“That’s not much.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Zach winced as he told Brandon the sum.
“That’s fine for me.” Brandy pushed to his feet. “It was sitting here unused anyway, and you’ll have the disadvantage of sharing the yard with me.”
Zach lifted the phone to his ear and passed on the good news, then signed off. He handed the phone to Brandy, not letting his end go. “That’s no disadvantage.” A strange tension shimmered in the air and Zach wriggled it away. “Right. Can you send this address to the number I just called? Then, book-shelvage.”
The Mustang door banged shut and the car peeled away from the curb with a chipper hoot. Noah turned with a quiet sigh as it tailed around a bend.
“Noah!” Zach raced down the zig-zag path. “Wade’s not coming up?”
“He has to get back for dinner with Francesca.” Two firm hands locked onto his shoulders. “I’m not sure whether to hug you or shake you, Zach.”
“Do I get a vote? ‘Cause I have a slight preference.”
Noah hauled him into a hug, surrounding Zach with his calming, unusually over-deod presence.
He tried not to make a big deal coughing and everything.
Noah groan-laughed. “I didn’t pack, did I? There were only two deodorant options at the store. I chose the wrong one.”
“And went wild with it.”
“The spray thingy was very light to the touch. Wade laughed the entire drive back.”
“Windows open.”
Noah snorted. “Yes.” He pulled back, the humour in his eyes crystalising to concern. “The peninsula, Zach? Are you sure you didn’t misunderstand the rent?”
Zach tugged him up the ferny hill to Brandy’s beautiful bach. His lungs were on fire. This climb was, like, all the gym one needed. And Brandy had done this multiple times—with books!
He owed the guy a massage or something.
Noah looked more and more ashen as they rounded the main house. Zach wasn’t used to being the comforter, but he liked the idea. He ruffled his brother’s hair. “How was your weekend? You and Wade in love?”
“I like him very much.”
Zach halted.
He hadn’t had ‘things to do’ on Saturday so they could go about ‘liking’ one another. They were supposed to be enthralled by passion. Burning to be together every minute of the day. “You like him?”
“Very much.”
“Dude.”
“Zach.”
“I thought . . . your gazes at one another were pure longing.”
Noah laughed. “Look, I don’t want to jinx anything before we’ve really explored it. But” —a quiet smile tipped Noah’s lips— “trust that my feelings are stronger than I voice.”
“That sounds better.”
“He is very affectionate. And we had . . . a moment.”
“You guys did it?”
“Not all intimacy is validated by coming, Zach.”
Zach clutched his heart. “Of course not!” He dropped his hands. “But, you know, it does feel good.”
“I suspect your lustful whims are why you’re always confusing your dates with love at first sight.”
Well! One good look at him and Noah said the exact thing that Zach had been mulling over all day. He was an observatory genius. “That won’t be a problem anymore. I’m getting a t-shirt made.” He snatched Noah’s arm. “Let me introduce you to our new landlord—oh, look, he’s coming out to meet us.”
Noah halted abruptly as Brandy closed the distance. That smile of his. So Brandy.
“Brandon Morland?” Noah swivelled to Zach. “Your new friend is the owner of Ask Austen Studios?”
So.
Huh.
Zach dragged his eyes from bewilderment to bemusement. “Brandy, a moment.”
He marched his new friend to a thick patch of purple cosmos and fiddled with his fedora.
“If you’d let me get a word in edgewise, I’d have told you earlier.”
“So you . . . really are the owner? Because that would be . . .”
“Humiliating?” A chuckle. “It’s okay.”
“Right. Humiliating . . .” Zach edged closer to him. “Um, not fortuitous?”
“Wait. You’re not even a little embarrassed?”
Zach just stared at him. “Sure?”
Brandy’s expression morphed through several variations on shocked and incredulous.
“Come on, Brandy. Come. On. How is this not the most hilarious thing that’s happened to you all—”
“My life? Well, I suppose—”
“All week, Brandy!” Zach gaped in horror. “Are you telling me I rank in the top five funniest moments of your life? Because dude. New mission. Show you what you’ve been missing.”
Brandy contemplated that with a slight tilt of his head, his gaze searching Zach’s eyes like he might uncover all the truths of the universe he hadn’t discovered yet. He cleared his throat. “I know what’s missing.”
“Good thing you found me.” Such a kind-hearted man needed more laughter in his life. “My brother looks like he has a few wisdoms to impart.”
He steered Brandy back to a three-way conversation that consisted mostly of Noah’s surprise, and how many good things he’d heard about Brandy through Elliot and Wentworth, and Brandy’s assurance he was happy for them to have the cottage.
At the end of it, they turned to Zach expectantly. He threw his arms around their shoulders and drew them in. “How about something to eat?”
