Only One I Ever Wanted (Murdock Brothers #1)

1. Sullivan

Chapter 1

Sullivan

I woke up my computer with a swipe of my thumb across the track pad.

Still nothing there.

I banged my head on the back of my chair with a sigh. Things at Murdock Brothers had been slow as hell. We specialized in all kinds of handyman-type work from leaks to a full renovation.

Lately, the queue for jobs had been empty.

And the only “Brother” was me.

Living in Indigo Valley, New York meant things got slow in the colder months, but spring was pushing through the endless snow we’d gotten this winter. I had even spotted some green on my lawn this morning.

Mostly because Danny and Trouble had fallen headfirst into a mud puddle to start the morning.

I glanced over at the photo of the two of them on my tiny desk jammed into the corner of my rec room-slash-basement. A rare moment where I caught him smiling openly. Mostly because of the goofy dog in his arms.

We lived in a split ranch that perpetually needed work, on an acre of land.Generally, I was too busy to work on my own place, but if the job options kept up like this, I wouldn’t be able to use that as an excuse.

“Dad!”

I shut the lid of my laptop and grabbed my cell, jamming it into my back pocket as I headed up the stairs. “Yeah?”

“Trouble won’t come inside.”

I sighed. “Damn dog,” I muttered, as I climbed the last stair. “What did he get into now?”

“He’s under the deck again.” Danny, my eight-year-old son, stood at the door with a sullen look on his face. His sandy brown hair matched mine when I was his age, but it was already staring to darken. However, his blue eyes were all his mother’s. Not much else of him reminded me of Mindy Dougherty, which was a good thing.

She was a piss-poor mom, which matched what a shitty girlfriend she’d been.

The only good thing we’d ever done together was create Danny.

I met him at the back patio sliding door. “Treats didn’t work?” I asked as I ruffled his hair.

“Don’t think he can hear me.” He shied away and I swallowed a sigh. He was still unsure of being around me. The last time Mindy had taken off, she’d taken Danny with her, and I hadn’t been able to find them for four years.

This time, she took off alone and dumped him on my doorstep on Christmas. We barely knew each other any longer.

It had been three months, and we still weren’t finding our way.

I was failing miserably. Just like my business.

“I’ll go out and get him.” I grabbed a few treats from the jar I kept on the counter.

Boots clomped up the deck stairs, and my brother, Ripley, was holding a wiggling chocolate lab puppy. “Is this yours?”

I grunted. “Where did you find him?”

He lifted Trouble to look at his dirty face. You almost couldn’t tell with his dark fur, but his tongue lolled out and had bits of dirt stuck to it. “Digging up one of Ma’s daffodil bulbs. Pretty sure he thought it was a treat.”

I rolled my eyes and accepted the puppy. “You gonna be shitting out daffodils, son?”

Danny snickered behind me. Happy to hear something resembling a laugh out of him, I grinned down at him. “Find that funny?”

He shrugged. I handed off the dog to my son. “Can you go clean him up?”

“Fine.” He gave a long sigh, but there wasn’t any bite to it. He loved that dog more than anyone, including me.

He took Trouble and supported his wriggling weight with a hand under his butt and the rest of the dog draped over his too thin shoulder. Danny had put some weight on, thank God, but we had a ways to go.

“He isn’t so scrawny,” Ripley said from the doorway.

I stepped back to let him in. “Was thinking the same.” I shut the back patio door then hit the fridge for a soda for each of us. I handed a can of Dr. Pepper to Ripley. “What are you doing here?”

“Had a pickup on Richardson Ave. Figured I’d pop in.” He cracked the can and took a long drink. His eyebrow arched as the kickplate for my fridge fell off.

Again.

Ignoring it, I dropped into a chair at my dining room table and cracked my own can of soda, Mt. Dew for me because I needed all the sugar and caffeine I could get. “Tow to the garage? Or to the lot?”

Ripley grinned. “Lot.”

“Mrs. Finley again?”

His smile widened. “Of course.”

I shook my head. “I think you just like to make her pay fines.”

“You’d be right.” He crossed his arms over his black T-shirt with Murdock Automotive stitched above the pocket.

The Murdocks weren’t exactly good at being employees, so most of us had either worked for the family business, or struck out on their own like Rip. My brothers came and went, but we all ended up back in Indigo Valley eventually.

It was a small town outside of Saratoga Springs where people could actually afford to live on a normal salary. Mrs. Finley was the mayor and thought she should be able to park wherever the hell she wanted. Rip loved to disabuse her of that notion.

“You should just skip the pretenses and tow it to her house.”

“What fun would that be, Sully?” Ripley was the eldest of us Murdock boys. He laced his fingers behind his head, his cocky grin in place.

I sighed. “You know she talks shit about the Murdocks. I’ve lost a ton of jobs because of your smart ass.”

He stretched out his long legs, crossing them at the ankles. “Nah. You lost out because Mindy is her niece.”

As if it was my fault her niece was a perpetual fuckup, but that wasn’t how small towns worked.

“You’re probably right.” I twisted the can’s tab until it broke off. “Mortgage is gonna be tight, if things don’t turn around.”

“Start using that pretty face of yours to drum up sales. Big ol’ sign on the park benches on Hope Street.”

“Fuck off.”

He chuckled as he stood up. “Testy.”

My phone buzzed in my ass, and I sat up. “Freaking finally.” I pulled it out and found a job for a dishwasher repair. Not the most lucrative, but at least it was something. “Hey, can you watch Danny?”

“No can do. I have to go out to Saratoga with the flatbed. Got a restoration job from some rich idiot who doesn’t know how to drive a Shelby.” His shark-grin meant that guy was getting hosed. “He needs a new clutch and pretty sure he stripped some of his gears. I’ll know more when I get out there, but it’s going to be a late one back.”

“Fine. I’ll take him with me. Hopefully, Gene Henry won’t mind. Whoever that was.” I was pretty sure I knew most people in town, but we did have a few that came and went.

“Good luck.” Rip gave me a quick salute, stopped at the kitchen counter, and grabbed two bags of fruit snacks.

“Hey. Those are for Danny.”

“They’re freaking delicious.” He waved as he escaped the same way he’d come in.

I pushed out of my chair and went to find my kid. I had a job to do.