Chapter 7
“Brian,” Jackie called out, while
Brian was talking to his brother, Harry, and bouncing Harry’s ten-month-old
daughter on his hip. “I want you to meet
someone who was a big part of this whole setup.”
“I’ll be right
there, Mom,” Brian turned to Harry. “Can
I take her with me?” he asked gesturing to the baby he carried.
“Sure, bro,” he
grinned. “Just don’t drop her! I know
how clumsy you can be!”
“Yeah, yeah,
yeah. You’re still jealous that I could make thousands of females scream around
the world. The only ones who scream for
you, scream at you. Your poor wife and
child,” Brian said sadly, shaking his head.
“Anyway, gotta go. I’ll bring her
back, I swear.”
“Yeah, sure,”
Harry answered. “You’d better go before
Mom has a cow.”
Brian grinned at
his brother and made his way over to his mother, who was talking to a woman
with her back to Brian.
His mother
spotted him and smiled. “Brian, sweetie,
I want you to meet the woman who turned this place into a masterpiece! Sienna, Brian. Brian, Sienna.”
Sienna turned and
managed to steady herself, especially when she saw the shock in his eyes. He looked tired and had lost weight since she
had last seen him. She wondered what had
happened in seven months to make him look so miserable even when he was
smiling.
Brian realized
that his jaw had dropped, but he couldn’t believe she was here. Within touching distance. She looked incredible. Her chestnut locks curled halfway down her
back and around her face. Which was, to
Brian, amazing all by itself. Her eyes
were the pure hazel that he’d seen in dreams for the last seven months and her
lovely mouth (again, the one he’d dreamed of) was starting to form a
smile. Brian snapped himself out of it.
“Sienna! Hey, I should’ve known this was one of your
deals when I saw how incredible the flowers were,” Brian said, pulling himself
together.
Jackie looked at
the both of them. “You two know each
other? I mean, I know you bought flowers from her, Brian, but I didn’t know you
were friends. Or are you?”
Sienna shook her
head. “No, Jackie, we only met that one
day. But, we did get to talking for a
bit. So,” she said turning back to
Brian, “I suppose I should wish you a happy birthday. Happy Birthday, Brian.” And glancing at the baby in his arms, she
looked up at him, “Are you going to introduce us or am I going to have to do
the introductions myself?”
Brian seemed
confused then, remembering the toddler he carried, laughed. “No, no problem. This here is Miss Abby, my brother Harry’s
daughter. She’s almost seven months
old. Abby, baby, meet Sienna. She made all these pretty flower designs.” He
plucked a lily out of the arrangement at the closest table and handed it to the
baby, who proceeded to clutch in her fingers and squish it.
Sienna
laughed. “Cute, she’s very cute.”
Jackie smiled,
“I’m glad the two of you have met.
Brian, do you want me to take Abby, or did you want to hang onto her for
awhile?”
Brian shook his
head. “Nah, I’m going to hang onto her
for a while longer. I don’t get to see her as much as I want to, so she’s
staying with me.”
Jackie
nodded. “All right, well, we’ll be
cutting your cake soon, okay? So, don’t run off anywhere!”
“Aww, Mom! I was
thinking about leaving all these great people and going home and sleeping in
about fifteen minutes. Gosh, you’ve
crushed my dreams!” He stopped, then chuckled.
“Don’t worry, mom, I’ll be here talking to Sienna.”
Jackie nodded
then went off.
Brian looked over
at Sienna. “So, I’d offer to sit, but this one won’t let me or she’ll start
screaming. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, it’s not a
problem. So, how’ve you been since we
last met?”
Brian
sighed. “I’ve been better, but I’m
trying to be happy and positive right now, you know?”
Sienna
frowned. “Is everything okay? Did you manage to talk to any of the
guys? I mean, I only saw Kevin here
tonight. Even though your mother invited
the other three, too.”
“She did?”
Brian’s face fell as he realized that three of his brothers hadn’t shown
up. “Goddammit! I might have been a bastard, but I can’t
believe this! If I had been angry at any of them, I still would’ve shown
up!” He handed the baby over to
Sienna. “Here, if you see Harry or my
mom, pass her onto them. I need
space.” And he strode towards the exit.
Sienna looked
down at Abby, who gurgled and smiled up at her.
“You know we have to go after your Uncle Brian, right? He can’t leave yet. And he can’t feel sorry for himself,
either. Even if the situation sucks,”
she muttered. And she began to wind her
way through towards the door Brian had disappeared through.
They looked like
a little family, Kevin thought as he watched his cousin holding the baby and
talking to the pretty brunette. Even as
he thought it, Brian passed Abby to the woman and stormed out. Kevin wondered what had caused the problem
and decided to go over and talk to the woman, but she disappeared out the door,
too. He thought about his options.
So, Brian had
been somewhat of a bastard at the last meeting the Boys had had, but that
didn’t mean he wasn’t still his cousin, his brother. Worse yet was the fact that he couldn’t even
talk to Brian. And, apparently, neither
could the other guys. He had gotten
calls from Howie and Nick wondering if they should go to the birthday
bash. Jackie had sent them invitations,
and they had been leery of seeing Brian, especially Nick. Kevin sighed, not wanting to think about the
mess they were in.
“You should see
what happened,” Kristin murmured.
Kevin turned to
look down into his wife’s grim face.
“And what? Get yelled at for interfering in his life? No thanks. I don’t need to handle another bratty
outburst from him.”
“Kevin! He’s your cousin. He’s gone through some rough shit in the last
couple years. Do you really think he
meant to break up the group?” Kristin asked him, annoyed. “Just stop being a baby and go talk to
him. He probably needs a friend as much
as you do.”
Kevin raised his
brows. “I am not a baby. And, I don’t need a friend. Baby, I just got hired by the Chicago company. I’m going to have all the friends I can
handle, thanks.” Then, seeing her look,
he winced. “Okay, okay. I’ll go talk to him.”
“And find out who
that woman is,” Kristin called after him.
Kevin strode out
the doors and spotted his cousin and the mystery woman talking outside, sitting
on the steps. Brian seemed angry, and
then he buried his face in his hands.
Kevin felt a twinge of regret and made his way out the doors.
“Brian?”
Brian’s head shot
up and he watched Kevin warily. “Hey
Kev. How’s it going?”
The woman sitting
next to him shook her head. “Honestly,
Brian. Talk to him. You’re not
going to feel any better until you talk to all of them. I’m going to head in because it’s too cold
out here for Abby.” As she stood, Brian
grabbed the hem of her dress.
“Sienna, I need
to talk to you, too. Can I drop by the
shop tomorrow?”
“Night?”
Sienna asked. At Brian’s nod, she
replied, “Actually, come by my house instead.
It’s out on Thatcher Road. Your
mother knows where it is. Ask her.” And then, she turned to Kevin. “I’m Sienna McKinnon. You must be Kevin. I am the florist who decorated for
tonight. It was nice to meet you. Now, talk.”
***
