CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Jagger
Since over the last year our family had grown by five fantastic, beautiful people, we decided to do our big family dinner down at the restaurant.
Cramming into one house was already tight enough now that the kids were getting bigger, but add five extra adults and it was impossible to fit everyone around the dinner table anyway.
So, we all gathered down at the restaurant to open presents and have dinner. We opened up the feast to any staff members that didn’t have anywhere to go. So Wyatt’s sous chef Burke and his new lady love, Evie, joined us.
While Logan wasn’t dating Renée, one of our servers, we all knew he liked her, so when I invited Renée to join us for Christmas, since she wasn’t going to Spokane to see family. That only meant Logan spent an extra long time in the bathroom this morning getting ready.
That meant I was, once again, the only adult without a pairing. Without a partner.
No matter how you swung it, I was always the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, and so on, wheel. Even the children were evenly matched. Three girls, three boys. I made the group of us an odd number, and while it’d never bothered me before, this time it did.
Especially when I watched my brothers dote on their significant others and be affectionate.
For too long, I put my own desires for romance on the back burner, or hid it from them, because I didn’t want to throw it in their faces after their loss.
But now, they’d all moved on and were throwing their love in my face.
Not on purpose, of course, but it felt that way a little.
I sat on the edge of one of the booths in the restaurant, watching my nephews race the new remote-controlled robots they got for Christmas through the obstacle course of empty beer bottles that Clint had set up for them.
My nieces all screamed for joy when they opened up the new fancy art kits I bought them.
All three girls were at a big table near the window that looked out onto the patio and ocean, coloring up a storm that rivaled the one outside.
Clint and Bennett tossed back beers with Logan and Renée while Burke, Vica, Brooke, and Wyatt all worked hard in the kitchen preparing dinner.
I tried to offer my assistance, as did Chloe and Dom, but we were told to, “Get lost,” in the very nicest way.
But with her strong Italian accent, it still sounded extremely bossy coming from Vica.
Justine and Chloe were deep in conversation near the coloring nieces. So that left me and Dom, who slid in on the other side of the booth.
“From one silent man to another, your Christmas gift from me is my willingness to listen and speak,” Dom said, cracking a smile as he tipped back his beer. “What’s got you making that face?”
I glanced at my brother, who was only two years older than me. “Did you feel … envious when you saw Clint, Bennett, and Wyatt moving on?”
Dom’s thick, dark brows lifted only a half an inch as he thought about it.
“Envious? I don’t think so.” He shook his head.
“I wasn’t sure it was possible, honestly.
How could they move on after what we lost?
I didn’t think my heart would ever belong or be open to another person.
” His blue-hazel gaze shifted to where Chloe sat with Justine, her smile wide and carefree as her hand rested protectively on her belly.
“But I don’t think you’re ever ready until the right person comes along.
If I hadn’t met Chloe, I would still tell you I wasn’t ready. ”
I released a long, slow sigh and brought my beer bottle to my lips, letting the cool, seasonal lager with hints of cranberry and ginger slide down my throat. “I want what you guys have.”
Dom didn’t seem surprised at all. “Anyone in particular you want it with? Perhaps a fiery redhead whose family owns a vineyard?” His smile was small, but knowing.
“You definitely came back from Wayman different. I couldn’t really put my finger on what it was, but I’m starting to figure it out. Or at least, I have my suspicions.”
I shook my head and set my empty bottle on the table. “She’s so freaking tough to figure out. Not to mention moody. And suspicious. And snarky.”
“Not one of those things was said with an ounce of malice in your tone. Nothing but affection came through with those words. You like Raina.” Like he often did, even when he wasn’t aware of it, Dom pulled out the man bun at the back of his head to let his dark hair fan down around his face to nearly his shoulders.
Then he scooped it all back up and retied it with the black elastic. “What are you going to do about it?”
Silas ran up to his dad with some kind of food on his cheek. “Is it okay that I had one of the Christmas cupcakes Vica made, even though we haven’t had dinner yet?”
Dom smirked. “You’re asking me this after you ate it?” He grabbed a napkin from a stack on the table and wiped the green icing off his son’s cheek.
“Yeah,” Silas said, all bright-eyed and totally unaware of the hilarity. “Is it okay?”
“And if I said no?”
Silas shrugged. “I’d say, ‘Whoops!’ because I already ate it.”
Dom rolled his eyes, smiling. “It’s fine. It’s Christmas. You better still have room for the healthy stuff though. I expect to see turkey and some vegetable on your plate, young man.”
Silas beamed at his dad, then nodded and gave a salute. “Yes, sir!” Then he took off to go find his cousins again.
Dom turned to me. “Did you guys get up to anything when you had to huddle together to keep warm in the chilly B&B?”
I glanced away for a moment, picked up my beer, remembered it was empty, and set it back down. “I … alleviated some of her pent-up frustrations … with my tongue … with the hopes that it might remove some of her prickles.”
Dom tried to hide his amusement by sipping more from his beer, but failed. “So, either she’s just too prickly, or you’re not very good at it?”
I flipped him the bird. “I’m fantastic at it. Fuck you very much. She’s just that prickly. Too prickly. I even took her a cactus because when I saw it in the store, it immediately reminded me of her, and she was prickly about getting something prickly.”
My brother snorted and shook his head. “You’ve got your work cut out for you with that one, it seems.” His gaze turned soft and loving when it fell back on Chloe. “Though, the best ones are worth the extra effort, in my opinion.”
“I don’t even know if I want anything with her.” Shoving my hands in my hair, I scraped my nails against my scalp, welcoming the sting. “I can’t stop fucking thinking about her though.”
“And do you think she feels the same way?”
“I told you I can’t get a read on the woman to save my life. When I knocked on her door yesterday, she told me to go away before she even opened it.”
Chuckling, Dom shook his head some more. “Fuck, that’s funny. Did she know it was you?”
“Yeah. The little she-devil.”
“I know nothing about the Vino Vixens or why they’re all single moms. I don’t know their traumas, or their histories. All I know is that they inherited the vineyard and property from their late aunt. Other than that, the women keep their pasts pretty hidden.”
“You also don’t give a shit about that stuff,” I pointed out. “You avoid island news and gossip like it’ll give you shingles.”
“I hear more than I care about just being a bartender. Why the fuck would I seek any more?”
“Fair point. I can only imagine that if Jolene Dandy or any of the Sewing Circle ladies got wind of anything juicy, the whole island would know about it in no time.”
Dom nodded. “Look how fast news about Chloe and I got around. We’re amazed they’re still in the dark about her pregnancy.”
“Well, she isn’t showing yet. So that helps.”
“So besides alleviating Ms. Aaronson’s stress, what else did you guys get up to?”
“You’re really committed to this being my Christmas present, aren’t you?”
Dom finished his beer. “I’m a great gift giver.”
“Apparently.” I filled him on all the benign shit that happened on Wayman Island at the B&B.
Like getting drunk the first night, chopping firewood, the drunk seniors, making the chili, and doing the puzzle.
It wasn’t my place to fill him in about Raina’s deceased husband or how unkind he’d been.
Not that I thought Dom would tell anybody, but Raina trusted me with that information. I wasn’t going to betray that trust.
“Sounds like one hell of a couple of days,” my brother said when I was done. “And the whole keeping a steak knife in her car is weird.”
“Right?”
“You gentlemen look far too sober,” said Clint, setting two fresh beers in front of us. Bennett and Logan were behind him, and the five of us crammed into the booth. “What are we talking about?”
Dom glanced at me and shrugged.
I rolled my eyes. “How I went down on Raina Aaronson while we were stuck at the B&B and now I can’t stop fucking thinking about her.”
Clint’s mouth dropped open, and he stared at me.
“Hold the fucking phone.” Then he got up again and booked it to the bar, coming back with five shot glasses and a bottle of Hardwood Distillery Iron Bar Whiskey.
“This calls for something stronger.” He poured us each a shot, then settled into the booth.
“Start from the beginning and don’t leave anything out. ”
I glanced at Dom. All he did was smirk as he tossed back his shot. “Hey, I wasn’t going to tell a soul. You’re the one who decided to take out an ad in the fucking family newsletter.”
It might be a holiday in other countries, but here, Boxing Day was just another day.
The pub was open again, and we were all back to work.
Granted, we reduced our hours because the kids were still on winter break, but shit still needed to get done around the property and with the business. No rest for the self-employed.