Northern Rebel Daring in the Dark - By Jennifer Labrecque Page 0,16
in the last year.”
That was true enough. It was time to lay out on the table what was really eating at him. “What if she comes and she doesn’t, you know, like me?”
“Then that’s the way it rolls. But at least you’ll know. It’s a chance you have to take. And you know, there’s an equal chance she will like you.”
“But I’m not like Liam. I’m big and rough around the edges.” He laughed and shrugged self-consciously. “I’ve never accomplished much of anything.”
Lars thought about it for a few seconds and then spoke. “You know you are what you are, Big D. But I don’t see how you can say you haven’t accomplished anything. You support yourself and you do what you want to do. There’s not a damn thing wrong with that. And as for you not being Liam... Well, that’s probably a damn good thing ’cause that didn’t exactly work out for either of them.”
Dirk had never looked at it that way. Feeling better than he had in a long time, he got up. Maybe he did stand a chance with Natalie after all.
* * *
LARS HAD JUST finished putting away his gear when a knock sounded on his door. Liam had said he’d come up in a few minutes. They’d, of course, seen one another all evening during the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner afterward but there hadn’t been any time for them to just hang out with one another. Now it was time to connect with his brother.
He opened the door and Liam stood in the hall, two longnecks in his hand.
“Thanks,” Lars said, grabbing one of the beers as he stood aside for Liam to enter.
“Thought you might be ready for a cold one before the bachelor party starts.”
The bachelor party consisted of a get-together downstairs at Gus’s to shoot pool and throw darts in about an hour. Gus’s had also been the site of the rehearsal dinner earlier tonight. The place reminded Lars of the base rec room.
“You thought right.” He hoisted the bottle in Liam’s general direction. “Here’s to ya.”
Liam grinned and returned the gesture. “Here’s to you.”
They’d been doing that since they were kids. Lars took a long pull of the barley pop. It was smooth and cool going down.
“So, what do you think of Tansy?” Liam asked, settling on the bed and propping up against the headboard. You’d think it was his room.
Lars pulled out the straight-back chair, turned it around and straddled it.
“I like her. She’s classy and spunky.” Lars grinned. “She’ll keep your ass in line.” It would’ve been impossible for him to lie to his brother about something so important so he was relieved he honestly liked the little brunette.
“Yep, she is and she does.”
Liam was happy, and for a kind of serious dude, that wasn’t said lightly. Lars had never seen his brother like this. He could “feel” his brother’s joy.
“It’s all good, then,” Lars said. “It sounds like your business is rocking. When I checked out your website, hell, I wanted to sign up for a week.”
Liam laughed. “No need. You’re still living it. How’s work going?”
Lars filled him in on the job-related stuff that couldn’t be discussed via email. And neither one of them was big on video chat.
They’d emailed, talked on the phone a couple of times, but this was something that had needed to wait until they were face-to-face. To be a marine was all either of them had ever wanted. Liam had married when it was something Lars had no interest in but they’d both always been marines at their core. Liam’s discharge had been the first time Lars couldn’t really relate to what was going on with his twin. Now was the time to talk.
“You miss it?” Lars asked. There was no need to define “it.”
Liam shook his head. “At first I did, but now...no, man. I’ve adjusted. In fact, now that some time has passed, I’d say it’s the best thing that could’ve happened to me. Life goes on and you can go on with it or not. I like running the survival camp. Every group that comes through presents a new challenge. Dirk’s doing a damn fine job as my second-in-command. And, of course, Tansy’s great.” He took a swig from his bottle. “You sound as if you’re still happy in the corp.”
Lars felt temporarily disappointed. That was it? Apparently so if they were back to talking about him. And why wouldn’t Lars still be happy in the Marines?