Chapter 18 #2
I took a deep breath before I said something I’d regret.
It wasn’t his fault that his standards were so fucking high and mine were…
adequate. If I’d had a secret hope that my dad would come into the room and declare everything was gorgeous and he was proud of me, I guessed I’d have to keep waiting. That shit wasn’t gonna happen.
It would’ve been easier if my dad had gotten mad at me.
Anger was easy. Even yelling would’ve been fantastic.
Instead, he just gave me the look of disappointment.
It always cut me to the bone that I was the last link to Mom and the biggest disappointment.
As far as I could tell, my brothers didn’t give a shit about disappointing him.
But then again, two of them had followed him into medicine, and one of them did whatever the hell he did with numbers.
That left just me, the perpetual screwup, waiting for his chance to fail again.
“I’ll take a look at it later and see if I can’t make it look better.”
“Son, I didn’t say it looked bad.”
Then why did you say anything at all?
“Where is my baby brother?” was shouted from across the room.
Internally, I cringed. I tried to keep it off my face, but I knew I hadn’t when I saw a few of the smothered laughs around me.
It was hard to be mad at someone like Gage, even if he was being obnoxious, and he knew it.
He was funny and confident in a way that people never felt sorry for him.
I was sassy and confident, too, but it was usually a front.
I did it so nobody would ask a lot of questions.
He did it because he actually thought he was that amazing.
Gage swaggered across the room, and everyone scurried out of his way like he had a right of way through the entire space.
But I was just as guilty of giving in to him.
I quickly closed the space between us, and when I was within two feet, he lunged forward and grabbed me up in a gigantic bear hug.
My feet dangled at his shins, and I looked like a child next to him. Goddammit.
“There is my baby brother.”
“Oh my god, shut up. You could call me by my name.”
“Baby brother, what’s the fun of that?” He whispered in my ear so that nobody else would hear. “I am so fucking proud of you.”
I pushed his shoulder so he’d let me down and hissed, “Let me down, you dumbass.”
Rather than listen to me, Gage twirled me before setting me down.
Of course I was dizzy, and I stumbled. This was not the impression I wanted to make as a serious business person.
I hadn’t spent all of these evenings listening to podcasts and doing spreadsheets to fall on my ass in front of everybody.
I straightened my clothes and held my chin up.
I was not going to let myself get derailed.
I was going to be the professional. “Thank you, guys, for coming down. I wasn’t sure it was gonna happen. ”
“Jasper, you’re out of your goddamn mind if you thought I was gonna miss your big day,” Gage said with a wink. “It’s not every day my baby brother gets himself a new profession.”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure he gets one every couple of months,” my dad added as he came to join us. “Comfort is kind of far from the city. San Antonio is like forty-five minutes away. Is that gonna be close enough to sustain a bed and breakfast?”
“There are lots of tourists who come in for the winery and stuff like that. It’s like Almstead Island or Tannenberg, which are close to the Seattle airport. People still come there.”
“Usually, to visit Seattle, and then they find the smaller towns.”
“Well, they’re gonna find me too.”
I tried hard to keep the defensiveness out of my voice, but the struggle was real. A heavy hand plopped down on my shoulder, and immediately, I knew the touch. My body swayed involuntarily toward the warmth radiating behind me.
“They’ve already found him,” Hank snapped. “He’s already booked up for the Fourth of July weekend.”
“Have we met?” Dad asked, perplexed.
“No, but I’m Jasper’s boyfriend, Hank.”
“Pardon?”
“Which part didn’t you catch?”
“Status.”
“His boyfriend.”
They stared at each other like two tomcats on the backyard fence.
Neither wanted to move and let the other one win.
This felt out of character for Hank, but damn if I wanted it to stop.
It wasn’t often anyone outside of the family got one over on my dad.
And I never did. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the place, even if I wanted it to be the time.
I’d be a peacemaker even if it killed me. And it likely would.
“Dad, this is Hank. Yes, we’ve started dating. It’s new…ish. It’s, uh, yeah, newish.”
“Hank, this is my dad, Dr. Greer, and my brother Gage. He’s also a Dr. Greer, but definitely don’t call him that.” Gage mean-mugged me, but I stuck out my tongue at him. “Did Rowan not come?”
“Yeah, he’s around here somewhere,” Gage said absentmindedly. The pastries he’d shoved in his mouth were way more interesting than wherever his other brother had wandered off to.
“He’s right here. The place looks amazing, Jasper.”
I whirled around at the raspy voice. Rowan picked me up in yet another bear hug.
Normally, I hated it when they treated me like a damned mascot, but I’d make an exception today.
Because it really did look fantastic, and I was happy the work was obvious.
I’d poured my blood, sweat, and tears into this place, and this house was as close to perfection as I could make it.
“Thank you! I’m super proud of how she turned out. Sissy gave me a head start, though, so I can’t take all the credit.”
“Yeah, you damn well can. Sissy knew what she was doing when she left you this place, and don’t you fucking dare sell yourself short,” Gage piped up from where he’d landed next to the food table.
My dad and Daddy—please don’t let me get them mixed up aloud—continued to circle each other for the rest of the afternoon.
As much as I would’ve loved to try and sort it out, I was too busy being pulled in a million different directions during the open house.
There’d be plenty of time tomorrow, when it was quiet again, to reintroduce them and start over.