Untold Read online

  Finn and Hannah had a rather caustic relationship in the beginning. Though, that was mainly his fault…or entirely his fault. It had been a few months after he’d moved back to town himself, and nothing had been the same from when he’d left to go to school.

  Owen was gone, Ella was starting to fade, and Rebecca had moved on to Brett. It wasn’t exactly the warmest welcome home. Then Hannah had shown up, and Shep was prepared to pack up his life to move to New York to be with her.

  He’d blamed Hannah for everything. Totally fair…if you were an asshole. Which Finn had been. He’d gotten over his shit with her, though, and he loved his sister-in-law dearly. How could he not? The woman made his brother happier than he’d ever been.

  “You’re right.” He nodded. Back then he’d questioned almost everything she did, so he was just going to have to deal with her questioning him now. Didn’t mean he was going to like it.

  “Damn straight I am.” She reached up, placing her hand on his chest as the frown twisting down her mouth lessened in its severity. “You know I just want you to be happy. Right?” She patted his chest, and the corner of her mouth quirked to the side.

  He reached up, grabbing her hand and gently squeezing before letting go. “I know you do.”

  She patted his chest again before she dropped her hand. “So does Shep.”

  “So does Shep what?” The man in question walked into the kitchen. He was carrying a teal box with “Café Lula” printed out on the sides in purple writing. It was their father’s birthday cake.

  “You want your brother to be happy,” Hannah answered.

  Shep set the box on the counter before he turned to Finn, the look on his face clearly saying he still might be a little sour about the conversation from the night before. Made sense as Finn had told his brother to go fuck himself.

  “Yeah, I do want him to be happy.” Shep shrugged before he folded his hands across his chest. “It’s just that he doesn’t want to be happy.”

  “Can we not get into this right now?”

  “Sure. Except you’re not going to get into it ever. You just do and don’t think”—a harsh laugh escaped Shep’s mouth—“and damn the repercussions.”

  “Well, I’m not saying damn the repercussions today. OK?”

  “Oh yeah? And why’s that?”

  Maybe it was just the need to tell someone, even if it was his pissed-off brother and well-meaning sister-in-law. Though, Finn had to face facts. Pissed off or not, if there was anyone he was going to talk to, it was Shep.

  “Brie is Bethelda Grimshaw’s daughter.”

  Just that fast the look on Shep’s face transformed from anger to shock, and his arms dropped from his chest, falling to his sides. “Bethelda had a daughter?”

  “Yup. Last thing you were expecting?” Finn asked. “Me too.”

  “How…how is that even possible?”

  “Bethelda gave her up for adoption twenty-eight years ago, and apparently left her everything in the will. She came into the office to pick up Bethelda’s cat this afternoon. That’s when she told me who she was…and that she wasn’t leaving any time soon.”

  “Well…shit.” Shep leaned back against the counter.

  “What does it matter?” Hannah’s question had both men turning to face her.

  “What do you mean what does it matter?” Finn asked her, feeling himself starting to get frustrated. “You do remember who Bethelda Grimshaw was, right? Blogger-hag and all-around pain in our asses?”

  “Um. Have you looked in the mirror lately, Finn? You’re a pain in the ass, and we still love you.” Hannah smiled sweetly.

  “Truer words.” Shep nodded.

  “The point is, Bethelda did all of those things. Brie is not her mother. And you have absolutely no idea what the woman is going through. Nor, I’m guessing, do you know the finer points of this whole story. She didn’t exactly seem overjoyed about her visit the little that I talked to her. Did she seem that way to you?”

  No, she hadn’t. She’d made it clear that it was unwanted, unpleasant business that brought her to Mirabelle.

  Brie, if you say yes, I swear to you, I can make the rest of your night really pleasant. A weird sensation kicked low in his gut as he thought about how he’d whispered those words into her ear.

  “She wasn’t overjoyed, no, but—” Finn started, but Hannah didn’t let him finish.

  “Exactly. So before you judge her on the actions of others, maybe you should give her a chance. Or maybe you should take a step back and see what the bigger picture is. It might give you a better idea than focusing on one little spot in the corner.” She tilted her head to the side, giving him a look that clearly said she thought he was being an idiot. “Obviously there was something you liked about her in the first place, considering the fact that you spent the night with her.”

  “Yes, there was.” His frustration was intensifying. “But you don’t get it, that isn’t the point.”

  “Hmmm,” she hummed, still giving him that you’re an idiot look. “I think you’re the one who doesn’t get the point, Finn.”

  It was then that voices started to carry in from the hallway behind them. Nate senior and Faye came into the kitchen a moment later, a freshly bathed and changed baby Nate the third in Faye’s arms. The kid was a spitting image of his father. Same sapphire-blue eyes. Same thick black hair that curled around his ears and the back of his neck. He was giggling in his grandmother’s arms, clapping his hands together rather enthusiastically.

  “He loves water more than any child I’ve ever seen.” Faye smiled as she looked down at Nate who’d started making a series of nonsensical noises like he was responding to her. “Much more than the two of you. You guys hated baths,” she said as she looked between her sons. Her smile faltered as she zeroed in on Finn. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” Hannah moved in front of Faye, plucking Nate out of her arms and handing him over to his grandfather. “The boys are going to have a birthday drink with their dad while I help you in here.”

  Finn’s frustration with Hannah lessened fractionally in that moment. She’d just given the perfect kind of distraction for his mother. A look of shock—and maybe a little horror—came over Faye’s face at the prospect of Hannah helping her cook.

  “Hey! I got the water going just fine.” Hannah pointed to the pot steaming on the stove. “Just tell me what to do next.”

  As they left the kitchen, Finn was in an even worse mood than when he’d entered it. He hadn’t even known that was possible. Apparently it was.

  * * *

  Keeping up with the theme of the day, Brie stayed pretty busy since she’d picked up Delores. The cat had wailed the whole ride back to the bungalow. Luckily it had only been about five minutes, because the terrible sound the cat made was close to nails on a chalkboard grating. The second Brie had gotten the carrier in the house, she’d opened the door and the cat had been out of it like a bat out of hell.

  That had been about three hours ago and she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Delores since. What she had done was check a number of things off on her to-do list.

  Brie had only packed for a couple of days, not a couple of months. There were a number of things that she needed now that she was staying, the most important being her research books. She’d called her friend Lyndsey, one of the few people who had a key to her town house. Lyndsey had said she’d swing by the next day and pack up a few boxes to mail down.

  After that, Brie set up her room in the den/library. Maybe it was the whole being surrounded by books thing, but she felt the most comfortable in there. She unpacked the few things she had with her before setting up her makeshift bed on the sofa. Once that was finished, she moved on to cleaning.

  The bathroom had been next on the list. It wasn’t the first thing she’d gone through that day, but it had been a lot weirder tossing Bethelda’s half-used toiletries than it had been throwing away the spoiled food in the refrigerator. It was more personal…more intimate. Brie learned a
whole hell of a lot from it, though. And try as she might, she couldn’t stop comparing their differences.

  Bethelda liked tropical fruit–scented soaps. Brie was more of an herbal girl herself.

  Bethelda used spray antiperspirant. Brie used the bar.

  Bethelda was all about hairspray…she had thirteen cans of it. Brie’s hair product of choice was mousse.

  But they did use the exact same brand of toothpaste…and they both squeezed from the middle. That little discovery was a bit of a jolt. Actually, it had been more like getting the wind knocked out of her.

  She hadn’t let herself dwell on that small similarity, though. Instead she moved on to bigger things, like the woman’s makeup collection. Bethelda had enough products to rival a department store beauty counter. Over a hundred palettes of eye shadow; eyeliner in every variety and color; powder, cream, and liquid foundations; mascara for days; probably two hundred plus bottles of nail polish; and her lipstick stash was fifty shades of red.

  It was ridiculous.

  The bathroom had taken up a good amount of her afternoon, and when she finished it was close to dinnertime. She’d moved on to the kitchen, looking through the options in the pantry and fridge.

  It took almost no time at all for her to realize it was a breakfast for dinner kind of night. She was going to cover her feelings in butter and syrup before she ate them. And as she’d worked up a pretty good appetite, she was going to eat a lot of those feelings.

  God, she couldn’t stop seeing that disgusted look in Finn’s eyes. It was completely opposite to how he’d looked at her the night before…when he’d been touching her…when he’d been inside of her.

  She pushed the memories away, both good and bad.

  Live and learn, Brie. Live and learn and move on.

  She flipped the pancakes in the skillet, the sizzle of the uncooked side hitting the hot metal. A soft pop came from the pan on the back burner, the bacon crisping up as it cooked. Her stomach rumbled as the delicious scents filled her nose.

  Movement out of the corner of her eye had her turning her head just as Delores came stalking into the room. Her big fluffy tail was up in the air, slowly swaying back and forth with each step.

  “Good Lord you are massive.” Brie shook her head as she watched the cat move.

  Delores stopped when she was a few feet away, sitting back on her hind legs and looking up at Brie, assessing. Apparently they were both taking a moment to study the other.

  “Well, it’s nice to see you out and about. Were you bored, hungry, or both?”

  The cat’s response was a low, rumbly mrowww before she licked her lips.

  “I’ll go with both, so let’s get you fed before you decide to eat me.”

  Brie turned back to the stove, checking that the bacon was done before she flipped off the burner. She picked up the tongs sitting on the counter and pulled each piece out, setting them on the plate covered with a paper towel. Grabbing another clean plate from the cabinet above her head, she flipped the pancakes onto it, slicing off a decent dollop of butter to slide between each one.

  While the butter melted, Brie went over to the pantry to grab Delores’s food. The cat ate a two-to-one ratio of dry to wet food, something that Brie knew as the proportions along with the feeding times had been tacked onto the wall in the pantry. Delores continued to watch from her position on the floor, her jade-green eyes not leaving Brie.

  After everything was measured out, Brie mixed the food in the bright turquoise bowl that was covered in yellow fish skeletons. Delores licked her lips again.

  Brie was of half a mind to put the dish on the floor. She wondered if Finn had been messing with her when he’d rattled off that list of the cat’s ridiculous preferences. But the second she grabbed the bowl and pulled away from the counter, Delores stood up and headed for the dining room. Brie followed and turned the corner just as the cat jumped up on the cushioned bench that ran the length of the table.

  “Hmmm,” she hummed, still skeptical, as she set the bowl down on the bench in front of the cat. “You going to eat?” she asked as she placed her hands on her hips.

  Delores just sat there as she looked at Brie instead of the bowl of food. The stare-off lasted for a good twenty seconds before Brie gave up and headed back for the kitchen to finish getting her dinner ready.

  It was another three minutes or so before she was carrying her plate and cup of steaming tea back into the dining room. The cat hadn’t moved an inch.

  Brie sat down and settled into her seat. The second she took her first bite of syrup-covered pancake, Delores moved to her bowl and bowed her head to eat.

  “Well, I’ll be damned.”

  So Finn apparently hadn’t been lying to her…didn’t change the fact that he was still an asshole.

  Chapter Eight

  You Know What They Say

  About Assumptions…

  It was just after four on Friday when Finn pulled up in front of Mirabelle’s biggest hunting and camping goods store. Though, biggest wasn’t exactly saying a lot. Wide Open Spaces was in the building that used to house the Fifty-Nine-Minute Photo and the town’s one and only Blockbuster back in the day. Once both of those had shut down, Angelo Rivera bought the building and tore down the dividing wall.

  The stores tagline of “If It Flies It Dies, If It Hops It Drops” was stuck on the glass front doors in bold, black lettering. Finn grabbed the door handle and pulled, walking inside and immediately spotting Angelo behind the register. The guy had a phone to his ear and he looked up and waved as Finn passed.

  Finn waved, too, heading to the back of the store and toward the fishing supplies. He’d just been out at Sam Johnson’s farm checking on a pregnant mare. The store was on his way back to work so he’d taken advantage and stopped by as he needed to restock his hooks, weights, and fishing line for his rod.

  Saturday morning was going to start well before the sun came up as he was going fishing with a couple of guys. The cold snap that had settled in that week was starting to let up, and it promised to be a pretty decent day out on the water. Though he wasn’t sure if fishing was the right choice to take his mind off of things. Things being Brie Davis.

  He hadn’t been able to get her out of his head. Hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the night they’d spent together. The feel of her soft skin under his hands. The faint scent of lemon on her skin, mint in her hair. Her throaty voice in his ear, getting huskier and huskier the closer she got to coming.

  But following those excellent thoughts came the not so great ones…like finding out the truth. Then there was the whole conversation in the kitchen between Shep, Hannah, and him. He’d felt pretty justified in his reaction to the news, but his sister-in-law most definitely had not.

  There hadn’t been an opportunity for a proper conversation with Shep about it. Bethelda had put his brother through the ringer when it came to her stupid blog. The woman had caused them more than a little heartache and grief.

  Shep would have to agree with Finn…wouldn’t he?

  Somewhere in his musings, Finn had wandered over to the nets. He was rubbing the nylon mesh of one between his thumb and fingers. Dropping his hand he moved over to the supplies he’d actually come for.

  As he headed up to the front of the store, his phone vibrated in his back pocket. His stride faltered and then stopped as he pulled the phone out and looked down at the screen. It was a text from Shep asking about covering a shift at the Sheep the next week.

  Before he had a chance to respond, something—or more accurately someone—collided with him from behind. Holding firm on his phone, the fishing line, box of hooks, and weights all clattered to the ground. A second later they were joined with a good-size box that had hit his side before bumping its way down his leg.

  “Oh my gosh, I’m so s—”

  But the apology died on the crasher’s lips as Finn turned and came face-to-face with Brie.

  Her eyes widened—way more brown than golden in that moment—and
a flush of red started to take over her neck and cheeks. Though, he couldn’t tell if the color was because of embarrassment or anger.

  But he didn’t need to wonder for long. Tension snapped her back straight, her shoulders going rigid, and her mouth coming together in a pinched purse as she glared at him.

  Angry, she was most definitely angry.

  Her focus moved from him to the floor before coming back up again. Her eyebrows rose high as she tilted her head to the side. “Out looking for your next catch?”

  “Very funny.” He frowned. “I’d say don’t quit your day job, but clearly you don’t have one.”

  He didn’t really know anything about her personal life, but he figured it was a safe assumption. Based off their conversation yesterday, she was staying in Mirabelle indefinitely. There were very few jobs that would allow for that kind of last-minute absence. And if he was wrong? What did he care? There was really nothing to lose.

  Besides, she’d poked first.

  “Clearly.” She said the word slowly, her eyes moving over his face. She studied him for a few more seconds before she shook her head in disgust. “I don’t live my life with regrets, Finn. But I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

  Well, that shut him up.

  And with that, she bent down and grabbed the box she’d dropped containing an air mattress. She said nothing else as she headed to the register. Finn just watched her walk away, something uncomfortable twisting in his gut.

  If he didn’t know any better, he’d think he was regretting a few things himself…except it wasn’t sleeping with her.

  It was something else entirely.

  * * *

  Well, that had sucked.

  Brie should’ve walked away. She should’ve picked up the air mattress and walked away without saying a single word to him. It was just that when she’d seen what he was buying, the snide comment had fallen out of her mouth. Like she’d had absolutely no control.

  But when it came to Finn Shepherd it was becoming clear that she couldn’t control the good or the bad outcomes. Well, what had been good outcomes. She hadn’t been lying when she’d said he was making her regret her choices.