“Thirty-five or fifty-five: you’ll always be my little brother.”
Aaron poked the gift box. “Is that for me?”
“Nah, I’m dropping it off at the rec center for their annual toy drive.” She pushed him and laughed when he curled up his lip in apparent disappointment. “Of course it’s for you, knuckle head.” She loved that he hadn’t lost his enthusiasm for birthdays, even in his mid-thirties.
The space-age whirring of her father’s car alerted her to his presence, and she sighed. She’d wanted just a little more time before things got strained. He pulled up beside them and got out.
“Shay,” he said, gruff as usual, then he pulled Aaron into a hug and lifted him from the ground. “Hey there, birthday boy.”
“Hey, Pops.” Aaron offered Shay an apologetic look over their daddy’s shoulder. “Shay baked Momma’s special birthday cake,” he said after their daddy had released him. He picked up the box from the trunk again.
Her daddy cleared his throat and looked away quickly, then he hooked his arm over Aaron’s shoulder and started walking back toward the house. “Come on, son. Let’s get ourselves a beer.”
Shay watched them walk away, and the familiar pang of dread for the coming hours settled in her stomach. And worse, she couldn’t drink to soften the edges. She pulled her phone from her purse then thought better of it. She had no idea when she’d be leaving, and she didn’t want to make plans that she might break. It was Friday night, and Rosie deserved better than that. For all Shay knew, she was probably getting ready to go out. She wrinkled her nose at the thought of Rosie being unavailable but quickly pushed it aside. Simple included no rights to exclusivity.
So she pulled out the gift-wrapped, hand-torched Unity Tools set of weighted sledgehammers, slammed the trunk, and headed inside…
Where there was absolute bedlam.
“We’ve got guests arriving in less than an hour, Cyrus. What the hell?”
The sound of her daddy’s all-too familiar disappointment set her teeth on edge, but it wasn’t aimed at her right now, so that was something to be grateful for. She nudged her youngest brother, Matt, who was lounging on an armchair away from it all. “What’s going on?”
Matt didn’t lower his phone or stop tapping on the screen faster than spinning tires. “Cyrus didn’t confirm the catering for the party, so we’ve got no food.”
“And how long has everyone known this?” she asked, surveying the rest of her brothers, their significant others, and their children scattered throughout the open-plan lounge, dining room, and kitchen that Aaron and Elijah, her middle brother, had created. Every one of them seemed busy doing nothing but adding to the general chaos with loud opinions and no action.
Matt shrugged. “Couple of hours, I guess.”
She didn’t have to ask why no one had done anything about it. Bisa was too busy with the kids, and although Shay was running late and should’ve been there over an hour ago, they were clearly expecting her to rescue the situation, like always. She closed her eyes briefly, reminded once again why she’d abandoned the family to go in the Army. How her momma had expertly juggled the six men in her life, Shay would never know. She bit back the sting of tears, ever-present when she was around her family, and headed toward Eli and Luke.
“Hey, Corporal,” Eli said, and he and Luke saluted.
She slapped their hands down. “Does Aaron still have the grill I bought him last year?”
Luke nodded. “He hasn’t used it yet. Says he’s waiting for the perfect occasion.”
Shay tilted her head and sighed, keeping her irritation deep down for later meditation. “Good, we’ll do a cookout. How manypeople are supposed to be coming?”
“Maybe fifty people.”
“Including us?” she asked.
“Nah,” Eli said. “Fifty plus the family.”
“Kids?”
Eli nodded.
“Included in the fifty or on top?” If she was going to have to launch a rescue mission, she needed all the information.
“On top.” Eli counted on his fingers and raised his eyes to the ceiling. “There’s maybe ten kids,” he said after a while.
So it was likely to be double that since Eli took zero notice of children and only had eyes for women. “Any vegetarians?”
Eli laughed. “I hope not,” he said and made a crude sexual remark.
Luke shoved Eli’s shoulder. “Yeah, there’s some herbivans. Like, maybe ten.”
