Page 19 of Stay With Me Forever

“Maybe you should take a few bottles home to help relax.”

Zach jumped in before I could reply. “You’ve definitely been working hard this year. Even though it’s the end of June and fucking madness for you, you usually find time to come to dinner on Sundays.”

They were right—we all tried to eat together on Sundays. It didn’t always happen, but missing three Sundays in a row like I had, well, it was noteworthy.

Yes, I’d been busy with work. However, it was getting closer to my mom’s birthday, and whenever that happened, my guilt at still being here and my mom not became nearly unbearable. Even as a kid, I’d always tried to hide my sadness at this time of year from the Wolfe family. And I’d been successful, except for when it came to Abby.

Which was why Abby quickly jumped in to save me from replying. “Well, this yearisdifferent. She was invited to a new wedding expo show next month in Reno, and it’s taking a lot of extra time for us to prepare for it.”

Beck nodded. “Yeah, they invited our winery as well. There’s going to be a whole booze section.”

Sabrina rolled her eyes. “They most definitely don’t call it the ‘booze section.’” She looked over at Aunt Lori. “It’s really exciting, to be honest. There’s a wine alley, a scotch alley, and a beer garden, and a few other specialized areas. Getting the permits for it all was no joke, so I’m impressed.”

Sabrina ran her own business—Starry PR and Marketing—and even if it was new and had only opened about a month ago, she’d been working in the field for years and had taken the invite to the new expo rather seriously.

After swallowing my latest bite of steak, I spoke up. “I’m nearly ready for the expo. I just need to get a little ahead so I can attend the Fourth of July parade in town and the Evans’s annual barbecue and baseball game afterward.”

Beck raised his eyebrows. “Miss the latter at your own peril. Katie will find you, tie you up, and force you to attend.”

True, Katie was known as the town wild child, but she was part of the BFF Circle and one of my best friends. “I’ll be there. But who are you sending to the wedding expo? You and Sabrina?”

Beck made a face, and Sabrina placed a hand on his arm as she laughed. “No. Beck is good at a lot of things, but being charming with strangers isn’t one of them.”

As Sabrina shared a glance with Beck, one of love and some hidden story they both knew but no one else did, a stab of jealousy pierced my heart.

However, I brushed it off. Relationships had never gone well for me, and I always felt guiltier the longer they lasted. My parents had loved each other to distraction, and I’d cut that short. So I shouldn’t get what I’d denied them.

Thankfully, Zach spoke up, pulling me out of my head. “I wanted to go, but yesterday one of our biggest potential clients scheduled a meeting for the same time.”

Abby asked, “Then who’s going?”

Zach replied, “West will go in my place.”

West’s gaze snapped to Zach’s. “What the fuck?”

Avery said, “That’s a bad word, Daddy.”

West grunted in apology and said, “Explain. If Beck’s not friendly enough, then I sure as hel—er, heck, am not.”

Aunt Lori jumped in. “Abby is going to help you during the daytime and stay with a friend from college at night. But she’ll need help with everything, and I’m sure you can cart heavy boxes and pour wine. Maybe even answer some questions without barking at someone. From what I’ve heard, you dealt with sellers back at the Grenville place, so you do have some experience.”

I frowned at Abby, but she didn’t look at me. She’d known about this and hadn’t said anything?

West grunted. “But Beck could do that.”

Beck sighed. “This is me giving you some more responsibility, brother. Don’t you want it?”

My eyes darted between Beck and West, waiting to see what happened. The entire time I’d lived with the Wolfe family, Beck had acted the part of oldest brother in West’s absence. He’d taken on a lot of burdens I hadn’t noticed as a child but later did as an adult, namely trying to do as much as possible without asking anyone for help. Only after he’d met Sabrina had Beck finally been able to hand off more duties to his brothers. It was a big deal, and West knew it. Hell, we all did.

West finally sighed. “Fine, I’ll go. But in the future, it’d be nice for you to ask me rather than order me to do it.”

The corner of Beck’s mouth kicked up. “But it’s way too much fun ordering my big brother to do shit.”

“I can still dump your ass in a horse trough, Beckie.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Beckie.”

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