Page 27 of Wood You Knot

Later that afternoon, we walked into the apartment loaded down with shopping bags from our excursion. Daphne had picked out some new outfits from Two Sisters Clothing and toys from The Knickknack Shack, and I had picked up a few more decorations for the apartment from a beautiful home décor shop called Décor My Way. We had enough time to drop everything off before Lilah’s text came through that they were heading to the beach.

I tried not to feel guilty about all the money I’d spent as I waited for Daphne to change into her swimsuit.

I used to spend money on myself and Daphne without blinking, but when I started seeing Warren, I had someone to question my spending habits—and question them, he did. All the time. If I went on a shopping trip and spent money frivolously, I’d hear about it. Warren thought it was better to save and invest than spend money on things “we don’t really need.” He believed in a minimalistic existence.

The silence that greeted me in our apartment carried only my guilt, not his judgments, but I told myself I could afford to splurge a little with the deal I was getting on rent. Nevertheless, I made a silent promise to myself that this was the last frivolous thing we’d be doing for a while.

Chapter Nine

Nix

Sunday evening, I was sitting around the old harvest table at my parents’ house, surrounded by the entire family. The comfortable hum of conversations happening all around me made me feel at ease and relaxed.

Family dinners were a semi-regular thing that we did. It was a little difficult to do them weekly now that we all had our own jobs and lives, but every other week, we tried to gather and share a meal at my parents’ house.

Gatherings were always a little chaotic with the four of us rowdy boys, but now that the twins and Bryson had joined the ranks, the chaos had only grown in the best way possible.

It was hard to get a word in edgewise with so many people around the table, but I didn’t mind just sitting back and listening to it all unfold. My nieces had spent the first half of dinner excitedly chatting about how the school year had been so far for them. No sooner had they wrapped up their stories, did my younger brothers launch into filling us in on the latest stuff happening with their YouTube channel and other endeavours.

My younger twin brothers, Preston and Paxton, were creative entrepreneurs. The summer of their twentieth birthday, my brothers bought a centre console boat together and named it “Bass to Mouth.”

In addition to carpentry, our family was big on fishing. Grandpa had spent a lot of time showing us the best spots to fish.

The twins were never really into carpentry the way Parker and I were, although it ran in their blood too. They took more of an interest in their creative pursuits and figured out a way to make a living off their love of fishing, although they also worked at the lumberyard.

About four years ago, they started a YouTube channel to showcase their fishing adventures and homemade lures. Despite our family’s skepticism, the whole thing really took off, and they were doing quite well for themselves with over 555,000 subscribers. Their homemade lures were available for purchase online, and they had stock in a couple of shops in town.

A few times, they’d done odd work for me too—which they filmed for their various channels. They also occasionally made my older brother participate by showcasing some projects they collaborated with him on whenever he enlisted their help.

According to Paxton, “everything was content.” I had to admit, the twins knew how to work social media, and I’d garnered more than a few jobs from the videos they posted, and so had Parker.

“We recently got a new collaboration opportunity,” Preston was saying. “With My Life Is Crappie.”

Mom choked on the bite of food she’d been eating, her eyes widening. “What kind of business name is that? It’s no better than yours!”

“I think they’re both pretty witty,” Tabitha remarked.

“You just love the innuendos,” Parker teased her, and she smirked.

“How exactly are you collaborating with them?” Mom pressed, ignoring Tabitha and Parker. She still wasn’t sold on whatever the twins were up to.

“We’ll be doing a lure-making competition,” Preston started.

“And a fishing challenge with the lures we make,” Paxton finished with a grin. “We get to travel to Lake of the Woods to do it.”

Preston and Paxton had done well for themselves with their homemade fishing lures and social media-based business, and with very limited overhead costs with them both still living at home with our parents, they were raking in the dough.

“When will you be doing that?” Dad asked, his eyes bright and proud. Though he’d been the most doubtful about the twins’ plans, he’d really come around when he realized how much joy and success it brought them.

“Not until sometime this summer,” Preston assured him. “We’ll let you know for sure when we iron out the details with Shawn.”

Gran was watching everything happening with a smile on her face. Although she was nearly completely deaf now, she’d spent years learning how to lip-read and could mostly follow along with conversations. Not that she was following along now, she just seemed happy everyone was together.

She must have felt my eyes on her because she turned her head and smiled at me.

“Anything new happening in that love life of yours, Nix?” she asked a little too loudly, garnering the attention of everyone else at the table. Gran was just as meddlesome as the Hartley sisters when it came to us. I think she’d been more heartbroken than I’d been when I called things off with Lori. At least, until she found out the reason.

“Nope, still just committed to my job,” I joked.

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