Chapter Twenty-One
Somehow Rob ended up alone in the store when it was time for Hannah’s guest to go. He’d been hoping to be anywhere else, even scrubbing bathhouse toilets if he had to, because he was still nursing the bad mood he’d fallen into after mulling over what was said after their ride yesterday.
Summer fling.
Those were the words Erika had used, which meant that was probably how Hannah had defined their relationship to her. A summer fling—hot, fun and very temporary. Knowing it was possible and having to be reminded it was actually probable were two different things.
But Danny was writing, and Brian and Joey were changing the oil in the UTV. He would have done that, but it was a beautiful day and neither of them wanted to be stuck in the store. As usual, Rob got the job nobody else wanted.
When the two women walked into the store and his gaze fell on Hannah, he felt better. Her face lit up when she saw him, as it always did, and he realized it didn’t matter what anybody called what they had together. They had what they had, and it made him happy.
“It’s time for me to head out,” Erika said, and she almost managed to look sad about it. “But I’m going to get snacks for the drive, and for the flight.”
“Feel free to look around and see what we have. I wouldn’t recommend ice cream, though.”
She laughed, but then she froze for a second before unzipping and rummaging through her tote. “Oh crap, I forgot my phone charger. It’s plugged in by the sink.”
“I’ll run and get it while you pick out your snacks,” Hannah said. “Is that the only thing you forgot?”
“It’s the only thing I remember that I forgot,” Erika said, and Rob chuckled softly.
“I’ll do a final sweep.”
“I had so much fun yesterday,” Erika said as soon as the door closed behind Hannah. “You have a really great job.”
He nodded. “It is a pretty great job, though we don’t get too much riding in. Not as much as you’d think, anyway. I’m glad you had fun, and I apologize for the dirty laundry.”
“Oh, we washed it last night. If I’d checked a bag, I might have thrown the muddy clothes in a plastic bag, but I flew carry-on only.”
“It’s great that you got to visit. I know Hannah’s missed you.”
She gave a wistful sigh. “I can’t wait until she comes home. Three months is forever, and this place is great, but she needs to get her butt back to California.”
Rob nodded, but he couldn’t fake even a sorry excuse for a smile. He wanted Hannah’s butt to stay right there in New Hampshire, thank you very much. But he knew that wasn’t the plan, and her best friend certainly wasn’t going to agree with him, so he kept his mouth shut.
When Hannah returned, she was slightly out of breath and looking slightly annoyed. She gave Erika a handful of things, only one of which was a phone charger. “I also grabbed your brush, your earplugs and those disgusting mints you like.”
“They’re great mints. You just have no taste.”
“Mints should be minty,” Hannah argued. “Cinnamon that sears your taste buds and makes your eyes water is not minty.”
After tucking the items in her bag, Erika selected her snacks and paid for them at the counter. Then, after thanking him again for taking them out in the side-by-side, they left. Hannah looked over her shoulder and gave him a little wave before she walked out the door, and he waved back.
When the rental car pulled out and headed south a little while later, Rob waited expectantly, but Hannah didn’t come back into the store. He’d been hoping she would, because he always wanted to see her, but it wasn’t a big camper and Erika had a big personality. Maybe she needed some alone time.
When the door did open, Danny walked in. He was scruffy and looked tired, but at least he was clean. When he was deep in writing mode, he sometimes didn’t bother taking the time to shave, but he almost always showered.
“How’s it going?” he asked when Danny sank into one of the chairs with a sigh.
“That kitchen table is not ergonomically awesome,” his brother answered, wincing slightly as he shifted his position. “And neither is the chair or the couch, but I keep bouncing around, writing until I can’t sit there anymore, and then I move to the next. Worst musical chairs ever.”
“You have a nice desk at home. And a chair that cost more than my first car. Why come up here and wreck your back?”
“Because I get in my head and sometimes it takes a change of scenery to get out of it.”
Rob snorted. “And because you can go to the Kitchen for breakfast and see Kenzie.”
Danny’s head was leaned against the back of the chair, but he swiveled it to face him. “She says she has no interest in writing anything, but she has an amazing grasp of story elements.”
“Maybe she could be an editor, like Aunt Keri.” When she’d given up her job to marry their uncle Joe, she’d become an editor and, though she refused to edit his books, she liked it and was well respected.
“She’ll never leave that restaurant.”
Rob knew what that sentence really meant, even though neither of them said it out loud.
Kenzie couldn’t leave the restaurant as long as her dad worked there.
And maybe not even after he was gone, because it was her mother’s legacy.
He liked Kenzie a lot and hated seeing it, but he also knew what family meant and he respected her for staying.
The door opened again, and again it wasn’t Hannah.
This time it was Brian and Joey, with Stella at their heels.
Drinks were taken out of the cooler—and noted down after being reminded to by Joey—and the four of them had a few minutes to relax together.
Stella, probably overheated after being outside, slurped up half the fresh water Brian poured in her bowl and then sprawled on the cool tile floor.
“Since we’re all here,” Joey said, and he was met with groans. That opening usually led to serious discussions. “This isn’t public knowledge yet, but Ellie and I want you three to know because it affects—”
He didn’t even have the words out before all three of them were on their feet. Even Danny, who winced a little, pushed himself out of the chair.
“We’re having a baby,” he said, unable to keep the grin off his face.
There was a round of hugs and backslapping and congratulations, all of which disturbed Stella’s peaceful slumber. But finally they all settled back in their seats, though they were all still smiling.
“Just to be clear,” Brian said. “Mom and Dad don’t know yet?”
“No. It’s still early to be telling people.”
Danny held up his hand. “And you decided to punish us by making us keep this a secret from the family why?”
“Ellie and I wanted you to know because...” He paused, then gestured around the store.
“I know I haven’t held up my end of the work.
I know that. But even with Nora out of school there’s a lot going on and I keep telling myself I’ll just take the time to come up and here we are with the summer half-over.
But once the baby comes, it’s going to be even harder.
The money I did put in can be a loss and I know you can’t buy me out or whatever, but I think it’s time we rework the company so I’m not getting any of the profits. ”
“No,” all three of them said at the same time, and Rob felt a flood of relief that Danny and Brian felt the same way he did. Sure, they’d been annoyed by his absence, but cutting him out? Rob wanted no part of that.
“Kowalski Brothers, LLC is not getting hacked up,” Brian said. “Did you pull your weight this summer? Not really. But you have a new wife and a cute-as-hell kid. And you’re going to have a baby.”
“I’m going to pull even less weight with Ellie pregnant and then an infant,” Joey pointed out.
“Yeah. But you’ll be around when you can. Maybe when the kid’s past the helpless infant stage, you can bring them up when there’s something big going on.”
“It’s not fair to you guys.”
“Maybe not at first,” Danny said. “Right now, you’ve got a lot going on. But at some point, it’ll be somebody else’s turn. Hopefully we’re all going to find what you’ve got and then maybe that guy gets to take a step back and you’re ready to step up.”
“Unless we all find it at the same time,” Joey said.
“Not likely,” Brian grumbled, and though he kept quiet, Rob felt the same. After Hannah left, it was going to be a very long time before he was interested in dating again.
“We’ve got you, Joey,” Rob said. “And at some point, you’ll be there for one of us.”
He nodded and sniffed a couple of times before chuckling. “Considering you’re all a pain in my ass, I’m feeling pretty blessed right now.”
“That’s what brothers are all about,” Danny said. “That and getting me another soda from the cooler because if I try to get up right now, I might fall on the floor and you guys would just leave me there with Stella.”
Hannah woke the next morning feeling restless before she even got out of bed. Even though she’d stayed up too late two nights in a row with Erika, she hadn’t slept well.
Despite sticking to her promise to have a fun girls’ weekend and leave the podcast out of it, just having Erika around had brought the pressure of her decision bubbling to the surface.
She’d allowed herself to be distracted by Rob and the goings-on of the campground, but she needed to focus on the rest of her life.
She owed it to Erika, and to the podcast, to make it a priority.
They’d both poured money and their hearts and souls into it, and they’d gotten a decent return on their investments.
Now she had to figure out where to draw the line, as far as her personal sense of ethics, and decide if that line could be swayed by the financial figures Erika had sent.
She’d even dragged out the notebook again, sorting her thoughts and writing things down because numbers and concepts seemed more concrete to her that way. But no matter how great the pivot looked on paper—and it was really great, moneywise—she knew her decision was made.