He pretended they annoyed him, but I had caught him smiling at my niece and nephew on more than one occasion. He liked them. They had a way of winning people over.
Once they were out of earshot, Kent turned back to us. “I was hoping I could speak to Sylvie,” he said, his voice calm. “Privately.”
“Whatever you have to say to her, you can say to me,” Brom stated flatly.
Kent glanced at me, then back at Brom. I could see him weighing his options.
“Uh,” he said finally, a hint of his old humor creeping into his voice despite the tension. “I don’t think you know what you’re asking for, but if you really want to hear all the details, fine. You might blush.”
I had to bite my lip to hide my smile. Even in the middle of this confrontation, even with my brother radiating hostility like a space heater, Kent still had the ability to catch me off guard with his unexpected moments of levity.
“I’ll be okay, Brom,” I said, placing my hand on my brother’s shoulder. The muscle underneath was coiled tight with tension, but I felt him relax slightly. “I promise. I need to talk to him, anyway. I promise I won’t let him sell me any magic beans.”
Brom looked between Kent and me, his protective instincts clearly warring with his trust in my judgment. Finally, he stepped back, though he didn’t go far.
“Fifteen minutes,” he said to Kent, his voice carrying the kind of quiet menace that had intimidated bullies and troublemakers throughout our childhood. “And if you so much as think about hurting her again, I’ll shove more than coal up your stocking.”
Kent nodded solemnly. “Understood.”
I turned to Kent, trying to ignore the way my pulse quickened when he looked at me. “Want to walk?” I asked, gesturing toward the path that led around the lodge toward the tree farm. “We can talk while we go. I have fifteen minutes, apparently.”
“I heard,” Kent said, shooting a wary glance at Brom, who was still standing guard like a sentinel. “Fifteen minutes seems fair enough.”
I looked at Brom, doing my best to plead with him with only my eyes. He rolled his at me, but he relaxed a little more. His heart was in the right place but I needed to handle this conversation on my own.
“I’m going to keep an eye on you,” he said.
“He’s not going to do anything,” I said quietly. “Watching him talk to me isn’t going to change the words. I’m a big girl. The damage has already been done. I’ve got this. Finish hanging those lights, please.”
“I swear, Sylvie?—”
I held up my hand. “If he does anything, you are free to knock his ass out.”
Kent heard all of it.
Brom didn’t realize it, but I had seen every inch of Kent’s body, including the muscles. I hated to tell my brother, but I had a feeling Kent could take him.
“I’ll still be watching,” Brom said as he stomped back up the steps to the lodge.
CHAPTER 52
KENT
Fifteen minutes. I wasn’t sure it was enough, but I would take what I could get.
I had missed the place more than I thought I did. I had never really missed anything. Or anyone.
But my God, I missed her. Laying eyes on her fucking cut and provided the balm at the same time.
I had thought about her every day since I had left, but this sense of belonging somewhere that felt real was something I had missed as well. New York had all the amenities money could buy, but it didn’t have this kind of soul.
And it didn’t have Sylvie.
I let her lead the way. Neither of us said anything at first. Now that I knew my time was limited, I wanted to use it in the best way possible. Which meant I had to choose my words carefully.
And I was struggling to find the right words to express what I was feeling.
We ended up behind the lodge in the old maze of hedges I found during my first visit. The hedges were overgrown and slightly wild, creating pathways that led nowhere in particularbut somehow felt magical anyway. Snow had settled on the branches, turning the whole thing silent and still.
