Chapter Fourteen Jake
Chapter Fourteen
Jake
“I can’t believe you told Ash about that girl at the fair. It was hardly my fault that the ride spun so much I puked on her. Seriously, you had to pick that story over all the dumb shit we did together.” Both of us are standing at the sink while I wash the dishes and Chase dries them.
Ash left to go home and feed the animals, and we insisted that Gran take a seat to relax while we cleaned up.
“What, you think I was going to give her any stories that involved me? I’m not that stupid.
Suck it up, princess. She still wanted you to walk her outside to her car, where I assume you kissed the hell out of her.
So, she’s not too turned off you yet. There’s still time for that.
” Chase whips my leg with his wet dish towel.
I grind my teeth together from the sting and mouth to him, “Motherfucker.” Technically I didn’t say it, so hopefully Gramps won’t strike me down with lightning.
“Chase, stop whipping your cousin and hurry up and finish. We have that face video thingy meeting. I don’t want to keep Becks waiting,” Gran calls from the living room.
“How the hell did she know what I was doing?” Chase starts wiping quicker.
“Oh, I’ve given up trying to work out how Gran knows everything. Now get moving. We can’t keep precious little Becks from his solo gym session because he has no friends and then home to a shower with his hand.” I smile at my own joke.
“You’re cruel, and don’t pick on him just because you have a girlfriend now. We’ve all been through those droughts—so did you just a few weeks ago. Well, not me, but the rest of you old boys have, I’m sure.”
Maintaining a straight face, I just roll my eyes at him calling me old. He’s not that much younger.
“So full of yourself. They say it never happened unless there is evidence, but I’ve seen all the photos you’ve posted from your travels.
There’s no way you haven’t slept with half those models from the way they look at you through the lens.
” I finish washing the last pan and place it on the drainboard.
“What can I say. I’m a chick magnet.” Chase holds his arms out, trying to show me why women are so attracted to him.
“Sorry, can’t see it.” Wiping my soggy hands all over his shirt before leaving the kitchen earns me a balled-up wet kitchen towel in the back of my head. I flip him the bird as I walk through the door.
I take the chair next to Gran, and Chase joins us while the video call starts connecting with Declan and Beckett.
“Hi, Gran.” Declan’s face appears, smiling like always.
“What are we, chopped liver?” Chase asks jokingly.
“Gentlemen,” Declan replies as Beckett’s face appears on the screen too.
“Good evening,” a grumpy Beckett says while looking to another one of his computer screens.
“Hello, my boys. How are you both?” Gran’s eyes light up.
“I’m great and counting down the weeks until I’ll be there. Feels like I’m missing out,” Declan replies, and I can tell he means every word.
“Fine. Busy,” are the only words Beckett answers with, and it’s obvious that he’s doing two things at once.
“We won’t keep you long, Becks, I know how important your work is to you.” Gran panders to the arrogant asshole.
I hear Chase groan beside me, and it’s clear from their facial expressions that the other guys heard him too.
Declan is trying not to laugh, while Beckett stares at Chase with a look that could strip paint off walls.
It never gets old, pushing Beckett until he explodes.
I guess this childish side of us will never grow up.
And if I’m honest, part of me misses my brother, no matter how grumpy he is.
The more I spend time working here, it’s like the memories of our childhood together are flooding back, not only visiting here with Gramps and the boys, but from home too.
Beckett might have always been a perfectionist but he used to carry it less rigidly.
I wonder if we will ever be able to get back to that happier relationship we used to share, but I just don’t know if too much water has passed under the bridge, and if there’s any chance of coming back from the distance that’s now between us.
“It’s okay, what did you want to talk about?” Beckett now looks into the screen like we have his whole attention. I want to say, “Nice of you to finally join us,” but I bite my tongue instead and keep that opinion to myself.
“Jake has already let you know that we got the council’s approval, but there are going to be a couple of stipulations.
It’s something Gramps and I always talked about but we never got around to, and that’s putting in a dedicated water tank and installing sprinkler systems on the roofs of all the buildings, just in case we ever get a fire out here.
Should be simple, I’m guessing.” Gran looks around at us all, and when no one comments, I guess it’s left to me.
“No problem. I can organize it once we see what specifications the council gives in their approval. What else?” I ask.
“Make sure you add that into the budget when you get the price, Jake,” Beckett grunts.
“That would be in the spreadsheet I built and have been maintaining since we started.” And he wonders why we clash these days. Guess I know now that the answer is yes, to the question whether too much water has passed under that bridge between me and the arrogant prick.
“Yes, the same one I reconfigured so it made more sense.” He looks me in the eye, and I can tell he wants me to get back in my box; finance is his world.
Gran gives us the look and we all stop squabbling. “Moving on, we also need solar panels, you know, all the necessary environmental things that people talk about. We have to look after this world for my future great-grandbabies.”
We all ignore her not-so-subtle comment. Bless Gran, she believes she’s running this project—and I would never tell her anything different—but I have already factored that into the costs.
“Okay, now that I’ve told you all that, I want to get onto talking about the restaurant. I’ve got a manager who’s also a chef. So, you don’t need to worry about looking for one.” She sits with her hands in her lap, looking quite pleased with herself.
“Wait, we haven’t even started building yet, and you’re already hiring people?
” Beckett looks like he’s about to blow a fuse.
“You can’t do things like that, Gran. I knew it was a bad idea to let this happen without me being there.
Please tell me you haven’t asked them to sign anything yet, before I’ve had a chance to review the contract.
” He may be trying to say it patiently, but he’s not even in the same zip code.
“You’re welcome to join us, Becks,” I spit back at him, using Gran’s nickname for him to piss him off further.
“Oh, Becks, I haven’t hired them yet, I just know who it will be. That’s all.” She shuts down Beckett before he can get more wound up. “Remember, I’m the general manager, so I get the final say.”
It’s not even worth the battle with Gran now. Anyway, whoever she has lined up might be perfect for the job. I mean, Gran is the only local among us, so she knows more people than we do and has all the connections in Abbey Falls.
We are all waiting for the next bombshell when she pulls out a painting from down beside her chair. And boom, there it is.
“Here is the first painting for the gallery. I painted it especially.” She looks so damn proud of the canvas that she’s holding up, but it just looks like a blur of colors to me. It’s atrocious, but how do I say that? Thank goodness Declan the peacemaker is the first to speak.
“Wow, Gran, I didn’t know you had taken up painting. I can’t see through the computer properly—where is that scene from?” Good call, Declan, blame the computer.
“Oh, I’ve been painting for years, which is why I wanted Gramps to build me a gallery, but he never seemed interested. This is the view from the house out over the vineyard, and I’m only going to show you this one; the rest are a surprise for later.”
Shit, this is going to be a disaster. No wonder Gramps didn’t want the gallery. He obviously didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
“That’s great, Gran. Well, put that one safely away, and we look forward to seeing them all when the time comes,” Declan says as Chase kicks my foot, and we both start panicking at how we’re going to handle this.
“Yes, I have a secret storage area, so don’t go peeking. I don’t want anyone to ruin the surprise.” Her smile is so bright.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Gran,” I say with a little cough at the same time.
Beckett’s phone rings, and he glances down at it, frowns, and then picks it up. “Sorry, must take this. Bye, Gran.” And his face is gone.
“He works so hard. We need to get him to Heatherbrae for a while so he can relax a little and breathe some of this good clean fresh mountain air.” She puts her painting down beside her before straightening back up. “Bye to you, my Declan.” Blowing a kiss to him, he takes the hint.
“Bye, all, talk soon.” And with that, he’s gone as well.
“Feel like a beer?” Chase looks at me as we put the dining room chairs back.
“You have no idea how much.” I sigh. “Good night, Gran, we’re heading out to the barn.” Leaning down, I kiss her on the cheek and then Chase does the same.
The moment we are both out the front door, boots on and far enough away from even Gran’s supersonic hearing, I look over at him and explode into laughter. “Fuck me. Gramps is probably up there howling with laughter at the mess he has left us.”
“Yeah, it’s our punishment for not visiting more often before he died. This is going to be one long fucking year.” Chase kicks a stone on our walk back to the barn, and we both keep chuckling at how bad the painting was.
“It was just smudges of color on a canvas. You can’t call that art.” I look at him as he opens the door to the barn.