Page 26 of The Marriage Deal (Sunset Falls #1)
THUNDER IN MY CHEST
brIGGS
Aflash of gold catches my eye from where I look over the cliffs to the falls, and I watch as Senior hurries down the stairs to the yard below.
Since realizing Lilah takes her coffee every morning on the back deck, I’ve taken to angling myself to catch her when she appears.
Like every morning but the first, the woman appears in a little satin robe that I know covers a ball busting set of pyjamas.
There’s no denying she’s attractive. Just like there’s no denying that I want her.
I don’t know how I thought I could do this with her, fake something so real with her, and not fall victim to the game we played.
I pull a breath deep into my lungs. It’s early, but it’s already warm. There isn’t a cloud in the sky, so I know it’s going to be a hot one.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I shift on Chester, the horse my biological father clearly favored, to pull it out. Mom’s name flashes on the screen and I loose the breath I’ve been holding in my lungs.
I’ve ignored her last few calls. I told myself she’d been calling at inconvenient times. Told myself I was busy, and I’d call her later. Later just never came around.
I swipe and lift the phone to my ear, keeping my gaze fixed on the little woman on my back deck. My soon to be wife.
The thought comes with a burn that grows far too fast in my gut as I greet, “Morning, Mom.”
“I knew you’d be up.” I can hear the clinking of a spoon on ceramic and know she’s making herself her morning tea with honey. “I also know how you like your mornings to yourself. But since you’re not answering or returning my calls, I’ve been forced to invade your personal time.”
Jeez. I huff a short laugh. “Sorry.”
“That’s all I get?”
“What more do you want?”
“Oh, I don’t know, a vacation would suffice as sufficient apology.”
“A vacation?” I chuckle, knowing she can’t be serious.
In all the millions—billions I’ve made, Mom has never once asked me for anything.
Sure, I’ve bought her things. New cars and jewelry.
I would have bought her a new house if I’d been able to convince her to move, but she liked where she landed in the little house in the little cul-de-sac.
“I can have my bags packed today.”
I laugh again, this time with more vigor. “Where would you like to go?”
“Oh, I’m thinking somewhere hot. Somewhere with a mountain view where I can sip good wine and relax.”
My laughter dies. I nearly choke on the realization. “You want to come here.”
She harrumphs. “I want to meet the woman who has my son in such a tizzy he’s marrying her!”
“Mom—”
“I thought you were just swept up when you said you proposed. Thought, oh, he’s just in love, when you said you wanted the wedding to be soon.
” She gasps, “Honestly, Briggs, this isn’t like you,” she screeches.
“But now I’m looking at the wedding invitation to your wedding!
Your wedding, Briggs, and I just—” She breaks off to huff a little more. “I’m just speechless.”
“Doesn’t sound like you’re speechless to me.”
I know I’m going to get a tongue lashing before I even speak the words, and wait for it with a wide grin that would make her head spin if she were here to see it.
“Briggs!”
My gaze slides to the woman on the deck again. She’s lifted her legs onto the cushion, her feet crossed at the ankles. Senior is no longer sniffing around the yard but sprawled on the rug in front of her. The wild mass of her wavy hair is pulled over one shoulder as she watches the sunrise.
Or maybe she watches me like I watch her.
Shit, this is my time to think. The quiet of my mornings has always been where my most productive thoughts find life.
Now all I can think of is her.
“I love her, Mom.” I’m not even sure the words are a lie anymore. If I’m being honest with myself, I think I fell for her the moment I thought I might lose her. When I thought she was standing over this very cliff as a means to say farewell, goodbye to the world.
Mom sighs, long and heavy. Then she says, “About that vacation…”
“She just moved in, Mom. Let’s give her another week, okay?”
“I want to meet her before the wedding, Briggs,” Mom warns. “You either invite me out there, or I’ll be bunking in that hotel with Nash. Either way, I’m meeting that woman before she takes your last name, do you hear me?”
“Have you been talking to Nash?”
“Well, you weren’t answering my calls.” She gives an indignant little sniff into the line. “I needed proof of life.”
Fucking Nash.
“Did you get your proof of life?”
“I did.”
Knowing Nash, she got a hell of a lot more than that. The man chitchats like an old woman at an A&W table over morning coffee with the hottest gossip.
“What else did you get?”
Mom sniffs again. “I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”
“Mom.” It’s my turn to warn.
“Oh, fine.” She huffs. “Nash says she’s lovely. He says that you look at her in a way you’ve never looked at any woman. That she’s funny and sweet and pretty…”
Mom’s words drift off. I fill the space with the truth. “She is all of that and more.”
There’s a pause. My heart is thunder in my chest.
“I need to meet her, Briggs.”
“I’ll arrange it,” I promise.
“Please do.” Mom is back to sounding just a touch incensed. “You know I don’t like being last.”
I laugh and I’m fairly certain I hear her eyes roll. But I say, “You’re never last.”
Mom harrumphs again. “You’re sweet, but I just want to be involved in your life, Briggs. If Lilah matters to you, she matters to me. I’d like…”
“You’d like what?”
“I’d like to be close to her, too.”
Something around my heart squeezes tight in my chest. I swallow, hoping to ease the burn as I remind myself that what I have with Lilah isn’t real. I have to find a way to protect my mom from falling too hard for the woman who plans to leave.
Lilah stands and a flutter of something I don’t understand and don’t have time to analyze moves through me. I want to chase her. I want to hunt her down and convince her to be mine for real.
“Mom, I’ve got to go, okay?”
“I know, I know. Have a great day.”
“You too.”
“I love you, Briggs.”
My voice softens, “Love you too, Mom.”