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Chapter Eighteen
Jasper
“Well.Lookslikeyouhad a good time.”
I looked up from Betty’s shoulder, which I was rubbing with the soft brush she liked.Dylan was leaning on the doorway of her stall, his legs and arms crossed loosely.He was the member of my family least likely to gossip or tease, but I still heard a hint of innuendo in his voice.I said, “Edie did well, considering.Though she’ll be stiff tomorrow.”
“Sounds like an excuse to get her in the spa.”
Images flashed through my mind: Edie slicking warm mud over her plump breasts, Edie glistening with sweat in the steam room, Edie moaning with pleasure as strong hands rubbed her muscles.I cleared my throat and turned back to the horse to make sure Dylan couldn’t see the heat rushing to my face.“That’s a good idea,” I said.
Dylan waited.The rest of us love to talk, but Dylan’s best weapon has always been silence.I made it twenty seconds before I sighed.“If you have something to say, just say it.”
“I was just waiting for you to finish up.It’s dinner time,” he said.
“Really?Shit.”I’d tucked my watch in my pocket when I was mucking out a stall earlier and had forgotten all about it.“I lost track of time.”
Dylan’s raised eyebrow was eloquent.“You were whistling.”
“I was?”He smirked.“Well, so what?I forgot to turn the music on.”
When Dylan smiled, full and real, I realized just how long it had been since I’d seen that expression on his face.“I’m happy for you, man.Take good care of her.”
Why did his eyes still look so sad?“Dyl--”
“I gotta get cleaned up.I’ll see you at dinner,” he said, and walked away.
By the time I finished with the horses and washed up, I was late.I jogged up to my mother’s trailer.Though we all had bigger, nicer places in the clan village, we met here most nights for family dinner.
When we first started the Lodge, Mom’s priority had been pouring any money we made back into the business.Anything that was left over had gone to building summer houses on the clan land.In the early years, she’d worked until midnight and slept in the room I now used as an office.Us boys had “sleepovers” at Dominic and Dylan’s house that eventually turned into permanent residency.
Later, when the business was successful, she’d built herself a house in the village, but she was barely there.This trailer was as far as she could stand to be from the business.Then, when she got sick, she gave up any pretense of going back to the clan village at night.
A spicy-sweet scent greeted me as I opened the door.Dominic was already dishing out salmon and vegetables onto beds of rice.“Last one gets the smallest piece of fish,” Dominic said, pointing at my plate.
I sighed, but that had been the rule since childhood.Besides, I could see that there was more than enough for seconds in the catering pan he’d brought over from the restaurant.I took my plate and elbowed my way onto the couch next to Micah.My mom had transformed the dining table into a desk, and it was too small to hold all of us anyway.
“Thanks for joining us, Jasper,” my mom said pointedly.
“Sorry.Got caught up with the horses.”I knew there was no way in hell that I’d gotten away with keeping my afternoon with Edie completely private, but I didn’t have to volunteer anything.
Not that Mom waited for me to volunteer.“Why didn’t you see if Edie wanted to join us for dinner?”
“She had work to do,” I said.And I suspected that she’d needed a little time to think about what had happened between us.I didn’t blame her.
I hadn’t realized how much the tree would affect me until I got there, but it hadn’t occurred to me until later that Edie might have been affected by it too.Would she have been so bold if not for the tree’s power?
I couldn’t wait to find out.
“Seems like she’s the only one working,” Flint mumbled.
“Flint,” Mom said, sighing.“You’ve been grumpier than usual all day.Do you have a good reason, or are you just pissed at your brother?”
“Uh, I think I have pretty good reason to be pissed,” Flint said, “since this asshole screwed around with my schedule last night and put me on septic tank inspections.”
I tried to disguise my laugh as a cough.Flint wasn’t fooled.“I had the morning free to meet with the state licensing board, you dick.They have to approve us for another greenhouse, remember?”
I hissed with regret.“Oh, yeah.I forgot about that.”
