“Maybe right after she left,” Gage admitted. “But once she was gone, I took a look at my life again and had no second thoughts about keeping it just the way it is. I’m over Jess. Have been for a very long time.”
“Maybe so. But will you be able to get over Aurora?”
Gage fell silent.
“Thought that might be your response.”
Mouth pulling down into a frown, Gage said, “I can’t do this with her. Not right now. You and I both know we have to focus on saving the retreat.”
“We’re making upgrades,” Reed said. “You’ve been coming up with ideas to draw more guests in. We will save the retreat. Of that, I have complete faith. But none of us want you to do so at the cost of your happiness.”
“I’m happy,” Gage said, not very convincingly.
“But you’re truly happy when you’re with Aurora,” his brother countered. “We’ve all seen it. However, you’redetermined to keep that wall up around your heart because you’re afraid you won’t be enough. That our life won’t be enough.”
“It’s not the easiest place to live,” Gage conceded.
“Jess might not have been cut out for our life here on the island, but Aurora could be,” Reed pointed out with a frustrated frown. “Remove that emotional safety chain you’ve put on the door to your heart, and let her in. You will be so much happier for it.”
Gage grabbed for his raincoat. “What are you, my therapist?”
“Your brother, who happens to love you. As does the rest of your family,” Reed told him as he crossed the porch. “I’ll meet you two down at the boat.” Turning, he made his way down the front porch steps and out into the light drizzle that was falling from the gray September sky.
Was he holding back? Gage wondered. He’d kissed Aurora. Yet, he thought with more than a hint of regret, he hadn’t expressed how he’d felt at that moment. Maybe if Reed hadn’t interrupted that kiss ...
The lodge’s main door creaked open as Aurora stepped out to join him on the porch. Gage hurried to set the candle on a nearby table while making a mental note to add some petroleum jelly to the door’s hinges. Focusing on that helped steer his thoughts away from Aurora’s upcoming dinner date with her ex.
“Where’s Reed?” she asked, glancing around.
“He went on ahead to the boat to get it ready.” He handed Aurora a pair of rain pants, making another mental note to order ones with shorter inseam lengths for their female guests. “They’re going to be long, but we’ll roll them up, and you’ll be good to go.”
Smiling, she took the pants from him and walked over to sit down on the edge of one of the porch chairs. “Is everything okay?”
He met her worried gaze. “Sure. Why?”
“You left the lodge kind of abruptly,” she told him. “Was it because of Ben’s phone call?”
He hesitated before nodding. “I know you want what your sister has. But I don’t want to see you settle for less than you deserve out of life.”
She laughed. “You think I would reconsider getting back together with Ben?”
Gage shrugged.
“We are not getting back together in that way. He just has something important he wants to talk to me about.”
“What’s more important than talking to you about how he hopes to win your heart back?”
She fell quiet for a long moment, studying him closely. “Would that bother you?”
He met her scrutinizing stare. “Yes.” Well, it was out there now. He’d just taken the chain off his heart’s door. That didn’t mean he wasn’t keeping the toe of his mental shoe against it to keep the door from swinging all the way open.
“Gage,” she said with a soft smile. “You’re the most thoughtful, caring man I have ever met. Thank you for protecting me where Ben is concerned. I promise not to settle for less than my heart deserves.”
Gage felt a mixture of relief and frustration with her reply. Aurora thought he was being protective of her because of what he knew about her broken engagement. Not because he couldn’t stomach the thought of her with Ben or any man, sharing time, and laughter, and silly inside jokes. The way Aurora and he had during her stay there.
“Okay,” Aurora said, “I’m ready for my boots.”
He grabbed a pair that was closest to the door. “These are Mom’s. She said for you to wear them out on the boat today. Even if they’re a little big, they’ll be better than the ones we havefor guests,” he said, inclining his head toward the row of boots lining the wall beneath the rain jackets and pants.
