Page 21 of On The Rocks

I took the wine in with me in the bathroom and set it on the counter. The music played in there, as well as I shucked my clothes, unwound my braids, then took a healthy swallow of the sweet wine.

My eyes were smudged as hell, and I took the time to scrub off my makeup before I took my wine into the shower.

I was pretty sure I’d picked this apartment because of the bathroom. The big, glassed-in shower was already impressive. To complete the picture, I’d added a bougie showerhead and blissfully stood under the rain hood.

As I closed my eyes and lifted my face to the spray, Griffin’s green eyes drifted into my memory.

The wounded flash I’d caught before he stuffed it under his careless smile before he tucked that stupid toothpick back into his mouth.

Why the hell was he interrupting my peace, dammit?

I leaned out from the cascading water and took another gulp of wine before pushing thoughts of him out of my head and got on with my night.

I needed peace.

Not to think about a man with demons lingering in his green eyes.

Chapter 6

Griffin

Brothers Bonding

Spring was in full effect in the orchard. I hadn’t been back to the taproom since the day Lennon had come back, but the Mannings kept me too busy to think about her too much.

Mostly.

Enough that I could forget she was back in town.

Especially since she seemed less than enthused to have me in her space. I had a feeling I was being a damn princess about it, but if she didn’t want me in her space, then I would oblige.

We were installing an HVAC system in the Starling building—which was my place. And since the temperatures had soared from the thirties to sixties and it wasn’t even mid March, I had a feeling I’d need it.

Kain was up on a makeshift scaffolding set-up.

The old pressing room was one big loft space, and my ingenious brother had repurposed the old machine using parts to create bracings for the raised living area over the kitchen.

Part of the brick wall had been damaged over the years and instead of trying to match bricks to redo the wall, we’d put in a cathedral-style window Kain had rescued from an old building in Virginia.

He had a damn warehouse of odds and ends he’d collected over the years. And the massive arched window had made the space. Once I moved on, it would be an amazing rental unit for the orchard.

Instead of charging me rent, my payment for staying at the Starling was helping out with the renovations and adding my own details.

Like the kitchen.

I worked with the industrial vibe of the HVAC over brick—adding glazed white cabinets to lean into the modern over the old. The countertops were black granite with oil rubbed bronze fixtures.

And right now, my brother was hiding the air conditioning component over the steel and dark wood bookcase we’d bolted into the brick the day before. We’d stolen some of the trailing vines from outside to hide the cracks in the brick we’d mortared over.

One of the baby gala apple trees that had advanced from last year’s seedlings was potted in front of the massive window, soaking in the mid-morning sun. All of the rental houses would have some sort of trees inside to show the stages of growth on the orchard.

The aesthetics of Brothers Three were nearly equal to the teaching moments they added both at the Lodge and in the taproom. The artist who had helped them create the logo had also updated the signage through all the storefronts.

I glanced around the room. Slowly, I’d added pieces to the space on my own. Being on the road—or submarine—for most of my adult life had left me with my own storage unit of random items.

Like the cigar chair in deep tobacco brown that was tucked next to the bookcase with the weird branch lamp I’d bought in Maine when Baron and I had gotten lost exploring. The trioof soft lampshades that we’d randomly arranged had actually ended up making a perfect reading corner.

And the record player I’d had made for me in jet black and tortoiseshell was ridiculous but ended up fitting in a perfect nook. The bookcase held a mixture of books and records from my collection.

---