“Sure.” His tone implied he didn’t believe her.
Even though he was correct, she still bristled. Because, well, brothers. She really wondered how different her life would’ve been had she been an only child.
“For thethirdtime, Freya, what day are you coming home for Thanksgiving?”
She frowned. The holiday was three weeks away, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. Especially now. Yes, she missed her nieces, but being the youngest of five—with brothers who were five, eight, and ten years older than her—was a lot. Their parents had passed away when she was thirteen, so herbrothers were understandably protective. They’d all basically raised her. But there was hovering. Andhoveringhovering.
And then there were her brothers.
“I’m not sure. I talked to my boss right before I called you, and she said in light of what happened with the shooting, she’s working on redoing the schedule for the month. She wants to meet tomorrow, so I should have a better idea after that.”
“Donotskip out on Thanksgiving, Freya Hansen. Promise me.”
She heaved a sigh. “I won’t.”
“Promise. Me.”
She swore she could feel his glare through the phone. “I. Promise. Besides, I miss the girls. I just don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay. The resort is booked solid over the holiday, but both the spa and salon are closed on Thanksgiving Day.”
“At least there’s that. Have you called any of the others yet?”
“No. And you know what, oh favorite brother of mine?” He muttered a curse, but she continued. “I’d really appreciate it if you could call them for me. Let them know I’m fine and that I’ll be home for Thanksgiving Day for sure.”
“Frey . . .”
She heard the exasperation in his voice. She was so familiar with it, along with his disappointment and frustration, but she still couldn’t help but wince. “I’ll see them at Thanksgiving.”
“You can’t keep hiding from them. You know they love you, right? They just have a hard time with the whole communication thing.”
“No kidding,” she mumbled and then sighed. “I love them too, but they just... yell.” And criticize. And made her feel like an idiot who couldn’t get her shit together. It didn’t matter that she worked at a world-renowned resort, that people paid hundreds of dollars for her to do their hair.
Nothing was ever good enough. Especially not with Axel. He was the oldest and was truly more father than brother, and more asshole than not. His only saving grace were his twin daughters.
Her twin brothers, Oscar and Jasper, not only successfully ran their late father’s construction company, but they’d expanded it over the years and now had a waitlist that was months long. Their success equated to them thinking everything she did was subpar.
Yes, she’d worked at three different salons over the last few years. It had taken her a while to find the right fit, but they didn’t see it that way. Instead, they thought it was her being flakey and unable to commit.
Maybe she was being defensive. Maybe not. But Finn wasn’t wrong—she and her oldest brothers had a communication problem. She and Axel especially. It was a problem that didn’t look like it was going to resolve itself anytime soon.
Finn was the only one who didn’t treat her like a child all the time. Only sometimes, like now... which was probably fair and deserved since her brothers had the ability to make her revert to a snappy, distrustful, and salty teenager.
“I get that, Frey. I do. But you need to cut them some slack.”
She rolled her eyes. “Why is it alwaysmehaving to bend to whattheywant? Why can’t they meet me in the middle too? I’ve tried to compromise with them. You know that. But it’s always their way or nothing at all.”
“I know.” He sighed, and she could picture him running his hands over his face. “This is why you didn’t tell us, isn’t it?”
She shrugged even though her brother couldn’t see it. “I knew if I told you guys that I was right in the middle of the shooting, the conversation would just devolve into them questioning my decision-making. It would be the whole you-can’t-take-care-of-yourself argument we always end up having.” Why subject herself to that? Especially when she’d had zerocontrol of what had happened. “Everything was fine. The man was arrested. No one was seriously hurt. It was a freak occurrence, but you and I both know they wouldn’t see it that way.”
Her brother heaved another sigh. “Fine, you may have a point. I’ll talk to them, okay? But promise me you’ll stay through Thanksgiving weekend if you don’t have to go right back to work. You can even stay with me from the get-go if that would help.”
It was always expected that when she went home to Blanchard Bay, she’d stay with Axel. He was raising his twin girls in their childhood home, and of all her brothers, he had the most extra space. But without fail—adorable nieces or not—the two of them ended up bickering until she stormed off to stay with Finn. Maybe it would be better if she and Axel gave themselves some space. God knows, it wouldn’t hurt. “I’ll take you up on that.”
“Good. I’ll even run the vacuum before you show up.” He chuckled. “Well, maybe.”
“Wow, red-carpet treatment,” she said, deadpan.
“You know it, sis. Now, aside from some asshole shooting up your salon, what else is going on? How are the new digs?”
