Yep. He is.
Crouching down, he mops up our wet footprints.
Oooo. Points for Ben Evers!
Maybe Boring Ben is more useful than I thought.
He could be a great addition to our house if he’s gonna go around cleaning up after everybody. I’ll have to mention it to Darian.
As I wander up to the second floor, my brain starts ticking over, wondering who else in this place will be joining us for the school year. Living with Darian and Sawyer is gonna be a blast, and maybe if Ben’s there to keep us from getting too crazy, that’ll be a good thing.
That leaves two more spaces.
Pausing at the top, I stare over the railing and look down into the room of guys, and Nix. My lips curl into a smile. With her and Darian hitting it off, maybe she can move in. That’ll leave one spot open.
Which one of you guys is it gonna be?
I check them all out, weighing the pros and cons as my eyes dart from one person to the next. Hopefully by the end of this weekend, my gut will tell me for sure who else we’ll be inviting into the house.
9
JIMMY
I’ve been weighingup the pros and cons the entire drive to Aspen, and my mind is in complete chaos when I pause by the mailbox telling me which driveway to go down.
I shouldn’t be here.
Ma called twice on my four-hour drive, letting me know how disappointed she is. I’m letting down the family. My father isvery upset, which means he’ll stop talking to me for a week or two. Damn, I hate that so much. It’d be easier if he just yelled at me and got it over with, but his punishment has always been silence.
Which is why I usually toe the line and do as I’m told.
I’m the good boy. The only child.
The one who always gets it right for the sake of the family.
I’ve fought my entire life for my parents’ approval, and then on a whim, I just jump in a car and take off for the weekend?
Yes, because you’re a grown man and you can’t keep acquiescing to their every demand.
Closing my eyes, I grip the wheel and remind myself of all the reasons why I’m doing this. Because Mac’s my friend and he invited me. Because it’s good for me to do something social with the team. Because I need to stop being the weird, quiet, unapproachable one. If I can bond with these guys a little more before the season starts, then…
“Then what?” I whisper.
Argh. I don’t even know!
“Just get over yourself,” I mutter sharply. “You’re here now, so drive down that driveway.”
Blowing out a calming breath, I turn the wheel and head down to Mac’s family lake house.
As the stone-and-wooden structure comes into view, I give an approving nod. Impressive. Having been raised in a world of critically eyeing every building I see for its sales potential, I can immediately guesstimate that this is a minimum ten-million-dollar build, possibly more. Once I see the inside, I’ll have a better idea.
“It’s probably more like fifteen to twenty,” I murmur to myself, parking my Lexus behind Mac’s car and gazing up at the place.
Yeah, my parents would be drooling over this. Ma’s been wanting a vacation home for years, but Bàba keeps arguing that it’s more fun to travel to different places around the world. He loves staying in luxury hotels and getting pampered.
“If we get a vacation home, we’ll have to look after it when we’re in it. When I’m on vacation, I want to be taken care of by someone else.” Bàba’s arguments always appease my mother, and I sit there rolling my eyes, because in my entire life I’ve only known my parents to take maybe three vacations, tops. Those two are addicted to work. Even that time we went to Europe for an eight-week trip, he spent most of it checking out buildings and wondering if we should be expanding overseas. It was painful.
Hey, they’re not here. Just get inside and relax already.
