Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
ERIN
“ W hat are you doing right now?”
I sigh and lie back on my couch, exhausted but happy to hear from my sister. “I just got home from work, and I’m dead on my feet. It’s spring break here, and we’re full of tourists.”
“Interesting.” My baby sister, Zoey, who’s actually less than two years younger than me but I always call her the baby, called to chat. Because she misses me. Of course, just when we were starting to get along better after a childhood of being at each other’s throats, I moved away. “So, you feel a big difference there during tourist season?”
“Yeah, a lot, actually. And I’ve noticed that when people vacation, they kind of lose their minds.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re stupid. They ask really stupid questions that, when they’re at home, I’m sure they would never ask. Like, ‘Do you wear bear spray to repel the bears?’ or ‘Where do you keep your horses?’ It’s so weird.”
“Now I want to come hang out there and listen.”
“You should. Spend one day in the coffee shop, and you’ll get an ear full. Anyway, enough of that. How are you ?”
“I’m fine. I went shopping with Haley and Chelsea yesterday, and we all ended up at a tattoo parlor, and the next thing we knew, we had matching tattoos.”
I pull my phone away from my face and frown at it. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, they’re really pretty. I’m surprised you didn’t see our posts on the ‘gram about it.”
“You know I don’t do social media. Definitely not after what happened when I was in college.” This makes me feel left out and like I’m missing everything back home.
“Erin.” I can almost hear her rolling her eyes. “The stalker thing happened more than five years ago, and you know that Dad took care of it. I understand that you don’t want to have a huge social media presence, but just make up a fake profile so you can lurk and comment on our stuff. You’re too far away to be alienated from all of us.”
I sigh and rub my hand over my eyes. I get that Zoey thinks she understands, but she’s not the one who had a psycho following her every move. “I know. I’m not really homesick much, and I know that I made the right decision when I decided to stay, but I do miss all of you guys a lot. I miss getting together all the time and being able to find out what everyone is up to. Cousin parties are the best.”
“We hosted one that was wild last weekend,” Zoey says with a chuckle. “Yeah, get on the ‘gram, okay? Just text the group text so we all know it’s you.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Erin—”
“I know you think I’m being silly, but what happened was really scary, and I don’t want to chance going through it again, okay?”
“I get it. I do. Just think about it because I want you to be privy to all the fun things happening around here. I mean, you’ll be here for the important stuff, but the day-to-day is still important, too. Oh, did you hear that Haley is going to go to school for sound healing and Reiki?”
“Is that, like, energy work?”
“Yep,” Zoey confirms.
“No, I hadn’t heard, but that sounds right up her alley. I have to say, though, isn’t the herbalism taking up all her time?” Our cousin has been into all things crystals and herbs for as long as I can remember.
“Yeah, for sure, but she wants to do this stuff, too. It’s fun to be her guinea pig. The next time you’re home, you need to have her make you her special teas. They’re delicious.”
“I’ll remember that.”
It’s not lost on me that she called Seattle home , but I think of Bitterroot Valley as home now.
Not that I’ll say that to Zoey because it’ll just hurt her feelings.
We spend about an hour talking about all the cousins, which is a lot of them, and what they’re up to. When I finally hang up with her, I’m freaking starving.
“I don’t want to cook,” I mutter as I stare inside my small refrigerator. I’m so tired, and every muscle in my body is just… sore.
I want to curl up on my small but cozy sofa and watch a true crime show. With pizza.
So, I pick up my cell and call Old Town Pizza.
“OTP, this is Heather.”
I smile at the sound of the owner’s voice. “Hi, Heather. I’d like to place an order for delivery, please.”
“You betcha. Hold on; let me grab a pen. Is this Erin?”
I blink in surprise. “Yes, how did you know that?”
“I have a knack for names, but it also came up on the caller ID.”
I laugh in response. “You had me really impressed there for a minute. Okay, I’d like a medium pepperoni and pineapple on hand-tossed crust, and let’s also do some hot wings. With ranch.”
“Got it,” she says slowly. “What about any breadsticks?”
“I’m tempted, but no thanks. This will do me. I’m above Roger’s garage.”
“Okay, honey, this will be on its way to you in about thirty minutes.”
“Perfect. I’ll just pay with cash when it gets here, if that’s okay.”
“Fine by me. Thanks, Erin. I’ll see you at the coffee shop soon.”
She clicks off, and I smile as I set my phone down. There are so many places in Seattle that I order from or eat at all the time, but they don’t know me by name like this. And it’s not just Heather. It happens all over town.
And I kind of love it.
With a renewed spring in my step, I decide to take a quick shower and get comfy while I wait for my delivery. And it’s just the right amount of time because, as I walk out of my bedroom, there’s a knock at the door.
Fully expecting to find a teenager delivering pizza, I’m thrown for a loop when I find a very angry Millie on the other side of the door.
“Hey, come in.”
“Thanks.” She moves past me and starts to pace my small living room. “I’m just so pissed off, and I need to vent, but I can’t do that in an empty apartment.”
“Obviously not. What’s going on?” Suddenly, there’s another knock on the door, and I hold my finger up. “Hold that thought. That’s food.”
I swing the door open, and this time, it’s a lanky, awkward teenage boy standing on my stoop, loaded down with boxes.
“Hey, Miss Erin,” he says and clears his throat as he blushes bright red. “Heather threw in the breadsticks, even though they’re not part of your order.”
“She didn’t have to do that.” I pass the cash to him and accept the boxes. “But tell her thanks. You can keep the change. Have a good night.”
“Thanks, you, too.”
I close the door and bring the boxes directly into the living room and set them on the coffee table.
“Okay, we have pizza, hot wings, breadsticks, and wine. We are totally set up for a major vent sesh.”
Millie sighs. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just shown up to your place like this, out of the blue, when you’re about to eat dinner.”
“Why not?” I frown up at her as I open the bottle of wine. “I have a million cousins and a younger sister. This is what we do , Mill. Now, let’s eat and talk.”
“I really am hungry,” she admits and bites her lip. “Are you sure you have enough?”
“I can’t eat this whole pizza, that chicken, and an order of breadsticks by myself. You’ll be doing me a favor by helping me eat this.”
“Well, I am all about being there for my friends.” She sits on the floor by the coffee table, takes a hot wing, and bites into it. “Okay, this is good. I’ll have energy for all the bitching I’m about to do.”
“I can’t wait. Give it to me.” I pass her some napkins and dig into the pizza, then sigh in happiness.
Old Town Pizza rivals any pizza I’ve had in Seattle.
“Okay, so I was hanging out at The Wolf Den, just having a glass of wine at the bar and chatting with Belinda, the bartender. I didn’t want to be by myself at home tonight, so I thought I’d be social, you know?”
“Sure.” I take another bite. “That’s a fun bar. I like it in there.”
“Same. So, I’m just minding my own business, sipping my wine, and because it’s a freaking tourist week, in come these complete idiots who are here to hike for the week. They’re pissy because it’s still too early in the season to actually hike much, since the snow hasn’t melted all the way in the mountains, and they didn’t bother to actually do some research to see if this is a good time for outdoorsy stuff.”
“So, they’re morons.”
“ Total morons,” she agrees with a vigorous nod. “Like, if you’re going on vacation somewhere, wouldn’t you do some research to see if what you want to do is even a thing at that time of year? Anyway, I’m just sitting there, not engaging with them at all. I might have rolled my eyes at one point because holy shit, were they ever whiny, but I was keeping my opinions to myself. And I have to tell you, I was proud of that because I could have really unloaded on them.”
“I’m proud of you, too.”
“Thank you.” She reaches for a slice of pizza and takes a bite, chewing thoughtfully. “So, the holding it in didn’t last long.”
I can’t help but laugh at that, and Millie narrows her eyes at me, so I stop, clear my throat, and hide my smile behind my wine glass.
“Sorry. Go on.”
“Well, they were talking shit about my town. Calling us all country bumpkins and how we’re too stupid to figure out how to hike in the snow. It was disrespectful as fuck.”
“Yeah, that’s not cool at all.”
“So, I turned around on my stool and proceeded to let them know that if they didn’t like it here, they could just go on home. We wouldn’t miss them. Maybe they’d learn to actually research their vacations in the future.”
“And they didn’t like that.”
“No. They didn’t.” She takes a deep breath, then reaches for another slice of pizza. “And I didn’t care. I ended up standing nose-to-nose with the leader of their little gang, and then he pushed me.”
My eyes come up, wide. “He pushed you?”
“Yeah, and he had his fist reared back to punch me in the face, but then he was suddenly punched in the face, and several guys kicked all four of them out of the bar.”
“Good, what a bunch of assholes.”
“But that’s not all.” She shakes her head and then stands and begins to pace my apartment once more. “No, it gets much worse.”
“They were waiting for you outside, and you had to kick all of their asses?”
“I wish. That would have been better.” She finishes the last of her crust and then turns to me. “The person who just had to jump to my rescue was freaking Holden Lexington.”
“Who’s that?” I frown up at her, trying to search my mind for that name, but I don’t know it.
“He’s the oldest child and only son in the fucking Lexington family. You’ve heard the story of the Hatfields and the McCoys?”
“I guess. Rival families, right? Somewhere back east?”
“Yeah, they hated each other. It’s the same here, but it’s the Wilds and the Lexingtons here. Our families have fought for generations.”
“Why?”
She waves her hands in the air and begins to pace faster. “Because we have property next to each other, and there’s always something to fight about. Our two families pretty much originally settled Bitterroot Valley. Holden’s about Remington’s age, and they’ve always hated each other. In fact, all of us siblings hate each other.”
“That’s a lot of hate,” I comment and then frown. “Wait, so, there are five of you Wild siblings? How many siblings are in the Lexington family?”
“Five,” she says with a sniff. “But where we’re four boys and a girl, they’re one boy and four girls.”
“So fascinating,” I murmur, sitting back on the couch. “And I gather that it was bad that Holden came to your defense?”
“ Yes. ” Her voice is getting more and more shrill with frustration. “Of course, it’s bad. I don’t want Holden to jump in and try to save me. Do I look like I can’t hold my own against some stupid tourists?”
“No, you could handle it, but he pushed you.”
“And he was about to get a kick to the gonads, I’ll tell you that. But I didn’t get to do that because Holden decided to be the goddamn hero. Figures.”
She shakes her head in disgust.
“And then he, like, tried to smile and placate me, and just because we slept together once does not mean that I want him to do that.”
“Whoa.” I hold up a hand. “You slept with him?”
“Once,” she spits out. “ One time. Because Holden is fucking beautiful in every way. It’s just so unfair that he’s so hot because that can go nowhere. Our families hate each other, remember? Remington would kill Holden if he ever found out that Holden had his hands on me.”
“But, was it fun? The handsy sexy time?”
Millie blows out a breath and scrubs her hands over her face. “Hell yeah. It was damn good sex. But it cannot happen again, and it won’t happen again, even if Holden thinks he can defend me against tourists. Although, it was kind of hot when he punched that guy.”
“I bet. I wish I’d been there to witness it.”
Millie narrows her eyes. “I’m not going to think about Holden and his hotness anymore. He’s not sexy. He’s annoying.”
“Sure, you just keep telling yourself that.”
She looks at me now, and it seems the worst of her anger has worn itself down.
“You look like shit,” she decides. “Did something happen to you ? Oh, my God, I’m a horrible friend because I just had diarrhea of the mouth this whole time, and you have issues of your own that I haven’t even listened to.”
“I’m okay,” I reply, shaking my head. “I’m just really tired. It was a long day. And then I talked to my sister, and she was telling me about some stuff that’s happened back home, and I’m missing it. I don’t want to go back to Seattle; I just hate that I’m missing out on some fun stuff with her and my cousins. She said that I wouldn’t miss as much if I’d just get on social media, but that’s not a good idea.”
“You’re not on social media?”
I shake my head again. “I had a stalker a few years ago, and it originated on socials. It scared me.”
“Okay, Boomer, but you can totally have a secret account that you just use to interact with your family.”
“That’s pretty much what my sister said.” I smile and pour more wine into our glasses. “I guess I could do that if I don’t have to use my real name or pictures of myself.”
“You totally don’t have to,” Millie insists. “Download the app on your phone. I’ll help you set it up.”
“Right now?”
“Absolutely. This is taking my mind off the Lexington family. One member in particular.”
“Okay.” I shrug and tap the screen of my phone. “Which one should I do?”
“Just Instagram,” she replies.
“Okay, it’s downloaded. Now what?”
“Now we have to come up with a name and a username for you.”
“I can be Erin McBride. That’s my mom’s maiden name.”
“Perfect. It’s easy for you to remember,” she says as I type the name into the app. “Okay, now a username. What about SexyCoffeeGirl69?”
I blink at her and then shake my head. “No. Definitely not.”
“CoffeeVixenXO.”
“No.”
“BigSkyRideorDie.”
I smirk. “Hell no. Why do we have to die? Absolutely not.”
“This is fun. I’m on a roll.” Millie sits again and nibbles on the end of a breadstick. “Okay, how about?—”
“Hold up.” I lift a hand and smile. “I have it. BigSkyBarista. It’s generic.”
“I like it. Now, what will you put as your profile photo?”
“I have a picture that I took of a latte I made at work the other day.” I bite my lower lip as I scroll back and select the photo of a foamy-topped latte. “There. I have an account. Now I just have to text the cousins and let them know that it’s me.”
“Perfect.” Millie smiles sleepily. “Now you won’t miss out on anything.”
“Do you want to sleep here tonight?” I ask her. “You’re about to crash from all the excitement.”
“Yeah.” She sighs. “I think I do. But that couch is small.”
“I have a king bed. We’ll both fit.”
With the floor all mopped, and all my other end-of-day cleaning duties finished, I’m ready to close the coffee shop for the day. I’m so ready to go home. I get the next two days off in a row, and I plan to sleep, clean my apartment, and help Roger in his garden.
The tourists have exhausted me.
Before I can make it over to the door to lock it, in comes Grumpy.
Great.
But I paste on a smile. “Hey there. You’re later today, so I don’t have a ton left.”
“Coffee,” he says shortly, even more curt than before. His handsome face is drawn in a dark scowl. “Black.”
“Oh, I don’t have any more brewed coffee, but I can make you a latte or something.”
His eyes narrow into slits. “You don’t have any more brewed coffee?”
“Well, no. We close”—I check my watch—“one minute ago. I was just about to head out for the day. But I don’t mind making you the latte. I even have a couple of scones that I’d just boxed up, if you want those. On the house.”
Grumpy mutters under his breath, and I have to take a deep breath of my own to keep myself from snapping at him.
“Never mind,” he bites out and turns on his heel to march out the front door.
“See you, Grumpy,” I say, loud enough for him to hear, but he doesn’t turn around to look at me.
For fuck’s sake, everyone has been so moody today. My cousin Haley would say it’s because of a moon phase, or Aries is in Jupiter, or some such thing.
Whatever that means.
Personally, I think people are just pissed off. Why? I have no idea. But for the first time since I started this job, I’m ready for a few days off so I don’t have to be around people.