Chapter 1
One
Peter
If one more person comes in this building I’m going to lose it. Every year it’s the same thing. People all of a sudden realize it’s New Year’s Eve and rush to grab the alcohol they forgot to purchase for their parties.
The fact they’re making bottles of wine fall off the shelf isn’t the problem.
It’s the part where they wait until the last possible second to come in.
Now would be a perfect time for Pierce to look at being stocked in stores.
We can do other things to bring people to the winery.
I know Piper has some ideas. She was telling me about them in the Fall.
“Peter, we need three more bottles of sangria.” Phillip hollers from the backyard of the main building. He’s lucky I have the door open and can hear him.
“I’m coming with a whole case. Give me a few seconds.”
“Speed it up.”
Pfft. He thinks rushing me is going to make me move faster, he has another thing coming. I’m ready for the day to be over so I can go home and play video games.
“We should have closed early today.” I grumble as I load a case with bottles of sangria. Piper needs to stop telling our followers it’s her favorite. We can barely keep it in stock.
Lifting the case I head toward the door. I probably should have grabbed a dolly to take in more. But…the less time I spend in the main building the less I have to interact with people.
There is a line to the door when I walk into the main house. Am I surprised? No. Not in the slightest. The only plus side to us being this busy today is the rest of the day will go by quickly. I can’t rest when I’m running crates back and forth.
“Peter, can you jump back here and help me get this line moving?” Piper asks as she takes a credit card from a customer.
Of course she’d ask. Where are literally any of our other siblings? It’s funny how all of them have disappeared when we have a full house.
“Do you really need me? I was going to grab a few more crates to get us through the day.”
Instead of answering, she glares at me. Point taken. You’d think she’d be nicer to me since I was the one who took care of her when she was upset with Beau and our eldest brother a few months ago. But, I know if she’s asking for help, she really needs it.
I set the crate of wine against the wall and rush over to the other kiosk. Piper knows I’ll do anything to help her out after we’ve bonded over the past few months.
She’s been trying, unsuccessfully, to get me to take time off work and have fun. She even has Miles on board. Not that he’s complaining too much. It means more time playing pool and watching him try to hit on women. While funny, it’s not how I want to spend my time.
“Which of our fine wines can I get for you today?” I ask the customer who moved lines. She stares at the list of wines taped to the counter.
“Let me look over the list really quick.” She says without meeting my eyes.
The only thing they don’t seem to understand is I love working. It’s the one task I’m good at. Besides working helps me forget I have no life. Even if it means working with Pierce.
I still haven’t forgiven him for keeping Dad’s early retirement a secret. Or, the fact him and Beau were pretty much lying to Piper. She’s working toward mending that hurt with our brother after already making up with her boyfriend. Me? It’s not that easy.
Geez, could this woman make her selection any slower? No wonder the line is so long. People have no clue what they want. Or, maybe they don’t know what we offer.
I glance over at Piper while I’m waiting. She points to her mouth and lifts it up in a smile. What the hell is she trying to tell me?
She points at me before pointing back to her face. Oh, she wants me to smile. Okay, got it. I give her a thumbs up before turning back to the customer still looking over the wine selections.
“Is there a certain type you generally like? Sweet? Or dry?” Honestly, at this point I’m trying to get her to buy her bottles and go. There are still way too many people waiting in line.
“I’m partial to sweet wines.” She runs her finger down the list of sweet wines. “Do you have a favorite?”
A part of me wishes this customer would have stayed in Piper’s line.
“I like most of them. But if you like sweet, sangria is always a good choice. We also have one with cranberry that’s similar to that.
My sister’s favorite is sangria, though.
” I nod my head in her direction so she can put a face with the recommendation.
“That settles it.” The woman looks up and grins. “I’ll take two bottles of sangria, and a bottle of the cranberry one you were talking about.”
“Absolutely, let me grab those bottles for you.” I grab two bottles from the grate I brought in moments ago, and pull our cranberry off the shelf.
The bags are on the shelf under the kiosks and I pull the medium sized one out. I gently place the bottles inside and take the woman’s payment.
“Thank you, I hope these are as good as you say they are.” She pulls the bag off the counter and turns toward the exit.
Of course they are, I wouldn’t have suggested them otherwise. That would be rude to say out loud. “Happy New Year.”
It’s the one thing I can say right now that won’t be horrible. And, I can say it with a straight face.
Piper and I work in silence, only talking to the customers, until the line is finally at a manageable length.
“Are you going to the party at Ashes tonight?” Piper asks as she rings up another person and hands them their bag of wine.
“I don’t know yet.” I shrug and move to toward the now empty crate. “Parties like that aren’t really my thing.”
“Come on,” Piper sighs. “Come out and live a little. It’s not like you’ve taken my advice to make more time for yourself.
Tonight is the perfect chance to do it.” She turns toward me now that we have an empty room.
“That should be your New Year’s resolution.
Stop working so damn much and learn how to have a good time. ”
“I’m perfectly capable of having a good time at home.”
“Drinking while playing video games by yourself is not a good time.”
Well, that’s a bit judgmental. I happen to have a blast hanging out at home. “I don’t even have anyone to go with.”
“Neither does Parker, but he’s still going.”
As if that is a sound argument to use with me. Parker will do pretty much anything. He craves being around people. It boosts his ego higher than normal.
Piper takes a step toward me, giving me puppy dog eyes. It’s how she got her way when we were kids, and I’ll be damned if it works now.
“Please, Peter. What if I said it was my New Year’s wish to have my big brothers with me to celebrate?”
“Does that extend to Phillip and Pierce?” I’m curious what her answer is.
“Um, sure. I mean if they want to go. I think Phillip is going already. If Pierce goes, he’ll only bring down the mood.”
I let my baby sister squirm for a moment. It’s not like I’ll have to pay to get in. Paula and Tristan got all of us passes. It’s one of the perks of dating someone who works with Crooked Halo I guess.
“Fine, I’ll go.” I hold my hands up as she jumps to hug me. “But I’m not dressing up. You’ll be lucky if I stay until midnight.”
She releases me and scoffs. “You have to.”
My only answer is a shrug as I pick up the crate and leave the main house. Of course, I’ll stay until midnight, but I’ll let her worry over it for the rest of the night.
There are too many people in this bar. This is the one reason I didn’t want to come out tonight. Yes, I know most of the people here on some level. I’m sure we’ve crossed paths at some point, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I want to spend my night off with them.
Crooked Halo is on stage playing songs I haven’t heard before. It must be the music they were working on a few months ago. It’s peeled back and nothing like they’ve released before. So far, this is the only upside to my evening. We get to hear the new music before the masses. It’s special.
“Would you stop looking so glum?” Piper bumps into my arm. “It’s a night meant for new beginnings.”
“I’m merely enjoying the music. If you don’t like my vibe, go bug Parker.”
“Nah,” she shakes her head.
Beau raises his voice. “I think he’s trying to hit on someone right now.”
“Of course he is,” I mumble. He’s always trying to get some sort of date and doesn’t give up. One of these days that arrogance is going to bite him in the ass.
“We only have a few more minutes until midnight.” Piper squeals.
Her excitement makes me smile. The way she can always have a positive outlook is inspiring. If only I could have that sunny disposition after getting screwed over. She’s a forgive and mostly forget type of person. I…hold grudges.
Should I? Absolutely not. I can’t help it though.
At least, not when it comes to Pierce. Not when he treated me like an equal then didn’t keep me in the loop.
The sad thing is he doesn’t even feel bad about it.
He didn’t offer any kind of apology to any of us.
Except for Piper. But he was already in the dog house with her. I don’t blame her one bit.
Which is another thing he kept under wraps. I don’t understand why it was so important for him to not let anyone in on the fact he knew about Piper doing the marketing the way she wanted. It was a shitty thing to do to her.
“Ten, nine, eight.” The shout of everyone counting down until the new year breaks me from my thoughts.
Maybe I do need to be more like Piper. This year I’m going in with a focus on me.
“Five. Four. Three. Two. One. HAPPY NEW YEAR.” Everyone screams and I join in with them. Things are changing and I might as well change with them.
Both Piper and Beau pull me into a group hug to bring in the new year. They didn’t leave me out, and I’m grateful. The rest of the crowd is too busy making out with their dates.
“I think I’m going to head out.” This is not my scene and I can hear my sofa calling my name.
Maybe Miles will be up for some video games.
Assuming he isn’t out and about. If he was here, I’d at least have someone to talk to.
Actually, scratch that. He’d be just like Parker trying to find a date for the night.
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve seen him. Or heard from him for that matter. We need to fix that. Mostly because I need space from my family.
“No, don’t leave.” Piper’s voice is high pitched. “Stay a little longer.”
“Sorry, sis.” I wrap my arm around her for a quick hug. “I’m wiped after moving crates of sangria all day.”
It’s not a complete lie. Between that and standing in the bar because there aren’t any empty tables, my feet are killing me.
“Fine.” She pouts. “I’ll come by tomorrow. We need to make sure you take your resolution to heart.”
Ignoring her statement, I wave at Beau before turning toward the door. At least I parked across the street. The fight against traffic won’t be an issue.
Within twenty minutes I’m driving down Starlit Road. Music is my companion as I make my way down the dark road to my driveway.
A blur of motion catches my eye and I slow down. What the hell was that? It’s too big to be a possum, but too small to be livestock.
I slow the truck’s motion to a crawl, trying to find whatever it is in my headlights.
There isn’t anything, but then I spy a glint of metal further up the road.
Instead of driving closer to whatever it is, I open my door and grab the flashlight from my console.
Getting hit in the new year is not on my list of goals.
My steps are slow and measured as I make my way toward the animal. The closer I get, I can see it’s a dog. Damn, I should have brought something it could eat. If only to coax it toward me.
Right as my hand slips around the dog’s collar, a loud boom echoes across the countryside and sparkles light up the sky. The dog jumps and tries to bolt. Apparently, this pup is scared of fireworks. I pull it close to me and try to see if there’s a tag on the collar.
Alice is stamped into the metal tag adorning her collar. The only other information is a phone number and a town in Oklahoma.
“You’re a long way from home,” I whisper to pup. “Let’s get you somewhere safe while I try to find your owner, Alice.”
She licks my hand and I take it as a sign of trust. I’m only glad I found her before she really got lost…or worse.