Brothers of Paradise Series

I make a fist. He shakes his head immediately. “No, Lily, like this… you have to tuck your thumb in.”

“I do?”

“Yes. You’ll break it otherwise. Like this…” He reaches out and shows me how to place my thumb and to clench tight, but not so tightly that my little finger folds inwards. “See?”

“Ah. That feels better.”

“And when you aim, aim here,” he says, tapping against his cheekbone. “If you aim for the nose, you might break it. That’s good but it will hurt your hand more.”

“You know a lot about this.”

He smiles again, crookedly. “I had a life before Paradise, Lils.”

I shake my head at him, smiling too. It seems impossible that he did. My life feels like it started the day he arrived. He never talks about his former life, either-and when he does, it’s only like this, with little hints and comments.

“Thanks,” I tell him. “I’ll remember this the next time I have to punch someone.”

“I doubt you’ll have to,” he says, slowly releasing my hand. “You have a lot of people who would protect you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I say, rolling my eyes. The overprotectiveness had been with me my entire life. “The brother blockade.”

Hayden looks down, grabbing the bucket. “Exactly,” he says.

I sneak glances at him while we pick mussels. Marissa Briggs had told me in school the other day that she thought he was cute. In that foreign kind of way, she’d said. I had no idea what she meant by that. Hayden is as American as they come.

But he does have really beautiful hair. I’d always thought so. Cute?

Hayden is so much more than cute. Plus, he’s my friend.

One of my best friends, even, if you don’t count Jamie.

But… maybe he’s a little cute.

Friends can be cute, right?

Lily

The present

I pause on Parker’s doorstep.

Hayden’s inside.

Am I crazy, coming here to see him again? Knowing he’s inside?

My first response was a complete no. Who was he to show up in Paradise Shores? To tell Parker and not me? After ten long years?

After what he did, leaving without so much as a note, I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t see him. No, nope, finito. Conversation over.

Except, of course it wasn’t. Every cell in my body reacted to the possibility of seeing him again. I need it, to see what he looks like now, what changes the years have wrought.

Parker had texted me the plans. They were going to dinner on Friday night, but before that they were sharing a few beers at his.

Do you want to join?

A simple question, but without a simple answer.

In the end, I’d found myself driving over to my brother’s in a daze. Curiosity killed the cat, they said, and I was about to be one dead feline.

I knock.

Parker shoots me a grin when he opens the door. “Lils, you made it. Did you park on the driveway?”

“Yes, like always.”

“Good. The street parking here is awful.”

“I know,” I say distantly, walking into his house. “I’ve been here many times before.” Hayden isn’t in the living room. Maybe he hasn’t arrived yet?

Parker grins at me. “Still, one day you might forget… And you’d blame me for the ticket.”

“Sure.” I follow him into the kitchen. And there, leaning against the counter, is Hayden.

My mind goes momentarily blank.

He’s filled out. That’s my first thought. In my mind, he’d still been the same young man I remembered, but coming face to face with Hayden now, I realize that he was a boy before.

He’s a man now.

His button-down stretches over broad shoulders and the cut of his trousers reveals strong thighs. There’s a faint shadow of stubble across his cheeks and jaw. He never had that before.

The way he holds himself makes me think of the young man in the photograph. The military has changed him, from the shorter cut of his hair to the thick, corded muscles hiding beneath his clothes.

But his eyes are familiar, staring straight at me. They’re the same dark amber I remember from my childhood, the eyes that once held so much feeling. There’s no expression on his face now, and for the first time, I don’t have the faintest clue how to read him.

What is he thinking?

“Hi, Lily,” he says. His voice has deepened, too. It sends shivers through me. For years, I’d begged and begged for that voice to be on the other side of the phone. I’d answered every single out-of-state and hidden number that called me, just in case. It had nearly always been phone salesmen.

I put my bag down on the hall table. “Hello.”This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

“Here you go.” Parker slaps Hayden on the back and offers him a beer. “It’s good to have you back, man.”

“Thanks. It feels good to be back, too.”

“It’s been a while,” I say, and I wonder if he’s the only one who hears the acid behind my quiet voice. If I ever thought I was over the anger of him leaving, I’m now proven completely wrong.

His gaze on mine is steady, and I’m not sure if I’m imagining it or if there’s a faint trace of embarrassment in his eyes. “Too long.”