Second Chance Baby (Crescent Cove #18)

Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

He did not have a ladder.

He searched through the basement and the garage about half a dozen times, climbing over tons of old household odds and ends. Add in the new decorations we just bought and the garage was…scary.

How had I known Travis so long and was completely clueless about how unorganized he was? He’d lived there for the better part of a decade so he should have a damn good idea about what he had. But somehow, he did not.

When I’d gone through his lawn supplies, I should have gotten a clue. I was pretty sure the rose-colored glasses were still in full effect. Now, since he couldn’t find his ladder, the decorating aspect was not going so smoothly.

Carrington was on the verge of tears, no matter how I tried to tell her we’d both work double-time to get the decorations up as fast as possible. But once Travis even saw the threat of tears, he immediately got on the phone to his very large family. He barely even had to voice a plea before his brothers were promising to save the day.

Even Penn showed up, shocking me. I didn’t take him for the family involvement type. He didn’t even live in the Cove. But he’d gotten the family SOS at the same time as the others, and he’d just showed up out of nowhere. I wasn’t sure I even saw his car.

No one could miss his sleek sports car amongst the family cars all over the town.

Seeing how they all jumped in without complaint had me fighting tears too. I had no idea what my problem was today. Seemingly overnight, I’d gone from being a woman who rarely cried to an emotional mess.

“You’re still here?” Penn asked, drawing me aside while the other men circled Trav and squabbled over who would handle what. By some miracle, two brand new ladders appeared so we— he —would be prepared for the next decoration crisis.

Families were truly wild. I’d never gotten the full experience, thanks to my small, dysfunctional version. My mother had moved from town to town without landing anywhere for long since I’d been a teen. Back then, her bipolar syndrome hadn’t been well-managed or even understood by us. Walking on eggshells due to not knowing whether her mood was high or low had left both me and my sister riddled with anxiety. In my case, I’d wanted to take care of her and hadn’t understood why my own mother tended to freeze me out. And my sister almost always chose to withdraw.

When my older sister hit her upper teens, she moved out, leaving me alone with our tumultuous mother until she’d finally split for good too. From then on, I’d basically raised myself.

Not a hell of a lot different from my usual home life, to be honest. I’d felt alone most of my life.

No wonder I’d had no clue how to parent anyone else. My dad had left the picture when I was super little. I didn’t remember him much. My mom was too trapped in her own darkness to worry overmuch about her girls.

Versus Travis with his huge, perfect, All-American family. I would’ve been jealous if I hadn’t fallen in love with them all. They’d accepted me into their home for dinners and family gatherings with open arms.

But from the sly suspicious glances his brothers kept aiming my way tonight, I could only imagine what they thought of me now. I’d probably been considered enemy number one for years.

Hell, from their perspective, I’d let down their brother and their niece and left behind a solid relationship and beautiful baby girl to run around the world flaunting myself for money. Not that I could even blame them for thinking like that about me.

I hadn’t wanted to leave. It had been purely a panicked reaction.

Family was supposed to come first. Their own mother was practically a saint. She would never do anything approaching what I’d done.

Ever.

Yet JoAnn had been nothing but kind when we’d talked on the phone before the shoot. As if she somehow understood why I’d freaked out and done what I had without me telling her all the ugly details.

So much like her son.

And she’d said over and over how each new day was a chance to make different choices.

But even so, could we really rewrite our history?

It was terrifying to hope.

“Bridget? You in there?” Penn waved a hand in front of my face. “What’s up with you?”

For an unknown reason, the truth tumbled out of my mouth. “I want my family back. Whatever it takes,” I trailed off in a broken whisper.

He let out a harsh laugh. “As if it’s that easy.” Then his eyes sharpened as he really looked at me. “Are you prepared to do the work?”

“I said whatever it takes, didn’t I?” I folded my arms across my chest.

His eyebrow spiked. Penn, ever the protective older brother, looked me dead in the eyes. “Guess we’ll see.”

A sudden shout interrupted us. Christian weighed in loudly how the ghost and pumpkin blowup could not be set up that close to the road on account of being a ridiculous distraction that would probably cause a motor vehicle accident.

Um, okay then.

I shook my head. Some things never changed with the Masterson men. “So, what was up with you yesterday?”

“You mean before you two tried to reenact a dirty movie while you were on the clock?”

I was not going to blush, dammit. Not that he could see my flush out here in the damn dark. “Don’t change the subject.”

“Not sure what you mean.” He started spinning his watch around. I suspected that was Penn’s version of an evasive gesture, just like his brother shifted back and forth when he didn’t know what to say.

Or didn’t want to say anything.

“You were perfectly polite to me—and I gotta say, it was surprising considering your family.”

He frowned, his features seeming sharper in the purple-tinted lights coming off a nearby tree. “Has my family said something to upset you?”

“No. Of course not.” Nerves had me fidgeting. “But I see the looks. You know, like what is she doing here?” I held up a hand. “Don’t get me wrong. They have every right to. Just wondering why you didn’t.”

He shrugged. “I know you loved my brother.”

“I did.” Do, I corrected silently.

“Which means you must’ve had reasons for what you did. And my brother is far from perfect, but more importantly, it’s not my business. Especially since I didn’t ever have anything close to the full story—on either side.”

Emotion made me swallow hard. I didn’t want to start bawling in front of Penn. I had to try again when one swallow didn’t come close to dislodging the sudden brick in my throat. “Thank you,” I whispered.

He waved it off. “No thanks needed. We all make mistakes, Bridge.” That he called me Bridge again as he’d done in the old days made me grin as a glimmer of a smile curved his lips. “Yes, even me. I know, who knew?”

“No. I will never believe it.” I let out a faux gasp, making his smile widen. “But I’ve always known you to be a fair guy, overall. Certainly not like you were with Rita. So, that begs the question.”

“No, it really doesn’t.” He bowed his head for a moment, his smile disappearing. “You don’t have any answers for me, and I don’t have any for you. Let that stand for now, okay?”

“Do you need someone to talk to? Someone who doesn’t have a penis or a self-assured attitude that can make you feel as if you are three inches tall?”

His chuckle was rich and warm. “No, but gotta say that description may be the best one I’ve ever heard for my brothers. I do have a younger sister too, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“I definitely have not. Maddie was always my favorite.”

“Typical. Everyone loves her. Did you hear she married some super rich older dude? I was shocked when I found out about that one. She’s a bonus mom to his kid and now has one of her own. My damn little sister.” He shook his head. “Insane.”

“I heard some of it. The gossip mill is still active in the Cove.” I smiled weakly. I could only imagine what was churning about me and Travis. Especially after we got attack-hugged by Mrs. Gunderson. “Is she happy?”

“Best as I can tell, yeah, she is. Christian didn’t take it too well. Pretty sure he would’ve arrested the dude if marrying a younger woman was illegal.” He snorted. “Then again, he did the same.”

My eyes widened.

“Yeah, should have been hard for him to bitch. And yet.”

“You guys have always been protective of Maddie.”

He let out a laugh as he looked back at his now scattering siblings, spreading out with an assortment of decorations and an abundance of skeletons. We had gone a more than a little overboard with them. “That is the truth. Well, I guess I better join the Halloween militia.”

“Yeah, me too.” Companionably, we set off across the lawn, splitting off when I reached Travis.

“Hi, you,” he murmured, grabbing my hand. He tugged me against him, letting his flamingo fall to the ground so he could fist both hands in my hair and capture my lips with his own.

With one hot, hard kiss, he sucked my breath away and every worried thought from my brain. When we resurfaced, I shook my head to clear it.

Hell, I wouldn’t have noticed a pumpkin exploding beside us when Travis laid one like that on me.

“Hi,” I finally managed. “I wasn’t sure how you’d feel after talking to your brothers.”

“About ladders? Or Halloween deco placement?”

“No. About your questionable taste in women.”

His face hardened, his eyes turning to steel in the flashing lights of the lawn. “If it’s questionable, it’s my choice, and I’m making it. I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks. No one else is in my head or in my heart.” He held out a hand to me. “Now are you gonna help me decorate this yard or you gonna stand out here gossiping with my brother all night long?”

I gripped his hand and lifted it to my mouth to kiss his knuckles as he’d done with me earlier. “We weren’t gossiping. I was trying to get him to tell me why he was so rude to Rita earlier, but he didn’t take my bait.”

“He’s a locked box at the best of times, never mind when he’s hiding shit.”

“You think he’s hiding something?”

“Aren’t we all most of the time?” His equitable tone made me squeeze his fingers. “No, I’m not hiding anything, by the way. After we trick out this place to the ultimate, I fully intend to take you inside and make what happened earlier look like a preview to the main event. Still no condoms here, if that’s okay with you. If it isn’t, I’ll go get some.”

“Trav,” I said brokenly, not capable of more. “No condoms needed.”

“I’m all in on all of this—I need you to know that.”

My eyes brimmed over, and all the lights shimmered.

“Do not cry. Hear me? Do not do it, Bridget Sheppard. Today has been a day for many things, but not tears.” He hauled me closer, his voice low and dark. “Unless you scream yourself hoarse and cry from pure exhaustion. That, I’m okay with.”

“It might happen.” Laughter mixed with my careening emotions. How on Earth was this all happening?

Even my wildest dreams hadn’t been this good.

“I always love a challenge.” He brushed a kiss over my forehead. “Our kid sleeps like a rock, but maybe I can find something more instrumental tonight to muffle the sounds. Because I intend to drag every one of your sexy moans out of you tonight.”

“I can try to be quiet.” I bit my lip. “Will I succeed? Not sure.”

Scarring my child was not on my rekindling romance list of to-dos.

“We need to figure it out, in any case. Parents have been doing it for centuries, right?” I wasn’t sure if it was the orange lights or a flush making his neck look red.

I reached up to cup his face for a moment. “Truth.” I stepped back enough to bend to pick up the discarded flamingo. “Where is she now?”

“Moose took her around back to distract her from her meltdown with some hoops while we got started. Yes, your daughter loves basketball. I suspect she might be headed toward that sport rather than tennis and cheerleading like you.”

“Really?” I would not be upset about being out of the loop. Nope, I refused to be. We were only looking forward from here on out. “I wanna go watch.”

“Go ahead. I can handle this stuff for now with Christian. And Penn, if that asshole doesn’t get stuck up another tree. He used to be the nimbler one of all of us.”

“You guys aren’t exactly teens anymore.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

I brushed his hair back from his forehead as I’d once done a million times a day. Just the familiar action had my breath skipping. “Are you sure it’s okay if I skip out to go sneak back there to watch?”

“Sure is. I’m the big manly man made to decorate every square inch of this place. And you’ll reward me for my efforts handsomely later.” Before I could even give him a teasing response, he was quick to cut me off. “You know I’m just kidding, right? I don’t expect anything. I also don’t want to rush you into anything, either.”

“ Rush me?” My eyebrows climbed. “After all these years?”

He pulled my hand up to his cheek. “We needed this time, Brig. I want to go as fast or as slow as you need to. As you want to. I promise.”

I stared at him, the endless heat from his skin seeping into me and warming the part of me that had gone cold from imagining his brothers judging me. Understandably. “Are you even real?”

He made a show of pinching his biceps, making sure to flex for me like he used to when we were kids. “Sure as hell feels like I am.”

I did the same, letting out a little sound of appreciation. He sure had filled out in ten years. “It certainly does, sir. Back in the day, you didn’t have this many muscles.”

“Now they pay me to work out. Will you still lo—want me when I’ve got a dad bod?”

My chest ached with hope. “All the more to cuddle with.”

He slung an arm around my shoulders, leading me around the house in the direction of the backyard, and apparently, the current location of Carrington’s basketball hoop. I could already hear the sound of a bouncing ball on the blacktop area near the deck.

Or not.

We reached the backyard, and I let out a gasp. “You changed all of this?”

“Updated a little.” He shrugged. “We rarely used the deck, so I took it out and put in an asphalt patio with seating and then she suggested the basketball hoop. But we can always change things around at any time.” His meaningful glance had me tipping back my head to study the fancy lantern pendant lighting.

Really, I was trying to catch my breath. If it was even possible anymore.

“Oh, nice one, Care,” Travis called out as she drained the ball from feet back, right behind the 3-point line. Moose swept in to steal the rebound before leaping up to dunk, making her elbow him out of the way as she grabbed a rebound of her own and dunked.

“Damn, she’s really good.” I cupped my hand over my mouth. When had my little girl become a young adult on the verge of adulthood?

How could I have missed so much?

“She’s been practicing a ton,” Travis said proudly. “She dunks on me all the time. Showing me up right and left, though basketball was never my sport.”

“Because you were so good at football. Can’t be good at everything and make the rest of us feel like schlubs.”

He tugged me into his side so he could feast on my neck. I stiffened, expecting Carrington to look over and be properly shocked, but she was too busy circling her Uncle Moose to even notice us. So, I angled back my head to grant him more access.

He hooked his fingers in my jeans pocket to get a better hold on me. I couldn’t help the sound of pleasure that escaped, my eyes flickering open to see Moose looking at us as if I’d stripped down naked.

“Trav,” I whispered urgently.

He looked over his shoulder at them, his jaw locking. “I’ll say something to him.”

“Say what? He’s just worried about you.”

“Right, while he’s had his perfect little family for all these years, and I’ve been alone so fucking long.” He blew out a breath. “I gotta get going on those decorations. And I probably should rake up the worst of the leaves into some of those jack o’lantern bags we got. I’ll be back.”

The happy glow on his face I’d seen earlier died to embers before he stomped off.

You did that. Don’t blame his brother for being concerned. Who wouldn’t be in this situation? Moose just doesn’t want to see his little brother get hurt again.

I just had to dig my heels in and prove I intended to stick this time. No one was going to run me off this time, not even the formidable Masterson brothers.

Because dammit, I loved him too.

My mistake had been not fighting for that love with everything I had. Fear wasn’t going to rule me any longer. I wasn’t my mother, for fuck’s sake.

But weren’t you?

I had done exactly what I’d feared most.

But I had to be brave. I told Penn I was fighting for my family, and that was exactly what I was going to do. I was older and hopefully, wiser. I understood what life was like without Travis and my daughter, and I absolutely didn’t want to return to my small apartment in the city.

Lonely and alone.

Instead of racing after Travis, I let him have some time to himself to work on the decorations. I had someone else to make up time with too.

My beautiful daughter was a force on that court.

I curled up in the corner of the wicker settee, snuggling into the cushions as the breeze kicked up, sending the many leaves across the lawn skittering and dancing. The telltale fall scent of burning leaves mixed with the undeniable breeze off the water, making me close my eyes as I tumbled headfirst into the past.

Fall football games, cheering for Travis and the rest of the team, running over to give him a hug and kiss when he yet again had a winning play. Back then, shouting for him and doing routines to encourage the team had seemed so familiar in the very best way. But now it was almost foreign and exotic somehow to remember when we had been such a natural unit. When I’d told him how much I loved him almost as naturally as I breathed.

It had just been so long. And now? I’d cheer on our daughter. Though thankfully, that didn’t require me wearing a cheerleading outfit I’d never be able to fit into or to do splits.

Splits were the worst.

Carrington dribbled and pump-faked around her uncle, who, surprisingly, could mostly keep up with her. Moose had gotten his moniker from being a big guy like his dad, Hank. Now he was possibly even more muscular than Travis. Guess married life was treating him well. I had to give him points, because I sure couldn’t imagine keeping up with Care.

I lost track of how many baskets she made and the number of rebounds she collected. The wind kicked up even more as more lights came on automatically, highlighting her speed and efficiency on the mini court.

“Look at you go!” I couldn’t stop myself from leaping up and clapping for her when she dunked right by her much taller uncle, who laughed and fell back good-naturedly.

Again, his gaze lingered on me, but now he was smiling, clearly approving of my enthusiasm over the game.

Over my talented little girl who wasn’t so little anymore.

“You must have scored on him, what, ten times?”

“Hey, hey,” Moose said, laughing hard as he dropped back in play exhaustion. “Kid is killing me, but do you have to make it so obvious?”

“Sorry, just stating the facts.” I held up my hands in a mock apology.

“Or hey, Mom, why don’t you play too so Uncle Moose can get some water and maybe take a nap to recuperate?” Carrington giggled.

“Now I need a nap, huh?” Moose sat up on the asphalt and raked a hand through his tousled blondish brown curls, so like Travis’s.

Travis’s hair had darkened over the years and now was closer to dark brown, with just the occasional lighter highlight here and there. And his densely growing-in scruff was definitely all dark. I’d even seen a stray silver hair here and there in the sun, which just made him hotter as far as I was concerned.

“Well, you’re old. So’s my mom, but not as old as you.” Carrington nudged him with her knee where he’d sprawled on the asphalt, legs stretched wide.

“Thanks, kid,” I said drily, leaping to my feet when I would’ve preferred to curl up on the settee to take a nap. The long, eventful last couple of days were catching up to me, so I was feeling every bit of my age at the moment. But that didn’t stop me from jogging over to snatch the ball from my daughter, dribbling tentatively as I worked on at least keeping it away from her. I had no clue how to play but I knew if she had the ball, I’d lose right away.

I wasn’t even sure I could make a single basket, never mind take a 3-point shot. I’d need a damn stepladder to get up to that basket. I was tall, sure, but I was better with a racket.

Even so, I started to get a feel for the rhythm of the game, although I nearly turned an ankle half a dozen times. But I managed to keep the ball away from my daughter for at least a few minutes. I had a feeling she was going easy on me.

I appreciated the help.

Then she swooped in and maneuvered the ball away from me, aiming for the basket and seeming to fly in mid-air to dunk the ball. I was so amazed I stopped running after her just to clap and scream for her, which made her grin and dunk again, just to see how I’d react.

“You do realize we are on opposite sides, right, Mom?” But her flushed cheeks and lively eyes told me she was so happy I was cheering for her.

How could I not?

“But I want you to always win, baby girl.” I drew her against me in a giant hug, kissing the top of her hair. “You’re so freaking good. I’m so proud of you.”

“Me too, Care Bear.” Gruffly, Moose ruffled her hair before leaving us alone in the backyard.

“I like you being here with us, Mom. Can you…” Carrington clutched the ball against her side, scuffing the toe of her sneaker along the asphalt. “Can you please stay like for good? Please? I know you and Dad had issues, but I like you both being here. Being together. I know he wants that too, but that doesn’t mean you do too for sure.” When she looked up, her blue eyes shone wetly in the overhead lights. “I won’t even make disgusted noises when you make out and stuff. You’re kinda, like, overdue..”

The sound of someone clearing their throat behind me made me glance over my shoulder to see Travis watching us. “Damn smart kid. She’s right, you know, Brig. We are way overdue for all of this stuff.”

Saying nothing, I turned to go into his arms, gripping his waist tightly as I buried my face in his shirt. “I want to stay. I don’t even want to go back home long enough to pack or anything.”

“This was always your home. And we’ve been waiting for you to come back to take your place since the day you left.” He tipped up my chin and laid his lips on mine. “Please stay.”