Friends Don’t (Jennings Family #2)

Chapter 1

Addison

As I turn off the four-wheeler, the first thing I hear is exactly what I expect from my two older brothers—Cody cursing and Jesse laughing.

It’s a whopping ninety degrees. The sun is hot, but the breeze is nice.

It’s a little warmer than our typical July in North Dakota, but it’s manageable for me.

Unlike these two, I wouldn’t have decided to build another deer hunting shack during this so-called heat wave.

I would’ve waited until this weekend, when it was over.

They’re both too stubborn, wanting things done differently, their own way.

You should’ve heard them giving each other grief over Sunday dinner, discussing where they were gonna put it.

Jesse wanted it behind his cabin, and Ella, his wife, agreed.

Cody wanted it behind his house because he’s on the other end of the property, closer to the farm next door.

Mason, my other brother, didn’t really care where they put it, because either way, it’d be closer for him than driving all the way out to the one behind the Big House.

It was just a mess. I guess that’s what living on a family compound is like sometimes.

I suggested everyone build their own hut where they wanted it, but they were quick to remind me that these things aren’t cheap, and outfitters aren’t rich by any means.

Cody throws his tattooed arms up, sweat flying, his tone frustrated. “Are you even measuring?!” His entire body is tense.

Jesse steps out of the hut, wiping sweat from his forehead. “What do you mean?! I cut exactly what you wrote down!” he retorts, his chest glistening with sweat too.

Cody takes his hat off and rakes a hand through his damp hair. “There’s no damn way.” He flips his hat backwards and pulls his tape measure off his belt.

I carry the small cooler over that I packed for them. “Brought you guys lunch,” I announce. They stop bickering and come over to grab a sandwich.

“Thanks,” Cody grumbles.

Jesse takes a bite. “Yeah, thanks.”

Nobody speaks for a minute and I start to smile, watching Jesse glare at Cody, who chews his sandwich vigorously.

“So,” I say, overly bubbly, “how’s it going?”

“Just great,” Cody says.

“Mom said you guys couldn’t figure out the door?” I say and walk over to see for myself.

Jesse follows. “Yeah, I don’t know if we need a new seal or what, but it isn’t shutting right.”

He climbs into the hut and I follow him. Cody comes in behind me and Jesse shuts the door to show me what he’s talking about, pointing to the issue. I don’t really see anything, but I stand there and act like I know what they’re talking about.

“Maybe it just needs more force,” Cody says and proceeds to slam his boxy frame into it. A cracking sound reverberates in the shed.

“Uh…” Jesse says, reaching for the handle. It falls off when he turns it.

Cody’s jaw tightens. “Oh sh—”

“Dumbass!” Jesse slaps him across the back of the head.

I start laughing, but when I attempt to open the door, it’s jammed shut. I eye the edge of the door that they claimed wasn’t sealing right, and it is definitely sealed now. There’s no way of pulling it open.

“How about the windows?” I turn around and observe the other escape options, but there’s only one window cut out so far and it’s too small for even me to fit through.

“Good luck with that.” Cody huffs, pulling his phone from his pocket. “And we don’t have service down here. Great.”

Jesse rummages through the tools on the floor.

“Can’t you just cut the window bigger?” I ask.

“With what? A screwdriver?” Jesse argues. “All that stuff’s out there.”

“Nah. There’s gotta be something.” Cody bends down and digs through the tool bag. He pulls out a flathead screwdriver. “We can try and pry it.” He switches spots with me and gets on the floor, wiggling the screwdriver through the crack. Jesse and I watch and I’m suddenly hit with an epiphany.

“Oh my gosh, it’s like that Drake and Josh episode!” I playfully hit Jesse on the arm, but he doesn’t bat an eye.

There’s an episode where they get stuck in a tree house they built because they forgot to cut the door out before they screwed the walls together. It’s one of the best ones.

“Yeah, well, at least they had working cell phones,” Jesse mutters, and then grabs another screwdriver to help Cody.

I cross my arms. “Actually, they didn’t have their phones on them,” I correct him.

Jesse and Cody glare at me, unimpressed. As if my epiphany related to a fictional Nickelodeon TV show isn’t really ideal. I shut up and let them work. I know they’ll figure it out; they always do. I’m not worried.

While they curse and carry on with each other, I pull my phone out to see if maybe I have service. Sometimes it’s spotty down here, but it’s worth a shot.

I text the family group chat, hoping that between my parents, Mason, and Ella, someone sees it. I also send a text to my boyfriend, Brantley, and Wesley, our neighbor. I figure the more who know, the better.

I was in the middle of helping Mom make a huge batch of zucchini bread to freeze before I came out here. She’ll definitely be the first to notice something’s wrong when I’m not back in the next ten minutes.

“Why are you so uptight? You know someone will come looking for us.” Cody looks at Jesse.

“Yeah? When? Tomorrow?” Jesse’s tone is tight, the sweat beading down the back of his sunburnt neck.

“No, tonight, dumbass! Everyone knew this is what we’d be doing all day!” Cody argues, his tone now matching Jesse’s.

I step back and lean against the wooden, unfinished wall. I don’t want spit and sweat getting on me with all their bickering in such a small space.

“You’re the one who broke the damn door!” Jesse points his finger at Cody’s chest.

“Well, you’re the one who insisted we didn’t fix it right away!”

“I didn’t anticipate it breaking even more and then locking us in!”

“Well, I didn’t anticipate it being one hundred degrees the day we did this!” Cody’s volume rises even more.

“When’d you wanna do it?! Midseason?!”

Cody snaps, “No! We could’ve—”

“You guys! Shut up!” I yell as sweat starts to build under my arms and chest. It’s already hot in here and all this tension isn’t helping.

They look at me like they’ve never heard such a thing come out of my mouth. Their chests deflate as both start to calm down. Jesse takes a lap around the six-by-six room, and Cody hangs his head out the window for fresh air.

“You guys needs to take a breath and—”

Cody pulls his head back in, cutting me off. “You wanna sleep out here tonight? Get abducted by Bigfoot?”

I roll my eyes. I used to be terrified of Bigfoot when I was little and they would taunt me over it. Sometimes still do, as you can see.

I cross my arms. “Least he’d get the door open for us first,” I tease with a smart grin.

Jesse snickers and the slightest smile appears on his face before he lets out a sigh and sits down.

Cody huffs, shaking his head before studying the door again. Jesse and I watch him try to pry it open another few times before he gives up, throwing the screwdriver in the pile of tools and sitting down with us.

I decide to pick it up and give it a try, realizing quickly it’s too big to fit between the door and the jamb. I look through the rest of the tools and try the end of a tape measure, but that doesn’t work. The lip isn’t long enough.

“So, what game did Drake and Josh play when they were stuck?” Cody asks.

I laugh. “I think it was where you—”

“We’re not playing a game,” Jesse cuts in.

My eyes flicks to his. “What is your problem?”

“This is just…not ideal.” He huffs, running a hand over his face.

“Right, because we planned on doing this today and just didn’t tell you,” I reply, but Jesse’s eyes speak for themselves—he’s not up for sarcasm.

“No, seriously, why are you so uptight? You’re never like this,” I say.

Jesse’s the patient brother, always steady, just like Dad. He’s always there for you, no matter what. So this short temper of his is something I haven’t experienced much of before.

Jesse shakes his head. “I’m fine.”

“Bullshit,” Cody mutters.

Jesse leans his head back against the wall and lets out a long, slow breath. “I promised Ella I’d be home in time to make dinner tonight. Said the same thing the other night, but got caught up with work. She hasn’t been feeling good and I’m trying to be more helpful.”

Ella’s pregnant with their first baby, also the first grandchild.

You could say we’re all more than just excited…

we’re counting down the days like it’s Christmas, which, ironically, is around the time she’s due.

We only found out a few weeks ago, and I still get excited butterflies when I think about it.

It was a Wednesday night. We had everyone over to celebrate my nineteenth birthday and Jesse and Ella got me two gifts.

The first one was a necklace, and the second one was a navy blue sweatshirt with floral letters embroidered across the chest that said Auntie.

I don’t think I ever cried tears of happiness so quickly in my life.

They then proceeded to pull out a similar sweatshirt for my parents that said Grandma and Grandpa.

Cody and Mason got mugs with Uncle on them.

“See, that’s why you don’t make promises like that,” Cody says, jolting me back from the memory.

“It’s my wife. If I can’t promise a simple, ‘Hey, babe, I’ll make dinner tonight,’ then what am I even doing?”

“It’s called life. It happens. She’ll understand.”

“Of course she will, but it doesn’t mean I want to let her down all the time.”

“Well, she had to have expected some kind of nonsense happening…it’s us,” Cody says jokingly, but Jesse doesn’t laugh.

Nobody talks for a few minutes. Probably for the best. I don’t need to step in and break up a fight between these two. They’re both bulls; I couldn’t even tell you who’d win. It would be strictly luck. Cody’s built like a brick wall, but Jesse’s taller, and they’ve both got arms like sledgehammers.

A four-wheeler sounds in the distance. We all bump into each other trying to look out the window to see who it is.

It’s Wesley. Of course it’s Wesley. He’s been my best friend since we were seven, and has yet to let me down.

Our families have lived next to each other for generations, long before we were ever born. Some of my favorite childhood memories have Wesley in them, like sitting in the buddy seat of their combine during harvest while his dad let us take turns steering.

We spent nearly our entire summers outside—fishing in the creek, seeing who could skip a rock further across the pond, and plenty of mud bogging. My brothers were usually along for those adventures as well.

My earliest memory is from when we were probably five.

We always sat next to each other in Sunday school, but there was this one time I was late to church, and someone else had taken the seat beside him.

The teacher pointed out another spot across the room for me, and Wesley got up, walked over, and sat down beside me like it was nothing.

“How many of you are in there?” Wes laughs, dismounting from the four-wheeler.

“Just Cody and Addie,” Jesse says out the window. “Just push the door open, would ya?”

“Don’t ask whose fault it was, Wes,” I call out to him.

He laughs as he pushes the door open. The air that comes in is so much cooler than the stagnant, BO-filled space in here.

“Thanks.” Jesse gives Wesley’s shoulder a nudge and Cody says the same before chugging a water bottle.

Wesley’s chocolate-brown eyes find mine. “You good?” he asks.

“Yeah. Thanks,” I say, while my brothers simultaneously try to explain to Wesley what happened.

I stand here and relive the story with them, their tempers calmed now that we’re not faced with spending the night in the hut together.