I twisted to face my brother, hip resting against the counter. “Look, all I’m saying is I’d rather be wallowing in paradise than couching it with my sister while popping the max dose of Benadryl every day just so I could stay vertical.”
“If you wanted to get rid of me, you could’ve just said so.”
“I don’t want to get rid of you.” I gripped his forearm and gave it a shake. “I love you and want you to be happy. And I don’t think that’s going to happen here.”
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Yeah, well, that makes two of us.”
“So, you’ll go?”
“I wasn’t talking about me. I was talking about you.”
“Um…I don’t have a trip to Jamaica on the books.”
“I mean I want you to be happy, and I don’t think you are here.”
At that, I jerked back, furrowing my brow as I stared at him. “What? I am. I love Starlight Cove.”
He lifted a single shoulder and stared at me with those all-knowing eyes that always managed to see through everything. “So you say. But then I get here, and your closest friend is a Grade A dickbag, your evenings are interrupted by emergency appointments, you’re working so much you barely have time to breathe, let alone eat, your fridge is empty—yourhomeis empty, and I’m not just talking about the food.” He blew out a long breath and knocked my shoulder with his. “Me, Mom, and Dad…we’re not here. Your entire support system is in Washington. Why aren’t you?”
CHAPTERSIX
BECK
“This ismy first night in days without Addison riding my ass,” I grumbled as I wiped down the last table before turning the sign toClosedand locking the diner door. “She won’t quit.”
Ford sat on a stool, elbows braced on the counter. “Tell me about it. If I don’t have a shift at the firehouse, she’s got me running all over the damn place. Yeah, the extra bookings at the resort are nice, but I need a fucking break. If this keeps up, we’re going to have to hire some actual help that isn’t us.”
“So we’re agreed we need to haul ass—”
“Before she finds us? Yep.” He stood, grabbing his portable radio from its place on the counter. He’d been on call, which meant the low hum of mostly static from the radio had been our background noise for the evening.
As soon as we were upstairs at my place, Ford headed straight for the fridge and pulled out a beer for himself before passing a water bottle to me. He set the radio on the table and dropped into one of my two loungers. “What’s Everly been up to? Is the new guy still on the scene?”
A spike of jealousy shot through me at the mention of the asshole she’d been spending time with. I hated to think about him, and I hated my brother for bringing it up, especially when I’d been doing everything in my power to ignore it. “Don’t know.”
He froze with his beer halfway to his mouth, his brows lifted. “You don’t know?”
“That’s what I said.”
“So, what, you just haven’t asked?”
“No, I haven’t. We’ve had other shit to talk about.” Or, more accurately, we hadn’t had time to talk much at all, save for a literal minute in the mornings when she dropped by for her coffee before having to bail almost immediately and a handful of texts throughout the day.
I didn’t know what was worse—not knowing who that guy was to her, or having my fears confirmed that hewassomeone to her. Even though there was nothing romantic going on between Everly and me, I knew throwing an outside relationship into the mix would put an end to what we had. Maybe not immediately, and maybe not intentionally, but eventually, it would. And I knew that because ifIwere her boyfriend, there was no fucking way I’d be okay with her having the kind of relationship we shared with another man. Not even a little.
But I sure as fuck wasn’t going to mention that to Ford. He’d twist it around to be all about me—namely, that I was jealous because I wanted Everly for myself—instead of what he should be focusing on—namely, that this new guy was a complete spunktrumpet who wasn’t good enough for her.
“Oh yeah?” he said. “Wonder what’s been the holdup on her end. Maybe that guy’s been keeping her busy, if you know what I mean.” My idiot of a brother grinned and waggled his eyebrows, and I had to stop myself from punching him in the throat.
I pointed the top of my water bottle toward him and narrowed my eyes. “Keep that shit up, and you’re cut off.”
“Look, all I’m saying is—”
“It’s only been a couple days, and we’ve both just been busy, all right? If it’s not a ridiculously overbooked schedule on her end, it’s our dictator of a sister orchestrating every goddamn second of my day on mine.”
Ford hummed in acknowledgment and relaxed back in the chair. “Addisonhasbeen a little dictatory lately, hasn’t she? She’s been working me to the bone. My lists have lists, for fuck’s sake.”
“She doesn’t trust me with a list,” I said. “She just points and barks orders and expects me to follow.”
