Page 112 of Legally Mine

Chapter 26

Despite my best plans to convince Eric to join me on my impromptu family vacation, he pled the need to study through the long weekend, and I couldn't argue with that. I'd have to compartmentalize my time carefully through the weekend just to make sure I didn't fall behind. With the bar exam only three weeks away, I couldn't afford to waste time, and I was pushing it with this weekend in the first place.

But although I could have canceled, I found I didn't want to. Despite all of the complications in our lives, Brandon and I were learning to deal with them together, and I didn't want to dismiss that progress.

In the interest of my time constraints, Brandon insisted on flying me out to Cape Cod via helicopter on Friday. I'd initially fought it, but it wasn't hard that for him to convince me to take advantage of his generosity for once. I couldn't study on the bus, and I needed all the time I could get.

I landed on a massive grass compound just after three in the afternoon on Friday. I had spent most of the short trip in awe, with headphones protecting my ears from the roar of the rotors while I watched the coastline through the glass windows.

When I stepped out of the helicopter, the combination of the wind coming off the waterfront and the whir of the rotor blades plastered my hair against my face. When I finally managed to tame it into a ponytail, I found Brandon jogging across the lawn. The wind pressed the fabric of his T-shirt and jeans against his torso in a way that left little to the imagination, his tanned skin healthy against the white of his shirt. Even with the vivid green of the grass, the bright blue of the sky, and the glow of the sunlight, his smile still outshone everything.

"Hey!"

I was picked up off the ground and swung around several times. I wrapped my arms around Brandon's neck and laughed.

"Welcome to the Cape!" he yelled over the rotors with another grin and a hearty kiss. He set me down and accepted the bags from the pilot in exchange for what was likely a sizable tip. "Thanks, Tony!"

The pilot nodded. "Anytime, Mr. Sterling! You enjoy your vacation, Miss Crosby!"

I followed Brandon across the lawn, forced to hold the edges of my skirt as the helicopter started taking off. It wasn't until it was well on its way that I was able to let go of the fabric and look around the property as we walked.

Brandon's house stood on several acres of land that created a luxurious solitude in the crowded Northeast. The property included a bluff overlooking a small bay, and was mostly scattered with trees around the big green lawn. It eventually dipped down to a beach of white sand and a rocky edge, Brandon informed me, though I couldn't see it from where we walked.

The house itself was large but not enormous, and of typical Cape Cod style: a simple, square shape covered with weathered gray shingles and white shutters and trim. It boasted a wrap-around porch and a deck that extended a good thirty feet onto the lawn. There was a kidney-shaped pool behind the deck, along with basketball and tennis courts beyond that.

Brandon led me up the deck stairs and through French doors that opened into a spacious living room. Everything was bright and airy, with high, white-beamed ceilings and a rustic, open floor plan. A living room situated around a large stone fireplace opened directly into a chef's kitchen, next to which was a farmhouse table that could seat at least twelve.

Like all of the spaces Brandon inhabited, it was big, but unlike his penthouse rental and the opulent mansion on the Commons, this house actually felt lived in. Although the kitchen was luxurious, the appliances were likely fifteen or twenty years old. The furniture, mostly leather sofas and weathered wood pieces, looked well used.

Brandon dropped my bags inside the French doors and pulled me to his body. He had been in Washington D.C. all week on business and had flown directly here. We hadn't been able to see each other since Sunday. There had been chats and texts, of course, but things felt...tenuous again. I wondered if we would ever get rid of that feeling completely.

Blue eyes or green? I wondered. Shut up, I thought right back.

"I missed you this week," Brandon murmured as he wrapped me up in his kiss.

I smiled against his lips and bit down on the bottom one lightly.

"Me too," I said. "Thanks for the helicopter ride, by the way. That was ridiculously fun."

Brandon winked. "Anytime. I don't want to wait for you any longer than I have to."

I closed my eyes, luxuriating in his familiar, almond-laced scent. Maybe I'd regret not spending the holiday weekend holed up with my study guide, but I was thrilled to be here right now.

"Come on, Red," Brandon said. "Let me give you a tour."

My hand clasped firmly in his, Brandon took me around the rest of house. Aside from the great room, the bottom floor also included a TV lounge and an office that was clearly Brandon's domain, plastered with Red Sox paraphernalia and a bunch of Star Wars collectibles. The desk was covered with a mess of papers and two open laptop computers. I glanced around with a smile––this was a side of Brandon I loved so much: the hometown boy, the Red Sox fan, the closeted dork who couldn't quite manage to pick up his workspace.

The tour continued upstairs, through a hallway lined with three guest bedrooms, all with en suite bathrooms, and stopped at the master suite at the end. A pair of double-doors opened into a room that included a white king-sized bed against a wall that faced an atrium-style window looking over the bay. A glass door opened to a smaller private deck and a set of sun-bleached Adirondack chairs.

I turned back to Brandon, who stood in the doorway of the room, watching me as I checked everything out. I grinned.

"This place is amazing," I said.

His face exploded with a grin.

"I'm glad you like it," he admitted. "It's kind of my favorite place on the planet."

I found myself looking for signs of Miranda; after all, they owned this house together. I walked up to the atrium window and pressed my fingertips against the glass panes while I looked at the water. Had they had good memories here together? They must have. I couldn't imagine being unhappy in a place like this.