Jake nodded. “It would seem so.”
“Did they say why?”
Jake shrugged. “They said someone hired them, but insisted they have no idea who.”
Before he could say anything else, there was a sharp knock at Beryl’s front door, startling them both. “Now who could that be?” Beryl asked.
There was another sharp knock at the door. Beryl had started toward it when the handle turned, the door opened wide and someone strode in.
At first, Jake thought it was the guy who’d come by his shop looking for medieval chainmail. Ian? But as the man took a few long strides toward the brightly lit kitchen, Jake got a better look at his face and saw it was definitely somebody different. The two men shared a resemblance and were similar in height and body type, though. Maybe Ian was a cousin?
“Hey, Beryl,” the tall newcomer said as he kept coming. “I hope you have dinner ready, because I’m starving.” He came to a stop in the kitchen and eyed Jake. “Who are you? Wait! Are you the new boyfriend? I can’t believe she invited you here tonight.”
Surprised that the man would just walk right into Beryl’s house and demand to be fed, Jake had the fleeting thought that he might be a boyfriend or husband arriving home from work and ready for dinner. He shook that thought right out of his head. Beryl wasn’t taken, he was sure of it. Her next words confirmed it.
“Jett, what are you doing here? And since when do you simply barge into my house like you own the place? You don’t, little brother.” Beryl sounded miffed. She gestured in Jake’s direction and said, “Clearly, I have plans tonight. Go away.”
“What are you talking about? Come on, Beryl, where’s your head at these days? It’s family dinner night and you know it! No wiggling out of it because you have a date. You can’t use the excuse that you don’t remember. From what I hear, only your boyfriend can pull that one off.” Jett winked at Jake.
Evidently, Beryl’s brother knew at least a little something about Jake’s story.
Beryl shook her head and pointed to a calendar hanging on the wall next to the kitchen. “No. Wrong. It is not tonight! Family dinner istomorrownight.”
“Nope. It’s tonight, chickie-baby. And I’m not leaving until you feed me.”
“I am not your chickie-baby. I wish you’d never heard that term.” Beryl marched over to the calendar and jabbed a finger at one of the squares on it. She then leaned in closer and a gasp broke from her lips. She promptly threw her hands in the air. “Oh, my gosh! I cannot believe you’re right, Jett. I totally forgot tonight was family dinner night. I do not know where my head is, possibly damaged by banditos and a case of strawberries misdelivered at the grocery store.”
Jett narrowed his eyes at the termbanditos, but when she mentioned the strawberries, he seemed to relax. “That’s okay,” he said with a smirk. “We’ll just horn in on your date night with your new boyfriend here. It’ll be fun.”
“I don’t know about that.” Beryl turned her back on her brother and went to the stove, muttering to herself.
Jett offered Jake his hand. “I’m Jett Ashcraft.”
Reassured that this was no romantic rival, Jake accepted the handshake. “Hi, Jett. I’m Jake Jones. I own Dark Matter Metal & Leather downtown.”
“Pleased to meet you,” he said. He went to peer over his sister’s shoulder and let out a sound of disappointment. “Spaghetti? Again? We had that last time.”
She jabbed her elbow into his belly to get him to step back. “I like spaghetti. It’s one of the things I cook well. You don’t have to stay, you know.” Her brows went up in seeming challenge.
“Good try, but I’m not leaving.” Jett eyed the pot of sauce. “At least it looks like you made enough for everyone and not just dinner for two. So maybe youdidn’tforget it’s family dinner night. What’s up with that?”
She pushed out a long-suffering sigh. “I was cooking for tonight and tomorrow night, if you must know.”
“You mean you were going to serve us leftovers? I don’t know how I feel about that.”
Beryl rolled her eyes. “It’s a free meal, Jett. I’m sure you’d be able to adjust and make your feelings happy ones or go hungry. The choice is yours to make.”
“I will say that I find spaghetti sauce tastes better the second day, as far as leftovers go,” he countered. “But I’m eating some tonight. You’re just lucky I’m starving.”
“Yeah. I sure feelluckyright now,” Beryl said sarcastically.
Jake enjoyed watching the siblings verbally spar and he was supremely grateful that Beryl didn’t have a boyfriend. He especially liked that her brother already thought they were a couple, even though they had not established that nomenclature between the two of them.
There was another knock at the door, barely preceded by it popping open and three more people walking into Beryl’s house. The family resemblance was so strong, it was no surprise to find out they were Beryl and Jett’s siblings. Beryl introduced them as Mica, Jade and Jasper. And it turned out that Jett, Jasper and Jade were triplets. Fascinating.
“So, you’re the new guy in our sister’s life. Cool,” Jade said. Her hair was red like her sister’s, but a darker shade and much longer, trailing down her back.
Beryl gave Jake a beseeching look, mouthing, “I’m so sorry.”
