Page 187 of The Maxwell Brothers
Travis whistled. "I'd like to take credit for that, but actually, Luke here was the one with the ideas. The rest of us just followed."
Luke nodded solemnly. "I had to use my position as second oldest to get them all to listen to me and give this one headaches." He patted Declan's shoulder.
"Okay, so I think this is going to take us a while. We need a better system," Declan said, looking at the boxes. "Most are heavy, so I don't think you're going to be able to do much lifting, are you, Kendra, Reese?"
"Between the two of us, we can do it," Reese said.
Declan looked around. "I have a better idea. Why don't you two tape up all the bottoms so we don't risk anything breaking, and we're going to carry it all out."
I perked up. "Okay. That's a good idea. I think that's going to make this go even faster.”
Reese and I turned every box that looked to have a soft bottom on the side and just put as much tape as possible on it. I debated only taping the ones with books and other solid items, since I planned to take clothes and bedsheets to the laundromat, but it was easier to carry everything out in boxes.
"Thanks so much for coming," I told her. “I don't even know what to say."
I felt like a broken record.
Reese waved her hand. "Oh, come on. It would have been silly for you two to spend a whole day here, and between all of us,we’ll be done in a couple hours. And anyway, I wanted to hang out with you too."
"You did?"
"Yeah. We didn’t chat much at the fair, but I already like you. You make Tyler smile. After the incident, it took the combined effort of all the Maxwells to lift his mood."
I found it heartwarming that they took the well-being of the others so seriously.
"Your family's really something else. I mean, my sister and I are also super close, but I thought that was because…"
"Because?” Reese prompted.
I cleared my throat. "Never mind. I mean, we had a few rough years as kids, so I thought that was why we were so close. I didn't realize normal families could be like this too."
She smiled warmly. "Well, we are. It's something our parents and Gran instilled in us since we were kids, and honestly, I'm happy about it, because lately the only people I feel comfortable with is my family."
"Is this because of what happened with your ex?” I grimaced as we taped yet another box. “I'm sorry, it's none of my business. Tyler told me that he was involved in the fight, but he didn't give me any details as to why the two of you broke up."
Reese jerked her head back. "He didn't? Wow, so thereisa Maxwell who respects privacy. He deserves a prize. The rest of us aren't this evolved." She chuckled. "Joking aside, yeah, it is because of my asshole of an ex. We were supposed to get married, but then I found out he was sleeping with my best friend."
"Oh my God. That's horrible."
"Yeah, it is," she said quietly, and I saw her wither a bit in front of me. That was the most appropriate word,wither. I searched for something to say, but I knew some wounds justneeded time to heal, or at least not hurt as much, and words didn't help.
"Okay. I think we're good here. Let's move on to the next group of boxes."
We were making real progress. It was much faster than the previous system. The guys didn't have to waste any time taping, so they just carried out box after box, and one short hour later, everything was in front of the house.
"I'm going to call the storage company again," I said and pulled out my phone.
They picked up right away. A woman greeted me.
“Hi! I’m Kendra. I spoke to one of your coworkers today. I need to book one of your storage rooms, and I also need the pickup service.”
“Sorry, our last room was booked half an hour ago.”
I clenched my jaw. “What do you mean? I spoke to your colleague a few hours ago. My name is Kendra. I’m sure she noted it somewhere.”
“We’re first come, first served.”
I pressed two fingers on the spot between my eyebrows, feeling a headache coming on. “This is no way to run a business. Why didn’t the other person tell me that?”
