Page 98 of South of The Skyway

Distrust was written over every inch of her, from the deep angle of her brows to the dip of her chin and curl of her shoulders. Still unenthusiastic, she snatched the elixir off the counter and threw it back like a shot. Spluttering and coughing, she glared in my direction and slammed the glass back down with equal enthusiasm.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—” The ensuing string of colorful curses had Jameson spitting his coffee back into his mug, nearly choking on his laughter. “What in the fuck was that?!”

“Surefire cure,” Hadlee said calmly, attempting to hide the humor at Brexley’s expense, although it lingered in the corners of her mouth. “Elora came up with that shit years ago. Give it an hour, max, and you’ll be right as rain.”

“Hell of a mouth there, Brex,” my brother muttered as he finally got ahold of himself. “You’d make most sailors blush. You’ll fit right in.” He dropped his head back and laughed when she threw up both middle fingers this time.

“Was thatginger?”

“Partially,” I acquiesced. “Cayenne, and I’m not sure what else.”

“Why was it green?”

“Nutritional value.”

“Fuck.”

There was no swallowing my laugh at that, but I hoped to make up for it as I slid over a buttermilk pancake, greasy taco, and scoop of mac-n-cheese.

“What the hell is that?”

“Myhangover elixir,” Jameson answered, smirking back at her. “But I’m impressed you survived Elora’s.”

“Dammit,” she grumbled, begrudgingly reaching over to wrap her palms around the plate, dragging it across the counter.

Sure enough,between Jameson’s cure and Elora’s, the three of them were on their feet and ready to go in time to pile in the SUV with Juniper and Milo. Much like the property, my bar was in the finishing touches of remodeling, and everyoneoohedandawedat proper intervals. The contractors were, gratefully, absent as my parents examined and evaluated every inch of handiwork.

The Rhodes were nothing if not detail-oriented perfectionists.

Their chatter wasn’t enough for me to miss as Brexley snaked her way through the bodies until she could flit down the back hallway, vanishing from the commotion.

FORTY-FOUR

BREXLEY

I exhaled hard as the door snicked shut behind me, leaning into the wall and jamming my eyes closed. It was the hangover, I told myself. Except the overwhelming feeling crept into my chest yesterday the moment I woke up to a trailer packed full of Rhodes siblings. There was a reason I lived alone. My bandwidth for people was only so big. It was why Noel handled that side of our business.

Speaking of…the text had just fired off, updating her on the craziness, when the door cracked open and Rhyett slipped in.

“Hey,” he said softly. “You alright?”

Nodding, I said, “Yeah, just taking a second to catch my breath.”

“Sorry. They can be a lot,” he admitted, his eyes full of knowing. “But they love as big as they bother.”

“They’re great, Rhyett.” They were. Juniper had given me a ginger chew in the car rather than supplying any kind of motherly scolding for our adolescent drinking spree. Milo had happily reported facts about landmarks, wildlife, and bird species that I hadn’t learned in a lifetime of my living here. Elora and Hadlee had helped me evaluate the bookshop's online presence and provided enough free feedback to last a year, helping me strategize for our mission of scaling it. Jameson’s snark was endearing in the way brothers were often endearing. It was just… “I’m just not used to having people around that, you know, give a shit…care about what’s going on in your life. I mean, the girlsaremy family.”

He seemed to grapple for a minute, like words had tiptoed to the edge of his tongue only to retreat to the recess of his mind. Closing the gap between us, Rhyett reached down and took both my hands in his, bowing his head to rest his forehead on mine.

“They like you,” he said at last. “That’s a big deal. Believe me when I tell you if the Rhodes don’t approve of someone, they’re quick to make it known.”

That, I could see. As level headed as Elora seemed, I had a sneaking suspicion she had a tongue you never wanted to be on the sharp end of. Although Hadlee’s disproportionate amount of sunshine alluded to the same thing. Was Rhyett the actual anchor in the family?

“I like them.”

“Good. That means a lot to me, baby.”

“I know.”

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