Page 12 of Falling for You (Balsam Cliffs #2)

I’m so sick of packing, and living out of bags.

Even when I went to college, I came home so much I was always packing or unpacking.

Coming home to see Rome every weekend this last year was hell on my organization.

My childhood dream finally came true when he kissed me that night in the cove.

This is not how I saw that dream ending when I was thirteen though.

My nerves are on high alert between moving into Rome’s house and him going to Portland to get the paternity test done.

Add in that he’s telling his parents and I feel like I might jump out of my skin.

His parents have never been the warm and fuzzy kind, more like cold and prickly.

They’re very business oriented, not family oriented like the Keaton clan.

“We’re here!” I hear Violet yell from the front door.

“And I stole her donuts for us!” Followed by Mom.

“You are my favorite,” I say to Mom, taking the donuts from her.

“Hey! I made those! I should be the favorite.” Violet pouts.

Mom wraps her arm around Violet, “You are my favorite daughter-in-love, baby girl.”

Violet purses her lips, “I guess I’ll take it, but I’m definitely telling Willow!”

Mom’s eyes go wide, “Oh you will not. She’s my favorite too and she knows it.”

“Mom, I think we need to work on your definition of favorite. ” I chuckle.

“Oh stop. I love you all. The boys though…” She smiles. “They like to make me change up favorites daily, sometimes multiple times in one day.”

“They are assholes,” I scowl. They still aren’t my favorites, any of them.

“Okay, let’s get to packing. Wyatt will be here soon, and he’s bringing Cooper. He just got him from the airport in Portland.” Violet grabs a box and heads into my room.

Luckily, there isn’t much to pack up except my bedroom since construction has taken over almost every square inch.

Once everything is done, we pile the bags and boxes by the door. It should all fit in the back of Wyatt’s truck and only take one run to get everything to Rome’s cabin.

Rome lives on the outskirts of Balsam Cliffs.

He has a log cabin in the middle of the woods, actually closer to Wyatt.

It’s the perfect spot to raise a family.

His neighbors are even a working farm, not that they’re close by city standards, but a short walk through the woods and Olivia and I can go visit the horses and cows.

If she’s his baby. I need to remind myself of that, but I’m already wrapped around her little finger after last night.

“Ems, can I say something and not have you take it the wrong way?” Vi asks.

“Of course, I’d never think you mean anything bad!

” She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, not even when it comes to her mother and she should.

Although I think after they tried to set her up with one of her step-father’s colleagues and they tried to steal the inn out from under us, that ship may have sailed.

Last I heard, she isn’t talking to her step-father, and her mom is questionable on a good day.

“I’m really worried about you living with Rome, because…” She looks at Mom.

“Oh honey, I know. Speak freely around this old bird.” She grabs a donut off one of the sawhorse tables Hunter has set up.

“Oh okay, well I’m worried about your feelings getting stomped on again, Ems.” She sits on the couch and pats for me to sit next to her.

“Ugh. Don’t remind me. He asked me to give him a month to tell Hunter about us so we can be together.” A collective gasp comes from the two women sitting in front of me.

“A month? Do you think he’s going to stick to it now though?” Mom asks.

“No. I mean I did, but now he has more to worry about. A whole new baby and learning how to be a dad, one that owns a successful and busy brewery. I can’t ask him or expect him to think about me right now. I mean, isn’t the whole point of me moving in to help him, not make things harder?”

I shrug because I don’t have answers for them.

I’ve already thought about all the possible outcomes and I don’t think there is one that works in my favor when it comes to him.

My heart is getting shattered in this process for a second time.

And there isn’t a damn thing I can do because I can’t expect what I want out of him right now.

“Oh, honey.” Mom sits on my other side, placing her hand on my arm.

“It’s fine guys. Really. I can’t expect him to put me over his daughter. He needs to figure it out, but I can’t wait around forever. I need to move on. I can’t wait for there to be a perfect time for him to fit me into his life. There won’t ever be one.”

“Move on from who? What asshole hurt you?” Wyatt’s voice booms from the front door.

The three of us jump in our seats. “Jesus, I wish Hunt never fixed that door. At least I knew when nosey assholes were coming in.”

“Who hurt you Ems?” Wyatt repeats, closer to me this time.

“No one you know, Wy. Someone I was hooking up with last year,” I lie for the hundredth time about Roman to my brothers.

Mom and Vi look at me with sadness in their eyes.

“I don’t like it.” Coop says from behind Wyatt.

“Coop!” I jump up and run to hug my brother.

Cooper and I are closest since we’re the two babies. And he’s been gone for a while now. A weekend trip turned into much longer.

I pull back and look at his face. His cheeks look sunken in, and his eyes have dark purple bags under them. His hair is shaggier than usual and he just looks exhausted.

“Tough flight?” I ask him.

“Tough assignment. We’ll talk about it later. I’m here to help you move in with Roman. Something I’m too tired to really wrap my brain around right now.” He squeezes me one more time and whispers to me, “Missed you, baby sis.”

“I missed you too, Coop. These other assholes are too much.” I pout up at him.

“So I get this beauty now? Can’t have me taking up the big cabin permanently anymore.” He laughs while he takes in the construction zone that was my cabin.

“Wait, are you staying for real this time?” I ask with a big grin spreading across my face, and Mom jumps up to join us.

“For a longer while for sure. I emailed my boss about restructuring my job. This last assignment felt like I was lied to, taken advantage of, and it was rough. I need a break, but we’ll see what he says.”

Mom hugs him tight. “I’d love to have my baby boy home.”

“Hey! I’m right here, you both know that right?” Wyatt purses his lips at the lack of attention he’s getting.

“Yeah, the boxes are waiting for your big old police officer muscles to pick ‘em up and load ‘em in the truck.” I hand Coop a donut, and a bottle of pre-made shitty coffee.

“Fuck you.” Wyatt laughs, passing me and grabbing his own bottle of coffee from the cooler.

“Tell us about this assignment. Why were you tricked?” Mom asks, concern lacing her face. She even let Wyatt's comment slide.

“Ugh. My boss basically sent me on a political mission. Which isn’t something we’ve ever done.

But with what’s happening in the Middle East he sent me to some off the beaten path bed and breakfast. What I didn’t know was that it’s housing people from the larger cities who lost their homes due to war.

He wanted me to interview them. Interview the owners.

And it was just a lot . We weren’t spared from the fighting either.

Then I couldn’t get out. I had to somehow get to Turkey and then Greece to get a flight out.

It turned a weekend trip into a month-long political assignment which is not what I signed up for.

And my boss was so thrilled with the happy accident that I know he lied to me about what I was doing.

There was no way he didn’t know.” Cooper sighs and rests his head back on the couch.

“Coop! Why didn’t you tell us?” I ask.

“For what? So you could all worry about me? Not be able to do anything but worry? Stress out when you couldn’t get a hold of me because reception and Wi-Fi were spotty at best? No. I wasn’t doing that.” He shakes his head.

“At least you’re home now and safe.” Violet taps his knee.

“Alright you saps. Let’s get a move on. I want to go home and sleep.” Wyatt grabs a box and opens that damn silent front door.

I roll my eyes. “He’s so grumpy in the morning.”

“If I recall, so are you when you don’t get sleep,” Mom defends him.

“Yeah, yeah.” I smile. I appreciate Wyatt coming to help after he was on night shift and drove to Portland to get Cooper.

Out of all my brothers, Wyatt is the silent one. He downplays all that he does for us, and squirms under compliments. He masks his insecurities with humor and sarcasm.

Now that we’re all loaded up and driving over to Rome’s house the nerves are back in high gear. I know he’ll be gone all day but that doesn’t stop me from worrying about the awkwardness when he does come home.

I don’t know how I’m supposed to act. Do we go back to just being friends? Is the underlying tension going to be a constant? What happens if he brings someone home? Am I supposed to babysit while the love of my life goes on a date?

Fuck. I can’t do this. I should just turn around now and go back to my renovation cabin with Coop. We can be roomies like when we were kids. That sounds much safer.

I put the final pillows on my new bed, and stop to give Fiona a little scratch behind her ears. She hasn’t left my side since my family left me alone to unpack. The first thing we did was put the sheets and blankets on the bed for a little pittie-pup snuggle session.

She didn’t complain one bit about being cradled in my arms for a nap.

“Well girl. I’m all unpacked. Is this the biggest mistake or what?” Fiona lifts her head to face me and gives me a wet sloppy kiss on the cheek.

“I’ll take that as a no.” I chuckle at her as she snuggles back under the blanket I gave her.

Grabbing my bag full of toiletries, I head down the hall to the bathroom to unpack my final bag.

Rome gave me the room between him and Olivia because it’s the larger of the two guest rooms. Currently Olivia only has a pack-and-play in her room.

I mentally add setting up a nursery for her as nanny duty number one.

Pulling the shower curtain open I get more bad news. Inside the shower are all of Rome’s items. The soap smell that lives in my dreams infiltrates my nose as I lean in to place my own items. I turn to face the sink and notice his toothbrush and toothpaste, the cap still off from this morning.

I groan to myself. Not only do I have to live in the same house but I have to share a bathroom with the man?

To add insult to injury, my bedroom wall shares the same wall as the shower. This is too much closeness to know that his naked, glorious, muscled body is just on the other side of the wall from my head.

Ugh.

What the hell did I let Hunter get me into? I should have told Hunter why this is a spectacularly bad idea. Then at least I wouldn’t have to be here right now while my panties get wet just from smelling the man’s soap.

I groan before settling into the fact that this is really happening. This is my life.