Chapter 2
Everly
“Ican’t believe you’re making me do this.”
Mom’s movements as she transfers a dripping plate from the sink to the dishwasher don’t break stride. “Make? Are you kidding me, Everly Anne? I’ve never been able to make you do a single thing since the day you were born.”
Uh, nope. She’s confusing me with Hadley. HadleyandOakley. Both my younger sisters are strong-willed andhardheaded. I’m the well-behaved, compliant one. As the eldest, I never had much choice in the matter.
“For starters, Mom, I went to a lot of trouble structuring my schedule to have the next two months off to house hunt and get settled before my new job. Working at Uncle Charlie’s is going to make that kind of difficult.” Translation: impossible.
“So rude of him not to schedule his heart attack more considerately, wasn’t it, Ev?”
My jaw descends. Such snark from my mother. Where is the honey sweetness and sympathetic commiseration that once had her kissing my booboos?
“You’re not going to be working for him. You’ll be running the place, and in doing so, helping a sick old man.”
Right. Not working for. If I were, I’d get a paycheck. Instead, my compensation for six weeks of my life will be room and board in my childhood bedroom, plus a steady supply of Mom’s unsolicited wisdom. The only consolation is that the holiday season has begun. The last few Christmas seasons have been too busy for me to be around much. While being home a bit longer during the holidays might be nice, I don’t appreciate the parental arm-twisting. I had plans. Real plans.
“Why isn’t Marsh the one doing this again?” My reprobate cousin should step up. It’s his grandfather in need. Charlie is my great uncle. Except for a one-year marriage that produced a daughter, who then produced my cousin, Charlie has been a lifelong bachelor.
As a kid, I made myself scarce when he was around. His scraggly beard, his loud voice, his gruff ways. Once I was a teen, it was his sharp tongue, the kind I never knew what criticism would fly off of, that had me keeping my distance.
It’s no wonder his relationship status stayed stuck on single. I mean, who would want—
I sigh. That sounds ugly.
True, but ugly.
Mom shoots me a facial scold. “Marshall has a job. At best, he could get a week off work.”
I fold my arms and lean into the crook of cabinets between the stove and sink. “Since when does Marsh have a job?” When it comes to employment, my cousin is chronically of theunvariety. Naturally, he picks now to find work—or to say he has.
Mom runs water and scrubs the pot she cooked her famous chicken tortilla soup in. “Since a couple weeks ago.”
“So, what you’re saying is that I only have to help Uncle Charlie out for the next week, max? Because we all know good and well Marsh will be available again shortly.”
The scouring pad stops scouring, and its operator levels one of her epic mom-scolds with her eyes. “Goodness, you’re nasty today, young lady.”
Am I? I sweep my hair into a handheld ponytail. Yes, I suppose I am. Not wrong, but a bit unkind.
“I really thought you’d be excited to help Uncle Charlie out after all he did for you, Everly.”
Here we go. That fast, the flash of guilty feelings is carried off to sea.
“He paid for your school so you didn’t have to drop out.”
She says it like she’s relaying new information, when in fact, I am well acquainted with what went down during my college years—apparently more so than she is. In Mom’s hands, the story is twisted a smidge for her own purposes.
I let go of my hair. “He paid for one semester, Mom, and I paid him back six months later.” With interest, double the rate I later found out my best friend paid on her student loans.
Mom folds a damp hand backwards on her hip. “Are you saying you’re not grateful for what he did?”
This discussion is going nowhere. And the truth is, I am grateful that Uncle Charlie stepped in my senior year of college.A delay of graduation would have meant a delay of my dream of law school by at least a year.
Still, an entire month or more of running a restaurant? As if I know anything about that.
Okay, so I know a little. That’s true. In addition to the loan, Uncle Charlie employed me from the ages of sixteen to eighteen and then summers and holidays throughout college. I was young and cute at the time, so I hauled in some mighty nice tips from the macho, hardworking types who favor my uncle’s brand of hearty meals. Probably could have retired before ever launching my career had I known even the basics of flirtation. Sadly, the skill continues to elude me. I’m more likely to dump ice water in a randy guy’s lap than I am to wink at him.
