Chapter 11
Shay pulled into Aaron’s driveway and cut the engine.
The absence of her daddy’s Ford gave her a little breathing room to enjoy at least a short time at the party.
She got out of the car and popped the trunk to retrieve the homemade cake she’d cushioned between the gift for her brother and the soft blanket she kept in the car for impromptu drives with women.
She hadn’t gotten the chance to use it with Rosie yet; her apartment was so big and comfortable, there’d been no need.
And Shay hadn’t been required to pull out all the romantic stops to get her end goal; they’d just jumped right into bed with minimal preamble, exactly the way Shay liked it.
Aaron burst out of the front door and ran over to her as if he was escaping prison.
“Shay Shay! Boy, am I glad to see—” He stopped a few feet short of her when he looked at the cake box in her hands.
Sadness filled his eyes, and he covered the remaining distance between them slowly. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Depends. What do you think it is?” she asked, trying to keep the mood light. Birthdays were supposed to be a celebration; they weren’t for mourning. But six years hadn’t lessened the grief.
“Momma’s German chocolate cake?” He lifted the cardboard lid and drew in a deep sniff. “Smells exactly like she used to make it.”
He took it from her hands, put it back in the trunk, and enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug. They stayed like that for longer than she liked. Increased physical contact brought her emotions closer to the surface, and she wanted this to be a happy event.
“All right, you can let me go now.” She pushed him away firmly, and her heart ached at his slight look of rejection. “Don’t be like that, little bro.”
He puffed up his chest. “Not so little anymore. I’ve been hitting the gym.”
“Thirty-five or fifty-five: you’ll always be my little brother.”
Aaron poked the gift box. “Is that for me?”
“Nah, I’m dropping it off at the rec center for their annual toy drive.” She pushed him and laughed when he curled up his lip in apparent disappointment. “Of course it’s for you, knuckle head.” She loved that he hadn’t lost his enthusiasm for birthdays, even in his mid-thirties.
The space-age whirring of her father’s car alerted her to his presence, and she sighed. She’d wanted just a little more time before things got strained. He pulled up beside them and got out.
“Shay,” he said, gruff as usual, then he pulled Aaron into a hug and lifted him from the ground. “Hey there, birthday boy.”
“Hey, Pops.” Aaron offered Shay an apologetic look over their daddy’s shoulder. “Shay baked Momma’s special birthday cake,” he said after their daddy had released him. He picked up the box from the trunk again.
Her daddy cleared his throat and looked away quickly, then he hooked his arm over Aaron’s shoulder and started walking back toward the house. “Come on, son. Let’s get ourselves a beer.”
Shay watched them walk away, and the familiar pang of dread for the coming hours settled in her stomach.
And worse, she couldn’t drink to soften the edges.
She pulled her phone from her purse then thought better of it.
She had no idea when she’d be leaving, and she didn’t want to make plans that she might break.
It was Friday night, and Rosie deserved better than that.
For all Shay knew, she was probably getting ready to go out.
She wrinkled her nose at the thought of Rosie being unavailable but quickly pushed it aside.
Simple included no rights to exclusivity.
So she pulled out the gift-wrapped, hand-torched Unity Tools set of weighted sledgehammers, slammed the trunk, and headed inside…
Where there was absolute bedlam.
“We’ve got guests arriving in less than an hour, Cyrus. What the hell?”
The sound of her daddy’s all-too familiar disappointment set her teeth on edge, but it wasn’t aimed at her right now, so that was something to be grateful for. She nudged her youngest brother, Matt, who was lounging on an armchair away from it all. “What’s going on?”
Matt didn’t lower his phone or stop tapping on the screen faster than spinning tires. “Cyrus didn’t confirm the catering for the party, so we’ve got no food.”
“And how long has everyone known this?” she asked, surveying the rest of her brothers, their significant others, and their children scattered throughout the open-plan lounge, dining room, and kitchen that Aaron and Elijah, her middle brother, had created.
Every one of them seemed busy doing nothing but adding to the general chaos with loud opinions and no action.
Matt shrugged. “Couple of hours, I guess.”
She didn’t have to ask why no one had done anything about it.
Bisa was too busy with the kids, and although Shay was running late and should’ve been there over an hour ago, they were clearly expecting her to rescue the situation, like always.
She closed her eyes briefly, reminded once again why she’d abandoned the family to go in the Army.
How her momma had expertly juggled the six men in her life, Shay would never know.
She bit back the sting of tears, ever-present when she was around her family, and headed toward Eli and Luke.
“Hey, Corporal,” Eli said, and he and Luke saluted.
She slapped their hands down. “Does Aaron still have the grill I bought him last year?”
Luke nodded. “He hasn’t used it yet. Says he’s waiting for the perfect occasion.”
Shay tilted her head and sighed, keeping her irritation deep down for later meditation. “Good, we’ll do a cookout. How many people are supposed to be coming?”
“Maybe fifty people.”
“Including us?” she asked.
“Nah,” Eli said. “Fifty plus the family.”
“Kids?”
Eli nodded.
“Included in the fifty or on top?” If she was going to have to launch a rescue mission, she needed all the information.
“On top.” Eli counted on his fingers and raised his eyes to the ceiling. “There’s maybe ten kids,” he said after a while.
So it was likely to be double that since Eli took zero notice of children and only had eyes for women. “Any vegetarians?”
Eli laughed. “I hope not,” he said and made a crude sexual remark.
Luke shoved Eli’s shoulder. “Yeah, there’s some herbivans. Like, maybe ten.”
Shay suppressed a grin and nodded. Luke had gotten the looks of the family, but Shay suspected she’d gotten his share of brains.
She estimated sixty-five adults and twenty-six kids and did some quick math, then she pulled her credit card from her phone sleeve and handed it to Eli.
She’d figure out the finances and who owed her what later.
“Go down to Martin’s meat market with Luke and get fifteen pounds of steak and the same in ground beef, and I need his giant bag of chicken wings and ribs.
Give me your phone.” When he’d unlocked it and handed it over, she typed in a list of ingredients she needed for veggie burgers plus salad, slaw, beans, and buns.
“Then go to Clark’s and get all of that.
” She handed his phone back. “Tell me someone handled drinks, or Daddy’s going to work himself up to a heart attack. ”
Luke grinned and looked pleased with himself. “All sorted. Liquor, beer, wine, and sodas are stacked up in the basement and the fridge in the den.”
“Great. Go!”
“Can we take your car?” Luke asked, just like he used to do when he was fourteen.
“I don’t want the smell of raw meat on my upholstery. Use your truck, Eli.”
Luke rolled his eyes. “You’re no fun.”
Eli wiggled his eyebrows and bumped Luke’s shoulder. “That’s not what all the ladies say, is it, Corporal?”
She shoved them both toward the door and navigated her way back to Matt. She snatched his phone and slipped it into her purse away from his grasping hands. “Set up an outdoor bar under the veranda. The drinks are in the basement and the den.” She hoped there was ice there too.
“Ah, come on. Do I have to?” He slumped back into the chair.
“Yeah, you have to. In case you haven’t gotten your snoot out of your phone long enough to notice, it’s your big brother’s birthday.
We’re going to have near on a hundred people here, and we’ve got no food.
” She grabbed his arm and pulled him up.
“If we don’t have drinks set up either, we’ll have a riot on our hands.
” She pushed him in the direction of the den, and he slouched away reluctantly, throwing her a look that she couldn’t be bothered to categorize.
She turned to her father and Cyrus, who were still going at it, clearly resolving nothing. “Everything’s under control,” she said and relayed her plan before she grabbed Aaron and tugged him outside to uncover the grill.
Cyrus emerged from the back door holding hands with a beautiful woman with a complexion that reminded Shay of their momma.
She had the same big, brown, kind eyes too.
Shay smiled, thinking maybe that’s what had drawn him to the woman, and from the grin on her brother’s face, it looked like he’d finally found someone he might hang onto for more than a few weeks.
She’d thought the last one, Kali, had a chance but obviously not.
She pushed aside their similarities in their lack of ability to commit and ignored the small niggle that questioned why he hadn’t told her about his new lady before today.
“I’ve brought you someone who can help with your plan, sis,” Cyrus said. “Shay, meet Nia. She’s a professional chef.”
Her brothers exchanged an expectant look while Shay held out her hand. “It’s great to meet you, Nia,” Shay said then looked at Cyrus. “Where’d you meet this queen?”
“She’s Bisa’s best friend, and—”
“I moved in next door a few weeks ago,” Nia said.
Shay nodded. “Perfect timing.”
“Or fate,” Nia said and continued to stare into Shay’s eyes without letting go of her hand.