Gavyn groaned. And with the mood lightened she blurted out the thought that had been weighing heavy on her heart. “I think I could be really successful if I moved the resort here and tweaked the concept. What do you think about that?”
“Really?” Gavyn’s eyes went wide and Kayla forgot to breathe for long enough that the room began to spin. He asked again, “Are you serious?”
There was no taking it back now.
Kayla nodded. “I mean, if it wouldn’t intrude on you too much.”
“Intrude? What the fuck?” Gavyn cocked his head. “I would love to have you here. Close by. I mean, unless you don’t want people knowing I’m your brother or getting up in your shit all the time. I would give you space if you need it.”
“Huh?” Kayla felt her heart flip-flop. “Don’t you know how proud I am of you? Of all you’ve done and how you’ve built Hot Rides from the ground up?”
And how you’ve straightened your life out. She didn’t have the guts to say that part, though.
“Then why would you think twice about moving to Middletown?” Gavyn had gone pale. Maybe those old ghosts still haunted him as much as they did her. They should have hashed this out a long time ago.
“I didn’t know if I’d really be welcome or if I’m another branch of our rotten family tree that you’re trying your best to escape.” Kayla tugged on her lip piercing with her teeth.
“Damn it, Kayla. I know we drifted apart, and that when we started to get tight again, I fucked it all up. But we still could be tight. Especially now that I have my shit together and I’m sober. And that goes twice as much for if you were here in Middletown. It would be great for Noah to have his favorite aunt in his life, in person instead of on a screen or only at holidays.”
Sure, that stuff was a huge bonus. But could it be everything? If he didn’t think the resort would flourish here, then could she junk the whole concept and start completely over in a new direction? Maybe go back to being a masseuse at someone else’s establishment. Kayla didn’t think her heart was in that.
“Is it copping out to quit now? To give up on Bare Natural and walk away from everything I’ve worked so damn hard for?” Kayla swung around. She hadn’t realized she still harbored resentment from the days Gavyn had let her, and himself mostly, down over and over until it bubbled to the surface. “Some of us stick to our commitments and take pride in keeping our word. In taking care of what’s ours.”
Gavyn’s face fell. He jerked, his shoulders crashing into the back of Amber’s pretty furniture.
“I’m sorry.” Kayla covered her mouth. “I didn’t mean that.”
“Yeah, you did. That’s okay. It’s me who’s sorry, little sis.” Gavyn scrubbed his hand over his face. “I let you down. You, Mom, Dad, the rest of our family. Repeatedly. And I can’t ever change that.”
Kayla followed her instincts. She crossed to him and climbed into his lap, hugging him tight like she had the time she was five or six and a tornado had skirted their family’s country estate. Of course their parents had been working late—at some board meeting or fundraiser, as usual—but Gavyn had been there. And sure, maybe he’d been absent for a while too, but he’d found his way back to them.
“Sometimes the past is better left behind us.” Gavyn rubbed her back like he had that scary night and she imagined how good of a father he was going to be to Noah. So much better than their own. “Even if you could put everything in place exactly as it had been right now, would you ever really be able to get the memory of the smoke smell or all that blackness from your mind? Or would you see it everywhere you looked? Would you be afraid that it could happen again?”
He looked down at her and she could tell he was thinking of his own personal disaster that had occurred at Bare Natural during the Powertools wedding. The night he’d almost killed himself, ruined his relationship with his would-be wife, but instead turned it all around.
He’d never set foot on the property again, and he was right. Neither would she.
“I guess sometimes you have to lose everything before you can start over,” she whispered.
His eyes filled with tears, freaking her the fuck out. Gavyn never cried.
“Yeah, you’re exactly right.” He looked up at the ceiling until the glassiness subsided. “Though you might not think so in this moment, I swear to you, it’s possible to claw your way back and be happier than you’ve ever been in your entire life. Even after you’ve burned everything to the ground.”
Well, shit. He would know about that.
If Gavyn could do it, so could she….with a hell of a lot of help from the crew, and him.
“You’d really be happy if I moved to Middletown?” Kayla cleared her throat, unwilling to cave to the emotions clawing at her if Gavyn wasn’t going to either. He was right. Together they were stronger.
“Ecstatic.” He squeezed her tight. “Maybe I could start to restore some of the things I wrecked myself. Our relationship. Your trust in me. Stuff that matters way more than possessions, although I know they were precious to you.”
Kayla leaned her head on his shoulder. It had only been the year before that they’d unexpectedly lost one of their brothers to a stroke. There one day. Gone the next. Dropped dead at his shiny executive desk. And for what? “I would like that too. Before it’s too late.”
“It’s never too late,” Gavyn promised her. “Stay here and I’ll help you, Kayla. I swear. I’ll
