life together that felt light-years away from anything Trent was doing. He couldn’t even pull the trigger on signing an architect, let alone committing himself to not only another person but to creating a whole new family.
A whole new life.
“I’m really happy for you guys,” he said, smiling. “You’re perfect together. Just make sure as soon as there’s a baby, the little one knows who’s the cool uncle, okay?”
Angie laughed. “I have a feeling Nick and Adam will both fight you for that title.”
“They can try.” Trent waved a hand as if shooing a fly. “But I claimed the spot first. Anyway, I should be going. I don’t want to leave Cora waiting too long.”
His brother and sister-in-law saw him to the door, Jace’s arm still protectively around Angie’s shoulders. If he was like that now, imagine how he was going to be when Angie got pregnant. Not to mention when the kid actually arrived. Jace was going to be a full-grown papa bear, Trent could picture it already.
He paused to say goodbye to the puppies, crouching down and delighting in the little pink tongues and black paws and wet noses for a full minute before he headed outside. Once he was sitting in the driver’s seat of his ute, key in the ignition, Trent found himself still for a minute. The rest of his family were moving on with their lives, building their own worlds and creating futures…and he was essentially still couch surfing. Lusting over a woman he knew wouldn’t be around in a few weeks. Working hard at building things for other people but never for himself.
Nick had accused him once of putting other people’s needs ahead of his own as a way of procrastinating. Maybe it was true. But Nick didn’t know the truth of who Trent was. Why he was scared of trusting again. Nick had never been cheated on, had never been lied to and kept in the dark. So it was easy for him to judge.
He rolled down the window and caught sight of himself in the side mirror. “What are you waiting for?”
He didn’t know. It wasn’t like he needed someone to deem him worthy of a full life—Trent was as self-assured as they came. He was independent to a T. He liked being free and following his whims and relying only on himself. Because then he’d be assured that no one could hurt him.
But watching Jace and Angie through the window of the front room of their house, hugging and looking at each other with stars in their eyes, grand plans swirling in the air around them, Trent wondered for the first time if he really was missing out on what life had to offer.
For some reason, that made him think of the block of land he’d bought, sitting lonely and uninhabited at the outskirts of Patterson’s Bluff. It called to him. Beckoned him. Maybe it was time to start thinking about his future.
For some reason, it felt like the universe was pushing him in a certain direction…and he wasn’t sure if he liked it.
…
“Where are we going?” Cora asked as they zipped along the coastal highway out of Patterson’s Bluff. Trent had picked her up a few minutes ago from the house, where she’d been diligently working on the scrapbook.
They’d made steady progress on it, hopefully it would only take a few more nights of gluing and stamping and sprinkling to have it done.
“I wanted to show you something.” Trent glanced across at Cora, admiring the way her short denim skirt showed off miles of tanned skin.
It hadn’t taken long for the strong Aussie sun to give her a glow—her limbs were darker, the ends of her hair lighter, and all the freckles had come out on her pink cheeks. And now she had her window down, and the air blew her hair around her face, making her look wild and free and so beautiful, it caused his stomach to somersault.
“You look different,” he said, unable to stop the abrupt change of topic.
“Do I?” A pair of oversize black sunglasses masked her eyes, but the gentle curve of her mouth showed that she was relaxed and happy.
“Yeah. Something about you seems…I don’t know. Changed.”
“Maybe I relaxed.” She lifted one shoulder into a shrug. “Maybe the sun here finally thawed me out.”
Cora did not need any assistance thawing out, in his opinion. There was something guarded about her, sure. Given what he knew of her past, it wasn’t surprising, and he