Know Your Heart: A New Zealand - Tracey Alvarez Page 0,16
drive?”
A soft thud, the rattle of crockery. His sister-in-law, ever efficient, talking and making breakfast at the same time.
“Has he called you?” she asked.
Glen stared out over the miles of green, the tops of trees straining ever upward to reach the sun. In the distance, the faint, grey ribbon of road carved through the land, and a tiny, matchbox-sized car sped along it toward Bounty Bay.
“He’s left a couple of messages on my phone,” he said finally.
A soft sigh then a pause. “Let me guess. The messages were about work and what a loser you are for chasing a pie-in-the-sky dream.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, Glen. At least you have a dream.”
His brother had a dream once too—marry the gorgeous Erin, whom he’d pursued unrelentingly until he’d won her heart, then settle down and have the perfect family. And Jamie had done it. He’d gotten the girl, the career, the flashy house and the healthy, happy kids—he’d held the dream in both hands and then let it slip between his fingers.
Glen rose and paced to the deck’s edge, glancing over at Savannah’s caravan. She was outside on the grass, battling to raise the orange-striped awning. He turned his back and stared out at the view again. “I’ll talk to him.”
He could almost hear Erin shaking her head.
“No. No don’t you dare. If he wants me, he can come find me. He knows where we are.” There was the softest of sniffs.
Glen’s fingers clamped around the phone. God, he hated it when women cried because he always ended up doing something stupid. “What can I do to help?”
There must be something he could do to make up for being genetically related to his jackass of a big brother.
She sucked in a shuddery breath. “You’ve already given us somewhere to stay. I can’t thank you enough for taking us in.”
“We’re family.” And as family, he was sorely tempted to drive back to Auckland and roast Jamie’s ass. “You and the boys can stay as long as you need. Are they behaving for you?”
“Reece’s okay; we’ve had a few talks. Mikey’s too young to understand what’s going on.”
“And Tom?” The fifteen-year-old who reminded him so much of himself at the same age.
Her breath caught. “He won’t talk to me at all. He’s sullen and angry and stays locked in his room.”
“I think that’s kind of the norm for a teenage boy.”
“Normal to hear him crying himself to sleep some nights? I don’t know how to get through to him, Glen. And with exams coming up, and the two-week school holiday starting next Friday…”
Damn. “Erin—”
A loud crash, instantly followed by a high-pitched wailing cut off his next words.
“Mummm!”
“Reece, you give that back to your brother right now—crud. I’ve got to go.”
“I’ll take him.” He heard his voice say into the chaos.
“What?”
“Send Tom up here with me for the holidays. I’ll make sure he studies, but we can also hang out, watch movies and eat popcorn. It’ll give you a break if you’re not worrying about him.”
“But your book—”
“He’s fifteen, not four. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t need me supervising him every second.”
“No, he’s pretty independent. Thank you, I know he’ll love spending time with you.”
The smile was back in her voice, and Glen knew he’d done the right thing. It’d cost him, and he’d have to work his tail off this week before Tom arrived, but he’d done the right thing.
“Let me know when his bus arrives. I’ll pick him up.”
He said goodbye and disconnected the call.
A sharp snapping sound snagged his attention, and he turned to see the caravan awning, lopsided and flapping in the breeze. Savannah, beneath it with her hands on her hips, stamped a spotted gumboot and uttered a word hot enough to turn Daisy from orange to red.
He took two steps in her direction before he caught himself. Nope, nuh-uh, not gonna happen. He’d nip this instinct to save Savannah in the bud right now. She wanted him out of her house? Well, he wanted her off his lawn and far, far out of temptation’s reach.
Because he had work to do.
***
Under the shade of her wonky awning, Savannah rolled out phase two of her Remove the Stuck Up Lawyer plan. While Operation Know-Thy-Enemy hadn’t worked out well, she suspected one crucial thing. Glen Cooper was attracted to her. He didn’t want to be—just like she didn’t want to acknowledge the little zing zipping through her blood when he’d arrived at her caravan yesterday morning unshaven, grouchy, and looking like serious eye-candy