Late Nights & Love Lines (Single Dad Hotline #2)

27. You’re gonna love it here

27

YOU’RE GONNA LOVE IT HERE

SEBASTIAN

“ I ’m going to apologize in advance,” Leo says as he enters my kitchen through the sliding glass doors that lead to the deck.

“What the hell, Leo? I didn’t even know you were here.”

He tilts his head to stare at me, but before he can say anything, the glass door opens again, and Beck walks in with his older kids in tow.

“What is this, an intervention? I literally left your house thirty minutes ago.”

“So?” Beck shrugs, and Leo’s face morphs into a triumphant smile.

“I forgot you’ve been a city boy your whole life.” Leo’s grin suggests he’s having the time of his life at my expense.

“Oh, that’s right,” Beck says, untangling himself from the forty different bags he has hanging from his forearms. “Where’s Kade?”

My brows reach my hairline. “He’s in the bunk room with Miles, getting their swimsuits on.”

Beck drops to the floor onto his knees and removes some kind of backpack leash from Ruby. “Listen to me, Ruby. You can go find Kade, but you have to knock on the door and wait for them to let you in. Remember what we said about privacy?”

The little girl is more fidgety than Kade, and I honestly wasn’t sure that was possible.

“Yes, Daddy. I can’t just go bargin’ into people’s rooms. It’s rude.” She extends the U sound to make it a three-syllable word.

“Right. If you don’t knock, we’ll have to go home.”

My two elephants sound on the stairs, and that whole conversation becomes moot.

“I told ya, Miles. I told ya I heard Ruby,” Kade says, running down the hallway, wearing a swim shirt and PJ pants, attempting to slide to a stop in his socks, but he crashes into Beck anyway. The three of them topple to the floor, and I’m thankful Beck isn’t wearing his baby girl this time.

Leaning over the counter, I scan all the shit he dropped to my floor.

“Beck, where’s Cally?”

He sets Kade on his feet, and then lifts Ruby too. “She was being fussy. Lucía and Oliver came over to watch her—they’re sort of their adopted grandparents. Stella wouldn’t be thrilled about her being passed around to so many people anyway, especially with Emmy just being sick. We need a break from the kiddie funk.”

Leo pats the sleeping baby on his chest. “That’s why Ryker isn’t coming out of this carrier.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I abandon the picnic dinner I was making for the boys. “What are you talking about?”

“First, I think you need a quick lesson on how small towns work,” Leo says, bumping me out of the way with his hip and packing up the sandwich meat I’d pulled out moments before.

Beck waves to someone walking by the side of my house.

“Who’s that?”

They both ignore me.

“There’s really no such thing as privacy in a small town, Seb. Open-door policies will save you a lot of headaches.”

“That’s why neither of you knocked? Even though Beck had that whole conversation with Ruby?”

Beck scoffs. “Bedrooms are off-limits, but walking into your buddy’s home? It would be weird to knock. It’s like knocking on the door of your childhood home. It just doesn’t happen.”

More people walk by my house with giant pieces of wood held over their heads.

“What the hell’s going on?” I round the island and cross to the other side of the house. “Why are all these people on my property?”

“Relax, Seb. It’s the welcoming committee,” Leo says as if that explains it all. “Remember when I walked in, and I said I apologize in advance?”

“Yes,” I say, rolling my hands to encourage this conversation along.

“Well, I was at Coastal Comfort, talking to Wanda this morning. She’s the owner of the general store,” Leo explains.

“We called her Wanda the Weather Witch when we were kids because she has the uncanny ability to predict storms of the human variety,” Beck says, nodding his head as if that’s a perfectly reasonable explanation. “She knows when shit’s about to hit the fan.”

“Well, I accidentally said that y’all were planning to stay here long-term.” Leo turns his back on us to put my bread back in the pantry.

“And since it’s the middle of summer, they can’t exactly have a welcome parade because of all the tourists,” Beck says, organizing the snacks he has in his bags while his oldest, Emmy, helps line them up in a row.

“Hey, Emmy,” I say, noticing she didn’t run off with the other kids.

“Hi, Mr. Seb. You’re gonna love it here,” she says with a toothy grin. I think she’s in between Miles and Kade in age.

“Anyway,” Leo says. “Since they can’t do the parade in town without jamming up traffic more than it already is, they’re bringing the parade to you.”

“Who is? And what welcome parade?”

“The Sailport Bay welcoming committee.” If Leo shakes his head at me one more time with that duh expression on his face, I might toss him out on his ass.

“The welcome parade is the bestest thing ever,” Emmy says with stars shining in her eyes. “How else will you know that everyone loves ya if you don’t get your parade?”

“Emmy,” Miles yells from upstairs. “Are you coming to play?”

The little girl looks at the bags she’s sorting, down the hall, then to Beck. He grins and nods toward the stairs. She runs off into the bowels of my home without a backward glance.

My headache sets fire to matches in my skull. “You can’t be telling me they do this for every person who buys property here. That’s insane.”

“Of course not.” Beck huffs, taking over whatever Emmy had been doing. “Just those of us who plan to make it home permanently.” He pulls out ingredients for s’mores and lines them up on my counter.

A large sign floats by my window, and I do a double take.

Welcome, Rowan is written in giant block letters. More signs follow with all our names on them.

“But I haven’t, I mean, Rowan hasn’t agreed to stay.” Even saying that out loud causes bile to burn the back of my throat.

She has to stay.

“This might be what she needs, then,” Beck says more to himself than to me. When he stands upright, something ghosts across his features, but it’s gone too quickly for me to recognize. “I’ll be honest, it was a little overwhelming for Stella and me too when it happened. That’s why Leo and I are here. We got everyone to take it down a notch.”

He squares his shoulders as if he’s proud of that declaration. “There won’t be any carnival rides or taco trucks. They cut it back to a bonfire, some s’mores, and Wanda’s punch because she insisted.” He frowns and a shadow crosses his face. “Don’t drink more than a cup of it though, or it’ll knock you on your ass.”

“No punch. Got it. You realize that Rowan’s going to hate this.” I thought I had nerves of steel, but anticipating Rowan’s reaction has me pacing in my own home. “I didn’t even say for sure that we were staying.” My hands land on my hips, and I wait for them to both stop moving.

“You hired movers,” Leo reminds me.

“The kids need their stuff here, but I never…”

“Give me a break, Seb.” I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Beck Hayes roll his eyes before, but when he does it now, he appears ten years younger.

I pull out a stool at the island and sit while Leo helps himself to my fridge and pulls out three beers, then proceeds to paw through my drawers, searching for an opener. I don’t know why I don’t tell him where it is, but I sit frozen as he opens and closes every single drawer in my kitchen before turning to me.

“Where the hell is your bottle opener?”

I’m pretty sure my eyebrows lift to my hairline. Opening the drawer on my side of the island, I pull it out and hand it to him.

“Who organized this kitchen?” Leo grunts, then opens the beers and hands us each one.

“Why are you so prickly?” Beck asks, flopping down into a stool beside me. “You didn’t have an issue with this when we had dinner here the other night.”

“That just sort of happened,” I grouse. “And it wasn’t the entire town. All those people out there will freak Rowan out.”

“But you had fun at the sand dance,” Leo says, doing the baby bounce slide. I spent so many nights doing that with my kids. The bounce, bounce, sway. I used to think it was a mom thing, but I picked it up quickly, while Mya never did.

Leo also has no issues with it now, so perhaps it has more to do with your ability to be a caretaker than your genetic makeup.

The front door slams shut, and Alexei stomps down the hallway.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” I ask.

“I’m guessing it has something to do with why Maria gave her two weeks’ notice this morning,” Leo mutters.

I spin on Alexei. “You hooked up with the camp director and then she quit?” His blue eyes glow hotter than flames.

“That’s not—we knew each other a long time ago.” He bypasses me and helps himself to a beer. When he spins around, we’re all staring at him. “She was my sister’s best friend, okay?” He turns his back and grabs a beer of his own.

“Natalie?” I ask.

He grunts but nods in answer.

Natalie is ten years younger than we are, but Alexei and I have been glued together at the hip since middle school, so I’m surprised Maria’s name doesn’t sound familiar to me.

“Why is this group so damn incestuous?” Beck grumbles. “First Seb and Rowan, now you and Maria? What kind of cosmic fuckery happens in Sailport Bay?”

“No way, man.” Leo stands up, pointing at Beck with his beer bottle. “You can’t blame the stars or our town for this. You’re the one who brought these two to us.” He waves his hand between me and Alexei. “And you recommended Maria. This has Beck Hayes fuckery written all over it—you and your damn one percenters.”

“I went to college with Maria’s older brother…” Beck cuts off. “Oh, whatever. You know how it is in our circles, and small towns are even worse. Everyone knows or has dated everyone else anyway.”

“Guys,” I say. The pressure in my head is reaching a boiling point. “We’re getting off track here. Alexei, are you sure you didn’t do anything to make Maria want to leave?”

His eyes narrow, and he chugs his beer.

“Christ,” Leo grumbles, taking a swig of his beer as well.

“What kind of twilight zone have I landed in?” I mutter.

Beck laughs, then music begins to play out on the beach. All four of us walk toward the sliding glass doors.

“There’s at least fifty people out there.” I groan.

“We told you—we got them to tone it down,” Beck says proudly.

“What the hell am I going to tell Rowan?”

“Tell her the truth,” Leo says to my left.

“And what’s that?” My head throbs in time with my pulse. She’s going to freak out.

He looks from me to the ocean, and back again. “That you love her, and you want her to stay.”

“That we love her, and we want her to stay,” Beck corrects. “Sometimes being part of something bigger than you’ve ever experienced before is hard to put into words. Sometimes you just need to experience the love to truly understand it. Let her feel it, Seb. It would probably do you all some good to see what Sailport Bay can do for you.”

“Fuck me. You all sound like a horoscope about to go horribly wrong,” Alexei grunts.

“Fine, dickhead.” Leo chuckles. “You’re loved too. Buy a house and we’ll give you your own parade, does that make you feel better?”

Alexei shoots daggers from his eyeballs.

“Dad,” Seren shouts. “Where are you?”

“In the kitchen.” Turning to Beck, my chest rumbles. “If Rowan freaks out over this, I’m holding you responsible. You didn’t even give me time to give her a heads-up.”

“Small towns, Seb. Get used to it.” Leo pats my back, then stands at my side while we wait for the girls to find us.

One by one, they enter the kitchen.

I don’t blink until my gaze lands on Row and Seren walking into the kitchen with their heads together.

Right. Rowan is so damn right.

Sensing all eyes on her, Rowan pulls up short. The color high on her cheeks makes my chest ache with longing.

She scans the room with an ease she hasn’t had before.

“Dad, no cap, you’re going to die, D-I-E when you see Row in this dress.” Seren is more animated than I’ve probably ever seen her.

“No cap?” Beck whispers beside me.

“It means no lie in teen-speak,” Stella whispers back, hooking her arm around her husband’s middle.

“Seriously, Dad. Next to Row, everyone else will be so mid.”

“Basic,” Stella says before Beck can interrupt Seren again.

“You found a dress?” I ask. Staring at her, I’m consumed with so much hope and love that it colors my words.

Rowan shrugs. “It was the best of the worst.” She chuckles as Tabby scoffs.

“Seren’s right,” Tabby says, smoothing down the bag in Rowan’s hand. “You’re going to swallow your dang tongue when she walks out in this dress, Seb. Don’t even think about keeping your hands to yourself because the second you release her, there’ll be an angry mob lining up to take your place.”

Jealously slithers up my tongue, making me hiss. “No one is taking my place.”

Seren smirks, and the blush on Rowan’s face creeps down her neck.

Before I can say anything else, a loudspeaker crackles to life behind me. “Welcome home, Walkers. Sebastian and Rowan, bring those babies out here, and let’s get this party started.”

“Welcome home?” Rowan’s gaze darts from me to the windows behind me.

“Oh, good grief, Beck.” Stella’s irritated voice barely registers. “You couldn’t put them off a couple more weeks?”

“What is this?” Rowan’s frozen to her spot, but Seren walks toward the windows as all the littles come barreling down the stairs.

They run past Rowan on either side, but she stands frozen in place with eyes so wide I see all the way to her darkest fears.

Tabby chatters relentlessly at our side about the welcoming committee, but it’s white noise to my ears and I’m not even sure if Rowan is registering that someone is talking.

A heavy hand lands on my shoulder. “We’ll take the kids outside.”

Beck.

I nod and move with cautious steps toward Rowan, afraid that any sudden movements will spook her.

She holds up her palm, halting my advance, blinks twice, then mumbles something about putting away her dress.

She’s gone before I can open my mouth.

“It’s been a long day,” Tabby says gently. “But when you talk to her, ask her about the other dress she and Seren picked out together. She might be putting down roots without even realizing it.”

The sounds of happiness drift through the salty air like a sensual dance of healing—two steps forward and one step back.

One of these days, hopefully, Rowan will allow me to lead her all the way forward to that happiness she so deserves.