Page 74 of A Cup of Autumn
He ordered another round.
“So you and Raine?” Brandt asked.
“He’s helping her with the Boo Bash,” Garrett said.
Brandt laughed. “Guess I know more than big brother for once.”
The bartender placed three pints of lager on the bar. Brandt handed them out.
“Wait.” Garrett held his glass. “You and Raine are going out?”
Keaton took a sip. The cold liquid went down smoothly. “No. We’re not dating, but we’ve been hanging out. Someone saw me kiss her forehead in a security tape, and the rumors have been flying ever since.”
Garrett’s brows drew together. “Raine knows you’re leaving, right?”
“It’s never been clearer that Callie truly is your mini-me. That should scare me more than it does.” Brandt drank.
Garrett’s jaw jutted forward. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Callie’s worried Keaton is leading Raine on,” Brandt answered before Keaton could.
“Are you?” Garrett asked a beat later.
“No.” Keaton didn’t know why everyone was so worried about Raine. The woman was so much stronger than people gave her credit for. “Raine knows what happened with my job and that I’m applying for a new one. I’ve been upfront about leaving Silver Falls. Satisfied?”
Garrett nodded, but his entire posture was tight like it was jury selection day. “Just be careful. You won’t be around here long, but the rest of us will have to live with the consequences of your actions.”
Keaton rolled his eyes. “No consequences, bro. I’m sure you’ve heard of swipe left and right. Those of us in ivory towers even participate in such activities as hanging out or spending time with someone you get along with.”
“True.” Garrett took a swig of beer. “But Raine doesn’t strike me as the casual dating type.”
“She admitted she’s not, but that’s not what we’re doing so it’s a nonissue.” Keaton didn’t want to tell them about her not knowing how to date and the practice one that set off all the gossip. “Trust me. She’s on board with this. One hundred percent.”
Brandt shook his head. “He sounds like Callie except for the deeper growly voice.”
That brought a laugh. Still, Keaton pinned his brother with a hard stare. “You might live in Silver Falls now, but I spent six weeks here this summer. That’s five weeks longer than you were here for the wedding. Give Raine some credit. She’s a grown woman, who is fine with what’s happening. If she wasn’t, she would stop it.”
“That’s true,” Brandt agreed. “Raine can take care of herself, which is what I told Callie.”
“Thanks for having my back.” Keaton raised his glass to his brother-in-law. “You’re right.”
“Hope you’re both correct.” Garrett, however, didn’t sound convinced. “It’s clear you’re not serious about her.”
Keaton flinched. “How do you know that?”
“If you cared about Raine, you wouldn’t be so flippant in the way you talk about her. You would have shut down this conversation as soon as it began.”
Brandt stared over his beer glass. “True that.”
Both were wrong. Keaton did care about her, or he wouldn’t have spent all day Friday going to every business in Silver Falls, including the market, asking them to put up the flyer.
He took a drink.
Flippant?
Keaton hadn’t been flippant. People had it all wrong, acting like Raine was a fragile porcelain doll when she was strong and independent. Those characteristics were finding their way into his story’s female protagonist.
Raine was both, or she never would have survived losing her parents, moving to a new town, and starting a coffee shop. But he wasn’t about to say that to Garrett and Brandt. That wasn’t being uncaring or flippant. The reason was the simplest of all—it was no one’s business.
