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“You just going to sit over here and pretend to be sleeping the rest of the day?” I open my eyes to find my brother Declan now sitting in the lounger next to mine. He’s two years older than me and two years younger than Orrin, our oldest brother.
“Just relaxing.”
“She’s having a blast,” he says, and he doesn’t need to tell me who he’s talking about. I know it’s his daughter.
“She is. I’m glad you brought her.”
“She’s going to be begging me to come back every day now.” He laughs.
“You brought her a few times last year.”
“Yeah, but it was just us guys at the time. Ramsey and Palmer were never here when we were, and now we have Jade.”
“How long until you think until he proposes?”
“Soon.”
“Yeah,” I agree.
It’s weird to think that one of us might be married soon and that Blakely could have little cousins to play with. I know it’s a part of life, and it will happen hopefully for each of us, but we’ve all been single for so long that it’s going to be different. Good, but different.
“Daddy! Watch me!” Blakely calls out.
He waves, and we watch as Ramsey lifts her to the edge of the pool. She holds her arms in front of her as if she’s a professional diver and falls into the water. Jade and Palmer are there next to her, cheering her on as soon as she surfaces.
“She loves their attention,” Declan says, voicing my earlier thoughts.
“You’re doing great with her, Dec.”
“I know, but she’s getting older, and she’s going to need a woman to go to for advice.”
“She has Mom and Ramsey, and I’m sure Jade.”
“I know. I just feel like I’m failing her.”
“Declan, you bust your ass for that little girl. You give her all your time other than when you’re working, and a lot of the time she’s there with you. She knows she’s loved, and she knows that you would move mountains for her. You are not failing her.”
“Let’s eat!” Deacon calls from where he’s standing on the back porch at the grill.
“Come on, let’s grab our girl and get some food.” What I don’t say is that the sooner we eat and this little get-together ends, I get to take my girl home. Well, she’s not my girl, but while this agreement is in session, she is.
She’s all mine.
I don’t share.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Palmer
Today’s my half day, and I’ve been marking items off my to-do list left and right. So much so that everything I wanted to get done today is finished. It’s a satisfying feeling. Staying busy has been my motto for the last week and a half. It helps me keep my mind off Brooks.
I didn’t end up going to his house that night after he got me off in the hallway of my brother’s house. Ramsey decided to have a sleepover with Blakely, and that included Jade and me. So, we all stayed there. We camped out in the basement, all of us sleeping on the huge sectional couch he has downstairs. We did our hair and painted our toenails, and I swear Blakely was smiling so big I was fearful her face might crack.
So, yeah, I didn’t get to go to his place. Last weekend was his weekend to work, and even if it hadn’t been, I worked all weekend. I had a wedding to shoot, which consisted of the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on Friday night and all-day Saturday as the bride and groom got ready for their big day, the wedding, and the reception. It was a long-ass weekend, and I was exhausted, falling into bed and fast asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
We’ve texted a few times trying to find a time to see each other, and there just hasn’t been one. We probably could have tried harder, but the middle-of-the-night booty calls seem to cheapen it. Besides, we both had to work the next day, and he’s a nurse. He saves lives for a living. A good night’s rest is important.
So here we are a week and a half later, and I’m craving his touch like people living in the desert crave rain. It’s a constant humming in my veins that I’m certain only Brooks can cause. I’ve thought about texting him to see if he wants to get together tonight, but he already told me he was helping his brother Archer today. He’s working on an outdoor pizza oven for their parents. As a brick mason, Archer is definitely the man for the job. I guess Archer had a dentist appointment this morning, so he took the rest of the day off and wanted to get a head start on the oven. Brooks offered to help him since it was his day off.
