Teague (21 page)

“Sabrina and I aren’t together, if that’s what you’re getting at. Hell, I’ve been gone for almost two months.”

“But you want to be together.”

Damn right.

“No,” he said quickly.

“You’ve always been a shitty liar.”

“Fuck you, Tucker.”

“Remember the time when we took Dad’s new boat out and then scraped the shit out of the side of it as we docked? Remember that?”

Teague scowled. “What about it?”

“Remember that Jack and Beau took it out too?”

“Vaguely.”

“All you had to do was follow the script. Play dumb and we would have been home free. Dad caught them with the boat, not us. But as soon as you opened your mouth, everything went to shit. You all but confessed and we spent the rest of the summer grounded from watersports. All because you never perfected the art of lying.”

“Some people might appreciate that trait.”

“I’m sure they do. Just not your eleven-year-old twin.”

“You got a point to this story?”

“My point is that right now you’re bullshitting me and you’re bullshitting yourself. You want this woman. Sabrina means something to you. Hell, if I’m reading this right, she means more to you than you’ve even realized. I think you might be in love with her.”

“Love?” Teague sputtered. What the hell? “Have you been hitting the Guinness tap all day?”

Tucker’s eyes narrowed.

“I had lunch with Larry McEwen a few days ago.”

“Tucker, you’re all over the place. Who the hell is Larry McEwen and why should I care to hear his story?”

“Larry McEwen is a hot prospect for the Rangers. He’s six foot five, shoots right and has a wicked wrist shot. He’s not afraid of the corners and can hold his own against any enforcer in the NHL. He’s my newest client.”

Okay. Tucker had always managed to be the one guy who could get under his skin without even trying. And right, now Teague was envisioning a lunge across the table so that he could shake the story out of his brother.

“Sounds like a gem,” Teague replied, regaining some of his composure. “And I should care, why?”

“His step-father works in television.”

“Are you going somewhere with this, Tucker?”

“Apparently his step-father is a producer by the name of Max Holt.”

A muscle worked its way along Teague’s jaw. Great. This news was going to break before he wanted it to.

“And?”

“And apparently the word on the street is that he’s offered you a gig to help produce and bring to life a news show that would air once a week and cover political and world issues. Real stripped down and gritty, from what I heard.”

“What of it?” Teague snapped, finishing his beer and slamming the mug down onto the table. He had no idea why he was angry, but he was. Holy hell was he. If his brother didn’t watch it, there would be entertainment in The Black Dog tonight—entertainment of the fighting kind.

“Are you considering it?” Tucker asked.

Teague stared into his empty beer. He let the sounds of the bar soothe him—funny how noise could quiet his head—and then with a sigh, he pushed the mug away. “I might be.”

“So I was right.” Tucker’s grin made Teague want to smash his fist and ruin that pretty face. “The fact that you’re considering a gig that keeps you here and out of danger tells me something.”

“Oh yeah? What would that be?”

“You’ve finally found the one thing that you’ve been searching for your entire life and it’s not a story or some Seal mission that could get your ass blown off. It’s a woman and she’s up north and probably pissed that you’ve been gone for months.”

Teague opened his mouth to let his brother have it. He wanted to tell him that in no way did this potential career change have anything to do with Sabrina. Hell, it’s not as if he’d gone looking for it. It had landed in his lap and after his initial reluctance, he’d run with it. He’d negotiated a job that would let him work from home. A job that would require him to travel to New York City once a month for three days of taping.

It was a job that had stability and would challenge him. It was a job that meant a normal life.

All he had to do was sign the contract. And up until this very moment, he hadn’t realized how badly he wanted this. Normal. Him. Teague Simon

But only if he could do it with Sabrina.

“Shit,” he muttered.

“Guess you’ve got some work to do brother,” Tucker said with a grin.

That, Teague thought, was an understatement.

He grabbed his cellphone once more, and there was no hesitation. He waited and swore when her damn voicemail came on, but this time he didn’t hang up. He left a message.

“I’m back and coming for you.”

It was simple and direct. And God help anyone who got in his way.

The doorbell rang out, its shrill sound waking the dog, which immediately jumped to his feet and ran toward the house.

Oh God. Here we go.

“Good Lord, Bingo,” Sabrina said, wiping her hands on the front of her jeans. “Can we tone it down please?”

The dog was now thirty-five pounds of golden brown and white fur. But its bark belonged on a ninety-five pound dog.
At least.

Sabrina rubbed Bingo’s head as she hopped onto the deck and headed into the century-old house she now called home. By the time she reached the foyer, the door was opening and she smiled when she spied Allie.

“You have to finish these because I already ate a carton.”

Allie shoved a half-eaten takeout container of poutine into Sabrina’s hands and sailed past her. The French Canadian dish wasn’t exactly healthy, but who could resist the best French fries in town, smothered in cheese curds and hot gravy?

Sabrina popped one into her mouth and followed her friend back outside into the yard.

“Oh my God, your fall mums are gorgeous.”

Allie walked over to the array of bronze, orange, and red mums. “You have a green thumb, that’s for sure.”

Sabrina came up beside her and shrugged. “I’m not responsible for these guys. They came with the house.”

“True,” Allie with a laugh, “but imagine how amazing this is going to look next year when you dig in and add your own stuff to the mix.”

“What’s up?” Sabrina asked, shoving a few more fries into her mouth and pointing to the chair.

“Oh nothing.” Allie sat on the edge of the chair. “I just wanted to check in. You know, see how you’re doing.”

“Huh.” Sabrina frowned, and poked a fry into the gravy-logged cheese. “I’m good.”

“You
do
seem good.”

Okay. This was a weird response.

“And that surprises you because…”

Allie opened her mouth to say something and then must have thought better of it because she snapped it closed just as fast.

“Allie, what’s up?”

“Well, you know, there’s the whole Beau Simon being in town thing.”

“Old news, Allie. Beau’s been in Gravenhurst for two days. You’ll have to do better than that.” Growing a little concerned, Sabrina swallowed a rather large chunk of cheese and almost choked on it. She kept her eyes on her friend as she worked to clear her throat.

“Is everything all right with you, Al? With the baby?”

“Baby’s fine.” Allie’s eyes slid away and that triggered all sorts of alarms inside Sabrina.

“If it’s not the baby, then what?”

Allie hesitated and then sighed. “I was in the grocery store buying my weekly supply of Laura Secord French Mint chocolate bars, which really, if I don’t stop eating one every day, I’m going to end up the size of a small house.” She laughed, but it was a nervous laugh and Allie’s concern tripled.

“You were in the grocery store,” she prodded.

Allie nodded. “Right. I was in the grocery store and I heard something that I thought you might know, but now that I’m here I’m pretty sure that you don’t. Because if you knew what I know, I don’t think you’d be so, you know…okay with things.”

“And what exactly would that be?”

“Kendra Coles was ahead of me in the check-out and I heard her on her phone talking to a girlfriend and she said that the soldier guy was in town. At first I didn’t know what she meant, but then she launched into this big discussion on who was hotter Cooper Simon or Beau Simon and I figured that the soldier guy was—”

“Teague.”

Suddenly cold, Sabrina shivered and tossed aside the leftover poutine.

“I’m sorry, honey. Are you all right?” Allie asked quietly.

“I don’t know.”

And Lord, was that ever the truth. Jack had stopped by the day before with Donovan and the baby and he hadn’t said one word about Teague. Not. One. Word. She hadn’t asked and she figured if there was any news, Jack would tell her.

Sabrina sank into the chair beside her friend. She picked at the frayed pockets of her worn work jeans and exhaled slowly.

“Sabrina, you don’t look so good.”

“Just give me a second.”

The two women sat there for a long time. Much longer than a few seconds.

“Are you sure that’s what Kendra said?”

Allie nodded. “Sorry sweetie. I can see that this isn’t what you wanted to hear. I guess I thought…I don’t know, I thought that maybe you’d be happy to hear that he came back.”

“He didn’t come back for me, Allie.”

“How do you know that?”

Sabrina glanced at her friend with a sigh. Allie was such a hopeless romantic. “I know because I haven’t heard from him in ages. I know because he’s been gone for nearly two months and I know because he sure as hell didn’t call me to let me know he’s back.”

Damn, that was a headache coming on. “Maybe if…maybe if he’d come back here after Syria, maybe then things would be different. But he didn’t. He headed to Paris and that was that.”

“I hear what you’re saying. But sometimes it takes a man more time than we’d like to figure things out.”

“Time isn’t a luxury that I have, Allie. Not really. A person can be happy and fulfilled and in love and within a heartbeat, it can all change. I’m not interested in anyone who needs time to figure things out. I’ve got two kids to think about and…”

She stopped herself just in time, biting her bottom lip as a wave of hot emotion rolled over her. Just how much was the universe going to throw her way? How much was she expected to deal with?

“Even if he’s back here for me, I don’t think that Teague and I are a good fit. He’s not the kind of man to stay in one place for very long. I don’t think that would make him happy.”

“What are you going to do?”

Sabrina got to her feet and did what she’d been doing for the last few years. She put one foot in front of the other. She gathered up the messy poutine box and decided that she’d work on the side gardens after she was done on the mums.

“I’ll finish up out here and then get ready for the baptism tonight.”

Allie hugged her. “Everything is going to work out,” she whispered into Sabrina’s ear.

Sabrina didn’t know how to respond to that statement, so she remained silent. Things working out hadn’t exactly been her life experience so far. And she didn’t hold out much hope that the situation would change anytime soon. All she could do was face the shitstorm coming her way head on, and deal with the fall out as best as she could.

“If you need to talk later, after the baptism,” Allie said, pulling away. “I’m home alone tonight. Paul’s away for work.”

“Thank you.”

It was nearly two o’clock and Harry and Morgan would be home from school in an hour. She glanced around the gardens and got to work.

She just had to get through the evening and she had to figure out how to deal with Teague.

She could do this. Who was she kidding? She had no choice.

She had to do this.

Sabrina had never seen this much activity in Gravenhurst. The streets were crawling with folks hoping to catch sight of any one of the Simons and it took her at least forty-five minutes to get out of town and then to Lake Road, which led to the cottage. She tried calling Jack, just to let him know that they might be late, but discovered not only was her cell phone dead, but that the charger was missing as well.

“Mommy, I have to pee,” Harry whined, for the tenth time and that headache that had been threatening all day pinched just behind her eyes.

“Just hold it. We’re almost there.”

They’d just passed a security check point at the top of Lake Road and should arrive at their place in less than five minutes.

“It’s really bad,” Harry said.

She glanced into her rearview mirror and a little piece of her heart melted at the sight of her children. Morgan had insisted on wearing her princess dress, and after a few tears and more arguments than Sabrina would like to admit, she finally gave in. She wished that Morgan had left the magical fairy stick at home, but she’d learned to pick her battles with this one, and truthfully, Morgan looked adorable.

Harry, on the other hand, had presented no problems when Sabrina had laid out his cargoes, a white button down shirt and a tie. With his freshly scrubbed face he looked handsome. Even with the cowlick that couldn’t be tamed.

“Mommy, what’s that?” Morgan asked, her face pressed against the window of the car.

Shit. She’d totally forgot.

Sabrina pulled into her driveway, ignoring the Simon place to her left and cut the engine.
Just breathe. You can do this.

Harry was out of the car like a rocket and disappeared behind the giant hostas that bordered the back of her cottage. One guess as to what he was doing back there.

She cleared her throat. “It’s a sign.”

“What kind of sign?”

Sabrina slid from the car, her back ramrod straight, and kept her gaze focused on her children. She wasn’t ready to face Teague yet. Hell, at this point she wasn’t sure she should have come out here.

She slipped her arm around Morgan’s shoulders. “Why don’t we talk about the sign later, okay?”

Harry came running around the corner and he barely managed to avoid barreling into Morgan and Sabrina.

“I saw the biggest snake ever, Morgan!” he shouted.

“Can I see?”

“No,” Sabrina said, glancing out over the lake. There were a large number of boats out there and she heard voices coming from the upper deck of the Simon home, as well as from near the beach. Her time was up.