Chapter Two
Stephanie
“I’m not certain this was a good idea.” I frowned.
Taryn pressed her thumb to my frown line. Her emerald-green eyes shone with amusement. “Remember, sweetheart, this wasyouridea.”
“Yeah…but…” When I’d proposed we each ask our brothers to stand up for us, it had seemed like a good idea. That way, Taryn didn’t have to pick between her three business partners—all of whom she was close to. MATH, Mechanics and Towing, was the only female-owned-and-staffed repair-and-tow shop in all of Cedar Valley. They did a ton of business. Not just women who sought out honest mechanics, but men as well. Not to say there weren’t other honest mechanics out there—plenty of them. But Maddie, as head mechanic, had a reputation for being brutally honest. She never suggested work that didn’t need to be done, and the prices the shop offered were competitive. Very much because Amber, as the accountant, ran a tight ship. Holly, the estimator and parts coordinator, did her best as well.
Taryn located a guy willing to let her apprentice to be a tow truck driver. She’d found the financing to buy the guy’s rig when he retired. She, as tow truck driver, was the T in MATH.
Math was something she’d excelled at in school. All four women had, which cemented their friendship. Then Maddie went to trade school while Amber studied accounting at university and earned her CPA. Holly went to business school to learn everything she could about running a small business.
“I appreciate your sentiment behind suggesting our brothers.” Taryn eyed them as we sat at her dining room table, poring over our wedding book.
In the dining room, Cooper stood, wearing a fuchsia button-down shirt with a bright paisley tie while Lachlan’s muscled forearms bunched as he held his hands against his hips. He’d managed to shed his jacket and roll up his sleeves, but that was about as close to relaxing as he’d ever manage.
How he and Taryn had grown up with the same parents, I couldn’t fathom.
“Maddie and Holly wouldn’t have been upset if I’d chosen Amber.”
“Maybe not. But you would have.” I tapped her nose with my pencil. “And besides…I don’t really have a best friend. And with three older sisters, I was in the same boat as you. Cooper’s the one I’m closest to in the world.” Carmela, Rosalita, and Ruby were all much older than Coop and me.
He’d been the surprise later-in-life baby, and I’d been a downright shock.
My mother’d thought she was in menopause. Turned out she was pregnant.
I eyed our to-do list. “You’re sure you want to be the Mad Hatter?”
She grinned wickedly. “You bet. Top hat and tails? It’s brilliant. And this way you get to be Alice.”
Only my favorite children’s story. I’d forced Ruby to read it to me over and over. She’d taught Cooper the words so he could take over at the ripe old age of seven.
The tattered copy he’d read to me all those years ago still held pride of place on my bookshelf. At twenty-five, I should’ve long outgrown my Alice obsession—but I hadn’t. “Alice didn’t wear a white dress.”
“You’re only wearing the dress for the ceremony and the first set of photographs.” Taryn pointed to our wedding book. “Then you’re changing. Same as me.”
To my surprise, she wanted to wear a traditional wedding dress as well. That had shocked me a little because, as a child, she refused to wear skirts.
She’d recalled a time when Lachlan had suggested she go along with her parents' insistence and then she could change into the shorts he’d spirited away in his knapsack.
He was like that—always watching out for her. When she’d come out, he’d been her staunchest supporter. He’d been the one to warn their parents that they risked losing their daughter forever if they didn’t get with the program.
After a time, they had.
She’d come out at eighteen—nearly fourteen years ago.
I’d come out at twenty-three. A mere two years ago.
Coop, on the other hand, had never really been in the closet. We’d all just sort of known, and he hadn’t tried to pretend otherwise.
Maybe I should’ve been brave, like him. Our parents, unlike Taryn’s, were open and welcoming to everyone. Still, I’d hesitated. Had tried dating boys. Had finally admitted, after graduating from university, that I was a lesbian. I didn’t, in all those years, have even a scintilla of sexual attraction to men. I couldn’t relate when Cooper carried on about a cute guy.Objectively, I could say one guy was more attractive—in societal terms, anyway. But wanting to date one? Nope.
Just like Coop couldn’t fathom being with a woman.
So he’d been my staunchest ally when I came out. Hell, he’d even tried to set me up with any woman who leaned toward bi or was gay.
I finally told him to mind his own fucking business.
