“She’ll never leave that restaurant.”
Rob knew what that sentence really meant, even though neither of them said it out loud. Kenzie couldn’t leave the restaurant as long as her dad worked there. And maybe not even after he was gone, because it was her mother’s legacy. He liked Kenzie a lot and hated seeing it, but he also knew what family meant and he respected her for staying.
The door opened again, and again it wasn’t Hannah. This time it was Brian and Joey, with Stella at their heels. Drinks were taken out of the cooler—and noted down after being reminded to by Joey—and the four of them had a few minutes to relax together. Stella, probably overheated after being outside, slurped up half the fresh water Brian poured in her bowl and then sprawled on the cool tile floor.
“Since we’re all here,” Joey said, and he was met with groans. That opening usually led to serious discussions. “This isn’t public knowledge yet, but Ellie and I want you three to know because it affects—”
He didn’t even have the words out before all three of them were on their feet. Even Danny, who winced a little, pushed himself out of the chair.
“We’re having a baby,” he said, unable to keep the grin off his face.
There was a round of hugs and backslapping and congratulations, all of which disturbed Stella’s peaceful slumber. But finally they all settled back in their seats, though they were all still smiling.
“Just to be clear,” Brian said. “Mom and Daddon’tknow yet?”
“No. It’s still early to be telling people.”
Danny held up his hand. “And you decided to punish us by making us keep this a secret from the familywhy?”
“Ellie and I wanted you to know because...” He paused, then gestured around the store. “I know I haven’t held up my end of the work. I know that. But even with Nora out of school there’s a lot going on and I keep telling myself I’ll just take the time to come up and here we are with the summer half-over. But once the baby comes, it’s going to be even harder. The money I did put in can be a loss and I know you can’t buy me out or whatever, but I think it’s time we rework the company so I’m not getting any of the profits.”
“No,” all three of them said at the same time, and Rob felt a flood of relief that Danny and Brian felt the same way he did. Sure, they’d been annoyed by his absence, but cutting him out? Rob wanted no part of that.
“Kowalski Brothers, LLC is not getting hacked up,” Brian said. “Did you pull your weight this summer? Not really. But you have a new wife and a cute-as-hell kid. And you’re going to have a baby.”
“I’m going to pull even less weight with Ellie pregnant and then an infant,” Joey pointed out.
“Yeah. But you’ll be around when you can. Maybe when the kid’s past the helpless infant stage, you can bring them up when there’s something big going on.”
“It’s not fair to you guys.”
“Maybe not at first,” Danny said. “Right now, you’ve got a lot going on. But at some point, it’ll be somebody else’s turn. Hopefully we’re all going to find what you’ve got and then maybe that guy gets to take a step back and you’re ready to step up.”
“Unless we all find it at the same time,” Joey said.
“Not likely,” Brian grumbled, and though he kept quiet, Rob felt the same. After Hannah left, it was going to be a very long time before he was interested in dating again.
“We’ve got you, Joey,” Rob said. “And at some point, you’ll be there for one of us.”
He nodded and sniffed a couple of times before chuckling. “Considering you’re all a pain in my ass, I’m feeling pretty blessed right now.”
“That’s what brothers are all about,” Danny said. “That and getting me another soda from the cooler because if I try to get up right now, I might fall on the floor and you guys would just leave me there with Stella.”
Hannah woke the next morning feeling restless before she even got out of bed. Even though she’d stayed up too late two nights in a row with Erika, she hadn’t slept well.
Despite sticking to her promise to have a fun girls’ weekend and leave the podcast out of it, just having Erika around had brought the pressure of her decision bubbling to the surface. She’d allowed herself to be distracted by Rob and the goings-on of the campground, but she needed to focus on the rest of her life.
She owed it to Erika, and to the podcast, to make it a priority. They’d both poured money and their hearts and souls into it, and they’d gotten a decent return on their investments. Now she had to figure out where to draw the line, as far as her personal sense of ethics, and decide if that line could be swayed by the financial figures Erika had sent.
She’d even dragged out the notebook again, sorting her thoughts and writing things down because numbers and concepts seemed more concrete to her that way. But no matter how great the pivot looked on paper—and it wasreallygreat, moneywise—she knew her decision was made.
Perhaps it had been made before she’d even come. The excuse for being in New Hampshire was to give herself the space to think about what she wanted, but maybe it had been an excuse to put off the inevitable. She wasn’t comfortable with the format Erika envisioned for the future ofImprobable Causes, so she was going to have to tell her friend it either stayed the same or Erika would move on without Hannah.
Sighing, she flung open the screen door of the camper with the intention of going for a walk, but she jumped slightly when the door bounced off of Rob and rebounded back at her.
He laughed, and the sound was like a balm to her ragged nerves. Pushing the screen door open more gently, she stepped outside and smiled at him. “Sorry about that.”
“Am I interrupting something? You seemed like you might be leaving with a serious purpose in mind.”
