Page 4 of Stuck with the Mountain Man

“You could make a better living doing something more reliable is my point.” With both women staring at me like I was the biggest asshole in the world, I knew I’d fucked up. I sounded judgy, but I didn’t mean to be. So I backtracked.

“I’m sorry. Look, I don’t mean that in an offensive way. If you love to paint, who am I to judge? While I don’t think this will help the orchard much, it doesn’t hurt to try, right?”

“Can you stop saying that? I get it. You don’t think it’ll help. But I do. C’mon, Suzie. I’ll help you set up your studio upstairs.” Adalynn got to her feet, and Suzie followed.

Neither one said a thing before they left, but they let their angry goodbye be known with the slam of my office door.

* * *

“Dude,what did you say to piss off my girl so much?” Forrest sipped his beer from where he sat next to me on the couch. We were chilling at my place, watching sports news. “Do I need to kick your ass?”

“Excuse me, your girl? More likemysister.”

“This isn’t a pissing match. What happened?”

I crossed my arms and went on to explain what went down earlier. It was still bothering me. “I guess I said the wrong thing.”

“Yeah, you did. Not only that but since when do we think being an artist isn’t a real career?”

“I don’t know, man.” I ran a hand through my hair and took a deep pull from my beer. The icy-cold liquid did nothing to calm the storm inside me. “I say stupid shit sometimes.”

Forrest side-eyed me from where he sat on the other end of the couch. “I’ve known you for a long time. You’re more of a realist than a dreamer. But you’re not a jerk. What’s really going on, dude?”

Sometimes it sucked when people knew you too well. You couldn’t hide shit or push it away like you could on your own.

“I’m stressed about the numbers. My dad did this shit with ease, and here I am, struggling.”

“Have you thought about reaching out to him for help?”

“Yeah, but I won’t. I promised myself I wouldn’t interrupt their well-deserved time off. Besides, I want them to count on me and know I can handle this business without their help. The last thing I want is to disappoint them.”

“You won’t disappoint them, Jack. I don’t think you or your sister could do anything wrong in their eyes. I’m sure your dad asked for help, and it’s okay if you do. He’d probably love to hear from you; they both would.”

Forrest didn’t come from the best upbringing, and my parents took him under their wing and treated him like their own son. I considered him family, and now that he was engaged to my sister, he was an even bigger part of our family.

“I made you feel better, didn’t I?” Forrest elbowed me in the side playfully with a smirk on his face.

“Yeah, you did. Thanks, bro. But I still need to find a way to bring in more business.”

“I think you should give Suzie’s artwork a chance. What have you got to lose? I’m almost done with the additional section of baby trees, and soon, I’ll have room to start a pumpkin patch. We could bring in some business there come fall.”

“Yes. We’ve been talking about that for years. Let’s do it.”

“You got it. So a little birdie told me you made a profile on Mountain Mates.”

I nearly choked on my beer. “What? Who?”

“Your sister, dude. Who else?”

“How does she know?”

Forrest shrugged. “I assumed you told her.”

“No. I didn’t.” My thoughts went into overdrive.

How did Adalynn see it? Unless…

Suzie. Was Suzie on there?

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