“Oh, me? Please. My first husband was a boxer. I’ve seen it all, honey.”
Still, my mother hands me the sunglasses, but not without one last sad glance.
“Leave your brother alone, Izzy,” I faintly hear my mother say as she resumes her spot at the table.
But I’m not paying them any attention. I’m looking at Odette, who is staring at me with the same amount of remorse she had in her gaze earlier.
I ignore it, sliding the glasses back into place.
Remarkably, we finish dinner without another incident, and as always, the kids clear the table while our parents chill on the patio.
“You got this, right?” Izzy says once we’re inside the kitchen. “Come on, Odette.”
“Wait, what?” Izzy pulls her toward the living room. “Where are we going? We have dishes to do.”
“Wedo not. Noah’s doing dishes tonight.”
“He is?” She looks at me. “You are?”
I nod. “Yep. That was our deal. I got to borrow the sunglasses if I took over dish duty.”
Her mouth drops open, taking in the mess before us. “Are you sure?”
I shrug. “It’s no big deal.”
She looks like she wants to stay and argue, but Izzy is dragging her from the kitchen before she can.
“Come on. Let’s go talk wedding details,” my sister says, having no problem leaving me behind to clean this mess up.
I sigh, then get to work, listening to them giggle in the other room. Guess Odette’s shaken off whatever nerves she had earlier.
I push up the sleeves of my old hoodie and fill the sink with soapy water to wash the things that can’t go in the dishwasher. After setting out the drying pad, I toss the dishes into the sink and start scrubbing.
My mind wanders to all the things I still need to do and all the time that is passing way too fast.
I need to finish tearing out the old wood in the barn and replace the roof, build a new chicken coop so Tootsie canfinallystay put, and get that pasture mowed in the back so it doesn’t look like we half-assed things. And, of course, run the bar. Ezra’s been holding down the fort for the last few days while I recover, but I can’t expect him to do it alone. We might have a robust staff, but we’re partners for a reason. We live and breathe that cidery, and not a day goes by that at least one of us isn’t there.
Thank fuck I got the tractor moved to the side of the barn already, knocking at least something off my to-do list. Ezra told me last nightthat kids were already playing on it and wanting pictures all day yesterday. I guess Odette was right about keeping it.
That’s not all she was right about either.
As much as I don’t want to use the cidery as a wedding venue, she may be onto something. Word is already spreading around town. Three people stopped me on my way to my parents’ to ask about it. That tells me this thing will be much bigger than I anticipated.
“Want some help?”
The wooden spatula slips right out of my hand into the water, splashing it up onto my hoodie.
Odette smiles slyly, knowing full well that was her fault, then shrugs and settles beside me. She grabs a towel from the top drawer and begins drying the dishes already on the pad.
“What happened to Izzy?” I ask after several quiet moments.
“She went home to be with Craig. I swear she’s lovesick over him.” She rolls her eyes, and I agree with her sentiments. “I’m sorry again about the glasses. I didn’t realize Izzy made the deal that you’d have to wash all these dishes by yourself. That’s ... that’s ...”
“Little sister behavior at its finest?”
Odette laughs. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
I shrug. “It’s fine. I kind of like washing dishes. I know it’s not really good for the environment and whatnot—wasting all that water—but I find it soothing.”
