Men Times Three (11 page)

“A buffer might be good. First shock and all.”

With a slow nod, TJ finally spoke. “You've got to admire her guts for showing up like this.”

Marnie glared at him across the table, while Holly nodded in agreement. “Grandad's initial reaction was unpleasant so she had no idea how we'd receive her.”

“She's got guts,” Deke repeated under his breath.

Kylie reappeared at the door, ending that line of conversation. She'd dropped the air of hesitancy and took her seat at the head of the table.

She settled in Jon's chair while Deke looked at the three cousins in turn. “All I can say is, there's not a one of you who looks like you could be related to that old codger. Sorry, ladies, but that old man was butt ugly and you three are the most beautiful women to ever set foot on the Peninsula.”

TJ held up his glass. “Hear, hear.”

“I'm so glad to meet you here. I already love the place and it's great that you've already begun to fix it up so we can open for business.”

“Excuse me?” It was Marnie, red faced.

Deke looked at Holly, who gave him a sharp shake of the head: Say nothing, look at no one.

“W
e're not opening for business. We're selling the place,” Marnie stated, calm as a windless day.

“Oh, I just assumed you'd—which was stupid of me.” Kylie waved her hand to dismiss her suggestion. “I don't want to force a decision on anyone.”

Holly nodded. “Of course not, let's take a couple of days before we discuss anything.”

Marnie read the familiar look and pinched her lips closed. She nodded and passed the potato salad to Kylie. “Holly's the calm and reasonable one, while I get ahead of myself. I've got a couple more days to think things through.” But she'd decided and Holly knew it. Two against one.

Marnie admired guts and Kylie had them. To walk in here and take her place, not ask for it, couldn't have been easy. Confidence like that came from tests. Life tests, and Kylie had obviously passed.

Hospitality demanded she offer her new cousin a room. This was an inn, after all. She drew in a deep breath, gave TJ a cursory glance and spoke as Holly dug into her steak.

“We've got a couple of clean rooms upstairs, so I hope you'll stay here, Kylie. If you don't mind an air mattress, that is.” In her peripheral vision, TJ's face went red and disappointment clouded his handsome features. Good. He needed to be put off balance, and this was a perfect opportunity.

“Sure! That'd be fine. I'm not fussy.” She rubbed her palms on her thighs.

She prepared to tuck into her dinner. “This looks delicious. I haven't eaten since breakfast. I was too nervous.”

“You don't mind staying alone?” Deke asked.

She shrugged. “I'm cool. I spend a lot of time alone.”

Marnie didn't much care to leave the inn in Kylie's hands. Who knew what kind of mess she could create. “I'll stay with you. We'll get to know each other.”

“I'd like that.” The smile she gave Marnie seemed genuine. She took a bite of her potato salad. “This is so wrong, but it tastes so-o good.” Which made the men laugh.

“What's the matter, TJ? Disappointed?” Deke ribbed his brother.

Holly and Deke exploded into laughter at TJ's thunderous expression while Kylie shook her head. “I can go to a hotel until—”

“I won't hear of it,” Marnie insisted and refused to catch TJ's eye. By her calculations, the sale of the inn would move more quickly under friendly circumstances. She knew of no quicker way for women to bond than at a sleepover. Or shopping.

Kylie's smile widened. “It will give us a chance to catch up.”

“You can't do this without me,” Holly added.

“Okay.”

“Who's disappointed now?” TJ chuckled as he polished off the rest of his steak.

Deke glared. Holly relented. “I'll stay tonight, then I'll go back to Deke's.” She winked at him.

TJ grumbled something about bringing over air mattresses and pillows and left, while Deke volunteered to get Kylie's luggage. “I seem to be the resident bellhop,” he said with a good natured salute. “But, I'll ask Holly to take care of the tip.”

“No problem. I'll see you first thing in the morning.”

Kylie flashed Marnie a look that screamed nerves and she understood the battle for the Friendly Inn had just begun.

 

Two hours later, Kylie sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the massive stone fireplace and passed the nearly empty wine bottle to Marnie, the older of her two cousins. Older by six months, which hardly counted. But it was enough to know that these women were more like sisters. They'd shared most of their lives with each other.

While she'd had no one but her mom.

Her father was no more than a breeze through her life that she didn't even have a photo of. Trudy's memory of him had been fuzzed out by too much alcohol and pot to be of much use. Deep water under a very old bridge.

She snugged her knees under her chin and rested her head there. Marnie slopped a few droplets of wine onto the freshly waxed and polished oak floor. “Damn.” She topped off her glass.

Kylie leaned forward and wiped the wine with her sleeve. “Got it.”

“Thanks, we spent a lot of time on this floor. But I think it could do with a complete refinish.” She surveyed the area around the fireplace and tsked.

“When I was here before, the place looked run down.” Depressing and dirty, too. Not that she'd stayed long. “You've both worked so hard and accomplished so much in just a few days.”

Marnie looked put out. “If it weren't for that unholy mess outside, we'd be almost ready to put it on the market.”

Kylie let the comment pass. She hadn't yet decided what to make of the place or her newfound family. She preferred to let things develop as they would. Trouble and upheaval were often avoided with patience.

Holly sipped her wine. “This was more than run down. It was a pit hole. Our grandfather let it get filthy. I don't know how he lived in here.” She was on her third glass of red, while Marnie and Kylie had split a bottle of white.

“He didn't
live
, he existed,” Marnie corrected. “But, you met him, Kylie. Did he seem lively to you?”

She remembered only bitterness and ugly words. “As in having a life? No. He didn't have a life. He was nasty and mean. And I think he liked it that way.” She blinked as moisture welled in her eyes. From resentment more than sadness, most likely. He'd rejected her on sight.

Holly patted her knee in comfort. “He was a crotchety, lonely old man who had strange ideas. Look at what he did with his will. Let's face it, the man was strange.”

“What do you mean?”

“He left us this inn.” She waved her wineglass with exaggerated care to avoid spilling. “But left all the money we'd need to fix it up to our dads and brothers. Then, just to be a prick, forced us to do all the work ourselves.”

Marnie nodded, a wet gleam in her eye. “He knew we'd eventually all show up here and squabble about this place.” She shot Kylie a bleary glance, then looked contrite. “Sorry.”

“And,” Kylie added, “he stuck you with me, a woman you've never met.” A woman he'd hated on sight. “Strange doesn't begin to cover this situation.”

“You've never met us, either,” Marnie said with a frown. “It took guts to walk in here to take your place. I'm impressed as hell.” She tilted toward Kylie and held her wineglass for a clink. Kylie obliged then touched her glass to Holly's as well.

“Why d'you think Jon Dawson split everything up the way he did? And why did he include me when he didn't have to? The old man hated me on sight.”

Marnie cleared her throat. “Maybe not.” Now it was her turn to pat Kylie's knee. “TJ told me that the night you left here, he stayed with Grandad. Grandad spent the night soaking himself in scotch and talking about regrets. Maybe he regretted talking to you the way he did.”

“I doubt it. But we'll never know for sure, will we?” She remembered that a truck was parked outside when she stormed out of the inn. “So that was TJ who came to see him that night?”

Marnie nodded as she took another sip of wine.

Holly piped in. “The weirdest thing was the codicil. He forced us to wait to list the place for sale until after the cabins are built. He paid in advance and TJ promised he'd get started as soon as he could.”

Kylie put the threads together. “So, we couldn't sell right now even if we wanted to?”

Two heads wagged.

“Then there's a possibility we could actually open for business?”

They stopped wagging and looked at each other, then at her. Holly brightened. “I don't see why not. I'm game.”

Marnie paled. “You are not. You have to get home.” She slammed her palm to her chest. “
I
have to get home.”

And suddenly the tide turned. Holly looked from Marnie to Kylie and back again. “I've had too much to drink to decide this right now. But, no, I don't have to go home. I can quit my job. I don't like it much anyway.”

“You're drunk,” Marnie muttered. “We'll talk about this in the morning.”

“Why would the old man do this to his own family? Did he have feuds going with anyone but my mom?” Jon Dawson couldn't have loved any of his family. “This is sick, but I don't feel so bad anymore. Maybe his hatred wasn't personal. Maybe he hated everybody.”

“Except our dads got along with him fine. He always favored our brothers over us.” Until this.

“My mom never talked about him. But I suspect when she told him the truth about my conception, he kind of freaked.”

Marnie and Holly went quiet with expectancy. They didn't seem the types to blame a daughter for a mother's transgressions. No harm in explaining.

“I'm the result of a quickie at a frat party.” She shrugged. “Mom wasn't very clear on exactly who my father was. I guess the idea of his daughter letting beer and pot get the better of her was a little too much. He kicked her out and she moved as far away as she could.”

“Oh.” They chorused. “Makes more sense now.” The others shared a look that spoke volumes. “Grandad was an unforgiving bastard at the best of times.”

Which Kylie took to be an understatement.

“I'm free for the rest of the summer,” she said to change directions. She hated maudlin conversations and they were heading into dangerous territory by talking about Jon Dawson. “I can stay until everything's done.”

“I don't mind staying longer than a couple of weeks if it comes to that.” Holly glanced at Marnie, who looked stricken.

“We'll talk about everything in the morning. No decisions made by wine.”

Holly looked thoughtful and grabbed Marnie's knee and gave it a shake. “Maybe that's why Grandad did all this. To get us together. He knew that you're always tied up at the club. He knew I was divorcing and he messed up with Aunt Trudy and again when Kylie visited.”

“You think?” Kylie said. The wine had fuzzed out her thinking for sure, but this was improbable even soaked in chardonnay.

“Maybe he figured he'd fucked up all around, so he brought us here so we could reconnect as a family again.” Holly drained her glass. Then she leveled a bleary stare at Marnie. “I think I've had enough if I'm making up fairy tales.”

For the first time since setting foot on the property, Kylie let a niggle of hope bloom. “Family,” she whispered. “Hm.”

“That's a horrible thing for him to do. Trap us here. Force us to—”

“What?” Kylie interrupted. “Bond like family?” Ire rose at Marnie's drunken nod. “Whether you like me or not, I'm a full third of this place and my opinion counts.” She wanted the inn and everything that came with it. The land, the cabins, the responsibility. Stronger even than that was the need she had for finally having roots. And no one in her so-called family would stop her from getting them.

Her unspoken vehemence shocked her. The wine must have brought out a yearning she'd never acknowledged. “Sorry. We have to work together. We should make the best of it.”

Marnie gave her a watery smile. “S'okay. I didn't mean to sound like you're not welcome. Our dads cried about your mom. They loved her and missed her your whole life.”

The sting of tears pricked and she blinked. Holly grinned and held out her hand. “Come on,” she said. “It's us against the world. All for one, one for all.”

Kylie slipped her hand on top of Holly's and looked at Marnie. Eyes half closed, she grinned at both of them. “One for all,” Marnie muttered and topped off the hand stack. Then the three of them flung up their hands.

“So, we're here until the work gets done at least,” she said. Holly nodded.

Marnie frowned. “I can't be here the whole time. I've got a club to run,” Marnie announced for the umpteenth time. “I hate that Grandad forced me to stay here. I hate that he's making us clean this pit hole. I hate that teenagers nearly destroyed the place and I hate that TJ O'Banion is so hot I want to jump him every chance I get.” Her eyes went wide. “Oops. TMI, right?”

Kylie grinned and enjoyed her wine glow. “I figured as much when I saw the way he looks at you.”

“Don't feel sorry for her, Kylie. She hasn't jumped him yet. She's waiting to be—what was that you said?—oh, yeah, chased and taken. You know, like swept off her feet straight into the sack.”

“Shush,” Marnie said around a giggle.

“You're a pretty cheap date, there, Marnie,” Kylie teased. “Wine goes to my head, too. That's why I rarely drink and only when I feel safe.” She'd spent a lot of years not drinking at parties. Not drinking, period. No way was she going to end up in bed with some forgettable man.

“I'm glad you feel safe with us,” Marnie said, looking soppy and a little emotional. She crawled onto her air mattress, pulled the sheet up to her shoulders and then waggled her fingers. “Good night, cousins. Sleep well. Dream big.”

Kylie's dreams weren't big, but they weighed heavily. She settled onto her mattress, wondering how best to work the wedge that had appeared between her cousins. They'd seemed united at the dinner table, but now Holly seemed more interested in staying long term. There was no doubt Deke had a part to play in Holly's interest.

Kylie wanted the Friendly Inn in a bone-deep way, and she was prepared to fight to get it. Gifts from the universe should be accepted. Eased by the thought, she drifted toward sleep, at peace with how things were going.

 

At dawn, Deke arched his hips toward a woman's wet, seeking mouth. Half asleep he groaned when she slipped her tongue to the tip of his cock. “Holly?”

Her head popped up as she eyed him. “Who else would it be?” But her voice filled with humor. “Were you dreaming of a porn star?”

“I thought I was dreaming, but I'm glad I'm not.” She teased him with light laps of her tongue, making him sweat with need. “Woman, you're killing me.”