Rachel are thinking about building sometime soon as well, and there’s a great building site on this Moonshine corner. You’d end up with houses close to each other but not on top of each other, spread between Angel, Moonshine, and…whatever we’re going to call your land, Uncle Mark.”
Mark’s chin dipped slowly, his mouth curving into a smile. “That’s not a bad idea.”
“I’ll put out feelers, make sure nobody objects, but I don’t think anyone will.” Blake eased back, examining his uncle a little closer. “Feeling good about staying around, then? Good enough to think about building?”
“Lots of things going well,” Mark agreed, still staring at the map. “If I don’t use Coleman money, is there any objection to me getting started sooner than later?”
Blake shook his head. “Like I said, give me a few days, but it’s your land.”
“And so far, you’re not an asshole.” Jesse danced out of the way before Blake could land a solid punch on his shoulder. “We’re all thinking it.”
“You’re such a jerk,” Blake offered.
“Dick.”
Mark snickered, jamming his hat back on his head offering a chin dip. “On that note, I’ll be off. Give me a shout if you do have any concerns, Blake, and otherwise I’ll let you know once I’ve made a decision on the building site.”
Then he was gone, and Blake was down to just Jesse, who was going through the doughnuts as if he hadn’t eaten for days.
Blake gave him a deliberate knock on the head as he marched past. “You were right on the edge of tipping past outspoken into rude,” he warned.
Jesse lost his grin. “Shit. I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t mean to.”
Huh. Blake folded his arms over his chest. “What’s wrong?”
His younger brother dropped into a chair, legs sprawled in front of him as he glared at the nearly empty doughnut box. “That easy to read?”
“Sometimes,” Blake said softly.
This was one of the hard-learned lessons from the past years. When Jesse had left, it had nearly broken his parents. Blake had known something was wrong with his little brother. Hell, all of them had figured something was up, but none of them had known exactly what or how bad.
It had been luck in a way that had brought Jesse back, and Blake never wanted to rely on luck again.
He leaned forward, elbows on the desk. “I keep an eye on you,” he admitted. “Not in a creepy way, but I don’t want you to ever feel like we’re not listening. I don’t want you to ever feel you need to leave because you’re not being heard.”
Once again, Jesse blinked. “Jeez. You serious?”
Blake lifted his shoulders. “We’re a big family, Jesse. There’s an awful lot of sound and bother going on all the time. But you’re an important part of it, you and Dare, and we want you to stay a part of it. This is your home, here with your family. So, yeah. I’m trying to be a little more alert—although hell if I know if I’m succeeding half the time.”
Jesse swallowed hard. “Well, shit.”
Confusion struck. “Why does that sound like you’re even more upset than when you came in?”
Then the words poured out of Jesse. The job offer, the possibility of moving away from Rocky Mountain House—away from the Coleman family.
Ah, hell. Emphasizing the importance of staying in town had not been the way to go. Blake was batting a thousand when it came to poor timing. He tried his best to do a one-eighty without it feeling forced. “It sounds like an amazing opportunity.”
Jesse sighed heavily. “It is. It’s an honour and a compliment, and accepting should be a total no-brainer.” He looked up and met Blake’s eyes. “But what you said is also true. We are family, and this is our home. How can I give that up?”
“You wouldn’t be giving it up,” Blake said. “Dare, Joey, and the new baby—they’d be right there with you. You’d only be about three hours away from us, which means you’d have people invading all the time.”
But he wouldn’t be living next to his best friend and twin. He wouldn’t be dropping into the office and making Blake smile with his asinine jokes.
He wouldn’t be around for the little moments. The day-to-day connections.
Blake stood, pushing the pain in his gut back and desperately trying to come up with some wise words to share. “You don’t have to decide right now, so try not to worry about it yet. The answer will come.”