The Cinnamon Bun Book Store (Dream Harbor, #2)(55)

‘Congrats by the way.’

‘Thanks.’ She pinched the bridge of her nose like she did when she had a headache coming on. ‘We were going to tell you soon, there’s just been a few complications so we didn’t want to jump the gun . . .’

‘Complications?’ Noah’s heart dropped into his stomach.

‘Yeah, we weren’t sure at first if it would ... if we would...’ She waved her hand in front of the screen, brushing away her worry, but suddenly the dark circles under her eyes were obvious, the furrow between her brow deeper. ‘Everything’s better now. Just hoping I don’t have to go on bedrest.’

‘Bedrest?’ he croaked. ‘Jesus, Rach.’

She gave him a weak smile and Noah’s heart broke. His strong, seemingly invincible sister was hurting and here he was only thinking about his own bullshit.

‘Just come home for the holidays, okay? I don’t know what story you’ve been telling yourself about everyone being mad at you or disappointed or whatever. All any of us care about is you.’

First his nieces’ little faces and now this?

‘It’s not a story, Rach. You know how Dad felt about me dropping out. And then leaving the business...’ All his excuses seemed so feeble now in the face of his sister’s stress.

‘Yeah. He wanted what was best for you! But you need to let it go. He has. And the business is just fine, thank you very much.’

‘I didn’t mean it like that.’ He knew his sisters did an amazing job with the business, but he also knew his parents were upset with his decision, that for years they’d imagined all their children working together on what they’d built. And he’d ruined that.

Noah had talked to his parents since he left, but there was always an undercurrent of disappointment, of them waiting for him to get his shit together. But maybe he was wrong? Maybe they just wanted him to be ... okay.

‘Just think about it, Noah. I don’t want your new niece or nephew to only know you as a face on a screen, okay?’

He nodded, the sudden emotion at the thought of having a new little person in his life clogging his throat.

‘And if you want to bring a guest for Thanksgiving ... we can make room.’

‘What guest would I bring?’

Rachel tried to look innocent but she’d always been a terrible liar. ‘The girls mentioned you’d had a sleepover the last time they called you. Sorry about that, by the way.’

Noah shrugged. ‘It’s okay.’

‘Anyway, if that sleepover person is serious, feel free to bring them.’

‘It’s not serious.’

Rachel arched a dark eyebrow. His sisters both ended up with dark hair. He was the only one who got the ginger hair from their father’s family. ‘And why not?’

He huffed. ‘I don’t do serious, Rach.’

Somehow she still had the uncanny older sister ability to sniff out his bullshit. ‘You could, though. You could make it serious with this person.’

‘Woman.’

‘With this woman. What does she think?’

What did she think? He thought he knew, but in his current state he wasn’t feeling super confident about anything.

He shrugged. ‘She’s just looking for some casual fun, like me.’

Rachel frowned again, a deep crease forming between her brows. ‘Casual can turn into serious. You know me and Patrick started out as a one-night stand.’

‘I didn’t need to know that.’

‘Well, I wasn’t going to get into the details!’

Noah laughed and it felt good. It felt good to be chatting with his sister again. Maybe he really would go to Thanksgiving with his family. Maybe he wouldn’t spend the whole time thinking about all the ways he’d screwed up over the years.

Maybe he would bring Hazel.

‘I’ll think about it. About bringing a guest, I mean.’

Rachel smiled. ‘Great. That makes this emotional, pregnant lady really happy.’

The next words left his mouth before he could think about them. ‘Maybe I should come home sooner...’

Rachel’s eyes widened. ‘Sooner?’

‘Yeah, I mean, I have a few more weeks of tours booked, but then maybe I should come home and help out for a bit ... you know, until you’re feeling better.’

The relieved smile that lit up his sister’s face sealed the deal. He needed to go home.

‘Noah, that would be ... wonderful.’

‘I can’t do most of what you do.’

‘Oh, I know that,’ she said with a laugh. ‘But we have plenty of ways we could put you to work. With Patrick still on deployment, having you here would be a huge help.’ She wiped a tear with the back of her hand, shaking her head. ‘Sorry. Pregnancy emotions.’

‘Don’t worry about it.’ Noah was on an emotional roller coaster of his own. What had he just agreed to?

Shrieks from the background caught Rachel’s attention.

‘Yikes, sounds like you should go.’

Her eyes rolled heavenward again. ‘Mom will be here soon to take over, but wish me luck in the meantime.’

‘Good luck. Talk to you soon.’

Rachel gave him one more watery smile before a crash had her scrambling off the phone to go investigate.