Between Then and Now Read Online Free

they weren’t the same. Reassure
himself too, if he was being honest.
    He looked at his phone again, for what felt
like the twentieth time that day, and it was only eight in the
morning.
    “ Waiting for a call?” He started at
the male voice behind him and turned to see his younger brother
leaning against the kitchen counter. “I saw Carrie leaving with the
kids, she said to let myself in and grab a cup of
coffee.”
    “ Hey. Yeah, help yourself.” He
gestured at the pot.
    “ You’re distracted.”
    Ian shrugged. “What are you doing here before
school?”
    “ I need to borrow your chop saw,
going to lay some flooring tonight.” Kyle had recently bought an
old schoolhouse, just outside of town, and was renovating it
himself. He’d put up with a fair number of jokes about it being a
fitting abode for an elementary school teacher, but Ian had to
admit, it was the perfect bachelor pad. And Kyle was a committed
bachelor, swearing off love after two disastrous
relationships.
    “ You need help?”
    “ Nah. Evan’s in town, and he’ll
probably convince Ty to come along too.” The West brothers were as
opposite as night and day, but they worked well together—so well,
in fact, that they’d gone into business together, starting a
fledgling winery and, more recently, starting to invest in downtown
Wardham real estate. Ian wasn’t as close to them as his brother
was, but he had a lot of respect for the Wests.
    “ The saw’s in the garage, hang
on.” He stepped through the adjoining door from the kitchen into
the clutter of his garage. There was just enough room to park his
bike there. Carrie’s SUV lived outside.
    Kyle followed him, whistling when he got to
the door.
    “ Shut up.”
    “ You got a big project here, man.
Gonna make the little lady park outside all winter?”
    “ First of all, don’t call her
that.” Ian grabbed the big saw, made sure the safety latch was on,
and thumped it into his brother’s chest. “Second of all, I’ve got
more important things to worry about.”
    “ Nothing’s more important than your
woman.”
    “ What would you know about
that?”
    Kyle’s jaw tightened at that, but instead of
answering, he stepped back to the kitchen and set the saw down on
the floor.
    “ So, I talked to Evan.” Ah. The
real reason for the visit. “You know what you’re doing?”
    “ Yep.”
    “ If I could just give you some
advice—”
    “ I don’t want, or need, your
advice.”
    “ Carrie’s going to be
pissed.”
    “ You let me worry about
Carrie.”
    “ Are you?”
    Ian crossed his arms over his chest. He was
the big brother in every way, taller, older and his job was more
physical, so he probably had ten extra pounds of muscle on Kyle,
but he didn’t relish the thought of pounding his brother into the
ground. Much. “I don’t see how that’s your business.”
    “ She’s like my sister. And she’s
had a rough year.”
    “ How would you know
that?”
    “ I see her, at Mom and Dad’s,
around town. Always has the kids with her, juggling a cake or
groceries. You’ve been absent, man.”
    “ I’ve been working,
Kyle.”
    “ Is that what she
wants?”
    “ It’s what we need.”
    “ Are you in financial
trouble?”
    God, no. He didn’t want Carrie to ever
experience the poverty of her childhood again. “We’re fine. I’m
just building up a cushion, paying down the mortgage. Trying to get
ahead.”
    “ Don’t be a hero. Talk to Carrie.
Maybe she doesn’t understand.”
    Maybe Kyle didn’t understand how this wasn’t
any of his business. “Got it.”
    “ Don’t shoot the
messenger.”
    “ I said—Hey, you know who we
haven’t talked about in a while?”
    “ Okay, point made.”
    “ No, I don’t think it was. What
happened last year after the funeral?” Kyle didn’t need to answer
that. He’d gone on a bender and broken up with his live-in
girlfriend after seeing Laney Calhoun at her father’s funeral. Kyle
and Evie’s sister had dated in college, and