Chapter Twenty-Three

Davis knew he had ruined things. And no words were going to fix that. But he couldn’t leave Thailand with things as they were. Because Chloe thought he didn’t love her. That he didn’t need her. That Davis could fly back across the ocean and not regret it every single moment.

Like he’d been regretting his words since she’d left their hotel room the night before.

This morning Chloe had demanded he not tell her of his regrets. Told him not to declare his love. So he hadn’t.

Davis saw now that that had been a mistake.

He glanced at his phone. His parents should be arriving in the next couple of hours.

No, words couldn’t fix things—he’d never been very good with those anyway. Obviously. His current situation was evidence of that.

Davis was more a man of action. He showed he cared about someone by repairing something for them. Or by giving up a hardware store to be with the woman he loved.

And by Chloe’s own admission, she loved him too.

Which meant he had work to do.

* * * * * *

Davis ran out to meet the tuk-tuk the moment it skidded around the corner, his parents and brothers clinging on to both the vehicle and their luggage.

“You brought the clothes?” he asked as his brothers stumbled out with their suitcases.

“And a hello to you too,” Will said, grinning, his face red from the heat of the day. “You could have just borrowed some of my and Randy’s clothes, you know. We wouldn’t have minded.”

Davis smirked. “Where’s the fun in that?” It was then that he noticed his brothers were soaking wet, as was the tuk-tuk. “Songkran?”

“Songkran,” Randy said, stepping out beside his brother. He looked Davis up and down, as if surveying him. “You know, you seem awfully dry for this time of year. Too dry.”

Davis knew from experience that he wouldn’t last that way for much longer if his brothers had anything to say about it. “Trust me, I know. But that’s going to change pretty quick. I need to go into town for some hardware and wondered if after you guys got checked in, you would want to come with.”

Will and Randy exchanged curious looks, as their mom came up from behind with her own suitcase. “Why don’t you help me get all this up to our rooms first?”

Will was still looking Davis up and down as if trying to figure out what his brother was up to. “You find a squeaky door in the hotel or something?”

“Something like that.” The fewer details his brothers knew, the better. At least, for now. “Oh, and keep your eyes open for stores selling water guns. I could use a couple dozen.”

Will and Randy no longer eyed their brother with suspicion, no longer caring what he was up to, as long as they could hose someone down. No wonder this was their favorite time of year.

As Davis discovered an hour later, visiting a Thai hardware store wasn’t exactly the same experience as an American one. They had all the same supplies, except the store was open in the front, no doors to walk through. No air conditioning except the fans strategically placed along the aisles. And that was just the beginning of the challenges of shopping in a foreign country.

Everything was packaged differently, and Davis had a difficult time finding what he needed. In the end, it was a good thing Will and Randy had come along. It turned out that their Thai wasn’t half bad, and they were able to help him find everything plus several water guns and buckets.

“So, who do we get to spray down?” Randy asked, cocking one of the guns like he was ready to attack the first person he saw plus everyone else in a hundred-yard radius.

“They aren’t for you,” Davis said, unable to resist smiling at his brothers’ shocked expressions.

“You said they were for Songkran. You tricked us. How could you betray us like that?” Will pantomimed being stabbed in the heart, then fell to the dirt just outside the hardware store.

“I promise you’ll have the chance. But not right now. We have work to do first.”

“On our vacation?” Randy protested. He turned to his twin. “I told you we should have stayed in Chiang Mai.”

That gave Davis pause. “You didn’t want to come up here?”

Both boys looked at the ground, their ears turning red. They hadn’t wanted Davis to know. “It’s just…this is what you like to do. Work. And we were kind of looking forward to relaxing for a few days before moving to our next site,” Will admitted.

Davis wondered if this was the real reason they’d never come home to visit him in Starlight Ridge. Because they’d fly halfway around the world to work alongside their brother. Which apparently wasn’t on a teenager’s list of favorite things to do.

“Look, there are a couple of things I need to do today. But Songkran lasts longer up here in the north, right? That means tomorrow is all about fun.” He glanced between his brothers, hoping they’d see the big picture, even if they didn’t understand it.

“You don’t need to fix the hotel’s fixtures. It’s not your job,” Randy protested once more, obviously hoping he could change his brother’s mind about putting them to work the moment they’d arrived in town.

“This has nothing to do with the hotel.” Davis paused, wondering how much to tell the twins. They weren’t exactly known for being able to keep a secret. “What if I told you that my life depends on it?”

Will raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You’re going to keel over and die if you don’t fix something today? That’s a little extreme, even for you.”

Davis laughed and shook his head. “No, I mean, my life life. I need to prove to someone that I’m not going anywhere—that I’m here to stay.”

“Like, you wouldn’t be going back to Starlight Ridge?” Randy asked, his words slow and calculated.

“No.”

Will caught on quicker than his brother. He laughed. “I never thought I’d see the day you’d actually like a girl, but I have to say, you chose well.”

“Woman,” Davis corrected. “And I was actually engaged once a couple of years ago. I’ll have to tell you the story sometime.” He expected the usual pangs of guilt and pain to attack him as he thought of Bridgette, but they didn’t come. Instead he felt gratitude that he’d had her in his life for even the short time he had.

“So, what did you have in mind?” Will asked.

Davis clapped his hands together. “Have either of you ever built a boat?”