“We never caught up when I came to scatter Rake’s ashes.” Mari shrugged and stared at the ground. “I regret that but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to talk to anyone. You were with someone else when I drove past you in the street.”
He was confused. “With someone else?”
“Yes. Blonde, tall, and very pretty. I didn’t think it was my place to intrude.”
“I wish you had.” It took him a moment to remember the woman’s name. “As a family, we wanted to be there for Rake. Hearing about it after the fact devastated my parents and me. I doubt they’ll ever get over it, to be perfectly honest.”
“One more problem,” Mari said and a hint of bitterness bled through. “I’m sorry. I was only carrying out Rake’s final wishes.” She glanced down the stairs and her gaze flickered to his face. “Look, I have to go. I’m more than prepared for you to bawl me out over this another day but not right now.”
Why did he feel as though he was being brushed aside again? He supposed he deserved it. After all, he’d blamed himself when she ran away because he’d treated her terribly. But when he’d learned she’d married his brother, he still couldn’t define the emotions that had battered him. He’d lost his brother and Mari. Rake, Ethan could never repair the past with. But with Mari maybe he had a chance. He needed to find out what happened so he could deal with it, apologize, but she wasn’t really giving him the chance.
But he wasn’t just going to let it go this time. Today, yes. But there would be a tomorrow and Mari wasn’t going to find it so easy to disappear without answers this time.
“Fine.” He forced himself to back down. Give her space. “I need to call into the yard for supplies after my next appointment anyway so I’m pushed for time. We’ve waited years to hash out the past. One more day won’t hurt. I’ll see you bright and early in the morning.” He turned and left her standing on the stairs.
Chapter Two
“How’d it go?” Christian’s voice filled the truck as Ethan drove back to the workshop after his final appointment of the day.
“Why didn’t you tell me it was her?” He’d been stunned to see Mari at the hotel but once the initial shock wore off, a feeling of unease started to replace it.
He messed up with Mari but he still didn’t know what he’d done to be cut off by his brother. They might not have been best buddies as teens but as brothers he still considered them as close as most siblings. Different interests and goals, they’d still back each other up in a fight. At least Ethan had thought so until Rake had refused to be part of his life.
“When you grow up and stop acting like the old man, call me, because you’re just like him whether you think so or not. I don’t need that in my life.”
That had been the last time they’d spoken. Only years later had Ethan understood Rake had been right. He was his father’s shadow, exactly like him in so many ways. Now it was too late to mend the fences between them.
But he wasn’t like his old man. Not now.
“Because I wasn’t sure how you’d react. I remember what you were like when she left town. When you found out she went with your brother, you went into a tailspin. You moped around for months. And when you found out he’d taken his own life, you were no better, so you can hardly blame me. Besides, I figured it’d be a nice surprise for you.”
“Yeah, well, seeing her when I walked in the door—it blew me away. Mom’s going to flip big-time.” He disconnected the call and turned down the street to the warehouse, wondering how on earth he was going to break the news to his mother. All the years Rake had been gone had taken a toll on her. The only contact had been what they saw on the sports channels as he followed his dream of being a world-class boxer. The day he announced he was leaving to pursue a boxing career was the day she broke down and lost another part of herself.
When he pulled up in the yard, his partner was busy helping the men load up a worker’s truck for the following day. Christian slid on the final plank of timber and tied it down, dusted his hands off and walked over to Ethan’s truck.
“You gonna sit in there all night?” He beckoned Ethan inside the office and handed him a cold beer from the little refrigerator in the corner as he walked in the door.
“Thanks.” He tipped the bottle to his mouth and took a deep drink before easing down into the old armchair.
“She really rattled you, eh?” Christian dropped down into his chair behind the cluttered desk and leaned back in the old leather chair he’d inherited from his father.
“I didn’t think so until now, but, yeah. I guess she did.”
“So, what’re you going to do about it?”
No matter which way he looked at it, nothing good was going to come of today’s news. His mother would be gutted. All the pain she’d suffered when Mari ran away and Rake turned his back on the family would all be brought out into the open again.
“I don’t know. Rake’s been dead two years. We were finally coming to terms with it. I can actually talk about him without tearing up or getting angry. Mom’s starting to remember the good things about him and not focusing on what we all did wrong to chase him away. And then Mari comes back to town and it’s all going to be brought up again, the questions, the self-recriminations, the blame. Whatever way we look at this, my family’s been cheated. That hurts almost as much as knowing my brother didn’t
