Walker Bride by Bernadette Marie

hair. “This is very confusing to me,” he said as he
adjusted the cap back low over his forehead. “I’ll tell you what.
Find another partner. I like her.”
    “There is no one else. No one I trust
enough.”
    He bit down hard, so hard his jaw popped.
Family was more important than any amount of money or any degree of
lust. He knew that. He abided by that. And right now it really
sucked.
    Pulling his keys from his pocket, he leaned
in and kissed his sister on the cheek. “Tell Pearl I’m sorry I
won’t be joining you.”
    Tyson started for the door with Lydia
following. “Where are you going?”
    “You made it very clear I can’t help you and
have her. I think you’re wrong, but you two had this arrangement
first. I’ll always choose you, Lydia. You’re my family, my blood,
my sister.”
     
    Pearl walked down the stairs and straight to
the kitchen to find Lydia standing there alone.
    “I heard the door.”
    Lydia wrinkled up her nose and closed her
eyes tight before opening them and looking at Pearl. “Tyson left. I
think I upset him.”
    Trying to make it seem as if it didn’t
matter, she simply nodded. “Okay, then just you and I for
brunch?”
    “You’re not mad?”
    “Mad that you pissed off your brother? No,
should I be?” She gathered her purse off the kitchen table. “Do you
want to drive or shall I?”
    Lydia studied her for a moment. “You can
drive. We can head over to the new building and look at it too.
Sometimes just looking at it makes my day better.”
    “That sounds like a plan.”
    Pearl and Lydia walked to the front door, and
Pearl locked it behind them.
    What had happened while she was in the
shower, she wondered. Perhaps it was good that Lydia arrived when
she had. Pearl’s family was temperamental enough. Did she really
need a man in her life that was the same? After all, if he’d walked
out because of some little disagreement with his sister, he wasn’t
too open to others then.
    All the better.
    Right now her focus needed to be on her
business. This venture with Lydia had to work out, or Pearl could
lose everything, and she wasn’t willing to risk that, not even over
a man that made her melt into a pile of goo as Tyson Morgan
did.

Chapter Eleven
     
    Brunch was excellent. Lydia filled the entire
morning with talk of exciting plans for their business. She’d been
in contact with a woman named Gia Gallo, who owned a small store
not far from Pearl’s bridal store.
    “She’s this tiny Italian woman who sells
gifts from Italy. She remembered seeing Bethany in her store before
when I mentioned that I knew her.”
    Pearl lifted a bite of eggs to her lips. “You
were name dropping?”
    “Seriously, when you can, you do.”
    Pearl wasn’t sure Bethany would like that
much, but she wasn’t going to say anything. Lydia’s hands flew
about as she told her that Gia had agreed to open her location in
their building.
    “So not a wedding mecca anymore?” Pearl
asked.
    “She has beautiful lace from Venice.
Something old and blue?”
    “That’s all?”
    Lydia laughed. “No. That’s not all. She comes
with rent.”
    Pearl had to look at it, in the same way,
Lydia did. It was a business. They were doing this to make money
and a lot of it.
    However, her mind wasn’t focused on the
business at hand at all. It was wandering off to Tyson and
wondering why he’d left without another word.
    She continued to listen to Lydia talk about
her plans all the while wondering if Tyson would show up on her
front stop for a third time tomorrow.
     
    ~*~
     
    Lydia’s truck pulled up the drive toward the
Walker’s barn. Right on time, Tyson thought as he pulled a beer
from the cooler he had on the tailgate of his truck.
    He watched as his sister parked and climbed
out of her truck, an enormous smile on her face.
    “What are you doing here?” she asked as she
walked toward him.
    “Waiting for you.” He held out the beer to
her, and she took it. “Still can’t convince you to to keep