“Leave it alone, Theo…”
“Ever since Valentine’s Day and that date you two went on…”
“Theo! Seriously, mind your own fucking business!” he snapped. Thankfully the coffee shop was mostly empty, and no one heard them over the sound of the music playing overhead.
Theo pointed at the door, where Val had disappeared throughback out onto the street. “Those girls are my business. Just like they’re yours. You think you have a monopoly on caring about them? Just because you were like an extra son to Hank, doesn’t mean you’re the only one that can give a shit about them. So yeah, when it looks like her heart is fucking breaking all over again, damn right I’m going to ask what the hell happened. So, what the hell happened, Beau?”
“Nothing.”
“Really? You’ve been a fucking ornery cuss all week and she looks like her heart has been torn out and stomped on—”
“Fuckinggod dammit, Theo! Don’t you think I could see that?”
“So, what did you do?” Theo demanded, jabbing a finger into his chest. Beau growled and took a step toward his brother. He watched as Theo swallowed hard as realization dawned. Beau turned away and leaned his palms against the counter, staring out over the coffee shop. “You didn’t.”
“Stop.” The word came out as a plea. Of course his brother didn’t listen.
“You did. Holy fucking shit,” Theo breathed. “Big bad bachelor Beau fell in love. WithVal.”
“I said stop,” Beau snarled, turning his head toward his brother.
Theo laughed. Threw his head back and laughed. Beau had never wanted to hit his brother as badly as he did in that moment. Wanted to drop his shoulder and sack him right in the gut like a damn lineman.
“This is fuckinggold,” Theo continued, chuckling still. “So… you two do it?”
“Fuck off,” he growled again. He was getting the beginning of a headache. Pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, he sighed heavily. “And don’t fucking talk about her like that.”
“You totally did,” Theo laughed, dancing away when Beau swiped an arm out. “How was it?”
“Theo,” Beau snapped, leveling his brother with a furious stare. “I said enough.”
“Okay, okay,” Theo said, holding his hands up in surrender. “Understood.”
Beau straightened and turned to take a drink of his coffee.
“Can I ask why she looked ready to cry when she walked in here though? Did you not make her come? Not every guy can, it’s totally normal for a guy your age to have performance issues man—”
Beau lunged for Theo, but the younger man danced away on the balls of his feet again, laughing, before he took off into the back stock room to hide from a furious Beau.
CHAPTER 19
“Alright, enough.”
Val looked up from her laptop, where she was sitting in the back room ofThree Blossomcrunching numbers from the holiday the week before. Her brows drew into a frown when her sisters surrounded her. Noelle’s arms were crossed over her chest, one hip thrown out for balance. Willow had her hands shoved into the front pocket of her giantLake Michigan, Unsalted and Shark Freehoodie, her face screwed up into one of worry.
“What?” Val asked, straightening from where she was hunched over the laptop.
“I can’t handle the sad, mopey Val for another day. I want my sister back, dammit,” Noelle snapped, uncrossing her arms and letting them fall to her sides, where her palms slapped against her jean clad thighs.
“Sad and mopey?” Val asked.
“Yes. I don’t know what happened between Sunday and Monday, but something happened. You refuse to go intoBeau’s. You refuse to talk about your date, or anything that happened afterward. When I saw you Sunday morning you were… I don’t know. Happy. You looked like the old Val for a minute. What happened?” Noelle demanded, stepping up closer to the steel counter opposite where Val sat.
“It was a fake date. A fake weekend. That’s all that it was, and now it’s done,” Val said, trying her best to make her voice not quiver. When Noelle opened her mouth to protest, Val raised one hand, palm out to stop her. “It’s done, Noe. He made that very clear.”
“I refuse to believe that,” her sister said, shaking her head in denial. Val heaved a sigh and closed the laptop. She wouldn’t be getting anything else done. Pointing with one finger toward the wall that separatedThree Blossom HavenfromBeau’snext door, she continued, “Because that man is just as much of a wreck over there as you are.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Val snorted, shaking her head as she stood from the stool she had been perched on. Rounding the steel worktable, she headed to the front of the store. “He’s the one that just shut down out of the blue…” Memories of how he’d been in the shower moments before everything had changed, like a switch being flipped took over her mind, and she shook her head again to clear it. No, she wouldn’t’ think about that. Not now. Straightening her shoulders, she turned to find Noelle and Willow had followed her. “He hasn’t talked to me in over a week and a half, other than our run in at the coffee shop the other morning. He made it clear what happened was over. It meant nothing.”
