sat in a booth across from Lisa with Piper and Posie on either side of me. Russ was supposed to be there any minute. He’d gone to have a drink with the guys first. I had to ignore the icky feeling that I got at the thought of him showing up at August’s just a few hours after I left. I’d made August and Charlie promise to clean the coffee table after what we’d done on it before, but they didn’t seem all that worried.
Lisa studied me with a scary amount of focus and the girls mimicked her. It instantly felt like everyone in Landings knew my secrets and was thinking about them.
“So. You didn’t come home last night, but it doesn’t look like you went horseback riding.”
“You went horseback riding?!” Piper scowled at me. “Without me?”
I glared at Lisa. “What is wrong with you?”
“I wanna ride a horse, too.” Posie sighed dramatically and even added a sniffle. “Did you not want us to come with you?”
“No one went horseback riding.” I shook my head at Lisa, who seemed thoroughly amused. “Got it? No one rode any horses?”
“You sound mad, Aunt Rea. Did you want to ride the horses?”
Lisa threw her head back and laughed, drawing attention to our table. She dabbed at her eyes and nodded at Posie. “You can bet your bottom dollar that Aunt Rea wanted to ride the horses.”
A shadow fell over our table before I could strangle my sister-in-law and I looked up to see Pearl frowning at me. “Jonah doesn’t believe your cake was homemade. He thinks I’m pulling a fast one on him.”
I frowned. “You are.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t know that. Bake a little worse!” She put her hands on her hips and looked over at Lisa. “Saw that you’re doing a little baking of your own.”
Lisa’s mouth fell open. “How in the world…?”
I looked between the two of them and focused on Lisa. “So, you have your own secrets, do you?”
Pearl flicked me on the shoulder and rolled her eyes. “She has a secret, but you have three. Mind your business.”
“Oh, that’s rich.” I saw her eyes narrow and held up my hands. “I’ll bake a little crappier.”
The old woman studied me for a beat longer and then looked back at Lisa. “Looks like you’re not going to be alone.”
Lisa’s eyes just about popped out of her head but before she could say anything and before I could demand to know her secret since she knew mine, the door to Landings opened in what felt like slow motion and I watched as my ex walked in with the most focused look I’d ever seen on his face.
“Oh, god, no.” It was like my whispered words drew his gaze. I tried to slink lower in the booth, but with both girls glued to my hips, there was no way. It was too late. I’d been spotted.
“What is it?” Lisa twisted around in the booth and saw Ben striding towards us. “Who…? Oh. Oh, no.”
Ben stopped next to our table and braced his hands on it, leaning forward until he was invading my space. “I have been calling you nonstop. I even called your brother.”
“You called Russ?”
Ben kept right on going. “I left her, Reagan. I need a chance to explain and talk to you. Please.”
People were starting to stare and I was damn near dying from the embarrassment. “Ben, please go away.”
“Not until you let me talk to you.” He stood up straight and put his hands on his hips. “I’m not leaving until you let me explain and tell you that I love you, Reagan.”
I dropped my elbows to the table and covered my mouth. He’d never uttered those words. I had because I’d thought they were real, but Ben never had. I’d waited for him to say them, thinking that they would make everything feel more perfect between us, more right, but hearing him say the words finally just felt awkward and flat.
Lisa met my gaze and shrugged. “He’s hotter in person than I assumed he’d be with the cheating and the stalking.”
Ben was LA beautiful; she was right. If his loud declaration of love hadn’t drawn everyone’s attention, his looks would’ve. They were doing nothing for me, though. I’d spent the morning cuddling with three of the sexiest men to ever walk the face of the earth. I’d been to heaven and Ben just wasn’t adding up.
“Daddy’s mad.” Piper scooted out of the booth and skirted around Ben to join Lisa on her side of the table. “He’s real mad.”
My body flashed with panic. I looked up in horror to see my brother storming across the restaurant, heaven at his heels. Only August, Charlie, and Theo didn’t look like heaven in that moment. They looked much closer to hell as they moved closer to our table, their moods as clear as the thunderstorm brewing outside.
“Reagan? I mean what I said. I’m not…” Ben dropped to his knees next to me, unaware of his impending doom, and grabbed for my hands. “I’m sorry for what I did. You know me, though, baby. You know that I’m not that guy. I messed up and I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you if that’s what you need.”
Russ grabbed Ben by the back of his shirt and tugged him to his feet. “I thought I made it clear that you needed to stay away from my sister.”
Lisa hissed out a warning for Russ to keep his shit together in front of the girls and it helped in making Russ let Ben go. Russ still hovered there, standing toe to toe with my very pacifist ex.
Ben, to my utter surprise, glared back at Russ. “You barked a bunch, but I didn’t understand it. Reagan and I are adults with a relationship to work on. You have no business in it. It’s nice that you care for your sister, but she’s a woman, not a little girl. She can make up her own mind.”
I sat back, shocked. They were words that I wanted to hear spoken, but just not by Ben. Still, it hit me that my cheating ex was boldly claiming me in front of God and man alike, while the men I desperately wanted would never do the same.
As if they could sense my thought process, the guys seemed to grow even larger as they fumed. August was the first to step forward. “You’re making a scene. I suggest you leave. Now. If Reagan wanted to talk to you, she would’ve answered your calls.”
Theo, always the wildcard, moved around Ben and all but shoved him out of the way to slide into the booth next to me. He threw his arm around me and pulled me close while glaring up at Ben. “She’s busy.”
“Reagan, just come with me. I’m renting a house in town. We can talk. I don’t know what all this is, but I love you. I know you love me. That doesn’t change in just a matter of weeks. Let me explain what happened and make it right. I can fix it all. Your job is yours when you want it. I bought a house in the hills for us. We can start over. If you just give me a chance, I can make it all better.”
Charlie grabbed Ben’s arm and tugged him away, saying something against his ear that had Ben’s body stiffening before he allowed Charlie to tug him out of the restaurant.
I stared at the closed door, terrified of what Charlie was doing. I’d never seen him so angry. It wasn’t until I realized that everyone in Landings was staring at me that I shook off my stupor and looked up to see Russ staring at his friends, the two who were still there, with a suspicious look on his face. Panic clawed at me and I gripped the table as air seemed to escape me.
Lisa kicked me from under the table and I gasped, sucking in air and coughing. It thankfully drew Russ’ attention to me and away from the guys, but when he looked at me, I realized I was so close to tears that I knew it wouldn’t take much for me to cry.
“Well, that was interesting.” Lisa clapped her hands together and grinned. “It’s not every day we get to have such a dramatic start to dinner.”
Piper was still not over her earlier bad mood. She looked up at her dad and then back at me, sensing a chance to get one over on her old Aunt Rea. “Daddy, Aunt Rea has been horseback riding and she won’t let me come with her.”
Lisa spit out the water she’d just taken a sip of. I went as still as possible, praying I’d just fade to invisible. Theo let out a bark of laughter next to me and then coughed like that would cover it up.
August knocked his knuckles on the table a little roughly and nodded to Russ. “I’m going to go make sure Charlie isn’t murdering that dipshit.”
Posie cackled. “Uncle Aug said dipshit!”
Piper glared at her sister. “You can’t say dipshit, dummy.”
“Don’t call me names, dipshit!”
Russ growled and pointed to the door. “Everyone out. We’ll have dinner at home. This is a shitshow.”
Theo slid out of the booth and offered me his hand to help me out, but with Russ glaring at me, I pretended not to see it. Once I was standing, I hurried outside like my ass was on fire and looked around quickly to see Charlie walking back towards me.
He reached for me but I shook my head as the door opened behind me and Russ stomped out. Dropping his hands, Charlie frowned and ran his hands through his hair, mussing it up. His perfect dimples were out of sight with his bad mood. “He’s gone for now.”
“Thank you.” I flashed him a quick smile and then looked out at the road. “I think I’m going to walk home.”
“No, you’re not.” Russ glared at me, his own mood in the toilet. “Not with that nut out there.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and counted to ten, but it was useless. I opened my eyes, met my twin brother’s glare with one of my own, and did my best. “That nut had one thing right. I am an adult. What I do isn’t always your business, Russ. I just need some air and space to think. Thank you for always caring, but back off.”
With that, I walked off down the street, guilt already plaguing me.
