Michael (Wild Men #8)

Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

When we’re a few minutes away, I text Aunt Lynn that we’re nearly to her house.

When she opens the door to invite me inside, her gaze shifts to Michael.

The smile on her face widens a thousandfold. “Mikey!”

She throws one arm around me and the other around him.

“Happy birthday!” we both say to her.

She thanks us, and then her brows furrow in confusion.

“Did you two run into each other in the driveway?” She peeks out the door. “I only see one truck.”

“Michael and I are friends now,” I say with a smile.

“We’re dating,” Michael says as he puts his arm around me.

Aunt Lynn looks between the two of us like she may swoon.

“How in the world did you two finally meet?”

“It’s actually a funny story,” I say.

“Well, you’re the first ones here. Let’s sit down, and you can tell me all about it. In fact, I was hoping you’d be early like you are because I have something to tell you too, Mimi.” She leads us into her living room and gestures to the pale green couch she’s had forever.

Aunt Lynn’s gray hair is stylishly cut in a blunt bob. Her eyes are bright and her skin youthful looking with enough lines to show the wisdom she gained from her deepest loss nearly twenty years ago. She’s wearing a pretty yellow sundress and a gold chain she’s never without. That was the last gift Tony gave to her.

Michael and I sit down on the couch, and my aunt takes the tan loveseat across from us. I look out her picture window at the lovely garden she tends to daily in the summertime and point to the mountain view beyond.

“Isn’t this a wonderful view?” I say to Michael.

He grins at Aunt Lynn. “The best. Looks just like the photos you’ve sent over the years.”

She wags her finger at us. “Thank you. But don’t change the subject, my dears.”

I laugh as Michael says, “It’s a pretty amazing coincidence.”

We take turns filling her in on the coffee shop run-in and then meeting the next night for our “blind date.”

Lynn’s shoulders shake with laughter. “And when did you make the connection to me and Tony?”

I clear my throat. “Tony’s Lucky Queen pin fell out of my purse, and Michael saw it.”

Aunt Lynn’s hand goes to her mouth. “Ohh.” She turns to Michael. “That must have been a shock.”

He nods but doesn’t elaborate.

And she wisely shifts the topic to easier subjects.

We move from the beautiful weather to how fun it is that Michael and I are both staying on Wild Ranch.

“You must go on a trail ride,” Lynn says. “Mimi, you love to ride. ”

“Do you have somewhere you get to ride when you’re not on Wild Ranch?” Michael asks me.

“I used to go to a place just outside Wilcox. But I got so involved with my career that I stopped making the time.”

“I’ll ride with you this afternoon,” he says.

“You hate to ride,” I tease him.

“I was exaggerating,” he says, his cheeks flushed.

My aunt is still looking between us with interest.

And Michael keeps talking like he feels her eyes on us. “Luke’s always made me ride a little whenever I’ve come out here. He says it should be a required life skill like swimming.”

Aunt Lynn smiles. “Spoken like a true cowboy.”

“ That he is,” Michael says. “He runs the ranch. His parents gave him the reins when they retired.”

“How lovely. Speaking of passing things down…” She rummages in her purse that’s sitting next to her. “Mimi, I’d like you to have this. If you want it. And please be honest.”

When she hands me a key hanging from a silver chain with an anchor, I have no idea what it’s for.

I dangle the key from my fingers. “What is this?”

“That’s the key to the cottage in Lucky Bay,” she says.

I look at her. “You mean…”

“I mean that I want to give the cottage to you if you’d like it.”

I stare at her. “I couldn’t possibly. This is yours. It was yours and Uncle Tony’s. “

“And when was the last time I went there for a stay?” she asks me. “I’ve gone once a year to check in on it. I stay a few days, and I’m ready to leave. The memories are too strong, too painful for me. My home is here now. That was my home with my husband, but I don’t want to go back in time.”

“I understand, but you could sell it and use the money to buy something out here for yourself. A cabin in the forest or by the lake. ”

“I could, but I can do that without selling it. I was lucky. My parents were well-off enough that they left me a nest egg. I’ve thought of giving the cottage to you before, but you were always so career-driven that I didn’t want you to feel torn. So when you told me you left your job, I wondered if now might be the perfect time.”

“What an incredible gift,” Michael says quietly.

I whip my face over to look at him.

He locks eyes with me. “Lucky Bay is a great seaside town to spend summers in if you could swing that somehow.”

Yes, I would definitely like to swing that. The air in the room thickens as Michael and I continue to stare at each other.

We could be neighbors and lovers, and…

“I have an idea.” Lynn claps her hands, and I come out of my fantasy and drag my gaze back to her.

“I do insist you fly out there first, Mimi—before you accept or decline. I want you to stay in it for a weekend and see how it feels. I don’t want you to take on the responsibility of a property thousands of miles away if it doesn’t feel like the right decision for you.”

“Okay,” I agree. “That makes sense, of course.”

“I can go with you,” Michael says instantly.

I freeze. “What?! No, you shouldn’t.”

“Why not? I know the town. I can show you around.”

Lynn beams at him. “You can be Mimi’s Lucky Bay tour guide.”

“But you’re here on vacation, and you’ll be returning to Lucky Bay permanently anyway,” I say to Michael. “Why would you want to go there just for a weekend?”

“We can leave this week,” Michael says. “As long as we can get a flight.”

“I think that would be perfect,” Lynn says with a casual wave of her hand like none of this is a big deal and she isn’t trying to play matchmaker.

But I know the truth.

This is a big deal. Michael and I had promised to end things when we left the ranch, and now we’re breaking all the rules and heading to Maine together.

“Emery?” Michael’s voice is low like he’s trying to reach only me and not my meddling aunt, who’s now leaning in close to try to hear every word.

“Yeah?” I look at him, wondering if my face looks as pale as I feel.

“You okay?”

“Yes.”

And I am.

I’m not upset.

I’m actually kind of, sort of, ecstatic. Super thrilled.

But I’m not a big change kind of gal, and this is feeling like a lot of change.

Michael and me in Lucky Bay together.

MAA back in the picture. With a promotion attached.

But not if I accept the gift of a lifetime and live in Maine part-time.

Fred is not a believer in a virtual office. Many have tried—and failed—to get him to allow them to work from home even one day a week.

He always says no.

“It doesn’t mean he’d say no to you,” Lynn says.

I slap my forehead. “God, why do I always speak things out loud?”

She and Michael both laugh.

It breaks the tension in the room, and then the doorbell rings, and guests start arriving.

Ayden, Bella, and Hal come through the front door.

Everyone coos over Hal, and when he starts to fuss, Michael takes him in his arms and walks around the room with him until he settles.

Seeing Michael with his baby nephew in his arms melts my heart.

“He’s so good with Hal,” I say to Bella.

“I know.” She smiles. “Michael is a real softie underneath all those walls.”

He is. And he’d make a great father.

I have no doubt about this.

He’s patient, kind, and takes the time to learn what a person is feeling and thinking. He’d be a doting dad and a present one.

It breaks me a little bit inside to know that he doesn’t plan to ever have a family of his own. Because I know he wants one.

After a while, Hal starts to fuss, and Lynn helps Bella set up a portable crib for him in her guest room.

That’s when my parents arrive.

“These are my parents, Gail and Jack,” I say.

Mom rushes Michael with a big hug. “Aren’t you handsome?” she says with a smile. “My daughter has said so many wonderful things about you.”

I quickly maneuver Dad into the conversation.

“Dad, Michael and Ayden are from Lucky Bay, Maine.”

My father steps closer to them. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

I hadn’t thought it through that my dad would be emotional meeting Michael and Ayden.

“Our dad was on Lucky Queen.” Michael speaks quickly like he’s been practicing letting the sentence roll off his tongue without getting stalled by the pain. “He and Tony were best friends.”

“Hal Wild,” Lynn says from beside me.

Dad’s eyes well up with tears.

“Hal Wild. What a great man your dad was.” Dad shakes Michael and Ayden’s hands. “He was the best friend to my brother. And you know, I met you boys once years and years ago. Your dad came out to the bar with Tony and me when I was in Lucky Bay visiting. I stopped by your house beforehand with Tony to pick him up. You were both polite as could be, sitting at the kitchen table with your ma.”

“I didn’t know that we’d met,” Michael says.

“Me neither,” says Ayden as he glances over at me.

Bella gasps next to me. “It’s like you and Michael are fated!” she whispers.

She says it quietly, but Mom and Aunt Lynn overhear.

Mom squeezes my arm, and Aunt Lynn says, “My thoughts exactly.”

I shush her, but my heart is filled with all sorts of feelings.

Fated .

That’s what I’ve been feeling, too.

But is such a thing truly possible?

Or are we all just hopeless romantics?

Michael

“This is weird,” Ayden mutters to me. “It’s like a blast to the past, even though we’re not in Maine.”

Lynn just showed us the group of Lucky Bay photos that Emery had told me about. She had some of the same photos I have, but there were a couple of our parents I don’t remember ever seeing.

“Tell me about it,” I say.

“And now Emery owns Lynn and Tony’s cottage?” Ayden asks me incredulously. “Can’t believe the connection between you two.”

Me neither .

Originally, the tie between us scared me, but now…it’s comforting in a way.

Ayden nods like he just read my mind. “Makes it easier, doesn’t it? Because she was affected by it too.”

“Yeah.” I look over at Emery, who catches me looking and gives me a sweet smile. “It does.”

Emery

We all sit down for a lovely brunch that Lynn made.

Between the fried eggs, bacon, and hash browns, I eat enough to satisfy me for hours. And then some.

And then Mom surprises Lynn with a birthday cake. After she blows out the candles, we all have a large piece for dessert.

“I think I over-ate,” I confess as we’re leaving. “Aunt Lynn, you make the best bacon. Just the right amount of crispy without being burned.”

She laughs and hugs me goodbye. “You’ve been a fan of my bacon ever since you were little.”

When she hugs Michael goodbye, I notice her whisper something to him.

I lean in closer, but I can’t hear a word.

She clearly meant for me not to hear it.

Which, of course, makes me want to know what she said.

I don’t say anything in the moment, or even on the truck ride back to the ranch.

But after we saddle up Gemma and Diamond, two gentle horses that Luke, who was in his office in the barn, recommended to us, and we’re riding side by side along a flat trail, I say to Michael,

“Okay, this is going to sound nosy. And it is. It definitely is. ”

He smirks. “You want to know what Lynn said to me at the door.”

I flush with heat. “I know. I’m so overstepping.”

He chuckles. “I would want to know, too.”

“You would?”

“Of course. It’s human nature.”

His cheeks are flushed now too. And suddenly, I don’t need to know anymore.

“Don’t tell me.”

He looks over at me. “Why not?”

“Because if my aunt wanted me to hear her message, she wouldn’t have whispered it. Whatever she said, it was clearly meant just for you.”

He reaches over and touches my hand with his. “Thanks.” After a beat, he adds, “She didn’t say anything you need to worry about.”