Chapter Sixteen
Beckett
The sight of Sadie sitting and laughing with the other women around the fire pit filled me with a deep contentment. Everything felt right in the world with her here as my date.
And it was more than finally being a part of a pair like my other siblings. That aspect was awesome, of course, but knowing Sadie and I were involved altered something inside me.
For example, normally, I’d be fiddling with my phone right now as we waited for the food to be ready.
I’d be checking my favorite tech blogs for reviews of the latest and greatest technology.
I’d be texting with my gaming buddies, desperately trying to set up a date to play together.
I’d be posting to Hartley’s Nest’s social media channels or my own personal ones.
I’d be firmly invested in the virtual world.
Instead, I was here, in the real world, enjoying a cold beer with my brothers and gazing at the most beautiful woman to ever cross my path—or to lie in a grassy field, looking as if she was dead.
“Beckett?”
I shifted my gaze from Sadie to my brother Darius.
“Yeah?”
My brothers all glanced at each other then focused back on me.
“What are you all looking at?” I asked after taking another sip of my beer.
“That is the question,” Logan said. “What are we looking at? Because it kinda seems as if we’re looking at a man who can’t take his eyes off his girl, doesn’t it?”
Isaac, Joshua, and Darius all grunted their agreement.
“Don’t give me shit about this,” I said. “Every single one of you has turned to absolute mush in the presence of your partners.”
“So he admits that he too has turned to absolute mush.” Isaac stroked his bearded jaw. “Interesting.”
“I’m just relieved he didn’t go ahead and ask Ashley to build him a robot girlfriend,” Logan said. “I was genuinely worried about that.”
I shifted my grip on my beer bottle so my middle finger was on the side facing Logan, but my brother just gave me a toothy smile in response.
“All kidding aside,” Joshua began, “we should all raise our beers in thanks to whatever divine presence is responsible for allowing a bunch of jokers like us to somehow attract all that.” He circled his arm toward the women around the fire.
Sounds of agreement rose up from all of us then Spencer joined our circle, a sleeping Little Ben snuggled against his chest.
“What are we saluting?” he asked as Isaac opened a beer and handed it to him.
“That those chicks over there want to have anything to do with us,” Logan said.
Spencer immediately lifted his bottle. “Cheers to that.”
Talk turned to some Hartley’s Nest matters, which I was grateful for because it meant my brothers and Spencer weren’t busting my balls about Sadie.
Not that they were wrong. I was definitely feeling all the feelings for her. Feelings I’d never felt before and my mind was still on that corn maze kiss.
Actually, my mind was on the kissing that might happen later tonight when we weren’t surrounded by my family. Specifically on the more than kissing that might happen.
My gaze connected with Sadie’s again and the little grin she sent my way told me she was maybe thinking of the same thing.
“Come and get it!” Jimmy hollered from the grill as he plopped cooked meat onto the platter my mother held.
Like a pack of hungry wolves, we circled around the food tables to heap deliciousness onto our plates.
“This looks like a royal banquet.” Sadie sidled up next to me, her plate loaded with a little of everything.
I chuckled. “Been to many royal banquets?”
Sadie’s hand froze over the potato salad, her fingers locked around a serving spoon. “Oh. Umm. No.”
“Me neither. The only princess here in Greenridge is our neighbor’s show horse, Princess Glory.”
Sadie shoveled some potato salad onto her plate then offered me some.
“Thanks,” I said. “Do you ride horses?”
“What?” Sadie blinked up at me as if I’d asked something deeply personal.
“Horses. Do you ride?”
“Yes.”
I waited a beat for her to elaborate, but, once again, she didn’t.
“That’s another date we could go on,” I said. “A horseback riding one. Would you like that?”
“I would.” She moved on to shaking a few tortilla chips onto her plate.
“Great.” I took a handful of chips for myself. “We have some great trails right here on Hartley’s Nest property and gentle horses to ride.”
I led Sadie over to one of the two long tables set up for dinner.
She paused before lowering robotically to the seat beside me.
I was about to ask her if she was all right, but Flora asked her if she’d had a chance to look at the bookings she’d collected from today’s event and Sadie launched into an excited conversation.
Maybe her temporary stiffness was because she was hungry?
We dove into the food and the first bite of chicken pulled a groan out of me.
“Wow, Jimmy,” I said. “What magic is this?”
Others around the tables voiced the same sentiment.
“It’s my secret spice rub,” Jimmy said.
Everyone—except Mom, Hunter, Amelia, and Little Ben—shot each other a look. Jimmy having a secret anything could be concerning.
“But I’ll tell you what’s in it,” Jimmy continued. “It’s got salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, and the secret Vermont touch is . . .”
We collectively leaned in, but I wasn’t worried. I accepted Jimmy.
Didn’t I?
“Maple sugar,” Jimmy announced, and everyone relaxed in their seats.
“It’s so yummy, Mr. Jimmy! Good job!” Amelia clapped and any lingering tension sifted into the ground.
Because, damn, it was so yummy.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it, Miss Amelia,” Jimmy said with a smile. “I can’t take all the credit though. These were nice cuts of organic meat from Opal Hill Farm. Better than other meats I’ve grilled. Some meats you have to struggle with to get off the bone, you know?”
And the tension was back, but Jimmy and Mom both sported grins.
“Are you toying with us, Jimmy?” Logan asked after a few counts of silence.
“I am indeed.” Jimmy lifted his glass of lemonade then took a long swig. After he set it down, he picked up his steak knife and jabbed the meat on his plate right in the center. A little stream of pinkish juice came up from the slice. “Ah, just the way I like it. Still wriggling a bit.”
Mom swatted Jimmy’s arm. “Stop. You’ll give them all nightmares, honey.”
Honey? That earned eyebrow raises amongst the group and was perhaps cause for more panic than possible serial killing grilling techniques. When had terms of endearment become a thing between Mom and Jimmy?
I shook my head and reminded myself that I was cool with Jimmy, but hearing Mom call him honey cemented that she and Jimmy were truly a couple. No denying it, and by the looks on my siblings’ faces, they finally realized that now too.
We also couldn’t deny that Jimmy had superior grilling skills and we’d no doubt be allowing him to grill for us again.
We’d probably be allowing him to continue to date our mother too.
Because what choice did we have really?
Conversation shifted to town gossip that didn’t include Jimmy, and watching Sadie take in all the tales was entertaining. Her facial expressions morphed from shocked to amused to disbelief, and in every instance, she was truly gorgeous to behold.
I may have not been to any royal banquets, but I certainly felt as if I was in the presence of someone truly regal.
When our feeding frenzy concluded, we all pitched in to help clean up and headed for the fire pit that Joshua had rekindled to an impressive blaze.
With hot apple ciders in hand, we took seats around the flames, our fronts heated from the fire while our backs were cooled by the shadows of night that had crept in around us.
“Hunter, can you sing the song from your play?” Amelia asked.
With encouragement from the rest of us, Hunter rose from his position in the grass next to Amelia. He launched into a song about believing in oneself, his voice powerful and unwavering and moving. When he finished, we all applauded and Hunter bowed.
“You have a beautiful voice,” Sadie said.
“Thank you.” Hunter lowered back to sit beside Amelia.
Vanessa nudged the boy with her foot. “Tell them your news, Hunter.”
“I was picked to attend a singing camp in California during winter break in December,” Hunter said.
“A singing camp that normally only allows people over sixteen to participate,” Vanessa gushed, “but one of the counselors from the camp heard Hunter sing in a play at the town theater and she said the camp wouldn’t be complete without him.”
Congratulations sounded from the group.
“You deserve it,” I said.
“Yes,” Sadie agreed. “You truly have a gift.”
Amelia threw her arms around Hunter’s neck and squeezed until the boy pretended to choke.
“Ease up there, Tiny,” Isaac said. “Hunter’s throat is his instrument. He doesn’t need you to crush it.”
“Sorry.” Amelia flopped back into the grass, her feet going in the air. “I want my throat to be an instrument too.”
“Oh, yeah? Which one?” I asked.
“A tuba!” Her giggles got the rest of us laughing too, and I had a moment where I was . . . overcome that I got to call all these people my family. I always appreciated them, but right now, in this moment, a wave of gratitude swept through me. I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
“Hey.” Sadie lightly elbowed me.
I looked at her. “Hey.”
“You seem pensive,” she said. “Everything all right?”
I rested my hand over hers on the arm rest of her chair. “More than all right.”
We enjoyed the warm glow of the fire and the company of my family for a little while longer.
Then the dogs, Dasha, Merlin, and Maggie, came barreling through the area, sending a spray of something wet and gloppy all over everyone. Squeals, shrieks, a few curses, and a great deal of barking cut through the otherwise quiet night.
“They must have gone in the pond!” Isaac shouted. “It was muddy around the edge of it this afternoon.”
“Appears it’s still muddy!” Logan yelled.
“No,” Darius said. “All the mud is now on us.”
Sadie’s cheek had a big streak of mud across it. She swiped at it, but she didn’t get all of it.
I unbuttoned my flannel shirt and lifted the left side of it, using it like a towel to wipe away the mud. Only my shirt had mud all over it too and the thin smear on Sadie’s check became a wide band of brown.
“I’m not helping here,” I said.
Dasha trotted over and shook again, covering Sadie and me in more mud though I shielded Sadie with my body.
“Isaac! Get control of your beast!” I hollered.
“Dasha, come!” Isaac, Carina, and Amelia all yelled at the same time. The Husky took off toward them as Jimmy wrangled his dog Maggie and Spencer snagged Merlin by the collar.
“We all need a proper hosing off.” Mom ran a hand through her hair and came away with a filthy palm.
“Is it wrong that I’m glad I was holding Little Ben when that muddy pooch parade marched on by?” Vanessa asked. “He acted like a shield and I only have a little mud on me.”
“We can change that,” Joshua said.
“Mom! Joshua is threatening me!” Vanessa shouted as a splat of mud landed on her thigh from Logan tossing it at her.
Before long, everyone was hurling mud at each other and we were like pigs in a pen, covered in brown.
We were also laughing our muddy asses off.
I snagged Sadie around the waist and pulled her out of the way as a softball of mud headed for her.
Unfortunately, the ground beneath my feet had also grown muddy and I slipped, bringing us both down with a squishy thud.
Her long braid was caked in mud, her face was painted with brown smears, and her clothes were a total disaster.
And yet, she was still the most beautiful sight in the world.