Can bringing people together, on the happiest of occasions, be enough to inspire a heart that wants to be left alone?
When his little sister Abby announces her wedding plans, Nick Lowery finds himself blindsided by his painful past. The return of Charlotte MacIntyre has him building an emotional barricade around his once battered heart.
He and Charlotte had a tangled friendship from the very beginning. They had been young. She was his little sister’s best friend. He had been a big brother figure, but that hadn’t stopped him from falling in love. He had risked his pride and his heart, for something he wanted to be real, but Charlotte hadn’t felt the same.
Now, fourteen years later, Charlotte’s return forces them to rebuild the foundation of that old friendship, for the sake of Abby’s wedding. Tumultuous emotions, neither of them want to face, threaten to erode their tenuous bond. When Charlotte can no longer fight her long held secret, is Nick’s betrayed heart willing to help her find her way home? BUY NOW
“I’m here. Where are you?!”
Nick Lowery groaned at the distraction of his illuminated phone screen. He leaned back in his chair, shoving the phone aside. He intended to ignore the short text message and its sender. His lunch date. Unfortunately, she demanded his attention. He massaged his throbbing temples as a second alert beckoned, letting him know she waited in the dining room.
His fingers hovered over the miniature letters ready to type out ‘I’m busy,’ but it wouldn’t be worth the misery. He knew her too well. She would only overreact, knocking on his office door, or worse, create a dramatic scene with one of his wait staff. As much as he wished, he couldn’t avoid her.
A deflating exhale escaped him as he scooped up his phone and exited the peace of his office. Whether she liked it or not, she would have to wait a few minutes longer. He needed a drink. Stepping up to the quiet bar, he helped himself to a bottle of scotch. With a generous pour, the amber liquid splashed into and over the edge of the glass. He downed it in one swallow.
“Having lunch with Abby?”
Nick glanced over his shoulder. Dawson Mitchell, his best friend and boss, appeared from the kitchen.
“That obvious?” he asked. He grimaced, savoring the burn in his chest. “I have no idea what she wants,” he tipped the bottle of scotch in the direction of the dining room, “but I’m sure whatever it is, I’ll hate it, as usual.”
Dawson took the bottle from Nick’s hand.
“This deserves a sympathy drink.” Holding up his sparkling golden glass with a grin and salute, he kicked it back. “You know Nick, it is possible Abby will surprise you.”
Nick shook his head and headed toward the dining room. Nothing surprised him about his sister, or the ominous feeling now settling in his gut right next to the searing alcohol.
“I have a serious question I need to ask you,” Abby greeted. Nick dropped into his seat.
“What this time? Oh and hello to you, too, by the way.” His lips twitched with a sardonic smile.
“Why are you always such an uncooperative pain in the–,” Nick’s brow shot up. His sister glared in silence.
“I have a question of my own I’d like to ask,” he said. “Why do you always want something from me? Every time you stop by here for lunch you have some important question. Just make my life easier and hire a personal assistant already. Or better yet ask Mom, she’s retired.”
Abby rolled her eyes.
“If I did that, then I’d miss my daily dose of sarcasm,” she quipped. She flashed him a tight smile. “Anyway, this particular request is meant for you.”
Nick braced himself for her curveball. Her ensuing silence grated on his already frayed nerves as she adjusted the utensils on her napkin and sipped her water. Her eyes drifted to the front door. He glanced at his watch. She had only a few more minutes of his time to pitch her ‘request’.
“Abby,” a voice called out. Her fiancé rushed up to the table. “Sorry,” he announced, kissing her on the cheek. He settled down in the seat next to her. “Hey Nick,” he nodded, out of breath. He draped an arm over Abby’s shoulder. “So, did you ask him?”
“Ask me what?” Nick demanded.
Abby cleared her throat. “We’ve finally settled on a wedding date, and it would mean a lot to us Nick, if you would be Dave’s best man.”
Nick eased back in his seat. Dawson’s prediction amazed him. Abby’s favor turned out not to be as bad as he expected. He reached across the table and shook Dave’s hand.
“I’d be honored.”
Abby rounded the table with a squeal, throwing her arms around Nick’s neck. She knew he wouldn’t let her down, he never did, but he never made it easy with his blustery complaints and ridicule.
“Thank you so much. Have I told you lately what a wonderful brother you are?”
“Okay, okay,” he complained. “Let’s not make a scene.”
Muffled music drifted from somewhere near the table. Abby dropped her arms from Nick’s shoulders and grabbed for her purse. Nick sighed and straightened his tie. Another shriek pierced the air as Abby glanced at her phone screen and took the call.
“Hey sweetie,” she greeted. “It’s so good to hear from you. Are your reservations set?” Her smile grew wider with her attentive silence. “Great. Saturday morning at eleven. I can’t wait to see you, too. Bye.”
She dropped her phone back into her purse.
Dave’s narrowed gaze focused on Abby like a laser light beam. “‘Sweetie?’ Who and what was that all about?”
She waved him off. “Charlotte.”
Nick slid back in his seat drawing himself up from his content, slouched position.
“She’ll be here Saturday morning,” Abby said, filling Dave in on the details. “We’re all set. She said yes.”
“Yes?” Nick asked, hijacking the conversation. He shifted in his seat, inhaling a long deep breath.
“Are you okay?” Abby asked. “You look a little pale.”
Nick loosened his tie. His copper colored eyes bored a hole into her.
Abby held up her hands. “Charlotte is going to be my maid of honor.”
Nick’s mind blanked from the sucker punch. “What?”
Abby shook her head and sighed. She spoke with exaggerated slowness. “I said, I asked her to be the maid of honor for the wedding.”
Nick stared at her, unaware of her mocking response, his mind too busy struggling to process her information. He was by no means a wedding aficionado, but he was smart enough to realize he had let down his guard. His sister’s request seemed not so innocent after all. Accepting the role of best man meant being paired up with the maid of honor. Which apparently would be Charlotte.
“Anyway,” Abby said, turning back to her fiancé. “She’ll be here Saturday morning. Her flight lands at eleven.”
Nick zeroed in on his sister, again.
“When is the wedding date?” He needed some clarification, an explanation of some sort. She owed him that much.
Abby cleared a spot for the arrival of her lunch. “September.”
“If the wedding is seven months away, why is she coming here Saturday?” he asked.
Abby looked up from her plate. “Why does it matter?”
She took a bite of her salad. Nick drummed his fingers on the table.
“That’s the best part of the news.” Abby said. “Charlotte has decided to come back home. She’s tired of her life in Chicago and burned out from her career as a pastry chef. One day she mentioned setting up a small bakery and,” Abby grinned, “I just happened to have the perfect location available for rent downtown. She jumped at my suggestion to come back home and settle down with us.”
Nick pushed his untouched plate aside. His head pounded with more thoughts than he could handle. Us. He rubbed his forehead. Charlotte had made it abundantly clear the term us did not include him, despite their shared connection. His parents loved her like a daughter and Abby considered her a sister. He no longer hand any idea what, if anything, he felt for her or what he considered her to be. The only thing he knew for certain, he didn’t want to face her. He remembered all too clearly the last time, eight years ago.
He shook his head at the invading memory of stalking through the kitchen doorway at his father’s surprise birthday party. Charlotte’s voice still echoed in his mind.
“Oh, Nick.”
Like an unrolling reel of images, he saw himself reaching out to grasp her arms, to catch her from falling. She had recovered gracefully from the run in, but he had not. Even after almost a decade, he could feel the mere inches separating them as if he were there, not immersed in some past moment. He had stood in the kitchen doorway, taking in his first real glimpse of her since she had left for school in Chicago. He scanned every familiar line of her face. A face he had etched permanently into his brain. Even then she was so beautiful.
Nick tried clinging to the reality of the present, the noises around him, the clinking of dishes and idle chatter, but the memory proved stronger, absorbing him back into the shadows of the past. The harder he fought to forget the scene locked away in the fringes of his mind the more it bogged him down, sinking him in its quicksand.
“How are you?” she asked.
“Fine.” He shrugged. “And you?”
“I’m doing well, thanks.” Her glossy pink lips turned up in a smile.
His gaze darted to the ceiling. He remembered grinding his jaw, painful enough to distract him from Charlotte’s flushed cheeks as he unintentionally held her captive. A silent blockade preventing her escape from the kitchen.
“I need to get this pitcher of iced tea to the table before your mom thinks I got lost,” she joked. She held up the container as her excuse.
He nodded, hesitant to let her step past. His gaze followed her out the door, losing her in the small crowd of partiers. He turned to the refrigerator for a drink. Slumped against the wall he took a long pull from his icy beer. Someone would come looking for him, questioning why he ducked out on the birthday festivities. Whoever it would be, it wouldn’t be Charlotte. Why he wished for that was beyond him, but he couldn’t deny he did. It didn’t matter what he wanted or what he thought, she would be gone soon enough. Again.
“Nick.” The sharp command of his sister’s voice plucked him from his sad nightmare. He gave her his dazed attention. “You haven’t been listening,” she complained. “Why do you look so miserable?”
He forced a smile, saying nothing. Words could not make it past the choking obligation. Thanks to her he had made a promise. One, he could only hope, he wouldn’t regret.
Take Me Home is available on Amazon in both Kindle and print format.