Page 32 of Capitally Engaged

I managed to stifle a groan. I completely forgot I agreed to help with BII’s community service day tomorrow.

“Oh yup, we’ll be there. It’s been on our minds all week.”

Jax’s head whipped in my direction, mouthing, “What?” I shook my head at her, but clicked my phone on speaker so she could hear. “Jax is here now, actually.”

“I’d really think someone with your political aspirations would be better at lying by now, Prez,” Duncan said, pulling out my family nickname. Jax’s eyes lit up with glee and I cringed, sure I’d never live that one down.

“We’ll be there, no doubt. What time again?”

I could almost hear Duncan roll his eyes. “I had my assistant email you the details five minutes ago. Remember, you, Laurel, and now the lovely Jax are on bagel duty.”

This time the groan slipped out as I slumped on the couch, my head lying on the back cushions. Duncan had corralled Laurel and Caitlin into volunteering too, months ago, when he came up to the office with me to pick something up.

“See you both at 7:00 a.m. Don’t be late.” The glee in his voice was just cruel.

I hung up without saying goodbye, though regretted it a second later, and sent a “Night, Dunc” text. He acknowledged with a thumbs up shortly after.

“So, we’re cleaning up a river tomorrow? With your brother?”

I rolled my head so I was looking in her direction. “At least we’ll be outside in the nice weather?”

She laughed at my pain. “I’ll need to find something that looks fiancée-like with my goulashes. I’ll definitely want to be sure to leave the ring behind.”

I scrubbed my hands over my face, picking my phone up to text Laurel and hope she had remembered bagels.

“So, tell me what I need to know for tomorrow. I’m honestly surprised we’ve made it this long without another brother run-in.”

I pushed myself up and grabbed the picture of the five of us from a barbecue at Dad and Margaret’s house two summers ago.

I pointed to the photo. “You met Hayden at the fundraiser.”

She nodded. “And his girlfriend is Charlotte, who works with bookstores. What does he do? Will she be there?”

I smiled at her thoroughness, then I frowned. Maybe we should have been doing this all along—it was a lot to keep track of in one night.

“Right now, Hayden works for Duncan, but he’s leaving soon to form his own consulting firm under the umbrella of Duncan’s company. He works in IT and wants to help start-ups with their technology. And yes, I would bet Charlotte will be there.It’s looking to be a whole family affair. Hunter”—I pointed at the picture again—“Hayden’s twin, is in town this weekend too. Uncertain if that was scheduled before or after Duncan roped us all into this cleanup.”

“And what does Hunter do?”

I paused for a beat. “Hunter is a bit of a wanderer. He’s still searching for his calling, moving from job to job. I may have mentioned he lives in Holly Ridge, where Dad and Margaret live, but he finally got his own place a few years ago. I think that was good for him.”

Jax nodded again, taking a turn to point at the picture. “And so that is Duncan, the oldest and protector of rivers.” I laughed, picturing Duncan’s face if Jax ever called him a tree hugger. “And that,” she continued, “is Spencer, the baby. He’s doing something academic, right?”

I looked over at her. She shrugged. “You talk about them more than you think you do. I had vague pieces of the puzzle, but figured this was the time to bring it all into focus.”

I nodded, trying to hide my shock. My brothers were important to me, but it was rare that I shared them with people right away. They were precious relationships, ones I didn’t expose easily.

“All right. Well, I think that should cover it. I’m pretty good at going with the flow and uncovering connections as they unveil themselves. We should take care of this”—she nodded to the chaos filled coffee table in front of us—“and get to sleep. The river calls and we must go.”

I stood, gathering the remnants of our dinner as Jax grabbed our laptops and put them next to the TV, out of the way. The containers filled up the small kitchen trash can, so after rinsing the dishes, I grabbed the bag to take it to the trash chute by the elevators.

When I returned, Jax was climbing into bed, her face clean and hair piled on top of her head. She settled under the covers.

“Hey,” I said, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. “Thanks for rolling with it, and being willing to go tomorrow. I’m sure it’s not your ideal Saturday, but it means a lot.”

Jax shrugged, but a small smile turned up her lips. “I know it’s not easy for you to lie to your family about our relationship. Me refusing to go would make you lie even more and probably create a lot of questions. Besides, how a person acts around his family can tell you a lot about them. I’m having fun figuring you out, Brandt.”

With that, she rolled over, pulling the blankets tight up to her neck. Her words bounced in my head as I brushed my teeth and got my couch bed situated before turning off the lights. Just as I tucked myself in, I heard Jax’s voice, muffled into her pillow.

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