Page 69 of An Unexpected Everything
“Hey, that’s my line, except she’s my older sister and we don’t use the wordoldin our family,” Kyler said as he used his fingers to use air quotes on the word old.
“Seriously though, I have questions,” Flynn said as he narrowed his gaze at me.
I opened my mouth to say something, and realized I had no idea what I was supposed to say.
Because I fucking loved her, but because I didn’t have answers for the most analytical woman that I knew, I wasn’t about to talk to her brothers about it.
“Why don’t you step off his nuts for a second?” Hudson said, surprising me. “Because if we fuck this up for Isabella, she’s going to kick our ass. And then one of the Caldwell twins is going to kick our ass because those girls are feisty, and it’s going to be a whole thing. Just let them figure it out. And if he fucks up, then we can kick his ass.”
I stared at my friend, grateful and a little concerned. “Do you think Sam or Sydney would be the one to kick your ass?” I asked, grateful for the intervention.
“Honestly, you would think it would be Sydney at first, but Sam is a lot more sly,” Hudson said with a grin that surprised me because it actually reached his eyes.
“Oh, she’s been like that since birth. And when I had to be the one to figure out how to braid their hair and get them braces and all that? Sam might look like the quiet, gentle one sometimes, but then she would scare the hell out of you.”
“I do not know how you raised three of them on your own,” Aston said with a shake of his head.
“Lance was an adult, sort of, and I wasn’t really on my own. I had the town.”
“Well, I’m glad to see that the town that we own and lord over like the oligarchs that we are helped,” Dorian said, breaking the odd tension that had settled in.
I snorted. “Oh yes, you guys lorded over us. None of you are the mayor.”
“Like we would allow anything to harm Ms. Patty’s position as Ms. Mayor,” Aston said dryly, and I snorted into my drink as I watched Sophia dance with the love of her life, and Bella dance with Lance.
I loved that woman.
And I wanted this.
And that meant I was going to have to make a change to ensure it happened. And maybe that wasn’t expected, but it was everything.
Chapter Sixteen
ISABELLA
Coming backto Cage Lake oddly felt as if part of me was coming home. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was supposed to feel about that because this wasn’t home. Was it?
“Oh, Isabella. Thank you so much for helping me with my computer,” Ruth, one of the caretakers at the local nursery said. I smiled at her as I stood on Main Street, the flower beds on each block blooming with their summer buds and colors. They had decorated the entire main street for graduation. Tonight would be the full-on event, with the small grouping of seniors walking across the stage, with apparently the entire town in attendance to watch. I had gone to a high school with at least eight hundred in my graduating class. There hadn’t been enough tickets for an entire family to show up. Meaning, each student had two tickets. My father hadn’t come, he’d been on a work trip. Or perhaps he’d been with the other Cages. I tried not to think about that, but then again, one of my brothers maybe would have graduated that same day and he had chosen them instead. I didn’t want to think it hurt anymore, and perhaps it didn’t. Because I got my brothers out of the deal, and they weren’t that bad.
Cage Lake however was showing up in force, and I felt like a local. Even if I still didn’t have my own place. However, most ofmy things were at Weston’s anyway. I didn’t want to think too hard about that though.
“You’re so welcome, Ruth. You had it down. It’s just with the new update, they changed where the function was.”
“Why do they have to keep updating things? And then they add these programs to make it seem smarter and all it does is make me feel dumb.”
I reached out and squeezed her hand, something I wouldn’t normally do. But it just felt right. “Believe me. I understand. And I work with spreadsheets for a living.”
“You are just so good at what you do. Not that I know exactly what you do. But when your brother James was here last week to fill out some paperwork with you and Hudson, he just gushed over how much he appreciates you being part of the company.”
My cheeks heated, and a small smile played over my face. “He said that, did he?” I shook my head. “He was only here for a couple of hours.”
“And I’m pretty sure he went to every business he could, including the resort, just to sing your praises. I have a feeling he wants you to take over Hudson’s job. You are much easier to work with than that grumpy cuss.”
“I think Hudson would want me to take over that part of his job. Grumpy sort of is his middle name.”
“Oh, it didn’t take you long to realize that. I’m just so happy that you Cages seem to be getting along. I hate what that despicable man did, and though it’s wrong to speak ill of the deceased, I’m still happy that you got to come here. We’re just so happy to have you. And you’ve made Weston just light up from the inside out.”
“Now, Ruth, please stop taking all our dear Isabella’s time. She has a few things to pick up before we all head to graduation. And it’s such a lovely day before it gets too hot in the summers. So why don’t we take a walk?”
