gotten wiser, especially Colt. He’d taken to preempting their dad, but not always. There’d been times when none of them had been able to avoid the drunken fits.
And so as Chance turned the handle to the front door, he braced himself. He hadn’t been inside since his brother’s wedding, not even when he’d returned home last night, and he really wasn’t sure what to expect.
“Anyone home?” he called, though he knew there was. He took two steps and then stopped.
Where before there’d been a small sitting room and a room beyond, there was now open space. The wall he’d been thrown against as a twelve-year-old—after he’d dared to tell his dad he was too sick to walk to school—had been removed. The kitchen was still to his right, but the wall separating it from the sitting room had been removed. The whole first floor was open, and it felt so different that he instantly relaxed.
“We’re up here,” a female voice called. His sister-in-law, Natalie. “In your old room.”
He caught Carolina’s eye. She couldn’t seem to stop her gaze from moving around the room, as if she were in awe of the scope of the place, and maybe even a little intimidated.
“I’ll stay down here,” she said.
“No. Come up. I’m sure they won’t mind.”
He glanced around again. It was like a whole new home.
Maybe that was the point.
He glanced at Carolina. She clearly didn’t want to go, but he touched her shoulder and urged her forward. He could feel the tension beneath his hand as they headed toward the stairs on the left. The staircase was the one thing that hadn’t changed. The oak banister he’d tried to slide down still existed. His father used to make them march up those stairs when they’d been bad. Chance remembered looking up at the top landing, heart pounding...
Enough.
That was in the past. He was a different person. Not the frightened child who’d grown up with an abusive father. And this was a different house. Pictures of Natalie jumping the most amazing horses hung on the stairwell wall. Pictures of his brother, too, at rodeos and reining competitions. Pictures of Natalie’s protégée, Laney, in the winner’s circle. And in the middle of it all, a picture of the three of them, Colt, Claire and Chance, blown up big, and smiling. He was young. His mom held him in her lap, which meant his dad must have taken the picture.
“Is that you?” Carolina asked.
He jerked his gaze away from the image. “Yup.” He tapped the picture. “And Claire and Colt.” Not that anyone would need to be told. They all had dark hair. Only the eyes were different. Colt’s were hazel, Claire’s and his own eyes were green.
“You were so young,” she observed.
“Yes, we were.”
There had been good times, he reminded himself, heading the rest of the way up the stairs before she could ask any more questions. His trip down memory lane had started to sink his mood, and he refused to let his father have that kind of power over him. Not ever again.
“Hey, guys,” he said, stopping before his old room, first door on the left, a smile instantly lifting his lips. It looked as though a box factory had exploded.
“Hey, you two,” Natalie said, returning his grin somewhat sheepishly as she, too, peered around the room, her hands on her pregnant belly.
“How’d you sleep?” Colt asked with an equally wide smile, getting up from the floor and dodging some boxes. After Colt had finished thumping him on the back, he leaned back and clutched his shoulders. It was good to look into his brother’s eyes.
Chance chuckled. “I never made it off the couch.”
“You didn’t?”
He shook his head. “Just stripped down to my Skivvies and passed out.”
He glanced at Carolina. She had the same look on her face as someone who’d just discovered their zipper was down. He almost felt bad for her. Almost. He’d never been one to resist teasing a person.
“Lucky I wasn’t naked when Carolina here came bursting through the door this afternoon.”
“I didn’t burst,” she said, tipping her chin up before looking at his brother and his wife. “I thought the place was empty.”
“She knew I was half-naked and wanted a glimpse of my hot stud flesh.”
Carolina gasped.
“Chance!” his sister-in-law said. “Quit teasing her. You’re making her uncomfortable.”
He almost said that was the point, but held his tongue. The blush staining Carolina’s cheeks was adorable.
Adorable?
Best not to dwell on that too long.
“I’m glad he was able to help you out,” Colt said to Carolina. “Although I think you should start leaving a spare set of keys here.”
“I think you’re right,” she grumbled.
It was then that Chance noticed what his brother and sister-in-law were doing. “Wow.”
“Baby equipment,” Colt explained, going back to his position on the floor and picking up a screwdriver. “Changing table, crib, a new dresser that should have taken me ten minutes to put together.” He rubbed his jaw. “But it’s been a little longer than that.”
“Because he won’t listen.” Natalie’s blue eyes were clearly teasing.
“Why should I follow the directions?” Colt asked. “Obviously, they’re for dummies. We’re not dummies. I can figure it out on my own.”
Natalie tsked. “Said the man who built the chicken coop that fell down two days later.”
Colt shook his head, his eyes seeming to ask the question, can you believe her? But he smiled, and Chance had to admit, it was good to see. Colt had waited to join the army until Chance was old enough to get out of the house, too. Claire had already fled, married to Marcus, and so both he and Colt had left for the military together. The difference was that Colt had done only one tour, then returned home to nurse their ailing father—Lord only knew why—while Chance had stayed. Truthfully, the military suited him better. He loved how everything was black-and-white. He relished the camaraderie. The simplicity of being told what to do—and then doing it. His brother hadn’t had a good experience in the military, whereas Chance fit in like a foot in a boot. He couldn’t wait to go back, this time as a private contractor. More money for doing basically the same job, and a career he loved.
“So what can we do you for?” Colt asked, picking up a small square of wood.
Carolina had been quiet beside him, which struck him as odd. He doubted she was quiet very often, but she seemed to be waiting for him to explain.
“Carolina was wondering if she could sleep in the apartment instead of me.”
That stopped Colt. Natalie looked up from reading the directions.
