Page 63 of Until It Was Real

“You make it sound easy.”

He chuckles. “It’s not easy. It’s hard as shit. When Dad left us, I wasn’t even fifteen. Eli was older, but Jaxon, Miles, Zane, and Kai were all younger. Eli and I worked our asses off to make sure our four brothers had everything they ever wanted or needed.”

“What about your mom? Where was she?”

“In between working two jobs, she was falling apart because the man she’d loved her whole life left her for another woman.”

My heart aches for her. I know how she felt.

Rhett squeezes my hand. “Enough about them. I want us to have fun today.”

“And how are we going to have fun?”

He nods toward the road sign. “Guess.”

“This is Pirate’s Perch?” I ask as I glance around. There isn’t much to see. A few houses along the main drag, but there aren’t any stores of any kind.

“It’s the smallest town on Smuggler’s Hideaway.”

“This is not a town. Maybe a hamlet?”

“It is pretty small. Almost all of the shops on the island are located in Smuggler’s Rest.”

“What are we doing here?”

“Can you guess?”

“Can I get a clue? Because the only thing I can imagine doing here is sitting on a porch in a rocking chair watching paint dry.”

“I’ll give you a clue. Viking.”

Viking? What does he mean? Are we searching for a Scandinavian seafaring pirate? History wasn’t my subject, but I’m pretty sure the Vikings restricted their raiding to north-western Europe.

I gasp when I realize where I’ve heard the word Viking recently. “Did the otter escape? Shouldn’t we organize a search party? The two of us alone will never find her.”

“Viking is perfectly safe. She’s in Smuggler’s Rest, where she belongs. Not in Pirate’s Perch, where another animal belongs.”

“I know each town has a live mascot, but I don’t remember what the Pirate’s Perch mascot is.”

“It’s a parrot named Plank.”

My mouth drops open when I remember another tidbit about the live mascots. “Are we going to steal him?”

Rhett smirks. “We are. And then we’re going to rub it in my brothers’ noses.”

“Do you know where Plank is?”

“I happen to know who is hiding Plank and this person happens to be working overtime today.”

I bounce in my seat. “This is exciting. I’ve never seen a parrot up close before. Do they really talk? Are they mean? Will he poop on us? Should we have a cage for him?”

Rhett laughs and points to the backseat. “I’ve got a cage but I make no guarantees he won’t poop on us. Plank is a foul-mouthed asshole.”

“You’ve tried to steal him before, haven’t you?”

“Back in high school. Jaxon and I teamed up. It was not the best team. Jaxon kept reading instructions from his phone but he refused to help otherwise.”

I rub my hands together. “Don’t you worry. I’ll help.”

---