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“She has the right to leave if she wants to, Dee.”
“Except that she decided to stay…until she spent the morning with you. What the hell happened?”
She gave me the world’s best blow job.
Yeah, that. And I ate her pussy until she screamed.
“I showed her the office.”
“And…?”
“And…I showed her the office. Then I drove her back here.”
“Sometime between then and now, she decided to pack up and go home.”
“Then let her pack up and go home. This isn’t my problem.”
“Hell yes, it is your problem, Dale. She’s my friend and—”
“Friend? You’ve known her for a month.”
“Closer to two, but what does that matter?”
“She’s not your type. You’re so much more…cerebral.”
“We both have to be nerds for us to be friends?”
“You’re not a nerd, Dee.”
“That’s pretty much what you just said.”
“Fuck.” I rake my fingers through my hair. “You know I didn’t mean it that way. You’re studious. Cerebral. Ashley is…”
“What? Exactly what is she?”
“Not studious, for sure.”
“Bullshit. She’s in a doctorate program. Not many non-studious people become doctors, Dale.”
She has me there. But Ashley’s not like Diana. I know this instinctively. She’s more jovial, for one. More…
More…what?
More…
Fun.
She’s more fun. A lot more fun than my sister and I am. She’s more along the personalities of Donny and Bree.
Certainly not Diana.
And most definitely not me.
She makes me…
Damn. She makes me want things I have no business wanting. Makes me do things I have no business doing.
She’s trouble.
Trouble for me, and if I let her in, I’ll be more than trouble for her.
“I don’t ask you for much, Dale.”
“I’ll give you that. You don’t.”
“I’m asking now. I need you to do something for me.”
I sigh. Whatever it is, it’s something to do with Ashley. “What?”
“Ask her to stay.”
“Are you nuts?”
“She’ll stay if you ask her.”
“And you know this how?”
“Because she told me.”
“I didn’t ask her to leave, Dee.”
“But then why—”
“Do you think I know?”
“Yeah.” She nods voraciously. “I think you do know, Dale. I think you absolutely know.”
“I didn’t ask her to leave.”
My sister waits a few seconds, staring ahead at the road. Then, “I believe you. You wouldn’t be so rude.”
I would be, but this time, I wasn’t.
“But something made her think you want her to leave. You know I love you, but you can be…well…mean sometimes.”
I don’t try to deny her words. I’m no liar. I was mean to Ashley. I was also really nice to her. Mostly I was a big mess around her—a mass of feelings I don’t know how to handle.
Diana doesn’t know my secrets. Our parents decided long ago that Diana and Brianna didn’t need to know how Donny and I came to be Steels. It would be too much for them. Diana might understand me a bit better if she knew, but I can’t do that to her. She doesn’t deserve that burden.
I pull into the tiny parking lot in back of the small town grocery store. “I’ve got shopping to do.”
“Shopping can wait. I’m starved. You’re taking me to lunch.”
“So you can continue to yell at me?”
“Yes, exactly.”
I roll my eyes. I’ll do it. I can’t ever deny Diana. She’s an angel. She came along only months after Donny and I moved to the ranch. She was a beautiful baby. A ray of sunshine we all needed.
“Fine. We’ll walk over to Ava’s.”
Ava Steel—yeah, the one with pink hair—is my kindred spirit in a way. The firstborn of Uncle Ryan and Aunt Ruby, she’s the only other Steel cousin besides me who didn’t complete college. A devotee of Aunt Marj, she wanted to cook, so she and I spent a lot of time together in the kitchen when she was still not much more than a toddler. Ava turned out to be a gifted baker, so now, at the young age of twenty-four, no less, she owns the Steel Bakery in Snow Creek. The biggest thing? She did it herself. She refused to take any Steel money for her venture. She lives the boho life now in her small apartment above the bakery. Her sandwiches are legendary.
“Hey, goofballs!” she says when we walk in, the bell on the door tinkling.
“Hey, Aves,” Diana says.
“Sit anywhere. Maya will be with you in a minute.”
We grab a table by the window and sit. Maya—one of Ava’s two employees—scurries over to us. “Hi, guys. The usual?”
“Yup.” My usual is the Dale. Carved Steel beef on pumpernickel with a seasoning blend I created myself. “Change the cheddar to provolone, today. And add some avocado.”
“You got it.” Maya scribbles on her pad. “Diana for you, Dee?”
Diana shakes her head. “Nope. Give me the same as Dale. I’m feeling feisty.”
Feisty? Roast beef on pumpernickel equates to feisty? News to me.
All Ava’s sandwiches are named after our family members. The Talon, named after my Dad, is my other favorite. Beef on sourdough with caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. Simple but delicious. The Jade, named after my mom, is grilled cheddar and tomato on a simple white bread. Apparently that was the only thing my mom knew how to cook when she met my dad. It’s actually one of Ava’s most popular sandwiches.
