Page 22 of The Love Ambush (The Sullivans #1)

Gentry

I feel like I’ve run two marathons and gone three days without sleep. I’m blaming it on crying out all the water in my body. Unfortunately, going back to the inn and sleeping for a week isn’t an option.

I have to meet every member of Daphne’s family and be charming over a dinner of chicken casserole and salad.

“So, Gentry,” Daphne’s mother, Rose, says. “Brodie says you’re studying to be a nurse. My son Alex is a nurse.”

Alex, a brawny guy with a man bun, smiles over at me kindly. Daphne’s whole family is kind and warm and relaxed. Liza is the most done up of them, and she apologized for it, explaining she’d been on an Internet call for work before dinner.

“I am—” Alex starts.

“He was in the ER so much as a kid, he probably didn’t even need to go to nursing school,” his brother Leon says.

“Were you shadowing a nurse there?” I ask.

“No,” Daphne laughs. “He’s the daredevil of the family, and he was always getting hurt.”

“Me, the daredevil?” Alex asks. “You’re the biggest daredevil in this family.”

“What?” Brodie asks. “Why haven’t I heard about this before?”

Daphne waves a hand. “He’s exaggerating.”

The rest of her family laughs in that way people do when they’re sharing an inside joke.

“I thought you said you took him bungee jumping,” her brother Charlie says, leaning against his boyfriend, Jake.

We’ve finished dinner, which was just as raucous as the current conversation, and are waiting for Daphne’s grandparents to bring out a special dessert they made just for tonight.

Apparently, they’re making a few last-minute touches in the resort kitchen.

“She did,” Brodie says slowly, putting an arm around Daphne like he’s going to protect her. “Once.”

“That’s it?” Alex asks. “You hiding your risk-taking side from him, Daph?”

“Maybe I’ve outgrown it,” Daphne says.

Again, everyone laughs like they know something we don’t. They’re clearly a very close family, and it makes me miss something I’ve never had.

“Daphne was the one always leading her brothers into some grand scheme or other,” Rose says. “She could never sit still and was always up for anything outdoors. You work too hard, Daphne, if you haven’t been camping since we saw you last.”

“Brodie and I just went two weeks ago,” Daphne says, smiling at my brother with so much love it makes my chest ache. “We’re both really busy, but we’ve agreed to make more time for getting outside.”

“I’m glad, honey,” Rose says, before turning her attention back to me. “Have you always wanted to be a nurse, Gentry?”

I hesitate, hoping someone will interrupt and take the heat off me, but I have no such luck. “I actually wanted to be an artist when I was a kid, but it’s not realistic as a career path.”

“Don’t tell Leon that,” Alex says, shoving his brother’s shoulder. “He’s still trying to make a living off his finger paintings.”

Leon grins like he’s proud, his long, full beard bobbing as he nods. “That’s right. I work in the service industry to fund my art habit and prefer it that way. It gives me the freedom to create whatever I want without caring whether it’ll actually sell. Do you still make art?”

“Dessert’s ready,” Daphne’s grandmother, Hester, says as she steps into the dining room, followed by three staff members, each carrying a tray covered in brownies on small dessert plates.

Daphne’s grandfather, Morris, points at the end of the table where the kids have congregated. “Kids get black cats and ghosties. Adults get pumpkins.”

The staff distributes the desserts. My plate has a decadent-looking chocolate brownie with a candy shaped like a pumpkin on top of it. Around the brownie, someone has decorated the plate with lines of chocolate sauce in the shape of a heart and the words, True Love .

It’s simple and lovely, and I can definitely use the sugar and chocolate.

“If it tastes as good as it looks,” Levi says next to me. “I’ll be angling for an invitation to all of Daphne’s family events in the future.”

“You’re all invited,” Rose says with a huge smile. I don’t know how she overheard him from the other end of the table. She must have special mother hearing. “The more, the merrier.”

Conversation resumes as the family talks about past desserts from the grandparents, who own a bakery in Bend.

“Take my brownie,” Brodie says in a low voice from the other side of me as he slides his brownie onto my plate.

Immediately, I turn and study him. He looks healthy. There are no dark shadows under his eyes, and his cheeks aren’t gaunt like they were that time he came home from college looking like a movie superhero and eating only chicken breasts and lettuce.

He smiles sadly. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m fine.”

I narrow my eyes.

He pats my arm. “Okay, I’m not fine, but I saw my therapist before I left Denver. I want to look good for the wedding, but I’m not letting it go too far.”

It’s the first time he’s admitted he sees a therapist, which is what I suggested during that visit home when I was a junior in high school.

I’m glad to know he’s getting help for his body dysmorphia and eating disorder, but I’m not totally convinced.

“Skipping a dessert that looks this delicious is going too far, in my opinion.”

He leans in and kisses my cheek. “I love you for worrying about me, but I’m fine. I can’t handle the rich chocolate right now, but you just watched me eat every bit of my dinner.”

And it wasn’t easy for him if he’s passing on this dessert. I may not see my brother often, but I know him. “I’m sorry this is still a struggle for you.”

“It’s just the stress of the wedding,” he says. “I’m taking care of myself. I promise.”

“Does Daphne know?”

He glances across the table at his bride-to-be, who’s watching us with a worried crease in her brow. “She knows. I’ve promised her I won’t go to the gym this week or on our honeymoon.”

“Okay. Good. You’re an asshole, Brodie, but I love you and I want you to be happy.”

He looks at me, and it feels like the first time we’ve really paused and taken a moment to see each other.

“I want you to be happy, too.” He lowers his voice still more.

“You need to know, Gent. I lied about Levi hooking up with some other girl that day he kissed you, right before Dad left. Levi did go home with someone, but she had a boyfriend and was just giving him a ride home. I was pissed off and in a bad place, but I shouldn’t have lied. ”

If Brodie was anyone else, I might suspect him of lying now to cover for his friend, but Brodie doesn’t apologize easily and, for all his other faults, he’s not a liar. Usually. “Thank you for telling me the truth, but it doesn’t excuse his standing me up the next day and then ghosting me.”

He nods and starts to turn back to the table.

“Fuck,” he mutters and turns back to me.

Around us, Daphne’s family is laughing and talking so loudly that no one notices how serious Brodie looks.

“That was my fault, too, Gentry. That day Levi went to the lake with you…” He runs a hand through his hair and sighs.

“Levi was supposed to be meeting up with me, but Dad called and asked me to meet him at his favorite fishing spot. You know the one?”

I smile. “That mud puddle on the back half of Mr. Brown’s farm.”

Brodie’s frown lifts for just a second. “Yeah, that place. I was going to call Levi and explain things, but Dad said it would only take a few minutes. Then he told me he was planning to leave. He…” Brodie rubs a hand over his mouth.

“He asked for money. Promised to pay me back after he was on his feet. I never did get that money back. Or hear from him again after he took off.”

“He told you?” I ask. “Why didn’t you-?”

“What good would it have done for me to tell any of you? I kind of lost it after he told me. I went out and got hammered. I was drunk when I told Levi he could either have me or you, but not both of us. He was so pissed, he walked away too. Just like Dad. He was going to pick you. I knew I’d fucked up, but I didn’t know how to fix it.

The next afternoon, without eating or drinking anything, I went for a six-mile run. ”

“Oh, Brodie,” I say, my heart breaking for my big brother.

“I know,” he says. “It was a stupid thing to do. I called Levi from the hospital, and somehow convinced him not to tell you or anyone else. When he was supposed to be at dinner with you, he was with me. He took care of me, Gentry. He let me stay with him in Aspen Cove for a couple of weeks while I was getting my shit together. And we never talked about that kiss or him dating you again.”

“I’m so sorry you went through all of that,” I say, tears springing to my eyes.

He pushes his chair back and stands, his own eyes glassy. “Okay. That’s it. Get up. I need to hug you.”

I laugh as I stand and hug my brother. It feels good. He’s far from perfect, but so am I.

“I love you, sis,” he says, squeezing me tight. “I’m going to help you, even if I can’t send money anymore, okay? Don’t worry about anything.”

I’m not sure how he thinks he can help, but I’m not going to get into that here and now. “I love you, too.”

“And give Levi a chance,” he says. “He’s a good guy.”

“I’ll think about it.” And, damn it, I’m out of excuses not to.

Around us, everyone claps and whistles. I laugh as I step out of the hug. Then I sit down and make very short work of the two most delicious brownies I’ve ever tasted.

I’m savoring the last bite of my brownie when Ivy gets up from her seat next to Emily, who she’s been chatting with non-stop since they got back from shopping, and reaches between her mother and father for the big platter of extra brownies.

“No,” Hester says, surprisingly sharply. “These brownies are for the adults. There are extra kid brownies by your seat.”

“We ate them all,” Ivy says. “And I’m still hungry. Can’t I have one more, Grammy?”

“No, you may not. These brownies are just for the adults.”

Rose turns to her mother, frowning. “Mom. What did you do to the brownies?”