Page 48 of More Than Words
“Reid.”I tucked the phone between my shoulder and neck as I scribbled one final note on my clipboard.“You guys make out okay last night?”
“I was calling to ask you the same thing,” my brother said.“We’re good here.Had a big fire in the great room.Quinn helped us serve hot chocolate and make s’mores with the guests last night.Everyone had a good time.”He paused for a moment.“Looks like there are some branches down outside, but nothing crazy.How are things there?Generators hold?”
“They did.”I nodded and took another glance around the space.“It’s like nothing ever happened here.If you don’t count the four feet of snowdrifts outside my front door,” I added as I moved out of the back room into the front of the brewery and saw the drifts outside for the first time.“Wow.The plows will have their work cut out for them.”
There was no way any customers were getting through that.Not that I expected any anyway.The entire town would be digging out from the storm all day.
“Quinn good?”I asked.“I hope she wasn’t too much trouble.”
“Are you kidding?”My brother almost sounded angry at my question.“Quinn’s great and you know it.”
I chuckled.Ididknow it.
“She was a huge help last night.And I think she had fun.She’s sleeping in this morning, but she was excited to help Avery make pancakes this morning.”
“I’m sure she did.”My kid was pretty great.And I never had to worry about her behaving herself or being a nuisance.Especially with her uncles.
“In fact, I’m keeping her today,” Reid continued.“I talked to Preston earlier and he said the roads were still a total shit show.There’s no point in trying to take her home to be stranded on the edge of town until the roads get better.If she stays with me, she can still make it to school if it opens tomorrow.”
“I assume today is a snow day?”
“Sounds like it.”
“Okay,” I agreed.“If she’s happy to stay and you’re good with it, she might as well hang out there.I’ll give her a call later when she’s up.”
Reid grunted his approval.“What about you?”he asked after a moment.“Were you stuck at the brewery all night?”
I hesitated.
“I stayed at Delaney’s,” I admitted.
There was a beat of silence.Then a low whistle.“You did, did you?”
I could picture the smug grin on my brother’s face as he no doubt painted his own picture of what exactly went on, which I was sure wasn’t too far from the truth in this particular case.Not that he needed to know that.
“It wasn’t like that,” I said after a moment, lying straight through my teeth.
“Right.”I could almost hear his eyes rolling.“I’m sure it wasn’t.”
“Reid.”I straightened up and set the clipboard down on the bar top.“Don’t say anything about it, okay?Especially not to Quinn.”
“Oh?”His voice immediately sobered.
“Yeah, oh.”I exhaled and pinched the bridge of my nose.“It’s just all really new and I don’t know…well, we don’t know…”
“Of course I won’t say anything,” he said, and I believed him.
My brother might be the grouchiest guy in town, but he had his soft spots, and my kid was one of them.
“You like her.”
“Yeah,” I said, the word rougher than I meant it to be.“I do.”
It was the truth.Ididlike her.
There was another pause and for a minute, I thought we might have been disconnected.“You deserve good things, man,” Reid finally said.“So does Quinn.”
“She does.”
