Page 54 of The Marrying Kind
FAMILY SQUABBLES
Austen
“Lefty loosey, righty tighty, dumbass,” Noah said, rolling his eyes.
We were in the barn—Noah labeling bottles of beer, and me trying to adjust the handles on the wheelbarrow that were threatening to fall off. Ella had been using it to haul firewood to Mom’s back door yesterday when it almost gave out on her.
The wheelbarrow was at least twenty years old, so I was more surprised it hadn’t fallen apart before now. A few adjustments should do the trick, but the screws were rusted and stripped. Hence, why my brother was making fun of me.
“Thanks, but I’ve got this.” I grabbed a wrench to wrestle this last screw out.
“You hear Jameson’s coming back today?”
I nodded. Mom had mentioned something. Jameson called me two weeks ago—very out of character for him—to tell me about his marriage ending.
He had normally always been steady and quiet. Closed off, even. Never the type to share his feelings.
I’d never heard such emotion in his voice. Divorce wasn’t in his vocabulary. But he’d said he’d given it all he had, and Brooke was moving out.
I didn’t ask too many questions. Certainly didn’t offer my opinion—that Brooke was all wrong for him and always had been. They were young when they got together and had drifted apart over the years. Jameson deserved to be happy.
He’d only moved to the suburbs to make her happy, so he was talking about coming home. When we spoke, I told him we had a cabin all ready for him whenever he decided to come back. I didn’t know what he was going to do, but today we got word that it was settled—he’d listed his house for sale and was moving back to Kodiak Canyon for good.
I had mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, it was a good thing because I knew Mom wanted him to be closer, and it would be cool to have him around. But on the other hand, Noah and I were finally making a comfortable living for ourselves between our brewing operation and the new cabins we’d built to rent to tourists.
One of the cabins was going to be given to Jameson—at least for now, until he got on his feet again. Not only that, but when Jameson left his comfortable, salaried engineering job in the city, did he expect to be cut in on the family business? We already paid our youngest brother Logan a small hourly wage, and between that and the expenses, Noah and I splitting the rest didn’t exactly mean we were living in the lap of luxury.
Keeping food in the house, firewood in the stove, and being able to splurge on outings with Ella were the extent of my frivolous spending. Adding another salary into the mix was sure to change things around here.
Not to mention that Jameson was bound to come in with his own opinions, and I had no idea how that would go over. Probably about as well as a fart in church. Noah was pretty openminded, but I felt we had things dialed in, and I wasn’t necessarily looking to shake things up.
I kept all these thoughts to myself, though, because I didn’t want to sound like an asshole. For all I knew, Noah was ready to offer up a third of the business to our oldest brother. Hehadbeen through an awful lot, and it would probably be the right thing to do. I guess I’d need some time to wrap my head around the idea of that.
Ella would probably offer some good advice. I decided to talk through it later with her. Preferablyafterwe’d gotten naked once or twice. We weren’t married yet, but we were definitely in a honeymoon-like state of mind. I loved living with her. Loved having her close. All those months she’d stayed away had been excruciating.
“You think Jameson will actually stick around this time?” Noah asked, breaking the silence between us.
I finished up on the wheelbarrow and tested her out. Nice and smooth. This would make Ella’s task a lot easier.
“Not sure,” I said. “I guess it depends on if he can find work or not.”
Noah huffed. “He’ll work with us, obviously.”
That wasn’t a conversation I was ready to have with him yet. I’d talk to Ella, and I’d look at some numbers and figure out how andifwe could make that work before I promised a job to anyone. Not that I could fault Noah for being so optimistic—that was just his personality.
When Noah and I had finished up for the day, we headed off for home. I found Ella sitting at the kitchen table, writing in her journal. Her gaze lifted to mine, and her smile was sweet and full of love.
“You’re home.” She grinned.
“Hi, princess.” I bent down to press a soft kiss to her mouth. “What are you working on?”
She closed the journal and gave me a smile. “Just a grocery list. Don’t worry.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “I wasn’t worried.”
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yes, but I’m cooking tonight. Are you okay with pasta?”
