Page 110 of Already Callin’ You Mine

“Wanna help me on the grill?” Auggie asks.

“I can if⁠—”

“Yeah!” Otis declares.

“Then let’s go, young sir.” Without another word, my father turns, still holding on to my kid—errr, I mean, Otis—really leaving me by my lonesome.

Okay then…

“Well, you got ditched real fast,” Hux says as I walk into the connected living room.

I stand between the couch and the long counter that separates the living room from the kitchen, taking inventory of all my siblings and in-laws, trying to decide where to park myself. Gus, Anton, and Hux are parked on the couch, heads bent over something on the coffee table. Milo and Ewan are out on the deck, fiddling with the grill, while Auggie shows Otis something I can’t fully see. Sawyer is sitting at the counter, typing away furiously at her laptop, a serious look on her face, while Brenna is two chairs down, eyes glued to the chaos in the kitchen. Chaos that is led by Dolly, but Margeaux, Maisey, and Miss Belle are not far behind her. Oh, and now Presley.

All that’s missing is Willa and Nash.

“No complaints from me,” I reply, leaning over the couch to see what they are looking at.

There’s a massive piece of paper spread out on the table, with a bunch of symbols and figures I don’t fully understand. What I do know is that it’s a map of one of the peach groves. Meaning that whatever is going on must be serious.

“I think we can make it work,” Sawyer says, not looking up from her machine.

All four of us boys whip around to look at her, her comment seemingly out of nowhere. Doesn’t stop her though.

“If we move the southern quarter, they should be fine based on these numbers. And I don’t think that the small grove is completely peached out, so we could put them there, and then plant the new cultivar in the southern quarter.”

“If the small grove isn’t peached out, then why not plant them there?” Hux asks.

Sawyer whips around in her seat, her face turning even more serious. If that’s possible.

“Are you second-guessing my analysis?”

“Hux!” Dolly scolds from the kitchen.

I back up, not sure I want to be in the middle of all this.

“Not second-guessing…” he starts.

“Defend the theory,” Anton pushes. “Because I also think we should stick with the small grove if we can.”

Sawyer huffs, pushing off her chair and marching over.

“Well, first of all…”

Yeah, I want nothing to do with this. Dr. Sawyer Brown is scary smart, and she also has zero issue putting my brother in his place. Never mind the ring on her finger or how much she loves him. He challenges something she knows to be right? Forget about it. Then again, he does it right back. It’s a heck of a dynamic, but it works for them.

Still, no need to insert myself. Safety first. Time for a drink.

“Jace,” Miss Belle coos, sidling up to me as I round the counter into the kitchen.

“Mama…”

Looping her arm around mine, she leads me right back out of the kitchen. So much for the drink I was thinking of getting.

“Do me a favor, would ya?” She bats her eyelashes, a dead giveaway that she’s about to ask me something horrendous. “Would you mind going out to the shed, grabbing my shears, and then clipping some of the pansies to add to the centerpiece? I meant to do it earlier and ran out of time.”

Suuuuuure, she did…

I know my mama, and that centerpiece is something she takes seriously. Even for something as routine as a Sunday dinner. If she went to the trouble to make one, it’s exactly the way she wants it. If something was left out, that was done on purpose.