I'm trying, Liam, she thought. I'm really trying.
10
The first thing Reno did Monday morning was lie still for a long minute and listen to Grace’s cottage. He learned the sound of wind rattling the branches in the big maple trees in the yard, the first morning birds beginning to sing, and the sound of Grace moving around in the kitchen.
The clock on the nightstand said six-fourteen.
Reno sat up.
His knee registered the change of position with a brief, unpleasant conversation in the joint between his fibula and his femur. The sharp pain subsided into a dull ache that would be his companion for the rest of the day. He swung his leg over the side of the bed. Flexed his foot. The past few days, he’d overdone way too much, so he put on the brace this morning before he even tried to stand.
He pushed himself upright.
The window looked west, but he could see a sliver of lake from it. The water looked like it was on fire as the sun peeked over the horizon and bled brilliant orange across the lake.
His phone vibrated with an incoming call, and startled, he checked it. Dillon.
"Morning, Dill Pickle."
How are things at Grace’s place?”
“Quiet night. Grace is up and around. Making breakfast.”
“Then we can talk about a thing."
"What thing?"
"Far be it from me to tell you how to live your life, Little Brother. And I’m not starting now. But I am telling you I’ve stood in front of a door before, too."
Reno frowned. "It’s too early for beating around the bush, Bro. What are you getting at"
"Last fall I stood in front of a door for three months," Dillon said. "I knew there was a woman on the other side of it, along with a great kid and the kind of life I had told myself I wasn't built for. I didn’t walk through it. I told myself I was being respectful and careful and smart. But in reality I was just scared. I got lucky, though, because Tessa took my hand and told me I was allowed to walk through it."
Reno frowned and Dillon continued, "You need somebody to tell you you're allowed to walk through that door. You’re allowed to go after happiness. You can be in Grace’s life. You don't have to stay back a safe distance because you’re punishing yourself. I’m telling you that when you decide to walk through the door, the rest of us won’t tell you not to."
"Mm,” Reno replied. Then, because he didn’t want Dillon to accuse him of being a typical taciturn Steele man, he added, "I haven’t decided to walk through any doorways."
"I know,” Dillon replied. “I'm telling you now so when you find your door, you’ve already heard that Hank and I approve."
“Umm . . . thanks, I guess.”
Dillon chuckled. “You’ll thank me for real one day.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” Reno retorted.
He insisted on cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast while Grace got Lily ready for school. He finished before they were ready and went outside to transfer Lily’s car seat into the back of his crew cab truck.
Grace frowned when she saw the arrangement but said nothing. As for Lily, she was excited to get to ride in the back of his truck
Grace buckled Lily in and climbed into the front seat with him. She opened her mouth to speak, but he preempted whatever she was going to say with, “I swear I’m not trying to take over your life or steal your independence. But I am trying to take a bit of the load off your shoulders while you deal with a stressful situation. My mother always said it’s impossible for good people to be kind to others if the others won’t let good people be kind to them. Please. Let me be kind to you.”
She sighed. “It’s hard to argue with your mother’s logic.”
He smiled and pulled away from the curb. “She’s a strong lady. And always right.”
“She had to be strong to raise you three hooligans. Do you have other siblings besides Dillon and Hank?”
“Not technically. But we do have seven cousins my folks took in when my dad’s brother and his wife died in an airplane crash. Hank and Dillon had already left for college and I was a senior in high school when they came to live with us. So I only experienced one year of the chaos.”
