My mind wandered to my twin brother, Henry. He’d recently become involved with a work colleague and, much to my alarm, had asked that work colleague to move in with him after something like two weeks. He said he’d known, that even with the minimal time they’d spent together, he knew they were meant to be together.
Was this what that felt like?
It couldn’t be.Right?
Laughing at myself and how silly I was being, I shook my head and forced myself into motion, heading into the kitchen to see Marshall sitting at the island, looking completely dazed as he watched Rose outside. “You okay, Marshall?”
He jolted slightly before his eyes cleared when he saw me approaching him. “Yeah, just… thinking, I guess.”
Chuckling, I gathered the condiments that were still on the table and moved them closer to the sink so I could wash the stickiness off the bottles and put them away. “Rose did a number on you, huh?”
“Yeah, you could say that.” I eyed him when I heard him swallow loudly. “Oh, she’s outside with Bucky. She said to tell you that.”
As I wet a dishcloth and wrung it out, I grinned. “I know. I heard.”
He leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table and ran his fingers through his thick mop of hair. “How much of that did you hear?” He looked a little pale, maybe even a little ill.
“I heard enough,” I said, leaning over to wipe the counter down. He lifted his elbows and leaned back so I could clean his spot, then immediately resumed his position when I was done. “I’m glad that she asked you to stay longer, but don’t think you have to just because she asked you. I know she can be a bit blunt and overwhelming at times.” I left the cloth on the end of the counter and crossed my arms, grinning when I saw Marshall’s eyes bug a little as my arms flexed, so I did it again. “I’ll admit I didn’t realize that she’d picked up on my loneliness, but that’s something I’ll talk to her about. Don’t feel obligated to stay because she pointed it out to you. I know you said you have places to be, and I’m fully aware what last night was and what it wasn’t.”
Marshall nodded, but it almost looked like he was sad about what I was saying. That couldn’t be right. He scratched his fingers through his hair and huffed, as if he was frustrated. But with who? Me? Or himself?
Chewing my bottom lip nervously, I decided to hedge my bets.Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?“That being said, know that you’re more than welcome to stay here for as long as you like. Take the time to explore Rockdale, even after you get your Jeep back. I promise you that we won’t mind you sticking around.”
The tension in his shoulders eased as he sat back a little to study me. His eyes delved deep, probing the veracity of my words. He must have realized how truthful I was being because he decisively nodded. “Thanks, Daniel. I’ll think about it.”
A quiet, fluttering hope blossomed in my stomach at the knowledge that Marshall wasn’t immediately dismissing what both Rose and I had said.
That hope bloomed even further when he got up and asked for a cloth to help me clean.
One more thing that Jackson had never done in all the years that we’d been together, and Marshall had consistently done it every time we’d eaten together.
Marshall was going to have to be careful, or I was going to fall hard for him.
Chapter Ten
Marshall
Themistingrainhadturned back into drizzling rain while Daniel and I had talked, heavy enough to send Rose and Bucky running for the shed with the broken gutter. By the time Daniel and I had finished cleaning up, the rain had eased again, and Rose had ventured tentatively out through the wide-open barn door, ready to dart back in if the heavens opened again.
While large water droplets dripped from the eaves, I stood at the window with a hot cup of coffee, watching her play fetch with Bucky, thinking about what both she and Daniel had said.
“The town tends to collect the lost and the lonely. You’re not lonely. Not like Daddy. But youarelost. Aren’t you?”
Was I lost? I didn’t think I knew the answer to that question, but maybe that was part of the problem.
Rose hadn’t thought I was lonely, but I was. Maybe not like her dad, but in my own way? Absolutely.
I’d been so busy with college and being chapter president that it hadn’t left much time for nurturing personal connections. Sure, I’d played the field while I was there, what with all theparties my frat brothers had thrown, but they were just hookups. None of them had developed into anything other than scratching the occasional metaphorical itch.
And now that I’d finished studying, I felt like I was floundering. All my friends were either still studying or starting their own exciting lives, full of enthusiasm and excitement for the future that awaited each of them. I should be excited, too, right? The world was mine for the taking, just like everyone else who had graduated with me. All I had to do was reach out and snatch it.
So why wasn’t I as enthusiastic as they were?
The intention had always been for me to head back after graduating to work for my parents’ accounting firm. I was good with numbers and had aced all my classes. All my professors loved me.
But like I’d told Daniel yesterday, I’d been bored with the numbers. So terribly, horribly bored, and that had ended up turning into hatred for anything to do with finance. There had been random sparks of interest when I’d been studying my business major, but the rest of it….
Looking after the frat and my frat brothers was where I’d found my passion. I’d never known from one day to the next what to expect. Sure, there were the usual weekly and monthly tasks that needed to be taken care of, but every day was different. Most of the time I felt like I was taking care of a bunch of alcoholic three-year-olds, which was precisely where the excitement came from.
