She tried to slam the door on him and he caught it with his hand. He studied her face before sighing. “I don’t know who’s worse. You or Cole.”
“Cole?” she whispered. Was he okay? Even if she’d blocked him completely from her life, she was desperate for some news of him.
West closed the door behind him. “Yeah, Cole. You want to hear about him?”
Of course, idiot!
She nodded wordlessly.
“Where do I start?” He settled on the edge of her bed, watching her like a clinical scientist in a lab, and she was the rat.
She tried not to make any fast moves to give him the wrong idea about her. She wasn’t as bad as he thought.
“I heard that you tried to get me ejected from the family business because I’m mentally unstable,” he said. “Nice try.”
She shrugged.
“When are you going to stop making me your project?” he asked. “Believe it or not, I’m actually good at what I do, and I make a lot of money. I don’t do bad for myself. Just because I think this kind of life isn’t good for Cole, doesn’t mean that it’s not awesome for me.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” she muttered and eased down next to him on the quilt. He was back to lying about how he was “just fine.” Nothing had changed at all.
He sighed, looking down at his hands as he kneaded his bruised knuckles. “Look, I’m sorry for… well, for what I did to you. I never should’ve asked you to marry me.”
And yet, if he hadn’t brought her into his life, she never would’ve met Cole. He was her light in these dark times. She wiped at her eyes. “How is he?”
West took a deep breath. “My brother’s having a hard time of it.”
How could he not? After Lily’s passing, she’d pulled something like this? She played with the edges of her silky PJ shorts. “I’m sorry about your momma.”
West’s tongue flicked over his lips. “I’m not here to talk about my momma.”
Her chin shot up in sudden indignation. Not a surprise. He’d divide himself even further from his emotions now that he’d lost everything! Well, Eva was about to let him have it! “That was always your problem, you know. You kept yourself so closed off from me that I wasn’t sure if you had a heart anymore! You’re human, you know that? And people don’t want to be around you when you act like a robot. Oh, but I’m sure that fits you just fine! You’d prefer to snuggle up with your money and die all alone.”
His brow rose higher and higher with amusement as she yelled at him, until he finally cut her off. “Come back,” he said.
“To you?”
Why would he never give up on that? They were so completely wrong for each other. She needed a living, breathing man… preferably one named Cole who was as warm as they got. Her shoulders slumped.
“Never,” she whispered forlornly.
He laughed grimly under his breath. “No, that’s not what I mean. Come back to my stupid baby brother. He’s impossible to live with right now and… the funeral’s in two days. I mean… the celebration of life.” His sigh showed that he did not approve of his momma’s last request. Eva knew that he’d honor it anyway. “Cole needs you to throw your arms around him and let him cry like the big baby he is.”
She straightened. She could do that. “But what about my–my daddy’s business?”
West pressed his thumbs together. He peered over his laced fingers at her, his eyes glittering. She’d never seen the man look more ready for a fight. “I’ll take care of that.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Momma had sent them, just like she’d promised.
The snowflakes drifted through the sky as the family prepared for her celebration of life.
All their neighbors in Harvest Ranch were invited. Momma’s friends and family strode next to the house and across their lawn powdered in snow.
Cole noticed that he wasn’t the only one who’d brought a favorite flower as a tribute to her memory.
A hard feat in the winter, but some of his neighbors managed to do it with crayon drawings, silk flowers, and cleverly crafted petals that they’d constructed themselves. A few had even driven to the florists in Charleston to find fresh flowers.