Chapter 13 #2
I frown down at her. I know that my mom’s rheumatoid arthritis is particularly bad in the winter for her.
She doesn’t do well with the cold. That’s why they moved to Florida a few years ago, but they really missed the family, and with Bridger and Dani having another baby, there’s no way you could keep them away.
But I worry about her.
“Are you in a flare?” I ask her, keeping my voice low.
“Coming out of one.” She pats me on the chest. “I’m fine, sweet boy. Just sore and a little tired. But I want to hear about you.”
“Nothing big to report.”
Okay, I just flat-out lied to my mother. I’m falling in love with a gorgeous, amazing woman who has lit my world on fire.
“We’ll love her,” Mom murmurs and gives me a squeeze.
My gaze whips down to hers, and she just smiles.
“A mother knows these things.”
“I swear you’re psychic.”
She wrinkles her nose. “I know my kids. Whenever you’re ready, bring her around.”
I nod and kiss her head. She makes a beeline for that baby, and I go in search of my brothers, who slipped away when Mom walked over to hug me.
I find them outside, near the grill.
Brooks sits by himself, a beer in his hand, listening to the others, and I pull up a chair next to him after I grab a bottle of water out of a fancy-as-fuck cooler.
Everything in this house is bougie. And it should be. My sister married a fucking billionaire.
“Haven’t seen you in a hot minute,” I say before taking a sip of water.
“We’ve both been working,” he replies.
Brooks and I have always been close. I miss spending time with him.
“How’s the shop?”
“Busy as fuck. I’m hiring Jake Wild, Ryan’s boy, this summer. He’s about to graduate from high school, and he’s interested in mechanics. He’s a good kid.”
I nod in agreement. Our family has been friends with the Wilds for as long as I can remember. Ryan adopted Jake a few years ago, and Brooks is right. The kid is awesome.
“He’ll do well,” I reply with a nod. “And how’s Gabe working out?”
Gabe’s our cousin and recently started working for Brooks last year. He lives in Silver Springs but makes the commute over.
“He’s damn good at his job,” Brooks replies. “I don’t have any complaints about any of my guys right now.”
“That’s great. So what do you know about the Hendrix family?”
Brooks’s gaze snaps over to mine, and he narrows his eyes. “Why do you ask?”
I shake my head and watch as Beckett and Bridger laugh at something Connor just said .
“It’s nothing bad. I’ve started seeing Harper, and I know that you’re friends with Tucker.”
Brooks isn’t often taken by surprise, but this time he is. He wings up a dark eyebrow. “The nurse?”
“Yep.”
“I don’t know her at all,” he replies. “Sold her a car, but that’s it.”
“I know. It looks like a heap, Brooks. You couldn’t do better than that?”
“It runs like a fucking dream. She should have gone somewhere else if she wanted something new and pretty. Is she unhappy with it?”
“No, she likes it.”
He scowls, then lets out a laugh. “You’re such a fucking snob.”
“I am not.” I shake my head, and Brooks keeps talking.
“Tucker’s a solid guy. I think they’re a good family. That’s all I know.”
I nod, and the girls come outside to join us. Birdie makes a beeline for me, climbing into my lap and wrapping her little arms around my neck in the sweetest hug.
Christ, this little girl holds my heart in her hands.
“Hi, Uncle Blake.”
“Hi, cupcake. I like your braids.”
She runs her hand down her long hair and preens. “Mommy did it when Daddy gave Bryce a bath this morning.”
I glance over to see Dani sitting in my brother’s lap, a smile on her sweet face .
Suddenly, there’s commotion as Dani’s brother, Holden, and his wife, Millie, come walking around the house to find us.
“You’re here,” Dani says, jumping up to give her brother a big hug, and Birdie pushes out of my lap to welcome them as well.
Holden was really the father figure to Dani and her three sisters in every way that counts since they were tiny.
Their mother died when the youngest sister, Charlie, was a baby, and their dad was an abusive prick.
Holden is the eldest and often brought the girls over to our ranch to keep them safe and let things die down at home.
He’s a good friend to all of us, and I love that we’re officially family through marriage.
“Hey, little mama,” he says to Dani, brushing her hair off her face. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m all recovered,” she says with a smile.
Holden spent a lot of time at the hospital when Bryce was in the NICU, making sure that Dani was okay.
He’s just the best there is.
“Where’s that baby?” Holden asks, looking around, and Skyla gently passes Bryce into Holden’s arms.
“You have such a goofy grin on your face,” Bridger taunts Holden with a smile.
“It’s a baby ,” Holden reminds him. “It’s my girl’s baby. You’re so handsome, aren’t you? Just like your uncle Holden.”
I smirk, then wink at Millie as she walks over to sit next to me.
“So. ”
“Not you, too.”
Millie snickers into her hand, then laughs outright as if she just can’t control it.
“I’ve watched you make your way through a lot of women in this town.”
“No, you haven’t.” I scowl over at her. “That’s a gross exaggeration.”
She shrugs a shoulder. “But I like this one. She got you coffee.”
Everything in me softens at that. Yeah, my girl got me coffee and brought me breakfast after I had to walk away from her in that bar.
It ranks up there as one of the single worst moments of my life, and I’ll never repeat it.
And the fact that she thought to bring me food after I’d failed her like that? It absolutely stunned me.
“She brought him coffee?” Brooks asks.
“It’s just a cup of coffee.”
Millie scowls and smacks my shoulder, and I pretend that it hurt.
“You’re a baby,” she says. “And it’s not just coffee. My drinks are masterpieces.”
“Right.” I decide that I need to change the fucking subject. “Hey, Billie, how’s book club going?”
Billie grins over at me. “So great. We’ve upped it to twice a month because there’s so much interest. We have a meeting later this week.”
“Oh my God, the book is so good,” Dani gushes. “And I’m coming to this one. I need to get out of the house and be around grown-ups. ”
“I’m so excited you’re coming,” Skyla says, clapping her hands. “Beckett and I have loved this one as well.”
I raise an eyebrow at my brother, and he smiles smugly.
“You should give it a try,” he says.
“What, reading romance books?” I ask.
“Yeah. They’re good, man. Skyla and I read together every night.”
“Dani started reading some to me, too,” Bridger admits. “They’re not bad.”
I blink at my brothers. I have nothing at all against romantic literature. I think it’s awesome. Hell, my sister has built a thriving and incredibly successful business from it, and I’m damn proud of her.
I just never expected to hear that my brothers enjoy it.
I glance over to Brooks and find a strange look on his face.
“What’s wrong with you?”
He shakes his head. “They’re not wrong.”
My eyebrows climb into my hairline. “Are you telling me that you read smut between oil changes?”
“Don’t be a dick,” he says with a huff. “Jul—I’ve read them. Before. They’re good for a relationship.”
That’s right. Juliet’s a reader and got Billie started reading them when Billie was a teenager.
Before everything blew apart.
“Have you been to the new place?” I ask in a low voice, but everyone’s listening in.
“No. ”
“Brooks.”
“Give me the baby,” he says, abruptly standing and crossing to Holden, who gently passes the sleeping baby over.
Brooks rocks side to side and kisses Bryce’s little head.
“It’s still fresh for him,” Millie murmurs. “After all this time.”
I nod. “Yeah. Something like that doesn’t go away.”
“We’re having beers at the Wolf Den,” Beckett informs me. “While the girls do book club.”
“I happen to have that night off, so I’ll join you.”
“I’ll be at home with my babies,” Bridger says and kisses Birdie on the head.
“I’ll watch them,” Mom offers with a smile. “And you go out.”
“Are you sure?” Dani asks her. “They’re a handful.”
“I had five children, darling girl,” Mom reminds her. “Birdie and I will keep Bryce in line.”