To See You Smile: A Heartwood Novella by Brea Viragh

Author:Brea Viragh [Viragh, Brea]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2018-01-03T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Maverick’s face turned incredulous when they got out of the car three days later. “Why would you want us to come to a kiddie fair?” he asked, slipping a pair of designer sunglasses from the case in his jacket pocket.

“I thought it would be a good chance to get out of the house,” Sawyer answered. When Maverick continued to glower, he said, “Trust me. You are going to enjoy this. It’s a town event.”

“I haven’t been to a fair since I was five.”

The damn sun was bright overhead, the expanse of blue sky uninterrupted. It was, for all intents and purposes, the perfect day.

It made Sawyer sick.

Not the day, really. But the fact that he was playing chauffeur for his brother and Daisy. Neither one of which looked pleased. It could have been the fact that he’d brought them to a carnival set up in the downtown park. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Ply them both with enough sugar to put them in a coma, then gently bring conversation around to the business proposition that had been all but forgotten the other night when Lorelei had to rush away.

She’d texted him later with an update on the brat. Allison, he reminded himself. Not brat. Heaven forbid he say anything of the sort in front of her. Or the two people behind him scoffing at the cotton candy vendor dressed as a clown.

Maverick and Daisy had grilled him extensively on the subject. Sawyer ended up doing what he did best: lying. Oh, the lies flowed smoothly from his tongue, about a relationship gone bad and Lorelei left to raise a kid on her own. Not knowing how close he came to the actual truth, Sawyer whipped up a tale of heartbreak and betrayal enough to have a single crease forming on Daisy’s Botox-ed face. Maverick appeared less than convinced. Especially when Sawyer spoke about wanting to adopt.

“You? Adopt? Don’t make me laugh.” Yet he’d done exactly that. For several minutes. It wasn’t the perfect end to the evening, and even the satisfaction of seeing Maverick’s initial jaw-dropping reaction hadn’t been enough to smooth over all the crinkles.

Sawyer turned away and watched the crowd strolling around the park, watched the sun glint off metal carnival rides erected over the last week. Was he trying to tug on Maverick’s nostalgia heartstrings? Damn straight.

“A good chance to get out of the house, sure. You know what would have also been good? A trip to a day spa. Or a local winery. Somewhere where children aren’t allowed to run wild.” Maverick paused to let a woman with a screaming toddler on her hip pass them. “I feel like we’re on safari.”

Sawyer snorted, and the three of them walked down the slight decline heading toward the ticket booth. “Put your tranquilizer darts away, man. And stop looking like you’re going to melt through my skin with your laser eyes. It’s a nice day to be out. Try to enjoy it. The birds are chirping, the sky is blue…” He wiggled his fingers for emphasis.

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