“Honestly? I thought I would, especially after you stole Chloe’s recipe,” I reply. “But I’m not.”
I turn to go. I want to find Chloe and spend time with her even if it is just stalking my own dad. I make it about three booths down when I realize Declan followed me. He grabs my arm gently and pulls me to a corner behind the Saco Surf and Turf booth. He stares at me so long that I’m about to give up on him actually speaking. But then he sighs. “I’m truly sorry about the recipe. I’m a bit of a bull-in-a-china-shop asshole when it comes to this business. I realize it…but usually the revelations come after I’ve done something stupid, not before.”
Did he just own his behavior? He has never, ever done that. It’s honestly not enough, but I know for the family’s sake I need to accept any apology I get from him so we can all move on. “If you promise to try and realize it before you act next time, I forgive you.”
“I promise,” Declan exhales loudly and his blue eyes are inky and solemn as they lock with mine. He wants to say something. I don’t know what it is, but it feels intense. “And I’m also not pissed at Terra. I know she wants what’s best for the business, and I trust Chloe to deliver something better than we currently have. I just wanted to be looped in.”
“Then you would have steamed rolled over everyone with your vision and ideas,” I blurt out and regret it. He’s trying. I don’t want to shut him down, but it’s the truth.
“Well, you should know another one of my ideas is to name the lobster benny dish Chloe’s Benny on the menu,” Declan says.
My mouth falls open. “Really?”
“It’s the least I can do,” Declan replies. “If you all agree, that is.”
“I’m sure everyone will,” I give him a genuine smile. I think it’s a sweet idea.
“Is that why everyone is stalling me on nailing down some time for the commercial shoot?” Declan asks, his jaw tight as he stares at the floor between us, unable to look me in the eye. “Because they think it’s one of my shitty ideas?”
“No. They’re blowing you off because I won’t commit and they don’t want to do it without me.”
“Why won’t you do it?” Declan asks. “We scared Mrs. Green and that Paul Turner asshole into silence thanks to the non-disclosure agreement. And I don’t even care about that. You should be in the commercial.”
“I don’t want to do it,” I reply and brace myself for a fight.
He opens his mouth but closes it immediately and gives me a terse nod. “Okay.”
Declan turns and starts back toward our booth. I follow him and can’t help but stop him before he reaches it. “That’s it? You’re okay with it?”
He shakes his head and scratches his jaw, which I realize for the first time is unshaven, which is totally not like Declan. He shaves every day without fail. “No. I’m not okay with it. But I’ll shut up and deal with it.”
We stare at each other for a long minute. His idea of naming the recipe after Chloe has softened me. I let out a long slow breath. “I’ll do the commercial if they try to include me as little as possible.”
“You’re a great brother Logan. You deserve better than me.” He hugs me. “I’m going to work on trying harder to fix my own life and not control other people’s. I just know I’m not…anyway, thanks.”
He lets go of me and marches back to the booth, getting eaten up by the crowd as he goes. I have no idea what that was about, but it felt deeper than our sibling squabbles. But then Chloe’s beautiful face bounces into my vision, and I forget everything else. “Aspen got so many great shots of your dad. He didn’t even notice we were trailing him.”
“Let me guess. He’s sampling everyone else’s food?”
“He called it staking out the competition,” Chloe replies, smiling.
“Yeah, well, when food is involved, he gets tunnel vision. You could have been a clown riding a moose around this place singing a Mary Poppins tune and he wouldn’t have noticed,” I explain and slip an arm around Chloe’s waist. “The man is driven by his taste buds.”
Chloe laughs, tipping her head back, her long hair brushing my arms behind her back. “Chloe! Time to prep the new recipe, and Ma wants your help,” Finn says as he jogs over to us. “Also, the chowder tasting is happening now. Nova took the entry batch over.”
I take Chloe’s hand in mine, and we follow Finn, weaving our way through the people back to our booth. We pass Mrs. Cofax, standing beside a woman who looks like a younger carbon copy of her. It must be her Speed Dating daughter.
“Mrs. Cofax,” I say at the exact same time Finn does. I hate when we do that. It makes us seem like the creepyShiningtwins.
Mrs. Cofax smiles and waves back, but as we pass, I hear her say to her daughter, “See? I told you there were two of them.”
“Hot damn! And they’re both single?” the daughter says excitedly.
Chloe looks over her shoulder and smiles. She lifts the hand I’m not holding and points to me. “Sorry. This one is taken.”
“Lucky girl!” the daughter replies.
“Yes, I am!” I call back, and Chloe kisses my cheek.
