Chapter 6 Krista
KRISTA
Starting the dryer in the guest house, I moved on to the final task of the day—washing the floors. I really despised the task, especially when I was already feeling like shit. Whatever had knocked me out and left me basically with amnesia for a whole day had also done a number on my stomach.
The lingering effects of my missing days were wreaking havoc on every molecule in my body. It couldn’t have been alcohol. I had never in my life drunk so much that I woke up not remembering a single thing. And that was surprising, considering the number of times I had drunk myself under the table.
“Krissy!” Jeff called out, slamming the door in the other room.
He only called me that when he really needed something, when he thought he could butter me up for whatever massive request he was gonna throw my way. Well, I wasn’t having it today. I wasn’t in the mood for whatever he had up his sleeve.
I rounded the corner of the laundry room and headed through the kitchen to the open living room where he stood, looking around as if he could find me under a table or a coaster.
“What do you want?”
His lips spread in a wide smile as he took a few long strides to reach me. “My favorite sister—”
“No,” I said just as he spread his arms wide to wrap me in a hug.
“What?”
“I said no. Whatever it is, find someone else.”
Frowning, he stepped back, placing his hand over his heart. “I’m hurt. Truly. I simply came here to see if you needed any help.”
“Is that so?” I smirked. “And why would you want to help me?”
“Well, shouldn’t you be spending time with your new husband?”
I winced internally at the thought of “my husband” racing off as soon as we had sex. Technically, I shoved him out the door, but he still walked away. Not that either of us knew we were married.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It must have been a hoax or something.”
“Right,” he huffed. “Because any normal daughter of Clara and Ben Parker would announce to the whole town she was married. How’s that going, by the way?”
I pretended to not know what he was talking about, taking my supplies with me to the farthest bathroom. “What?”
His footsteps hurried after me, along with the incredulous noise he made in his throat. “You haven’t talked to them?”
“No, I’ve been busy.”
“How is that possible? Whenever they find out something about me, I can’t hide for more than five minutes before one of them finds me. And then I get beaten. Tell me something, how come you never get beaten?”
“Because I never get caught,” I said over my shoulder, shoving open the bathroom door.
Staring down at the floor, I grimaced. My knees couldn’t take it today. Not that I was an old lady or anything, but I didn’t have it in me to do anything.
“Right, you never get caught. Except this time, you did get caught. Everyone knows! There’s no hiding it.”
“Well, what do you want me to tell you? Maybe I’ve disappointed them enough that they finally decided it was time to stop yelling at me.”
“Huh.”
I turned, looking at my baby brother as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “What do you think I have to do to get them to be that disappointed in me?”
“You? Never gonna happen, kid.”
His jaw dropped in shock. “What?”
“Face it. You’re the baby of the family. You can do no wrong.”
“But I’m always wrong,” he argued.
“Yes, but you’ll never do enough wrong to make them so disappointed in you that even an elopement would get you disowned.”
Sighing, he walked over to the bed that I had just made less than an hour ago and flopped back on it. “Well, that sucks. I thought eventually I would be able to get them really riled up, you know?”
There was no point in getting upset about the bed. It was already wrinkled, so I joined him, flopping back and enjoying the rest. “Well, you need to do something really stupid like me. Only then can you truly become a disappointment.”
He rolled his head to face me. “Um…hello? I nearly got a kid killed. He’s practically a six-year-old because of me.”
“Yes, but he also made the decision to get behind the wheel. You didn’t even cause the accident. Frankly, it was more of a minor incident on your part.”
He sighed heavily, turning back to stare at the ceiling. “So, there’s nothing I can do?”
“Not anytime soon. Plus, you’re a boy. Boys are supposed to make mistakes. Girls are supposed to uphold the family values and all that stuff. I was ruined from the moment I turned sixteen.”
“Ryder Lawson,” he murmured.
“Yeah, not many can pull off such a feat as to screw up with the likes of him.”
He huffed out a laugh, slipping his hand into mine. “Can you imagine having Lawson as part of the family?”
“No,” I laughed. “God, what a mistake that was.”
“Eh, he’s gone. Heard he has some big job in the city. Wears a suit and everything.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded. “And those pointy shoes.”
“Heels?”
“No, men’s shoes. You know, the really shiny ones that make squeaky noises when you walk.”
“Ah, well, there is no greater sin in life.”
“Tell me about it.” He sat up suddenly, looking over at me. “That’s it! I need to get a job in the city!”
“As what?”
“Does it matter?”
“Sort of. Not sure how you’re going to be a disappointment just by getting a job in the city.”
I watched curiously as his eyes moved back and forth as if he was visibly calculating every move. “I’ll get a job as a lawyer, wear a fancy suit…then, just when they think they’re proud of me, I’ll find a way to sell the property out from under them! It’s brilliant! It can’t fail!”
Laughing, I sat up. “Except that you don’t have a law degree, and I’ve never seen you wear anything that doesn’t have a stain on it.”
Glancing down at his shirt, he frowned. “This shirt is clean.”
“But the pants are not.” Tapping his leg, I shoved to my feet. “And now I have to remake the bed.”
“About that…”
“You mean about your request? The answer is still no.”
“But you haven’t even heard it yet!” he whined, following me into the bathroom.
“That’s because there’s nothing you could ask for that I could possibly want to give you.”
“Not even if I offered to finish the house for you?”
I paused. I had already done most of it, but the idea of not having to do the floors definitely got my attention. Spinning, I narrowed my eyes at him. “What’s the request?”
“A date with Cheyenne.”
I burst out laughing. “Sorry, but no one could get you a date with Cheyenne.”
“Fine, then I need you to take over babysitting for Michael’s spawn.”
“Rosie?” I asked, my eyebrows shooting up. “How is she his spawn?”
“Alright, it’s Wes,” he sighed. “I’m supposed to hang out with him on Saturday.”
“I’m not giving up my Saturday to watch Wes. Besides, the kid stares at my boobs whenever we’re in the same room.”
He grinned like it was actually funny. “Yeah, I taught him that.”
I smacked him hard on the arm, then started chasing him around the room to beat him. “You taught him to stare at my boobs? You’re disgusting!”
“Ow! Stop hitting me! I didn’t teach him to stare at your boobs! Just boobs in general!”
I almost swung again, but he was already half-crouched, hiding behind his upheld hands. “Why would you need to teach him how to stare at boobs? Doesn’t that come naturally?”
“Yes, but you have to do it properly. It’s not like you want to get caught.”
“Then you did a shitty job,” I sneered. “His eyes never leave my chest!”
“Geez,” he grumbled, rubbing his arm. “You don’t have to hit me so damn hard. Just because I’m a guy doesn’t mean I don’t bruise.”
“Obviously, someone didn’t hit you hard enough.”
“Okay, look, I won’t ask you to spend time with Wes.”
I knew it was coming. He was doing the whole countdown thing where he started with the worst and worked his way to the one he really hoped I would help him out with. Usually, it was something I would say yes to anyway, but I liked making him work for it.
“Then what do you want?”
Wincing, he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. It must be really bad if he was actually nervous about asking. “Look, I sort of need you to find out more about…Lizzy.”
My eyebrows shot up at that. “About Lizzy?”
“The pregnancy,” he muttered. “Look, I’ll do anything—”
“Nope.” I walked away, not getting involved in that one.
“You don’t understand. Mike and Liam are up my ass, begging me to find out who the baby daddy is!”
“It’s none of your business!” I argued.
“You don’t actually have to find out!” he shouted, catching up to me and grabbing me by the arm.
I hissed as his fingers bit into the crook of my elbow, though his grip wasn’t all that hard. “Ouch!”
His eyes darkened and he grabbed my arm, yanking the sleeve up. I was as shocked as he was to find a bruise on the inside of my elbow.
“Who did this?” he snapped.
“What—”
His nostrils flared as a side of Jeff I rarely saw came out. “Who fucking did this to you?”
“No one,” I said, yanking back my arm.
“It was that fucker, wasn’t it? I’m gonna kill him,” he said, turning on his heel and marching for the front door.
Sighing, I rolled my eyes and followed. “Jeff, he’s not even here, and he didn’t do this.”
“Then how did you get it?” he called over his shoulder. “Did the fairy put it there?”
“Oh my God! If only I had all sisters instead of neanderthal brothers!”
He suddenly stopped and faced me, his anger still brimming, but his eyes holding a playfulness I was used to. “Neanderthal? Was I that convincing?”
Men. I hated having to placate their egos. “Yes, it was so believable.”
“You really thought I was gonna go track him down?”
Not at all, but my baby brother needed an ego boost more than anyone. “Completely. I was worried for a second there.”
“You were?” The corner of his mouth tipped up in a smirk, and he stood a little taller, rolling back his shoulders. “See? Those guys didn’t think I could do it, but I told them I could.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, they wanted to interrogate Lizzy—you know, now that she’s so close to the due date. They have it in their mind that it must be JR.”
“Why would she keep JR around if he was with another woman and the baby daddy? I mean, he bartends for her!”
“I know that, but he was so protective of her when he first came to town. They’re convinced he must be the daddy.”
“It’s not him,” I sighed.
“Well, that’s what I figured, but I thought maybe you could pretend you’re grilling her for answers. And then I can report back to them that I demanded you find the answers, but Lizzy held firm and refused to give anything away. Then they might back off.”
“And you come out on top.”
He shrugged. “Well, at least they’d stop calling me a sissy.”
“You’re not a kid, Jeff.”
“Hey, sticks and stones and all that.”
I looked at my pathetic brother, who wasn’t pathetic at all, and sighed. There was no way I’d say no to him, which was why he always came to me for favors.
“Fine, I’ll do it, but you have to wash all the floors and remake the bed.”
He saluted me with a grin. “On it.”
But I wasn’t done yet. I was exhausted and wanted to leave. “And you have to take over the last cabin of the day.”
Groaning, he rolled his head back. “What?”
“I feel like shit and I want to go to bed. This is my price.”
“Fine,” he moaned.
“I’ll get started on it tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” he muttered as I shoved the supplies into his hands. “I don’t have to get down on my hands and knees, do I?”
Peeking at him around the doorframe, I sent him a wicked grin. “All the best things in life happen on your knees.”
“You’re sick!” he shouted after me. “You can’t say shit like that to me!”