He’d thought about it a lot, but he couldn’t believe she would walk away. “You’re worried she’s going to wake up one day and realize it’s time to get back to her real life. But you’re wrong. She’ll settle in.”
His brother was staring at him. “Now I’m really worried.”
“What did I do?” Zep seemed to be pushing all of his brother’s buttons today.
“You’re more invested in this than I thought.”
Had his brother not been listening? “I told you. I’m crazy about her. I want this to work. You’re right. It is time to settle down. Some people settle down around a job, a career. Maybe I want to settle down with a woman. Maybe I want her to be the center of my world, and I’ll do whatever I have to do to make that happen. Maybe making Roxie happy is my reason for living.”
His brother went silent, and it was a moment before he reached for the door. “I hope she lets you, brother. I think you should take this week to talk to her about what you want, what she wants. Don’t assume you know what a woman wants deep down. I did and it cost me and Lisa a lot of time we could have spent together.”
He knew his brother’s story. He’d made assumptions about the woman who would become his wife, and he’d been so wrong. But Zep had made a careful study of Roxanne King. His problem was the opposite of what Remy and Lisa faced in the beginning. “You’re worried she doesn’t truly want me.”
“I’m worried she doesn’t understand you yet,” Remy explained. “You don’t let anyone in. I know you get frustrated because you think no one sees you, but you’re the one who hides behind a mask. You’re the one who smiles and charms and never gets real with anyone. Until you do, you can’t expect her to pick you because she doesn’t know you.”
“Everyone knows me.” It wasn’t like he was an introvert.
“No. I don’t think anyone truly knows you, little brother. I’m going to give you some advice, and then I promise I will let you be. If you care about Roxie, be vulnerable with her. Show her all the places where you ache. It’s the only way you’ll know if she’s the one who can ease you.”
Remy walked inside, but Zep stayed for a moment, his brother’s words looming over him.
The thought of being vulnerable made him nearly ill. If he was vulnerable, he would have to be honest with her. Honest about his hopes and dreams. Honest about why he let them all go.
He wasn’t sure he could do it.
He walked in and past the kitchen. When he got to the dining room floor, she was there at a big table, surrounded by her family. Her mother was talking a mile a minute about everything that had happened in New York since Roxie had left. The future sister-in-law nodded and agreed with everything Pamela said. Her father and brother were in a deep conversation, and Roxie turned his way. Her eyes lit up and he was struck by how much he loved looking at her. It wasn’t merely about how gorgeous she was. There was something about this woman that comforted him, an inner light within her that spoke to him, focused him.
Save me, she mouthed, and then a brilliant smile came over her face.
He practically ran to get to her, sliding into the seat next to hers. “Now that old gator is off for the night and out of our hair.” He wasn’t going to mention that Sera and Harry saw Otis out by the B and B most nights. Nope. That could be his sister’s problem. “We can settle down and I can tell you all about the amazing things your daughter’s been doing for the parish. Did she tell you about saving a bunch of people when the clinic was on fire? The old clinic, not the new one.”
Pamela’s eyes had gone wide. “You were in a fire?”
Roxie shook her head. “It was fine.”
“It blew a bunch of oxygen tanks, and she managed to save Armie and Lila.” No one ever said he didn’t have an excellent imagination, though he was sure Armie would agree Roxie had been intensely helpful that night. Again, she’d run in when everyone else had been running out. “She helped save her ex and his new girlfriend.”
“She didn’t mention that,” Tony said.
“That sounds a lot like the time I chased a perp into a burning warehouse,” her brother, Brian, began.
Pamela put out a hand. “Yes, dear, we all know about that. I want to hear about my daughter.”
Roxie’s hand slid over Zep’s and she inched closer to him. “I don’t know about that. Zep here has been known to embellish.”
He didn’t think of it as embellishment. He thought of it as being able to tell a good story, and she’d been at the center of a bunch of them since she’d taken the job here. “Roxie is a hero around these parts.”