“What the hell, brother?”Wade scowls.“You and your lady sit down for a spot of tea before you opened the damn window?”
“No.Dumbass.”
“Well, what the hell happened?What was going on in there?”
“None of your fucking business.”I do not need them riding my ass right now, and thank fuck they can’t see my boner on account of the windowsill, or I’d never live it down.“Are y’all ready to do this, or do you wanna keep busting my balls?”
“Maybe someone already did,” Wyatt jokes.
“Shut up.”
Wade grins like a lunatic and reverses the backhoe as Wyatt climbs the tree with the chainsaw attached to his belt.Once Wyatt is in position, he starts securing branches with the rope before cutting them, and Wade and I help lower them to the ground with a simple pulley system to avoid causing damage to Daisy’s house.The better part of the tree is gone in three quarters of an hour, and Wade uses the digger to pull up the stump and the dead root system with it.
After filling her little shed with enough firewood for two winters, we load the remaining logs onto the truck.I’m just locking it up as Daisy comes outside.“Oh my god, you guys.I can’t thank you enough.”
“It’s nothing.”I shrug, but I don’t miss the eye roll and exchange between Wade and Wyatt.“Right, boys?”
“Yes, ma’am.”Wade agrees.“Totally nothing.”
“Barely even broke a sweat,” Wyatt says with his hair still dripping from propping himself up in the tree.
Daisy grins, “Well, I hope you worked up an appetite, because I have cobbler fresh out of the oven.”
I shake my head.“Oh, we don’t wanna—”
“I’m starved,” Wade says exuberantly.“Ain’t that right, little brother?”
Wyatt dares a grin at me, and then his face turns serious as he faces Daisy, as if he’s a starving child during the great depression.“Famished, ma’am.”
“Uh-huh.”I frown and wonder why the hell I didn’t just remove the damn tree on my own.
“Well, come on in then,” Daisy says.I stare down my brothers as they walk by me and follow her inside.
“Best.Fucking.Behavior,” I hiss to their backs.Wade’s shoulders rise and fall as if the bastard is chuckling at me.At least they know to take their boots off before they march inside and ruin her pretty pink rugs.
In the kitchen, I hang back while the boys take a seat at her breakfast table.Something about it feels right, even though I’m pissed they’re here and Wade is sitting in my seat.Daisy looks up at me as she serves my brothers food, and my heart skips a beat when her pretty brown eyes lock onto mine and she smiles like she knows I’m dying inside.
“You gonna sit down, Cowboy?”Daisy asks quietly.
“Yeah ...cowboy,” Wade kicks out the seat opposite him.“Why don’t you take a load off?”
“Why don’t you pretend you weren’t born in a barn for once and quit kicking furniture that don’t belong to you?”I snap.
Wade actually looks embarrassed.“Sorry, ma’am.”
“It’s fine,” Daisy says, scooping a large helping into my bowl.
“Besides, that’s Daisy’s seat,” I say.Wade’s brows shoot skyward.Wyatt chokes on his food and thumps his chest.I turn away from the fucking circus that is my family and face the cabinets.“I’ll get the glasses.”
“Thanks,” Daisy says around a mouthful of cobbler.
I pull four glasses from the shelf and set them down on the table, then I pour each of us a cup of her sweet tea.Wyatt reaches for his glass first and I practically growl at him.He retracts his hand and pouts like a struck pup.Daisy’s watching our exchange with rapt attention, and I wonder if she’s wishing she had a sibling, or thanking her lucky stars she didn’t get stuck with brothers like mine.
“No wonder West spends all his time here,” Wyatt says around a mouthful of dessert.“If I ate like this every day, I would too.”
“You boys are welcome any time.”
“Nope.They’re not,” I say.Daisy laughs.Wade and Wyatt laugh.I don’t laugh.“I’m serious.”
