.”

I knew a lot better than that. He was here to grill me for information, most likely at the request of Gypsy. It had been a week since Blythe and her kids had moved in with me, and my big sister had already called at least three times, asking when they’d be joining us for family dinner. “Uh-huh. And I guess you’re gonna say next that my sister didn’t put you up to this little visit?”

He lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “What can I say? I’ve never been good sayin’ no to that woman.”

That was no lie. Since coming into her life, there wasn’t a damn thing Gypsy could want that he didn’t bend over backward to find a way to give her, and I was hard-pressed to find a person who deserved it more. My sister had sacrificed everything to take care of us, to love us and support us and raise us. She did without in order to make sure we didn’t, and one of the happiest days of my life was when she met Marco, because it meant she never had to do without again.

“Then you can be the one to tell her I’m not pushin’ Blythe or her kids to come to dinner. I’m still trying to make sure they’re comfortable. I’m not gonna risk spookin’ them this early in the game.”

He quirked a brow. “Spookin’ them or spookin’ her ?”

I didn’t bother answering. He already knew, he just wanted to give me shit about it. “I’m waiting until it stops feelin’ like she’s still got one foot out the door. Can you blame me?”

There wasn’t a single thing in this world I wanted more than I wanted Blythe. She was it for me. If I couldn’t have her, there would be no other woman. But this wasn’t going to be easy.

“Look, Rhodes, I know what it’s like to have to fight for the woman you love. Some days feel like the hardest battle of your life. Just don’t give up, son. I understand why you let her go. Didn’t agree with you, but I understood. It’s hard to believe you’re good enough for a woman like that when you were taught otherwise by parents who never deserved the title. By asshole kids who were raised by small-minded people to believe they were better than anyone who had less than them. But you’ve always been good enough for her, Rhodes. You were then, and you are now.”

My ribs squeezed the hell out of my chest, making it hard to breathe. Marco was the man I respected most in the world, and hearing that from him meant more than if it had come from anyone else. “I know that now. Or at least I’m starting to. I’d like to think we would have lasted the long haul, but the truth is, I’m not sure we would have made it. I needed to do a lot of work on myself if I wanted a shot at making her happy forever.” I scrubbed a hand down my face. “Just fuckin’ hate that I hurt her the way I did.”

“You’ll have to show her you deserve another shot. But I have no doubt you can do that.”

I was glad he believed in me. I wished I had the same confidence in myself. However, what I lacked there, I made up for with hope.

“I’m playing the long game here, Marco, and my sister isn’t exactly known for her patience.”

That got a smile out of him. “I’ll do what I can to hold her off for as long as I possibly can, but you know your sister.”

I heaved out a sigh. “Yeah, I know,” I grumbled. “Do what you can.”

The phone on my desk rang as he laughed, and I hit the button to answer it on speaker. “Bradbury.”

Naomi’s voice carried through the office. “Hey, Rhodes. You’ve got someone up front to see you.”

My brows pinched together. “A meeting? I don’t have anything on the calendar.”

“Uh, no . . . She’s a walk-in. Name’s Grace.”

Ah shit . That was the last thing I wanted on my bingo card for the day.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll be right there.”

Marco stood from his chair as I rose from mine and hit the button to end the call. “I’d say that’s somethin’ you need to deal with pretty quick, son. Situation like that could pop back up and bite you in the ass if you aren’t careful.”

An exhale burst past my lips. “Believe me, I know.”

We said our goodbyes quickly, and I walked him out before heading toward the couches in the waiting room. “Hey,” I greeted as I closed the distance and Grace rose from one of the two couches that faced each other.

“Hi,” she said brightly, her eyes trailing to the big picture windows that overlooked the street, following Marco as he headed for his SUV. “That was your brother-in-law, right?”

She already knew he was. It was a small town, everyone knew most everything about everybody. But I knew why she was asking. He’d been right there, only feet away, and she’d been itching for an introduction. The fact that I wouldn’t take her to meet my family when we were dating had been another argument we had more than once.

“It was. What can I do for you?”

She finally turned her attention to me, smiling brightly and batting her eyes. “I came to see if you wanted to grab some lunch. I don’t know about you, but I could really go for a burger from Evergreen. Maybe follow that up with something sweet from Muffin Top?”

She’d just named the two places in this town that were guaranteed to be packed at this time of day, and she’d done it for a reason. She knew we’d be seen, and she knew word would spread. If I had to guess, she was here because she’d already heard people talking about my past with Blythe and the speculation on when or if we’d get back together, so she felt time was running out to shoot her shot.

I pushed out a sigh and rubbed at the tension building in the back of my neck and shoulders. “Grace, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Oh, well, if it’s a timing thing, we could grab something to go. My schedule’s flexible. I thought it would be nice to catch up.”

The waiting room was empty, aside from Naomi sitting at the front desk, but this wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have with any kind of audience. “Why don’t you come back to my office real quick?”

Her smile told me she thought she was getting somewhere, which made my stomach sour. She was a good woman, I didn’t want to keep hurting her, and I felt like an asshole because I knew that was what was about to happen.

I stepped aside so she could enter, then followed after her, making sure to close the door so no one could overhear. “Grace?—”

“If you’re busy, I totally understand. If you can’t do lunch then maybe we could go out for dinner?”

“No, Grace, listen.” I sucked in a fortifying breath. “I mean I don’t think it would be a good idea... ever.”

My stomach dropped as realization dawned in her eyes and the excitement turned to sadness. “I thought we were good. Weren’t we good? I mean, we had fun together.”

“We did. But it just isn’t in the cards for us. I’m sorry.”

“But...” She took a step closer and placed a hand on my chest, “It could have been if you’d given me half a chance. It still could be,” she insisted, forcing a smile.

Christ, I was such an asshole. “Grace, you’re an incredible woman, and you deserve a man who knows exactly how lucky he is to have you. That man isn’t me. It can’t be me.”

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down, her chin trembling. “It’s because of Blythe, isn’t it? Because she’s back?”

I’d ended things with Grace before I knew Blythe was returning to Hope Valley. When I realized my feelings for her weren’t strong enough, and they weren’t going to get any stronger. But I didn’t say any of that because the first half of what she said was right. It was because of Blythe, and it always would be.

“Why are you willing to try again with her but not me?”

I gave her the truth. She deserved that much. “Because she owns my heart. She has since I was seventeen years old, and she always will. Whether or not she’s ever mine again.”

Grace sniffled, her eyes growing glassy with tears as she looked away. “I see,” she whispered, a single tear breaking free and trailing down her cheek right before she turned on her heel and walked out of my office without another word.

Guilt ate at me, weighing heavily on my chest and shoulders for the rest of the day. That pressure stayed for hours, to the point I wasn’t sure it would ever go away. Then the most miraculous thing happened.

The instant I pushed through my front door that evening, the weight lifted. It was a combination of things. The smell of something delicious cooking in the kitchen. The sight of Adeline sitting in the great room off the kitchen, curled up in a cushy wingback chair with a book in her lap. It was the sound of Ainsley singing off key and at an ear-splitting volume to whatever princess movie was playing on the television in the living room. And it was seeing Avett, his pockets stuffed full of treats, working with Koda, going through some of the training techniques I’d shown him. She already knew all of them, but it was fun for the both of them, so I didn’t say anything. I didn’t even say anything about the pink and purple bows and clips in the shape of butterflies the girls had clipped all over her long fur, though it severely impacted my dog’s scary, badass vibe.

But mostly, it was rounding the corner and seeing Blythe in my kitchen, her feet bare and her work scrubs replaced with comfortable clothes. It was watching her hips swaying and her lips moving to whatever song was playing from her cellphone on the counter as she went about making dinner.

She belonged here. They all did. And seeing them in my house, filling it with noise and activity for the first time since I moved in, nothing in my life had ever felt more right.