Page 16 of Talk About… History

I blinked at him innocently. “Who, me? I was an angel, and Mama knew it.”

That had all three of them cracking up. Cameron set down his tools, and Nash and Maverick put their stuff aside as well.

Now I had the full focus of the triplets right on me. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. I guess we’d see after I laid it all out for them.

“So, we hear that you’ve got some ideas for us,” Cameron said, wiping the grease off his hands with a shop towel. He didn’t bother to sit, just leaned against the bar, focusing the full force of those hazel eyes on me.

My chest ached as I stared at him. The older they got, the more they looked like one of our alpha fathers. Grady was handsome, and they had the same smile and dark hair that he had, although Maverick’s was a little bit longer, always tied up in a neat bun. Cameron kept his shaggy, while Nash’s was always meticulously styled, cropped short on the sides and longer at the top.

That was where the differences ended. They had the same chiseled cheekbones, strong jaws, and sharp noses that our father did.

Their hazel eyes were all the same, though they lacked the kind wisdom that dad’s held.

Nash’s had a slight crinkle next to them because he was always smiling. Maverick’s were framed with his thicker eyebrows. And Cameron almost always had a scowl, making them seem darker than the others.

“Actually, I do,” I said, refusing to back down from this. “So, the company that I worked for?—”

Cameron cut me off, his voice gruff. “Before your asshole exes decided to ruin your life. Yes, please go on.” He waved his hand and I had to bite back an eyeroll. I didn’t let his snark derail me, I was used to him by now.

“Yes, before all that, I worked as a social media manager. It sounds super easy for all the shit that I did, but I really think this is something that could help not just our business, but the town.”

“I’ve doom scrolled my fair share of videos. Why do you think any of that’s going to help us here?” Nash said. There wasn’t judgment in his tone, he was genuinely curious.

At least they were hearing me out.

“First of all, let’s be honest here. You guys are handsome and single. That’s enough to draw people in. I would be managing most of them, so you guys would have to be the face in most of the videos.”

“Oh, and you don’t think a single omega bartender would be a selling point? They’d love you just as much,” Nash said, raising his eyebrows in challenge. They weren’t going to let me off that easy.

“What would your job be?” Maverick asked point blank. I knew he was going to be the hardest to convince.

“I would be following trends, monitoring our messages and emails, creating the content, making the graphics that go with the accompanying blog posts, scheduling them and screening comments, the works. Anything behind the scenes will be up to me, all the way down to editing the videos.”

“That sounds like a lot of work. Are you really up for it? It’s not exactly a paying job we have here.”

“No, it’s not,” I agreed. “So, at first, it’ll be me working my ass off for nothing, but eventually, we’ll be making more. Plus, I’ll be working the bar with you guys from time to time. I’m sure there’s freelance stuff I could do on the side.”

Nash froze, turning to me with an excited expression. When he got excited, he talked with his hands and Mav had to save his papers before they were knocked away.

“You know, Mayor Adams was talking the other day about wanting to do something to get the town back on the map. I think he was hinting at us starting things back up again. You should give the same pitch to him. I bet they’d budget something out. It might not be a lot of pay, but maybe between all the odd jobs, you could make it work.”

“Maybe I will go talk to Mayor Adams,” I mused, drumming my fingers on the bar while I thought it over. “If they agreed to pay me, I’ll gladly make a PackVlog page for Rockwood Valley. I could showcase the small businesses and views. Make it look quaint and inviting.”

I wanted something to reclaim my life, maybe this was it. I’d have to really think over a plan and present it well if I wanted to land it.

“You know, if this works and we bring enough people back, maybe it would be time to start talking about the Artisan Fair again,” Cameron hedged. His voice hesitated like he’d brought it up before and had been shot down. I glanced around at the others, Nash was nodding slightly, but it was a barely there movement.

Then I looked at Maverick. Now I got the others’ worry. The moment the words were in the air, Mav tensed, his eyes narrowing and all hints of playfulness gone.

“That was our dads’ life, not ours.”

“Then don’t be a part of it,” Cameron said, indignation making him square his shoulders and glare at our brother. “If this is a thing that could put us on the map again and bring back tourists, then why wouldn’t we try? Why would we let our fathers’ legacy die because they did?”

“I’m going to have to agree with Cam here,” Nash chimed in, his voice hesitant but I could tell he meant what he said. “It’s a damn shame what happened to them, and it’s not like we’re going to just magically be over our grief because we start the Fair up again. Do we really think they’d want us to just not care anymore, to let it go forever?”

I walked over and rested my hand on Maverick’s bicep. He was still so tense, but he glanced down at me, his gaze softening a little. He was always more gentle with me than the others.

“It wouldn’t be right away. It’s just… what if this could bring life back to Rockwood Valley?”

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