“Hey, Claire. I hope Grady took you for a decent ride.”Oh, it was more than decent.“I’ll owe him big time, but it’s freezing out there. You must be a solid ice cube.” Eyes soft, connected with hers, he rounded the desk and took her hands in his, pulling her closer as he sat on the edge of the desk. He tapped the tip of her Rudolf nose.
“Cold, but beautiful.”
“It was a great town to grow up in,” he conceded.
Don’t make this any harder.
He pushed on. “Seriously, I hope my brother was good company. He can be a little rough around the edges.”
Funny, that’s just what your mother said about me. “What is it with you two? You never talk about him, and, quite frankly, he didn’t have much to say about you either.”
“We haven’t talked much in years, so there isn’t much to say I guess.”
“He’s your brother. That doesn’t bother you?”
“I suppose it does. He’s still pissy about... a fight we got in.”
“Were you friends before that fight?”
“Claire. I know what you’re getting at. You can’t fix this.”
“No. But you can. Just talk to him.” Claire pictured Grady’s cringe as his mother raked him over the coals this afternoon, after upbraiding him at dinner the night before. She knew their father was out of the picture, and they hardly saw their sister. How could Ryder be okay with staying at odds with him?
“Fine. I’ll talk to him.”
“Before we go home.”
“I will.” He teased his hands through his dark hair, the typical preciseness of his style wavering. “I promise. You had an okay day?”
“I had a great time, really. I can’t believe you don’t want to move back here.”
“Look, I’m not cut out for small town life. But while we’re here, we could look into a place in the suburbs? Meet halfway in the middle? How does that sound?”
She nodded weakly and let out a heavy sigh, resolving to get it over with sooner than later. “Ryder, do you ever think that we—”
Grady appeared in the doorway. “Hey.” He tightened his hand in his hair and leaned against the doorjamb.
Ryder flashed him a dark glare. “Hey.”
“I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t handle another family dinner. Thought I’d head to Ahab’s with some friends. You in?”
Shoulders relaxing, Ryder said, “God yes. I haven’t been in ages.” He glanced to Claire, opened and closed his mouth wordlessly, then laced his fingers with hers. “Actually, I was going to take Claire to the Italian place.”
Claire freed her hand. “We can go tomorrow, that’s okay. You guys never get to hang out.” Glutton for punishment, that’s what she was.
“Great.” Grady’s expression didn’t lighten, but his gaze moved back and forth between Claire and Ryder, sensing the heaviness of the unfinished conversation. “If you want to carpool, we can head out around six?”
Claire nodded like an addled bobble-head. That uncertainty in his tone was enough to make her want to wrap her arms around him and try to rebuild the tower of self-confidence she could see had so freshly crumbled.
Pausing and taking Claire’s hand, Ryder gently tugged. “Sound good?”
She nodded. Her stomach churned with the oddest sensation that she was cheating on both of them. What the hell had she gotten herself into?
As Grady backed out of the room, Claire turned to Ryder. “I was hoping we could talk. Do you have a minute?”
“Yeah. I’ve been wanting to talk to you, too.” Ryder’s phone buzzed.
The moment she went to open her mouth, it buzzed again.
