Chapter 4
onyx
My knee bounced nervously as I stared out the backyard of my childhood home. The air was slightly smoky both from the fire going inside and the smoker my dad had me watching for him.
“Why do you look…” My oldest sister Coral’s voice cut through my thoughts as my eyes caught hers.
“So what?” I asked, not giving away that I had been stuck so deep in my head I hadn’t even heard her come out.
“Grumpy?” she said, like a question, then shook her head. “No, that’s not it…” She stared at me like she was really trying like hell to figure out what was wrong with me. “Rave!” she shouted, and I winced.
God, sisters could be loud.
Even years after moving out and hanging out with them biweekly for family lunch, their volume still shocked me.
It was a miracle I had my hearing still after enduring decades with them.
I tried to picture Candy around them. All my sisters had partnered up, and I liked their guys.
My lips twitched into a smile. Candy would fit right in. Coral, though, frowned.
“Now you’re just creeping me out,” she huffed, taking the seat next to me on the bench.
“What’s up?” Rave asked, poking her head out from inside.
“Do you know what’s up with him?” Coral asked, as if I wasn’t right there. She glanced at me, and I tried not to show how I stilled. Sisters like mine could smell blood in the water if they even got one tiny hint of a speck of something.
Raven might be the youngest of the five of us and make it seem like she didn’t catch on to the comings and goings of her siblings, but she knew. Probably more than any of the others. Including my attorney older sister.
“What’s up with you?” Rave asked, stepping out and closing the door behind her as she wrapped an all-too-familiar oversized black hoodie around the other one she was already wearing. My youngest sister had paired off with one of my best friends and business partners.
It was still a little weird, but Bash was a good guy. One of the best. Not only that, but I’d never seen Raven as happy as she had been since they’d paired up, thanks to me. Though, they didn’t like to give me any of the credit.
“Nothing,” I muttered, taking a sip of my beer.
“Ugh, he’s lying,” Cora muttered before hugging me. “You know you can talk to us,” she said, but I knew she was over the cold and ready to head inside.
“I know.” I shrugged as she got up.
“It’s too cold out here for me, and you’re not talking.” I’d called it as she accused. As if she’d really tried. “Why don’t you see if you can sweet talk him into telling you? And I’m going to see if Oleg will watch a Christmas movie with me,” Cora said to Raven before heading inside.
Rave took her seat and rested her head on my shoulder as we looked out at the backyard. The grass was still green even if a little more overgrown than usual. Weird. Dad was a stickler for cutting the grass every week.
“This about Candy?” she asked quietly. I couldn’t stop the grin that spread on my face.
“Candace Kane,” she clarified, but when I didn’t say anything, instead of getting annoyed like Cora had, Raven giggled.
Soft and sweet, the sound like a bell. I glanced down at her, but her eyes were already on me, filled with mischief.
“I heard you call her snowflake.” The look I gave her must have been hilarious because she started to laugh.
“How do you—“
“You do remember where we live, yeah? Small towns like to talk. Especially when one of its most eligible bachelors takes a certain barista to the diner and glares at anyone like a big bear out of hibernation, including the wait staff, as if they’re imposing on your time with her, when all they’re trying to do is serve your food,” she laid out, and I shook my head.
Had I looked like a bear?
More than likely.
Thinking about breakfast with Candy made me smile. Fuck, I missed her. Two damn days, and I missed her.
“Jesus.” I shook my head. “I took her to breakfast.”
“And sat next to her in the booth. Not across from her,” my baby sister pointed out. I grunted. “I like her. She’s always been sweet.”
“She is.”
“So…”
“So, what?”
“Word on the street is—“
“Word on the street?” I chuckled. “Jesus, people have too much time on their hands if this is what makes the streets,” I teased, but Raven rolled her eyes.
“Anyhow, word on the street is that someone hasn’t called someone after taking them home after breakfast and then having their car brought to Pine and Grind for after her night shift so she could drive home.”
“Rave.”
“A car that was at your place before that.” Jesus, how did people get anything done having their nose up everyone else’s business?
“She was helping me build Santa’s workshop.”
“And now it’s all set up at the brewery, and people are dropping off toys,” she said, as if I didn’t know what was happening.
“Right.”
“So…” she pushed, playfully jabbing her elbow into my side. “What’s up?” she kept pushing. “Why haven’t you called her?”
“What makes you think I haven’t?” I asked.
I hadn’t. Life had been crazier than ever the last two days.
The longest two days of my life. Especially without laying eyes on my girl.
Somehow, working side by side with her for a couple days had given me a glimpse of what life would be like with her, and I freaking missed it. A lot.
“Fine.” Rave shrugged, and I sighed.
“You know Austin had to leave,” I muttered. “And then Brett got sick, and I had to ask Connie from the diner to see if she could help. I had a couple people call off, so I had to fill in—“
“And?” she cut me off, looking at me like everything I mentioned wasn’t a big deal.
“And…” I didn’t know what to say.
“Fine, don’t talk to me.” She started to stand. She might not have actually been pouting, but Raven always had a way of getting me to talk. I took her hand, and she sat back down with an all-too-sweet smile.
Damn it, I should have known she was bluffing.
“I like her. I more than like Candy, Raven,” I shared, and for a moment, I wished I had a camera. My sister was stunned at my confession.
“You’re… in love?” she whispered, and I knew by the tone that she was about two point five milliseconds from imploding.
“I am. I love her,” I admitted proudly. I loved Candace Kane more than I knew was possible.
“Oh my god!!!” she shrieked, like I knew she would, hugging me and laughing. I hugged her back. But when she pulled away, her smile slightly dimmed, and I felt like an asshole for it. “You’re torn about something. You look like this isn’t a good thing. Love is always a good thing.”
“It’s complicated,” I muttered, knowing just how stupid I sounded. Jesus, I was so annoyed with myself I wanted to kick my own ass.
“Love doesn’t have to be complicated.” She sounded way to wise for her age.
“She deserves more than seconds of conversation,” I blurted out. “I want to give her more time. All my time. When we went to the diner… fuck me, I thought that was it. Somehow, from right then and there, life would fucking take a break on me and finally let me have the time to give her.”
“Oh, Onyx.” Rave’s voice was soft. “That’s not how life works.” She took the words from my mouth.
“What?”
“Do you love her, really love her?”
“Yes.” I didn’t even have to think about the answer. I’d known that night four months ago.
“Then you need to get out of your own way, big brother.”
“Excuse me?”
“She’s not wrong.” My dad’s deep voice made both of us jump.
Our dad had always been stealthy. But I guess having five kids, four of them girls, you had to develop that skill over the years.
My old man stood by his barbeque, his hand on the handle.
It was obvious the man had been overhearing our conversation.
Jesus, no wonder everyone was so damn nosy in this house, if that’s where the gene pool started.
“Dad—“
“Have you heard of if he wanted to, he would?” he asked. I looked at him like he had suddenly grown two heads. Raven, on the other hand, snickered but leaned closer.
“I have. The question is, do you know what that means?”
“I know more than you think.” He chuckled, and I shook my head.
“He really does,” Raven said, leaning against my side. I draped my arm over her shoulder.
“Look, mijo, I love you. You know that, right?” I nodded. “But I gotta tell you, you’re not very bright. No offense.” He put his hands up as if to feign innocence.
“No offense?” I scoffed. “You obviously don’t know what that means.” I glanced at Rave to help me out. She was pressing her lips together as if trying to stop herself from laughing.
“You love her?” he asked point blank without pussyfooting around the subject. He never did. With five kids, he’d learned to get to the point.
“I do, but—“
“Then there is no but,” he cut me off. “When a man loves a woman, truly loves her, he makes time. He figures it out. Not just how to make time but how to fit into her life as well. Because if you don’t, you better know that there will always be another man waiting in the shadows, ready to step in and do a better job. ”
“Jesus,” I muttered.
“I mean,” Rave perked up, “he’s not wrong,” she said seriously. “Life is going to happen, and you two… well, you are both really busy people. You should call or text her.”
“Text?”
“Yeah, it’s this thing you can do on your phone,” Dad chimed in, and I rolled my eyes.
“It just feels…. impersonal.”
“You’re cute, Onyx.” Raven laughed. “But wouldn’t a text with a couple emojis be better than her thinking you’re just… not that into her?”
“Is that what she thinks?” I asked. Worry hit my gut. But my baby sister simply shrugged, not giving anything else away.
“Que vas hacer?” my dad asked, and I felt my baby sister’s gaze on me.
“What are you going to do?” Rave asked, and I sighed.
“I’m going to get off my ass and text her.”
“See, Rave…” my dad started to say, “you can teach an old dog new tricks.” They were both laughing as I slipped past them and into the house, hugging my mom before I left the kitchen and headed to the front of the house.
My sisters and their men were all in the living room, sitting and talking about Christmas Eve and who was bringing what.
I stepped out into the cool air, relieved at the quiet. It might have only taken me a couple of minutes to get through the house, but it was loud and noisy with how many of us there were now during family dinners.
I pulled up Candy’s information and smiled.
She’d be a part of that if I figured out a way to talk her into giving me another chance.
I called, but it was sent to voice mail.
I frowned. Maybe she was working at the coffee shop?
I texted, and it said the message was read, but that was it.
No bubbles popped up to let me know she was typing out a response.
Nothing.
Payback for my stupidity probably.
And I deserved it.
But I couldn’t keep sitting on my ass waiting for life to give me the perfect opportunity or window to fit someone into mine.
Rusty was right. There was no one out there who deserved Candy, but a man would bend himself backwards to be the one to make him the one who got the privilege of making her smile.
And fucking hell, I was dead set on being that lucky bastard.
And I knew how.