“If you are up for it,” I finally answer Caleb, having spent too long in my thoughts. I am already in my running gear, but sometimes I fuck off to go do yoga or something else more solitary, but today, I definitely need to run outside, zombie status or not. Even at 5:00 a.m. I can’t just go for a run alone.
“You got it, boss,” he says, clasping me on the shoulder, but his eyes are kind. I think Caleb can tell when it all gets to me and I am in a particularly nasty mood. He, Nix and I have been tight since the beginning of my fame. He’s the only bodyguard I’ve ever had, and once he took a good look at my beautiful bestie, it was all over for them. I have a number one song about love at first sight, and I never can sing it without thinking of these two crazy kids.
“Just let me finish this coffee, check my email, and download some music.”
Chapter 2 – Baylor
It was Almost Like a Song – Ronnie Milsap
“Steaksreadyyet?”Myyounger brother Matt asks, bouncing into my large kitchen with his fiancé, Theo, thrown over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. He sits Theo down and kisses the smaller man’s flushed cheeks.
“Don’t get up, sweetness,” Matt whispers, but I can hear.
Theo gives his version of an eye roll, which is an eyebrow lifted and a wistful smile playing on his lips. He had a busy week at his bakery, and Matt is in his overprotective doting mode. One wipeout on his snowboard this morning, and Theo’s got Matt all over him, making sure he wants for nothing. They share a quick kiss as Matt hands him some warm tea, and yeah, whatever they have going on is working for both of them. Never thought my laid-back brother would be so smitten over a guy.
“You know, when I wiped out on my skis yesterday, you laughed at me.” I remind him with a smirk, but Matt just raises an eyebrow, waiting on an answer to his question and ignoring my observation. I smile anyway, never able to get under Matt’s skin. “Ready to go on once the grill is the right temperature.”
“Where did the steaks come from?” My youngest brother Quinn asks as he and his own fiancé, Bishop walk in, followed by Jack, the oldest of us, and his husband Perrin.
Matt, of course, as our resident chef, takes over my lunch prep, with me, Jack, and Quinn helping in a well-coordinated routine we have all done more than once.
“The Banyan Ranch,” I reply to Quinn. “They want Matt to think about sourcing his steaks from there for Summit House, so they were a gift.”
This many grown men in my kitchen fills the space; it makes my big house seem worth it. No useless countertops no one would need to prep a meal for one. Hell, I might actually run a full load of dishes tonight.
They laugh and joke. Steal a kiss or two from their partners. And make lunch, each person with busy hands.
My brothers and I have always been close, we are all adopted — our moms adopted us all when we were older, after the age of ten — and we’re happy to have our found family around us. It took all of us years to have this kind of happiness, and when it was time to set the course for our lives, those lives naturally gravitated to one another and Bear Valley. It’s home, and we have each waited a long time to have one, so it’s not something we would give up easily.
My brothers and I have worked hard for Bear Valley, the place itself and the idea of it. The idea of home. The idea of a family.
I love Bear Valley and I love my family, including the new additions of Perrin, Bish, and Theo. They might as well be brothers, too. The word brothers includes them now when I use it, as much as it does the brothers I grew up with.
Some days it’s everyone at these little get togethers — including kids, my niece Piper, who is my sister CJ’s kid, and Bishop’s nephew, Liam, but not this time. Today, it’s just us. It’s Friday, the day after the New Year and, we have skied all morning, and this is, well, the norm for us. The typical end of the week, the fact that it being the New Year is just a bonus.
Even the fact today is New Year’s Day doesn’t matter. I played a set at Quinn’s bar last night, then we all stayed out too late. We still managed to meet up with our family this morning to ski, before coming out here.
Fresh powder, food, and family.
Even with everyone else paired up, I never feel too much like the odd man out. The easy affection they all have for each other seems to bring us all together, not set me apart.
They don’t stay long. Not as long as they used to. None of my brothers stay over for the night anymore, although Theo and Matt are close by in their own cabin. Piper and Liam are good friends and they stay over on occasion.
But rarely my brothers these days. They all have someone to get back home to.
I have enough space for my music studio, and a few guest bedrooms, but it’s all soaring ceilings and open space, designed by Quinn to be easy to add on to, if I wanted. Already, it’s clear this house was made for more than one person.
At the time, I would have said it was for a family. But every day it seems like that ship is sailing farther and farther away.
After hours on the ski slopes, a meal, and just some general hanging out time, everyone starts clearing out, heading home for the evening.
Before my oldest brother Jack and his husband Perrin can leave, I shove a large envelope into Jack’s hands. Jack takes it, then gives me his full attention when he recognizes the mailing address.
“You mentioned something this morning,” Jack said, “on the slopes. You said that you might not want the new extension on the contract with SongStar. Are there terms we need to renegotiate?”
Jack isn’t just the oldest, he is an attorney. His official title is CEO of The Mann Foundation, our family’s philanthropy arm, but we all call him the CEO of the Mann Family, too. No contract, not even those that I have had over the years with SongStar for songwriting go anywhere without his eyes on them.
I open my mouth, ready to say the words out loud that make this contract different from all the ones before it, but I can’t.
