Chapter 15
Fifteen
Peter
The last place I want to be is at work. After dinner last night we watched some movies and hung out. Lexi didn’t say much, but she wasn’t on her phone so that’s a plus. I’d much rather be hanging out with them today.
Tomorrow will be weird with them gone all day, especially since it’s my day off. There are some things I need to take care of. And I need to check in with the plumber. Maybe he can get to their house sooner than later.
It’s not that I have a problem with Callie and Lexie staying with me.
But…it’s harder and harder to remember Callie is my best friend’s little sister.
Being around her is easy, and it feels right.
Even if she’s doing everything in her power to keep me at arm’s length.
I wish I knew what I did to her to make her not want anything to do with me.
I get my workstation set up and push aside thoughts of Callie.
There’s no way she’s interested in more than friendship with me.
Right now, I have work to do, and dwelling on why Callie seems to despise me won’t accomplish it.
I’m sure I’ll need to restock bottles in the main house.
We had a steady flow of traffic yesterday, and I except the same to happen today.
The last crate ice loaded, and I set it on the dolly.
The walkway still has some slippery areas where it’s shaded.
The last thing I want to do is carry these out by hand and fall taking all the bottles of wine with me.
I’m sure Pierce would be all over my ass if I wasted product like that, even if it’s not technically my fault.
I open the warehouse door to move the bottles of wine and run into Piper. “Hello, big brother.”
Why does she sound like that? The grin on her face is terrifying and I don’t know if I’m in trouble or if she’s trying to rope me into doing something she shouldn’t.
“Hey, Piper. What’s up?” I send up a silent prayer she’s not going to drag me into some scheme she’s concocted.
“I heard you have a guest.” She smiles and bats her eyes, doing everything in her power to be innocent.
How could she know that? We haven’t passed anyone as we’ve come and gone. Half of my siblings don’t even have cameras on their property.
“Oh yeah?” The need for whatever information she has outweighing telling her the truth.
“Yep.” She pauses to see if I’ll say anything else. I refuse to give her the satisfaction. When she realizes I’m not going to fall into her trap, she sighs. “I ran into Callie yesterday morning. I didn’t realize she’s been at your house since the storm started. How did that even happen?”
It was only a matter of time before someone found out. I guess I should be happy it’s Piper and not any of my other siblings. She won’t be obnoxious like our brothers.
“Miles called me to check on her. She wasn’t answering her phone and he couldn’t leave the ranch.”
“I bet he was freaking out. He’s always been an overbearing big brother. I swear, it’s like it runs in the water in this town.”
Should I be offended by that? I think so, but I’ll let it slide for now.
“He was. It was kind of annoying actually.” He acts like she’s not a grown ass woman capable of taking care of herself.
Though, I guess I’m not much better for demanding she stay at me house.
“Anyway, I went over there and they didn’t have power or water.
I couldn’t let her stay there when I have a set up that is somewhat comfortable. ”
“Not to mention Miles would have kicked your ass if you’d left her there.” How the hell does she know my best friend so well?
“Pretty much. She fought me on it, but eventually came with me.” I’m not sure how much of the story she knows, and she’s not going to tell me, so I continue.
“When I got power, we decided it was time for them to go home, but they had a water leak. The plumber can’t get there until closer to the end of the week.
I told her it was fine to stay with me in the meantime.
But I’m going to call in the morning to see if that’s still the timeline. ”
“Why? It seems like y’all have a decent routine with her staying there.” I swear if she tries to act like Eric, I’m going to lose my shit.
“Because I’m sure she wants to be in her own bed again.”
“Oh, so she’s sleeping in your bed?” Piper waggles her eyebrows. It never fails, she’ll always be the pain in the ass little sister.
“Not with me. I’m sleeping on the couch.” As much as I like having her in my house, I’ll be happy when I can sprawl out on my bed again.
“I’m going to need photographic proof because there’s no way you fit on that thing. At least not comfortably.”
“It’s not comfortable…at all.” Hoping the conversation is over, I turn toward the dolly and pull it closer to me. The bottles of wine clink together at the movement.
“Maybe we should have an impromptu game night tonight. It’s been forever since I’ve hung out with Callie.”
Oh hell no. There’s no way that’s happening. The last thing I need is her trying to do whatever she’s cooking up in her head.
“Lexi has to get ready to go back to school tomorrow.”
“She’s a teen. They basically roll out of bed and go to school.”
I double over in laugher. The dolly the only thing keeping me upright. “I seem to remember you taking at least an hour to get ready for school. I have a feeling Lexi is the same way.”
When I catch my sister’s gaze, she’s not amused. She can’t deny it, though.
“Fine. But don’t be shocked when I invite her over for the next one. It’ll be nice to have more girls around. I love you, Parker, and Phillip, but it sucks being the only girl when Paula isn’t there.”
“We’ll see.” It’s the only thing I can promise her. There’s no telling if Callie will even talk to me after she’s back home. At least, not as much as she has been. “Since you’re here, can you help me take these bottles to the main house?”
“Sure.” She grabs another dolly and we load that one with fewer crates. “I’m sure Parker will be relieved I’m back.”
Of course she’d leave him in charge. He sells almost as much wine as she does. It must be something about their charm. It missed quite a few of us kids. Now I just have to hope she didn’t say anything to any of our other siblings. I don’t want them poking around in my business.
I pull my jacket around me as I make my way from the truck to the back door.
After everything was done at work, I decided to bail early.
Pierce asked me to stay to help with some inventory, but I told him to get one of our brothers to help him.
My sister would be so proud of me for not caving to his demands.
I’m sure I’ll get attitude from him at some point, but right now I don’t really care.
The back door squeaks as I push it open and shut it behind me. I kick off my shoes and head to the living room. It’s the most likely place Callie will be. Her car is in the driveway so I know she’s here.
She’s curled up in the corner of the couch working on some project with yarn. I’m starting to think it’s the thing that brings her peace. She looks like she doesn’t have a care in the world. Too bad I’m about to burst that little bubble.
“You could have given me some warning.” That sounded a lot angrier than I meant, but I hate my siblings poking around in my business. She didn’t even mention running into Piper yesterday, and that’s the part that stings. That she didn’t think I should know.
She drops the little hook and it dangles from the yarn. “What are you talking about? Oh, and hello by the way. You’re home early.”
“My sister. She sneak attacked me, wanting to know why you were here.” I turn toward the hallway, ready to get out of these clothes and into something more comfortable. “After she told me she talked to you.”
“Oh.” Her voice is soft.
She follows after me into the room. I’m already pulling off my shirt and tossing it into the hamper in the corner. Her clothes are spread out across the bed and I wonder what she’s been up to.
Instead of stopping in the doorway like she did that night, she’s right behind me when I turn around to grab a shirt out of my dresser.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal. Especially after you didn’t mention anything about it at dinner. I just assumed you talked and it wasn’t that bad.”
Hearing the sadness and frustration in her voice is what breaks me. Even worse, I’m the cause.
I sigh. “It’s not. I just didn’t like being taken by surprise.” There’s no reason to pick a fight over something so small. Especially when the only reason is because I can’t get I her out of my head.
“Then why are you giving me crap about it?” She pokes me in the chest with each word. “I don’t understand why it’s a big deal if anyone in your family knows I’m staying here.”
“Because they’ll poke and prod until they see us together. And as much as I want that, I know that isn’t what you’re looking for.” I can’t believe I just said that. Ugh, she needs to be out of my house before I do something wild like fall in actual love with her.
Her mouth drops open for a split second before she’s crashing into me.
That’s unexpected, but I don’t fight her as she wraps her arms around my neck.
The distance between our bodies closes as the kiss deepens.
Her nails dig into my skin, clinging to me to keep us from drifting apart.
My arms circle her waist, pulling her toward me.
In all the years I’ve known her, I never expected her to kiss me. Especially not like this. Her body presses closer to mine and I stumble backward into the dresser. Something falls to the ground, but I don’t care right this second.
“Mom?” Lexi’s voice comes from the guest room and Callie is out of my arms before I realize what’s happening.
“Shit,” she mutters. She picks up my shirt and chunks it at me. “Put this on and get out of here.”
My eyebrows knit in confusion as I pull the shirt over my head. “Did I do something wrong?”
How the hell did we go from making out to whatever this is? The timing isn’t great, I know that. But this? This feels like I’m not good enough.
“No. Yes? I don’t know.” Her words rush together. “This was a mistake.”
“You kissed me.”
“And I shouldn’t have.” She groans and pushes me toward the door. “That cannot happen again.”
Before I have a chance to say anything else, she closes the door on me. The lock clicks before I hear her feet shuffle away. What the fuck? I just got locked out of my room in my own house.
She may think kissing me was a mistake, but I need to know why. Maybe calling the plumber in the morning isn’t as important as I thought. Figuring out what happened between Callie and me just now, has become priority number one.