6. Nash
six
nash
T he couch sinks next to me as I lace up my work boots.
“Real smooth hopping into bed with my cousin. Should we schedule the duel now or after I’ve had some sleep so that I can defend her honor?”
I chuckle. “Shut up. It was an accident, and that woman doesn’t need anyone defending her honor. She’s gotten it taken care of all by herself.”
It probably makes me sick, but her punching me actually makes Cora more attractive.
“Before you go falling head over heels for my cousin, I need you to know that she just got out of a shitty situation.”
A shitty situation? My gut tells me that “shitty situation” is an understatement. I open my mouth to ask for more information, but Jack holds up a hand to stop me.
“It isn’t my story to tell. However, she deserves to have someone treat her with respect and go at her own pace.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because if I’m to go by what I saw this morning,” he says, shooting me a knowing look, “you obviously like her.”
I can’t deny that there’s some kind of pull to Cora that is unexplainable, so I just listen.
“You’re my best friend, but I won’t hesitate to try to beat the crap out of you if you upset her, even though we both know I wouldn’t be successful.” He gestures his index and middle finger to his own eyes before pointing them at mine. “The intent would be there.”
“Threat received.” I smirk, patting him on the shoulder. I grab my jacket from the hook by the door and shrug it on. “Go get some sleep, J. Talk to you later.”
I head out the door, making my way up the driveway. The walk back to my truck, which is still parked outside of the bar, thankfully goes by quickly. I jump in and check the time. Thankfully, I have just enough time to stop at home for a change of clothes before heading over to my sister’s house.
* * *
“So what’s this I hear about a cute little redhead that’s caught my big brother’s attention?”
My head turns at the voice. Imogen has her arms crossed and one of her annoyingly expressive eyebrows raised as she leans against the door frame. My sister may be small in stature, but her outgoing personality makes her larger than life. She and I are complete opposites, and people always had a hard time believing that we were related. Her blonde hair and bright blue eyes take after our mom, while I take after our dad.
“Nice to see you, too,” I reply, rolling my eyes at how quickly Jack must’ve spread word to Imogen’s husband and our coworker about what happened last night. “Don’t you ever get tired of gossiping about me?”
Imogen feigns a shocked look on her face. “Are you calling little old me a gossip? Oh Nash, how will I ever recover?”
Since we were kids, my sister is always cued in on the latest gossip. It shouldn’t even surprise me at this point that she knows about Cora.
Imogen chuckles, eyes twinkling with amusement. “Lighten up, Nash. Now, get in here and tell me everything.”
Grabbing my arm, she drags me with a shocking amount of strength into the living room, plopping down onto her plush leather sofa. I settle next to her, jumping up briefly when something sharp pokes my ass.
“Shit.” I reach underneath me and grab onto something hard and plastic. Turns out, my ass had been impaled by one of my nephew’s toy trucks.
Imogen takes the truck from me, wincing. “Sorry about that. Cowboy and I are still teaching Ollie to put away his toys when he’s finished with them.”
She got married to her husband Liam—or Cowboy as we call him at the station due to his thick Texan accent—over four years ago. When they initially got together, I was honestly shocked. She never even mentioned that she was seeing someone. But after witnessing firsthand how in love they were, I quickly came around. Especially now that they’ve given me my new best friend, my nephew Ollie.
“He’s still young and has plenty of time to learn,” I tell her. We certainly used to irritate our parents by scattering everything we owned around the house.
“Dad said that this is my karma for how I was as a kid.” She laughs a little, moving the truck back and forth in her hand.
Then her eyes snap up and she shoots me an irritated look. “Enough stalling. Spill. Who is this mysterious woman that’s apparently got my brother sneaking into her bed in the dead of night, like some creeper on one of those true crime docs I love?”
“Jack’s got a big mouth and is full of shit. I didn’t do it on purpose.” I wave my hand, dismissing what happened between Cora and I as if it weren’t something that I stayed up all night thinking about. “It was no big deal, and she already forgave me for the mistake.”
“Not no big deal, if that bruise on your face is anything to go by. I already like her, by the way. Do you think she’d teach me how to do that?” Imogen asks, pointing towards my face. “She’s Jack’s cousin, right?”
I release a sigh. “Yes, and she’s only staying with Jack for a little bit until she gets back on her feet. There’s nothing else to it.” It’s hard to figure out who I’m trying to convince more, her or I. “Now, where’s my nephew? I promised to take him with me to visit dad, remember?”
Imogen’s gaze softens. “Okay, we can change the subject for now, but I’m not done prying just yet.”
My foot starts moving back and forth, making my entire leg bounce. It’s my tell when I’m anxious, and Imogen spots it instantly.
“You’re reading too much into this. Plus, you know that I have terrible luck with women.” My dating history is filled with unrequited love, unfaithful partners, and women who liked the idea of being with a firefighter, but never wanted to deal with the hectic schedule or risks.
“You deserve happiness more than anyone. According to Jack, she’s very pretty and looked quite interested. What’s the harm in asking her out for coffee?”
Like most times, my sister is annoyingly right. Coffee is low commitment, and if everything goes ass up, at least it would only be a short time before Cora moved on to whatever place she decided to call home. The idea of her departure leaves a sour taste in my mouth, which surprises me. I just met this woman less than twenty-four hours ago.
“Okay. Seriously though,” I say, glancing down at my watch, “where is Ollie? Dad’s expecting us for lunch, and we need to leave soon if we’re going to make it to Gloucester in time.”
“I wish I could go with you guys.” She juts her lip out. “I promised my incredible husband that I’d help install the new flooring in the guest room, though.”
“And by helping, you mean supervising, right?” My sister isn’t exactly the handiest person on the planet.
“You know me so well, big brother.” Imogen laughs before pushing herself off of the couch and shouting up the stairs. “Ollie, your uncle is here and waiting for you!”
A loud shriek alerts us that Ollie definitely heard her.
“UNKIE!” My nephew screams from the top step. I walk over to stand next to Imogen. There, in all his naked glory, is my nephew.
“Ollie, get back here.” Cowboy appears next to him holding a miniature pair of undies. “You can’t leave this house in your birthday suit.” He sighs, looking disheveled with his hair sticking up in every direction, but eventually chuckles, looking down at his son in amusement. “Hey, Nash. He’s going through a nudist phase, but I’ll have him ready in a minute.”
“Our son appears to have gotten that from you, Cowboy.” Imogen laughs as her husband blushes.
I roll my eyes. “Oh, gross, Imogen.”
Looking back to Ollie, I say, “I can’t take you anywhere until you’ve got clothes on. Big boys who want to hang out with their uncles need to cover up.”
He immediately grabs the underwear from his father and attempts to put the underwear on himself, but accidentally puts both legs into one leg hole. He looks down at Imogen and I with pride, and we both have to cover our mouths to stop from laughing.
Ollie has had me wrapped around his little finger since the day he was born. Jack wasn’t joking earlier when he said that Ollie was my mini-me. He’s got the same dark wild curls and joyful brown eyes that I had at his age. His personality, however, is all his mother. Cowboy frequently pokes fun at how strong the Montgomery genes are.
“Excellent job, little dude!” I call, giving him a thumbs up.
“Let’s go and get you dressed.” Cowboy laughs, scooping a giggling Ollie into his arms. They return a few minutes later, Ollie now dressed in a pair of jeans and a miniature flannel. Cowboy also is more put together, wearing a pair of jeans and a fire department t-shirt. His short light brown hair no longer looks like he stuck his finger in an electrical socket. Not that I’m judging, because I know Ollie is a complete handful.
Imogen picks up Ollie and peppers his cheeks with kisses.“Look at my handsome boy.”
“You ready to go, squirt?” I ask, holding out my arms to him, which he immediately jumps into.
“Have fun, you two!” Cowboy shouts, waving to us from the doorway. I put Ollie in the car seat that I keep in the back of my truck for him.
We pull out of the driveway a short time later, jamming to rock music on our way to visit Dad. It isn’t lost on me how lucky I am to have a family that’s as close as mine is. Which is why it isn’t easy to explain how even with all of the love I’m surrounded by, it still seems like there’s something—or someone— missing from this happy picture.