Hazel couldn't still be thinking about moving to Seattle, could she? But that was what Ida had said. I was silent on the drive back to my family's estate.
"Is something wrong?" Hazel asked.
"I meant what I said," I told her when I parked the car in the roundabout.
"Said what?"
"That I love you."
"I love you too," Hazel said, taking my hand.
"And I will eat you out every day," I told her. "I can even do it again right now."
"I might need to work up to that."
"So…"
"So, what?" Hazel asked.
"Are you going to Seattle?"
"No, of course I'm not going to Seattle!" she said.
"Phew!" I said, feeling light as we walked into the estate house. "That's good. We couldn't have you go to the dark side."
"The dark side?"
"My traitorous brothers live in Seattle. I was going to have to move over there with you. I would have been disowned, I would have to grow a beard and become a vegan."
"More likely you would be homeless under a bridge," Greg said. He and Garrett were at the dining room table going over some charts and graphs.
"I think I could open hotels over there," I boasted.
"You're going to compete with Salinger?"
"I might."
"Good freaking luck," Garrett said with a snort.
"You guys and your feuds," Hazel said as several of my little brothers ran into the room. "I can't even keep up with it."
"Help make popsicles!" they yelled, jumping on her. I wrestled them off. "I guess I did just promise we were going to make them."
"What do you have in your kitchen?"
"You can't make popsicles in the kitchen," I reminded her. "We don't have a health permit." I took a set of keys out of my pocket and jingled them. "Who has a health-food-permitted café?"
Hazel was momentarily taken aback. "I can't just take it. I meant you guys could use it since it's permitted."
"Technically it's yours again since you're the new owner of the Grey Dove Bistro franchise in Harrogate, or it will be once the title finishes transferring to Chloe."
"I hope you didn't charge her for it," she admonished.
"Of course I did. I get free meals."
"Excuse me? We're not running a food pantry."
I put the keys in her hand. "Who wants to make popsicles?"
