Mary stood, too, and gave him a hug and kiss. “After all these years, I should be used to watching you leave on a call.” She reluctantly let him out of her arms. “Be safe, honey.”
“Don’t worry,” Gabe replied. “Nothing’s going to happen to your favorite son.”
“He’s right,” Smith joked. “I’m going to stay here and be just fine.”
Everyone laughed but Lori. As soon as Gabe left, she said, “I can’t help feeling responsible for everything with Marcus and Nico. I mean, Nicola.” Her usually bright smile was completely nonexistent. “I mean, I’m the one who introduced them and then left them to have dinner alone.” She bit her lip. “Or whatever else it was they ended up doing.”
“Don’t feel bad, Naughty. Evidently he met her before you introduced them.”
Lori looked at Chase with huge eyes. “No way. He had no idea who she was when I introduced them and she—” Her words fell away. “Oh my God, Marcus must have been the guy she was telling me about that day at the studio. And then they both tried to act like they didn’t know each other. No wonder he was so weird that afternoon and she kept forgetting the steps that she’d known all morning.”
Everyone leaned in closer. “What did she say to you about him?” Sophie asked.
Suddenly, Lori seemed to realize that she was spilling Nicola’s secrets. “I shouldn’t tell you guys.”
Ryan and Smith grinned at each other, both of them knowing how close they were to getting more dirt on their until-now perfect older brother. “We’ve already seen the worst of it, Lori,” Ryan said, followed by Smith with, “Maybe we can help him if we know more.”
Seeing right through her sons, Mary said, “Smith, Ryan, I think we’ve already seen and heard enough about their private business.”
“Mom’s right,” Lori said. “Besides, all she said was that she met some guy the night before and then she fell asleep on his lap before they’d even kissed.”
Zach laughed out loud. “Poor sap couldn’t even keep her awake.”
Mary shushed her kids. “Enough. We’re not going to sit here gossiping about your brother when there are tables that need clearing and plates that need washing.”
After everyone hopped to attention, Chloe said to Chase, “Your mother is so sweet that sometimes I forget she raised eight children on her own and knows perfectly well how to handle all of you.”
“She didn’t do it alone. Marcus helped her more than any of us.” He twined his fingers through hers and pulled her close to him beneath the shade of a large oak tree. “He sacrificed a ton for us. He deserves a happy ending.”
Chloe tilted her face to look into his eyes. “I’m betting he’ll get one. Really, really soon.”
“How can you say that after what went down here today?”
“Women’s intuition. Nicola is in love with him.” Before he could ask how she knew, Chloe pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “A woman in love always recognizes the signs in another woman in love. Like Lori said, suddenly it all makes sense—the way they couldn’t take their eyes off each other during lunch, the way he jumped all over Gabe for making her laugh and Ryan for calling her gorgeous. I guarantee Nico is head over heels for your brother, whether she wants to be or not.”
“Good thing Sullivan men are so persuasive, isn’t it?”
Chloe wound her arms around Chase’s neck as he pulled her closer. “Yes,” she agreed. “It’s a very good thing.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Marcus came flying out of the house, only to stop short when he saw Nicola standing beside Lori’s car. Nicola knew that if she were smart, she’d keep running away from Marcus, away from everything that hurt so damn bad.
But she’d come here today to face him down one last time, hadn’t she? Only to panic in front of his entire family.
“Your sister picked me up and brought me here. I can’t leave without her.”
“Don’t leave.” Marcus approached her slowly, cautiously. “Please don’t leave.”
She could still taste the sweetness of his kiss as she licked her lips. “I shouldn’t have run like that.” She swallowed hard, made herself say, “Not when I know we need to talk.”
She saw relief mix with wariness on his face as he came closer. “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you back there.”
“It’s okay.” And it was, because she understood the desperation he’d felt. How could she not, when she felt it too?
“No, Nicola. You deserve better. So much better.” He reached out a hand to her. “Give me another chance. Please.”
She wanted so badly to take his hand, to give him that chance.
But she couldn’t. Not when she knew it would only end up hurting him.
“Marcus.” Her throat caught on his name. “Is there somewhere we can go that’s more private than this?”
He nodded, his jaw tight as he dropped the hand she hadn’t taken. He led them down the sidewalk to a short path that cut between houses. A small children’s playground that looked like it hadn’t been used in a decade sat forlornly beneath the old oak trees.
“We used to come here and play when we were kids.”
Her heart ached for the child Marcus had once been...and for how short his childhood had been. Fourteen years old was far too young to have to shoulder the responsibilities he had taken on.