She bursts out laughing and doubles over. “That’s because he burns everything. He needs someone to blame it on, or take over the job.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize that.”
“It’s not something he advertises.” She regains control of herself. “Do you know how to grill?”
“As a matter of fact. I do.”
“Thank God. The food will be edible.” She pushes me off the bed. “You better go so he doesn’t ruin it for everyone.”
I give her a quick kiss before grabbing my jacket and hightailing it out of the room. Is he really that bad of a cook? Surely not.
Parker is in the dining area opening up a bottle of beer, but I don’t see his brother anywhere.
“Where’s Peter?”
“He went outside with the steaks. Please save them.”
Geez, he doesn’t have any fans of his cooking. Maybe it’s a good thing I decided to help him out.
“Thanks.” I slip my jacket on and head outside.
Sure enough, Peter is standing in front of the grill, except the steaks are nowhere in sight.
“I went ahead and got them started. You were taking a bit.”
The flames are as high as the lid of the grill. He really doesn’t know what he’s doing. “The flame is too high.”
“What?”
“The flame is too high. The steaks will burn before the middle gets to the right temperature.” Thanks Pops for that little tidbit of information when I was a teen.
“No problem. And sorry about taking so long. I was talking with Paula.” More like admiring the photo from earlier. I pull my phone out of my pocket to save it. I also make it my wallpaper while I have it pulled up.
“She’s different,” Peter says. His focus is on the grill.
“Who?” I know who he’s talking about, but I want him to come out and say it. He’s one of the brothers she’s not very close to, and I want to get a handle on what he thinks and feels.
“Paula. Not in a bad way, or anything like that. But she’s usually way moodier and meaner on game nights. She actually seems to be enjoying her time with us.”
“That’s good, right?” I don’t see where he’s going with this.
“Yeah, I think a lot of it has to do with you.” He shakes his head. “She’s never brought a guy around. Hell,half the time she doesn’t show up unless she’s forced to. Then she’s in a bad mood the entire time.”
This is one of those moments where it’s hard to keep my mouth shut. I want to tell them it’s because they put too much pressure on her. That they don’t value what makes her unique. But I can’t, not yet. It’s not my place. But the day is coming when I’ll let my thoughts be known.
“I’m sure she has her reasons.”
“Yeah, I can’t really blame her.” He glances over at me before moving toward the heater. “Pierce is kind of a dick at times. But that’s how big brothers are supposed to be to the younger kids.”
I don’t know where he got that warped sense of thinking. My brother has never treated me the way I’ve seen Pierce treat Paula.
“It wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t single her out.” I’ve noticed he’s hard on the rest of them, but her especially.
“Yeah, I don’t know why he’s like that with her. I do my best to do what he asks. If I do it, then he can’t complain about it.”
How sad is it that they have this view of their brother? I don’t think it’s something Pierce learned from his own father. Paul has been nothing but kind and outgoing. He hasn’t even brought up the winery with Paula since we’ve been here. I feel like Pierce is putting the pressure on her saying it’s coming from their parents. That will end up biting him in the ass one day.
“I get it. My brother was already in college by thetime I was a pre-teen. So, we didn’t really grow up in the same house.”
