Chapter 9
nine
. . .
piper
“Why do you keep looking down the driveway?” Parker asks as we grab some contractor bags.
Honestly, we should rent a dumpster. While the damage isn’t as bad as it could have been, there’s more than I was anticipating.
“Huh?” I heard him, but I’m giving myself time to answer. I know he’ll give me crap after our conversation a few nights ago.
“You keep staring at the driveway. Why? Are you expecting someone?”
He just had to throw that in. It takes everything in me not to suffocate him with the bag in my hand.
“Beau is coming to help us with the cleanup.” Before he has a chance to open his mouth and say something sarcastic, I add, “and he’s bringing food.”
“From where?” He glances at all the downed tree limbs and various debris covering the property. “I’ll be shocked if anyone in town has power.”
“I never said it was for you. He’s bringing me breakfast because I had nothing in my fridge.”
“Maybe I’ll text him and ask him to bring me something, too. Besides, outside of you, I think I’m one of his favorite people.”
Pfft. He would think of himself that way. It’s kind of annoying that he does in fact like Parker, though. Not that I blame him, outside of Paula, he’s my favorite sibling.
I see a car creeping up the driveway and laugh. “Looks like you might be too late. I think he’s already here.”
“Lucky you,” he grumbles and waves his trash bag in the air to open it. I don’t think he meant for me to hear it.
“Yes, lucky me.” I grin at him. “You should find yourself a best friend as amazing as mine.”
He rolls his eyes and moves further away from me. It’s just food. He has plenty at his house. He tends to keep his fridge well stocked. I would know, I’ve borrowed a few things from him on the off chance I decide to cook.
“I have plenty of friends,” he scoffs. “I’m just not co-dependent with them.”
Am I that way with Beau? Surely, he would say something if he thought I was being too much. I open my mouth to argue this point with my brother, but I hear footsteps behind me.
“I have breakfast.” Beau’s voice is chipper, and I can’t deny hearing it brings me comfort. Even though I’m surrounded by family most days, he feels like…home.
I turn to face him and my jaw drops at the massive box in his hand. It doesn’t have any logos on it, though. “Look, I know I like to eat, but this feels like a lot for just the two of us.”
He laughs and shakes his head. “I couldn’t show up without food for everyone. That would make me kind of an asshole. Besides, I’m sure everyone else is hungry.”
Parker has moved and isn’t in Beau’s line of sight. He sticks his tongue out at me, and I want to cut it off. He’s going to throw this in my face for years. Gah, why does Beau have to be such a kind-hearted soul? Even though I’d do the same if I wasn’t still bitter with my siblings.
“Do I, at least, get first dibs?” I don’t even know what’s in the box, but I’ll be damned if Parker gets any food before I do.
He nods and holds the box in my direction. “Take as many as you want, I think I bought enough.”
The edge of the tab gets caught on the slot when I try to open it one-handed. Dropping the trash bag, I use both hands to pry it open. A stack of foil wrapped goodies are tightly packed inside.
“Did you buy out the whole taco shop? And where did you find one that had power?”
I dig around to find my favorites. Two potato and egg, and one chorizo and egg. I’m sure I’ll get more of the latter, most of the folks in my family don’t like it.
He shrugs and turns toward Parker once I have my food in hand. “I had to go outside of Asheville. That’s why it took me so long to get here. I think everyone in town had the same idea.”
“Is your power out, too?” I feel like a jerk for just now asking. It should have been the first thing out of my mouth rather than food. Being hangry is a thing, though. And I’m on the verge of it.
“Nope. I guess my house is on one of the essential grid lines. Perks of living in town, I guess.”
“Then you won’t mind me staying at your place during the next big storm. As much as I love it out here, I’m not a fan of power outages when we get strong winds.” I wave a hand toward the tree limbs littering the property. “And as you can see, the gusts got pretty high.”
“As if you even have to ask.” He shakes his head and makes his way toward the house we use as our main building. “Is everyone else inside? I don’t want the food to get cold before they get a chance to eat.”
“No,” Parker butts in. “They are in the back. I think Dad and Pierce have been cleaning up for a while so they’ll welcome the break.”
We follow my closest sibling around the house to the backyard. Pierce is closing up a trash bag and sets it next to a pile of them. His eyes widen as he takes in the group of us before narrowing on me and Parker.
“I thought y’all were cleaning up the front, and yet, I see no full bags.”
“We were getting started when Beau pulled up.” Parker slaps him on the back. “He rescued us without even realizing it.”
“I brought breakfast tacos if anyone is hungry.” He lifts the box as an offering. “I didn’t have to go in today and figured y’all could use another set of hands.”
“Thanks.” Pierce eyes him wearily. “Everyone, come eat.” His voice is loud in the silence surrounding us.
“Dang, I think they heard you in the next county over.” Was it necessary to be a smart ass? No. Do I enjoy needling him? Absolutely. At least this is all in good fun.
I’m still annoyed with him about the marketing plan. Even though I’m doing it in secret with Beau. But if I act differently, he may suspect something is going on. The last thing I want to do is have him hyper focus on me.
“I can always be louder.” He laughs.
Since Dad has been talking about handing the winery over to us, I don’t think I’ve seen him laugh. Not that he has ever been jovial, but the humor has been few and far between. It’s nice to hear the sound from him, even if it’s startling.
“I think we’re good.” I grin.
All of my siblings descend on us. Beau avoids getting tackled and sets the box on the table we have set up for tastings. We have an area in the house as well, but this set up is for those nice evenings when it isn’t too hot or cold.
It’s actually the set from my parents’ house. There are so many memories surrounding this table and every single one of them include Beau. From making a mess with s’mores to all of us laughing into the night over some prank Parker pulled. I hope we never get rid of it.
I grab an open seat before there aren’t any left and unwrap my taco. “Can someone hand me the salsa?” They are delicious without it, but I’m a salsa girl through and through. I put it on pretty much everything.
“Here you go.” Philip hands me a small bowl and plastic spoon. He grabs his tacos and takes another one of the seats. “What made you decide to give us a hand today?” His question is directed at Beau.
My best friend shrugs and takes the seat next to me. Our legs touch and a shiver flows through my body. It takes everything in me to shove aside any, and all, attraction I feel toward him.
“My boss said we could take off if we had any damage. Y’all are basically family, and I figured you may need the help.”
“Thank God,” Philip sighs. “Any chance I can talk you into getting on the roof to see if there was any damage?”
“Hell no.” He catches my mom’s eyes and immediately slaps his hand over his mouth. A few seconds later he mumbles, “Sorry, Mrs. Summers.”
“Please.” She waves the apology away. “It’s not like I haven’t heard worse from my own children. At least you try to remember your audience.”
“It’s not like we go around throwing F bombs, Mom.” I roll my eyes and take another bite.
“Maybe not you, but your brothers are a different story.”
The brothers in question have the decency to look ashamed. Serves them right. Looks like I’m Mom’s favorite for the moment. Although truth be told me and Paula have always been because we’re the only girls in a house full of boys. We gave her just as much hell, though.
“Do we have to talk about bad habits right now?” Peter groans. “I promise I won’t cuss in front of you again.”
“Yeah, right.” Mom rolls her eyes as she digs through what’s left of the tacos.
Shockingly it’s not super hot out here. I guess the rain brought down the temperature. Too bad it didn’t take the humidity with it.
“You could always make it interesting.” I wait to see if anyone will bite.
“What do you mean?” Peter leans forward in his chair.
“A swear jar.” I shrug and watch the horror on my brother’s face. “Then when it’s full we can put that toward our next family vacation, or Mom can use it for a spa day.”
“Absolutely not.” Peter and Philip yell at the same time.
“I would be fine with that.” Mom grins. “A day at the spa sounds lovely.”
“You realize you’d probably be going weekly, right?” Philip laughs. At least he has a sense of humor about it.
“Our older brother said he wouldn’t cuss in front of mom just moments ago. Why would you fill it up?”
“I think we all know us better than that baby sister.”
Ugh, I hate when he throws that term around. I mean, it’s what I am, but the way he says it makes it feel so demeaning. Like I’m less than because I’m the youngest.
“Time to get back to work.” Pierce claps his hands together. “You two,” he points at me and Parker. “At least pretend like you’re doing something.”
He knows the both of us well enough to know we’re going to goof off while we work.
“I’m pretty sure I should take offense to that.” Parker crumbles the foil in his hand. “For your information we work just as hard as the rest of you. But…we work smarter.”
If that statement would have come from me, Pierce would have something to say. Since it’s coming from the youngest brother, he brushes it aside. Figures. One day this family will realize my worth. Maybe it’ll be too late when they do, and I’ll move on to greener pastures like Paula.
I gather everyone’s trash and put it in the closest trash bag. Mine is still up front and I turn to head back around the house. If Pierce can’t see me, he can’t ride my ass about how fast I’m working.
After a few steps, I realize my friend isn’t following me. “You coming, Beau?”
He waves my question away. “I’ll be up there in a bit. I need to grab a trash bag and see where Pierce wants me.”
Weird. He never willingly talks to my eldest brother. Add the fact he brought breakfast for everyone and things aren’t making sense. What is he up to?