“I want to be in there before it gets cold, so the next couple of weeks are going to be a lot of hustle to get the apartment safe for occupancy.”
“Just how uninhabitable is it?” Will asked.
Josh made a face. “It was cheap, let’s leave it at that. It’s not condemned, if that helps.”
It did—barely. Owen thought about the money he’d set aside for the home gym and the four-wheeler. He thought about Kerry, and how it had felt to confess his secret wish list to her—and how, maybe, now he didn’t care about it quite that much.
He could rent a four-wheeler for a weekend. “Are you open to investors? Maybe we could hire Jake Foster to help you get it cleaned up real quick.”
Josh shook his head. “I appreciate the thought—I do—but I’ve got some money saved up. Enough for a couple of cars to get started, and I think I might be able to barter some work, too. I’ll find guys who can help. Adam, I bet you’ve got some army guys looking for work, yeah?”
“Yeah, probably do.”
From behind a pair of sunglasses he’d donned on the drive back, Josh lifted his eyebrows at Owen confidently. “I’m good. But thanks.”
Owen raised his beer in salute. His brothers had been grown for a good long time already, but every time that was underscored, it still took him by surprise. It was time for him to stop assuming they needed him.
After dinner, they left Becca and Charlie to a quiet night in with Netflix while the brothers headed over to Will’s house. He lived closer to the edge of town, in a new build home, with a big basement and a spare room. Owen and Adam caught a ride with Josh, so they could walk (or stumble) home at the end of the night.
Probably the last time Owen had had more than two drinks in a night was the last time they were all together for Christmas a few years back. He talked about Kerry a bit to his brothers. But there was no opportunity for him to talk to Seth one on one, and every time the topic of relationships came up, Josh changed it to cars, travel, or music. Anything but women, and they all got the message loud and clear.
Owen didn’t mind. He had someone else he could share his new thoughts with. He left before Adam did, and he called Kerry on his solitary walk home.
“Hello, stranger.”
“It’s been twenty-eight hours,” he said.
“A lifetime,” she teased. “How are your brothers?”
He filled her in on the day’s news.
“That’s so cool! How long is Seth in town?”
“Two more days. We’re all going to work on the garage tomorrow, and then he flies out the next morning.”
“Do you want to come over then?”
“I have to work that day…” He trailed off, trying to picture his calendar in his head. “Beer’s making my brain a bit foggy. I’ll check when I get home. I think I’m on four straight days, so I could do a late dinner?”
“Sounds nice. Where do you want to go?”
“I was thinking Mac’s. Would that be okay with you?”
“Sure. Less driving time, more talking time.”
He let out a sigh of relief. “And then if you don’t mind company…”
She laughed gently in his ear. “Oh, Owen. I never mind that kind of company. It’s a date.”
Chapter Eighteen
Two days later,the brothers all crowded into a booth at Mac’s at six in the morning for one last breakfast together before Seth flew north again.
Owen spotted Hayden in the kitchen, his bandana-covered head bopping back and forth. Owen had thought Hayden would have quit, as the summer was over and hockey season had begun again. His coach couldn’t be happy about the split focus. One thing for a junior hockey player to grab a job in the summer, another to take their focus away from training and playing during the winter.
When Hayden brought a plate of food to the pass-through window, he caught sight of the Kincaids, and his mouth pulled tight.
Owen’s last thought before he was pulled into a conversation about the garage was that the little shit better not spit in his food.
