Page 44 of Trusting Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings 2)

“The hot one what?” Ava followed up as Kelly set her chili bowl in front of her.

“The hot Bishop brother.” Kelly laid crackers down beside the chili.

“Bishop, as in Eli and Evan?” Ava clarified.

Hope Falls was a small community where everyone knew everyone, so it made sense that even though Ava had only been in town a few months she knew Easton’s brothers.

“Yep.” Kelly confirmed with a nod.

“But they’re so...” Ava’s eyes were round as she shook her head.

“Hot.” Viv finally found her voice. “Yes, they are. I didn’t believe it either. I thought there is no way that a man could possibly be hotter than Eli and Evan. I figured it was like when a tall person gets the nickname shorty or something. It had to be an ironic moniker. But I was wrong. Easton Bishop is the hot one. A total pussy magnet. You should have seen him at Evan and Shayne’s wedding. Girls were falling all over themselves, and he barely noticed. Hell, I was falling all over myself and I think I only got one dance and there wasn’t even any middle school ass grabbage. He was a total gentleman. I was depressed for weeks,” Viv said dramatically.

Grace tried not to smile hearing that Easton hadn’t even touched her sister’s butt. She had to admit hearing that did make her happy. Very happy.

“Wow,” Ava said, almost reverently.

“I made a play for him too and got the same results. Nothing. Nada. It was seriously heartbreaking,” Kelly agreed and looked like she wanted to add more but another table called her over. Sue Ann’s Café was hopping, nearly every table in the place was occupied. “Damn, duty calls.”

When Kelly left both Audrey and Viv spoke at the same time.

“How do you know Easton Bishop?” Audrey asked.

“Are you boning Easton Bishop?” Viv inquired at the same time.

Grace couldn’t help but smile at the phrasing each of her sisters had used. She missed this. All four of them being together. For better or worse, they were the only family they had.

Well, Ava had Asher now, who she was set to walk down the aisle with in just a couple months. And he had a teenage daughter as well, so she was going to be a stepmom. Her family had expanded, but the rest of the sisters’ anthem was “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé.

“I met him on the way here, actually,” she answered Audrey’s question honestly. In her experience with the truth, it was best to stick as closely to it as possible. It was like forging hot steel, if you finessed it and were gentle you could bend it to the shape you needed, but if you went too hard you shattered it and broke it into pieces.

“Here as in Hope Falls here?” Audrey followed up.

“Yes.”

“Which trip?” Ava asked.

“This trip.”

“But you got here this morning,” Viv pointed out.

“I did, yes. I was driving last night in the storm and got a flat tire, so I pulled off the road. He stopped to help me. A tree fell and almost killed him. It missed him but fell on his truck, so we spent the night together to wait out the storm.”

“That is the hottest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.” Viv sighed. “Why don’t things like that happen to me?”

“Things like that do happen to you. Guys fall all over themselves around you.”

“Not the right ones,” Viv said under her breath.

It was the first time Grace had ever heard Viv sound dissatisfied with her romantic life. She’d always been the love ’em and leave ’em girl. She never wanted any sort of commitment or relationship. But from the sound of her comment, it seemed that Grace might not be the only one who wanted a change in her life.

“So you met him last night. Spent the night with him. And now you two are going to be competing on a reality show?” The crease in Ava’s forehead revealed that she was worried.

“Wait…” Audrey shook her head. “I thought that you had to be siblings or a couple or exes or best friends to compete on that show.”

“We’re dating,” Grace replied.

“You’re dating?” Ava asked, her expression turning even more grave.

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