Page 10 of Maddox: Wild Alaska
"And there are two of my boys," Mom sighs, a huge smile on her face.
"You'll see all eight of your boys when you move out here," I tell her.
"Oh, poppycock." She scoffs. "There's been so much fun here. Tallulah James arranged a murder mystery reveal on a party boat. You remember her, right? She went to school with Spencer. Oh, there were so many shenanigans."
Mom is thrilled by all this news, and my mind boggles. "All I can think about right now is how the fuck a party boat works in Sugar Briar,” I mutter.
"Watch your mouth," Mom chides. "There's a big lake outside Sugar Briar. The boat runs on that. It's been rather popular. Of course, after the shenanigans, it's fully booked for a while." Mom shudders.
Before she can start talking again, Dad jumps in, "Maddox has a girl." He's blunt and to the point.
Her mouth drops open, and I wince at the look on her face.
"I do not have a girl,” I counter.
"He wants a girl," Garrett adds. "You need to come here and help him out. I mean, you want grandkids, right?"
"That's right, babe," Dad says. "Sofie and Maddox need a woman's touch. The poor girl is going to be miserable if she marries her fiancé, so she needs help. So, you see, your son needs you."
Her eyes narrow. "Is this a ploy to get me to Alaska?"
"Here it is,” I say. “Sofie Ryan arrived a few hours ago. I felt an immediate connection with her, and she did too. She's one of eleven in a bachelorette party. It's her party. The groom's mother and sister are bitches. I'm not sure where she belongs, but it's not with him!”
"Maddox Jameson Hawke, you're not too old to have your mouth rinsed out with soap!" Mom snaps. "I'll book a flight." The line goes dead.
The three of us stare at the black phone, wondering if we heard her right.
“Did Mom just say she was booking a flight?” Colton asks, breaking the silence.
I turn to face my youngest brother and nod. "Yeah, she did."
He scoffs. "I told Dad to pretend that another woman was after him, and that he needed her to come over and chase her off. He wouldn't have it. She would have been here already if he had."
"I'm not lying to your mother." He frowns. “I thought you were scheduled to work the reception until eight?”
"I'm taking a break before Branson arrests me for killing a guest." He flops onto my sofa, head at one end and feet hanging off the other. "Those women you brought earlier are a pain in the ass. The older one especially." He groans and sighs. "Is Mom really coming here? No bullshit."
"You heard her," I say. "Why do you want to murder a guest?"
“Catherine Walker has called not once or twice, but twelve times looking for her daughter." He drops his feet to the floor, sits forward, and eyes us. "First, she wanted Sofie's roomnumber. I refused to give it to her and quoted the lodge privacy policy. Then, she wanted someone to go to Sofie's room and tell her to return her call. I figured Sofie had the good sense to ignore her. I wish I could do the same." He rubs a hand down his face. "I can't wait for them to check out."
I rub my brows and ask, "Why is everyone in my cabin?"
"Bro, I'll end up falling asleep if I go to mine," Colton says.
"You can come to mine. I'll feed you before you go back to work,” Dad says.
"Ugh," Colton moans as he shoves up and gives Garrett and me the finger behind Dad's back.
Ignoring my youngest sibling, I ask Garrett, "Do you know where Gabe is?"
“Fiddling with one of the hot tubs. At least he was when I came over."
"I need to talk to him." I head to the front door, and Garrett follows.
"Want company?"
I eye him. "Sure."
