Love Brewing (Love Brothers #3) (13 page)

“Oh?” Diana propped on her elbows in the truck bed. He
attempted to ignore the warmth of her thigh next to his. “I hope these don’t
make you so fuzzy and sleepy.”

“Yeah, me too.”

He shook his head to dispel the memory of the now
ex-teacher’s Airstream, the pot, booze and pussy she’d plied him with, thinking
she could drink, smoke and fuck him out of his depression a few short years
before. She hadn’t.

He matched Diana’s stance, swinging his legs alongside hers.
He’d gone off the meds halfway through his sophomore year, which likely had led
to the wild hair, going-to-Germany-for-a-brewing-certification adventure. Which
landed him here, wishing he could kiss his oldest friend and knowing he had a
testy baby mama waiting for him in a crappy, one-room apartment.

“Pretty fucked up,” Diana said, meaning his brother’s
trauma, but startling him with the general usefulness of that particular phrase
just then.

“You don’t know the half of it, babe.”

“Oh, I think I do. I talked to Angelique yesterday after Jen
called me up at school.”

“Oh.” He sat up and moved away from her, snagging the
almost-empty bottle.

“I’m gonna go.” She jumped down and grabbed her shoes. “It’s
good to see you. But I sure am sorry it has to be like this.”

Suddenly so desperate for her to stay it hurt his whole
body, he tried to pull her close. But she moved out of his reach.

“No, Dom. You have a baby coming. So, congrats on that. See
you tomorrow at the funeral.”

He stood, his arms still out, as if holding onto her the way
he wished he could.

The next day, he ignored Diana on purpose, angry at her for
no good reason. Gina came with him, her unwieldy belly protruding off her bony
frame in a way that seemed so obscene it sickened him.

Which brought on the guilt.

Which made him want to drink. Which he did, after the Love
family house had finally emptied out, with Antony, Kieran and Aiden. So much
so, they all ended up passed out on patio chairs around the pool.

“My life sucks,” Dom slurred at some point during the
proceedings.

“Fuck you,” Antony had yelled, heaving one of the empty beer
bottles across the dark lawn, his voice tight with agony. “Fuck you, you
selfish prick!” Dom wished the man would just cry. But he knew his brother
never would do that. “Fuck all y’all.”

Kieran had raised his glass. “I’ll drink to that.” And the
brothers had toasted each other in silence.

Now

“Diana.”

The voice came from somewhere in the fog, confusing her. How
had she gotten out here, near the pond in the middle of the night? She swiped
at the spider webs draping over her vision.

“Diana!” The voice sharpened, angry, she could tell. But
why?

Oh no, it’s Lee. He knows I’ve been screwing Dominic
every night as if it were my job.

Something about the damn man had become extreme catnip to
her after that night by the fireplace. The fact that she’d agreed to marry the
perfect, calm and polar-opposite-of-Dom veterinarian had zero impact on the
raging lust for her one-time boyfriend. She’d been manic these last few weeks,
trying to move the renovation of the old barn forward by the sheer force of her
will, arguing with her sister, brother-in-law, her fiancé, everyone, including
Dom. Strange, since their new relationship seemed constructed out of guilt,
remorse, confrontation and the wildest, most satisfying sex she could remember
experiencing.

Awkward, especially since her family’s old farmhouse now
housed another Love family member. Angelique had been released from the
hospital after a ten-day recuperation, gotten into an immediate
knock-down-drag-out with her mama and had called Dom, hysterical, claiming she
had her bag packed and would be hitching her way farther South. He’d driven Diana’s
truck over to the Love family home, scooped her up and deposited her in the
room he’d been occupying for the better part of a year—Diana’s old bedroom.

“I’ll set up camp down at the new barn. That office is
heated. All I require is a sleeping bag…or a companion.” He’d waggled his
eyebrows at Diana, who’d blushed and sworn off him for the zillionth time at
that moment.

Angelique had been sullen and withdrawn for a few days until
Diana had read her the riot act, reminded her Brantley’s wasn’t a flophouse,
and threatened to send her home unless she started pulling her weight. God knew
they had enough to do, between keeping up with catering, the deli, and ongoing
construction. As Diana figured she would, the girl got her ass out of bed and
had been a huge help ever since, taking a major load off her own daily to-do
lists with her chopping, slicing, mixing, and baking.

But Angelique refused to entertain conversation about what
had happened to her. And would shut down completely if the topic of going home,
or talking with her mother, got raised. The brothers came and went, pleading
with her, all but Dom, of course who claimed the two of them were the Love
family outcasts and would stay that way.

“Diana….”

She sat up, hair hanging over her face, cold and clammy from
the dream, head pounding with anxiety. After spending a wild night out in the
new barn with Dom, the couch had presented with the easiest, quickest surface
to collapse onto. She hurt all over. Lee had been gone too long. The man really
needed to come home from his stint out at some ranch in Wyoming, working with
newbie vets. He really, really needed to get his ass home and save her from
this mess.

“Hey, hon, sorry. I’m sorry to wake you.”

Lindsay Love was in her living room, seeming small and
lost—two things the woman had never been, best of Diana’s memory. She fussed
with her hair, newly grown out and a slightly deeper shade of red since chemo
had taken it, clenched and unclenched her fingers and finally took a seat when
Diana didn’t say anything to her.

“We should have a little talk.”

“Okay.” Diana swung her feet to the floor, wondering how to
parse the concept that Lindsay’s daughter hadn’t spoken to her in nearly six
months while hiding out here, at Diana’s house.

Lindsay touched her knee. “It’s not about Angelique,
although Lord knows I should be figuring something out about that girl.”

Diana blinked, confused. “Right, well….”

“It’s about Dominic.” Lindsay jumped up again and started
pacing. “Do you have anything we can drink?”

“Uh, sure. Hang on.” She found some bourbon and two glasses.

“Just a cube of ice, if you don’t mind.”

Still mystified by the whole scene, Diana poured a couple of
fingers each for them and gave Lindsay her glass, noting how much the woman
shook as she put it on the coffee table in front of her. After about a minute
of silence, she met Diana’s eyes. “I’ve been in contact with him—with…Kent.”

Diana’s swallow of bourbon went down the wrong way, making
her splutter and cough. Lindsay smacked her on the back, then took a long breath.

“He contacted me in an email. I check that thing maybe once
a week, but I happened to be going through it the other day. And there it sat—a
message from Kent, Dominic’s…um…his…”

“Lover,” Diana finished for her, her voice flat.

“Yes, well...And so, he’s…he’s in New York it would seem. He
wanted me to tell Dominic that he’d been there since…well… that he’s been
trying to reach him.”

“Dom threw his phone out.” Diana sipped her drink, feeling
strangely objective about the conversation. “What was that? Two years ago now?”

“That long?” Lindsay leveled her gaze at her.

At that moment, Diana realized how much this woman had been
through thanks to the fact that she’d fallen hard in love with stable boy at
her wealthy father’s horse farm. So much so she’d tossed her life aside in
favor of the chaos they’d created between them. It stifled her urge to say
something mildly smart-assed. Lindsay Love deserved her respect no matter her
seeming inability to communicate with her one daughter. “So, Diana, you and I have
to come to an understanding.” Lindsay’s knowing expression sent a thrill of
anger down Diana’s spine.

“Do we?” She had no idea what had brought out this
confrontational thing in her, but something about this conversation had her on
the defensive. What in the name of the good Lord made Dominic’s mother think
she would be facilitating some sort of reunion between him and the man who’d
fucked him up so badly he’d been hiding out at her place for almost two years?
She got to her feet. So did Lindsay. The women glared at each other across a
generation and a coffee table.

Lindsay made a point to look right at the ring on Diana’s
finger, which made her tilt her chin up in a show of defiance. “You don’t
intimidate me, Missus Love.”

“I’m not attempting to, dear. I have no real quarrel with
you. If anything you’ve provided more for Dominic, and now I suppose for my
daughter, than anyone. While I can’t fathom why you let him keep coming back
here to you, I want you to know I very much appreciate it, as his mother.”

Diana nodded, unsure as to where this might be going.

“He’s always been so…confused. So angry and easily upset.”
Lindsay seemed to deflate again. “We thought, I mean, his daddy and I…we…don’t
understand the psychiatry thing much, but we wanted to help him. But he kept
tossing that away too, every time we’d get him sorted out, medically speaking
he’d manage to get un-sorted.” She dropped onto the couch.

Diana stayed standing, legs shaking, wishing this woman were
her mother-in-law. Her knees give out from underneath her at Lindsay’s next
words.

“Kent found Dominic’s son. He went there, to New York, to
find the boy once he figured out Dom wouldn’t answer his calls or anything.”

“He…Dom…threw out his phone.” Diana could barely hear her
own voice.

Lindsay patted her leg. “Yes, honey, you reminded me of that
already.” She grabbed Diana’s chin. “We have to have an understanding now,
Diana. You’re a grown woman. You’ve been married. Seen the puppet strings. And
I know how you feel about my son.”

“I…d-d-d-don’t know what you’re….”

Lindsay shook her head. Diana’s mouth clapped closed as she
continued, “Dominic has a way about him and you have never stepped too far out
of his line of fire. I realize that. I’m not naïve or as stupid as my sons like
to think I am.”

Diana burst out laughing. “Sorry. But
stupid
is not
something anyone thinks about you.”

Bossy. Know-it-all. Nosy, maybe. Never stupid.

The woman waved dismissively. “Listen to me a minute.” She
grabbed Diana’s left hand before she could move and yanked it up so it hovered
between them. The triple diamonds set in antique gold caught the sunlight
perfectly. She winced. “You have a fine man who loves you. I’ve heard so many
nice things about that Dr. Tolliver.”

Diana attempted to tug free of the woman’s grip. But Lindsay
tightened it as her words became more clipped, making her sound angry or maybe
just resigned.

“Get your head straight, Diana. Let go of Dominic and focus
on your future, d’ya hear me now?” She let go and took a long breath. “Kent
asked me if I would figure out a way to get Dom to see him. So he could
introduce him to…to the boy. Jace is the child’s name. Not short for Jason or
anything Christian or civilized. But that Gina was a real…. Well, anyway, not
sorry to see the door slamming her in the butt on her way out. Even though it
meant she took my grandbaby with her. And now….” Lindsay shook her head. “I
shouldn’t speak ill of the dead.”

“The…the dead?” Diana kept staring at her left ring finger
as if it held all the answers she required. A fresh bolt of resolve shot
through her, but she’d become familiar with it and how to ignore it. “Dominic’s
son is….”

“No. Thank the good Lord. The girl, Gina. She died when Jace
was a baby. Left him with her sister. But then that girl ran off and left him
alone with a…person who….” Lindsay sucked in a breath. “Kent says he finally
tracked Jace down in some halfway house. He was too wild to stay with any
foster families after all that.”

Diana did a quick calculation in her head. “Wild? He’s what,
seven?”

Lindsay nodded. “All I ever wanted was for the boys to find
happiness, lives they enjoyed, no matter what. And a lot of grandbabies to
spoil.” She bit her lip. “Seems as though I’m getting part of that wish. Kieran
and Cara are expecting.”

“Oh, I didn’t know they got married.”

“They didn’t.” Lindsay kept her gaze on the ceiling.

“Oh, well, congratulations.”

“Will you tell Dominic, about Jace…and Kent?”

“Me?” Diana grabbed her glass, downed the remaining bourbon
and poured another healthy splash.

Lindsay held up her empty glass. “Don’t be stingy, young
lady. I know your mama raised you better than that.”

The women sipped in silence.

“All right,” Diana said after getting the words straight in
her mind. “I will help you. But you have to do something for me.”

Lindsay raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. Not for the
first time, Diana thought that the woman would be a staunch friend to have in
her corner—and the sort of enemy she’d find hard to make and very much regret
making.

“You have to talk to Angelique. She’s a help to me, but it’s
not where she should be.”

Diana sensed Lindsay getting her back up across the coffee
table by the way her shoulders lifted and her lips turned downward so she
rushed forward with her thought before she lost her nerve. “You have wonderful
sons, Missus Love. But sometimes I think you forget you have a daughter, too.”

“I don’t forget. I’m just too exhausted to deal with her.”

“She needs you right now. She hasn’t talked to any of us
about what happened that night. And the sweetest man, Cal, the EMT who found
her, is desperate to get her to pay attention to him. She has to get back to
her life and quit hiding from it. Loves are not cowards and she’s actin’ like
one.” Diana waited, hoping she hadn’t pissed the woman off too much, but going
one step further regardless. “She needs some therapy, Miss Lindsay. The girl
was raped, beaten, left for dead, but she hangs around here and pretends like
it was nothing. That…can’t be good, right?”

Diana bit her lip to keep from saying anything more. She
knew that had gotten to the woman. Dominic’s mother crossed her arms. Keeping
her gaze on Diana’s she called out, “Angelique? Mama’s here. Come on down and
let’s go get some dinner and…talk a little.”

After a while, the young woman appeared on the lowest step,
her face stormy and obstinate. Lindsay turned to her daughter, hesitated about
three seconds then walked to her and put her arms around her. Angelique fought
it, then closed her eyes and white-knuckled the back of her mother’s shirt.

Smiling, Diana gathered up the empty glasses and headed for
the kitchen. A quick mother-daughter hug would not cure all their many years of
ingrained confrontation, but it sure as hell was a step in the right direction.
She started to put the bourbon away, then remembered her end of the bargain—one
that meant she had to give up Dom for good—and took another slug from the neck
of it, blaming the alcohol for the tightness in her chest and the tears
standing in her eyes.