“I think maybe I’m finally get the hang of this,” Mark said, looking down over the golf course as the setting sun painted it gold. “Or at least figuring out how to keep going on five hours of sleep and in constant crisis mode.”
Erica, standing at his side with her arm linked through his, laughed. “I think it’s actually the first one. Things do seem to have calmed down a little lately.”
“It’s true that I don’t have to deal with quite as many kitchen emergencies,” Mark said, turning just enough to look at her. “Thank bloody goodness for the new manager. I’m not sure I could have kept running this place without some help. I’m no fry-guy. I like to eat food, not figure out how to cook it.”
“It’s good that you realized that early on.” Erica pressed a little closer against his side. “A lot of people keep trying to do it on their own until they break down under the strain.”
“Alex never did,” Mark pointed out. “He just keeps going and going and going. No matter how much gets piled on top of him. Jamie is the same way. We had to practically drag her out of the office after the twins were born.” He shrugged. “I guess that’s why I was trying to do it all on my own here. I wanted to measure up to my brother.”
Erica turned, and one of her hands lifted to settle against his cheek, turning him so that he met her eyes. “You don’t have to be Alex to measure up,” she said. “You’re great just being you. And this place that you run is doing pretty well under the Mark Reid style of ownership.”
It was. After all these weeks, things were finally settling into place. The restaurant was running smoothly, and the supplies for the kitchen were coming in on time. Nothing had gone horribly wrong lately. Mark took it as a positive sign. Despite all the early struggles with it, this country club was what he was meant to be doing. And he was meant to be doing it with Erica by his side.
She was looking down at the golf course, the sunlight catching in her hair and gilding the lines of her face, and Mark was sure that he’d never seen anything more beautiful than she was in that moment. He hadn’t told anyone yet, but he was thinking about looking at rings. Maybe not right away; he didn’t want to rush into anything, especially not after his ex-wife and the arguments they’d had over the last few weeks, but he would bring the subject up to Alex and see what his brother thought. He already knew Jamie would be on board. Jamie had been trying to set him up with a nice girl for ages.
And speaking of Jamie, Mark reluctantly pulled himself away from the view and took a step toward the parking lot where the car was waiting.
“Ready to go?” he asked Erica.
“Ready,” she said.
Halfway to the parking lot, Mark stopped, patting down his pockets.
“Shoot. I think I left the car keys in the building.”
Erica raised an eyebrow at him, mouth curving into a smile. “You left your car keys? Really, Mark?”
“Yes, really. I’ll go get them. It’ll just take a sec.” He jogged off before she could answer, although he was sure that she would have plenty of time in the car on the way to Alex and Jamie’s to mock him. He was sure the keys were still sitting on the dresser. As he reached the building he slowed to a brisk walk, nodding to some patrons as he moved past them toward the kitchen and the stairs that led up to his rooms.
Christine was sitting on the stairs. She looked up with wide eyes at the sound of his footsteps, and he noticed with a rush of concern that there were tear tracks on her face. He slowed his pace and then stopped altogether, settling down next to her.
“Hey,” he said. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head, like she wasn’t going to answer.
“I’m your brother. Well, brother-in-law. Brother for all intents and purposes. You know that you can tell me things,” Mark smiled at her. “I promise not to divulge them to another living soul.”
Christine managed a watery smile. “It’s really stupid.”
“I doubt that. Just tell me.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she sighed. “You probably don't know, because I haven't really talked about it to anyone except Jamie, but I met a guy here. Michael. He was really nice. And I went on a date with him that went really well. I thought that we might actually have a chance together.” She shook her head. “I had another date with him last night, and when we were getting ready to leave his wife called.”
Mark's eyebrows lifted. “He told you that it was his wife on the phone?”
“No.” Christine laughed a little, still teary. “He didn't have to tell me. He had the phone turned up loud enough that I could sort of hear what was being said, and it was obvious from the way that he talked to her. After he hung up, I made him tell me.”
Carefully, moving slowly enough that Christine could pull away if she wanted to, Mark wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She stiffened, like she was surprised by the contact, and then she relaxed into it, laying her head against him.
“That's awful, Christine, I'm sorry.”
“You know what's funny?” She didn't turn to look at him as she spoke, and her voice was soft. “The old me—the one that was so terrible to Jamie—would have just gone with it. I wouldn't have cared that he was married, because my mother taught me that no one else's happiness matters as much as my own. I was thinking about that when I left. Thinking about how at one point I might have been happy with him. Or happy until he told me that he wasn't going to leave his wife, because they never do, and I wondered what it says about me that I even considered that.”
“It says that you're a good person,” Mark answered. “The fact that you thought about what you might have done a long time ago, and acknowledged that maybe there was a part of you that wished you could still act like that, doesn't mean that you're still that person. You walked out when you found out that he was married. That's what matters.”
“I just thought that we were such a good match.”
Mark's arm tightened a little around his sister-in-law's slender shoulders. “No one who would cheat on their wife is a good match for someone like you, Christine. Whatever you might have been like in the past, you're the kind of person now who deserves a lot better than that.”