Page 46 of Summer Love

Shep waved a hand to dismiss his father's claim. "If the garden club needs a flower box, I make one. It's not a big deal."

"You volunteer the materials and your time. I'd say that's worth mentioning," Hudson said.

"If you put that in the article, you'll ruin my bad-boy reputation," he teased.

"I wouldn't want to do that," I said lightly. "Are you helping the senior center with their flower boxes? Grams mentioned something about it."

"Yeah, they requested garden boxes."

"You must be busy between working your regular hours and then doing things on the side," I observed.

Shep shrugged. "It's nothing."

"Coop tutors kids at the community center," Joy added.

"I didn't want to do a full mentorship like Hudson, but I wanted to do something," Cooper said.

"It sounds like you're all active in the community."

Jonathan inclined his head toward his younger son. "Brady coaches a kids' baseball team."

Brady shook his head. "I like sports and want to stay active."

It didn't sound like it was something they did to promote their business. If anything, Shep and Coop seemed embarrassed by it. It was an interesting dynamic.

Shep and Coop had a reputation of being troublemakers when we were growing up. They got into trouble in and out of school. I wondered if they'd cleaned up their act.

I didn't know much about Dalton and Brady as they were so much younger than me. I'd graduated before they were in high school.

"Maybe I should shadow all of you for a day. You seem to be doing so many interesting and wonderful things," I said with a smile.

"Is Hudson's life not interesting?" Shep teased.

"I wouldn't say that." The story was already percolating in my brain. Hudson was the heir to take over the business, and all of them were invested in the business and the community.

ChapterEleven

HUDSON

Dinner was going well. My brothers were behaving—mostly. All of them loved to tease each other, and Shep was the worst offender. But they were open with Elena, and she was genuinely interested in getting to know everyone.

Working with the community wasn't something that the business required. It was just something that each brother had found they enjoyed. I think it had something to do with the fact that we were all single and didn't have much to fill our free time, unless it was hanging out with friends.

There was no need to vacation when you lived on a tourist destination where the weather was almost always warm and the beach within walking distance.

"Tell me, do you all live in beautiful homes since you're contractors?" Elena asked as she finally bit into her taco.

"Have you seen Hudson's place? His is the most renovated," Brady asked.

"I have."

Shep raised his brow at me. "I hope you've been behaving around the journalist."

"Elena came over to interview me about mentoring. We sat on the porch and talked."

"Right," Shep said, but I ignored his comment. He didn't mean anything by it. He just liked to stir up trouble. "Brady and Dalton live together in a rental, and I have our grandmother's old house."

"Oh, where did she live?" Elena asked.

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