AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I've cleaned up my share of situations," he said. "I know the standard operatingprocedure."
"I'm sure you do," I murmured. "I have to go find Shannon. Handlethis."
My father knelt down at the base of the tree and folded the ruffly skirt. "She needs to sit down, Will," he said. "She's doing toomuch."
I laced my hands around the back of my neck and gazed up at the ceiling. "Yep," I said. "I'm aware ofthat."
He set the tree skirt—who knew that was even a thing?—on the sofa and reached up to grab the angel. "Your mother wouldn't get off her feet when she was pregnant with Wesley. She kept running around after you and wallpapering bathrooms and baking bread, and she wouldn't listen toanyone."
"Sounds familiar," Imurmured.
"Doesn't mean you should stand around with your thumb up your ass," he snapped. He was all commanding officer now, the kindly grandfather nowhere to be seen. "What the hell is wrong with you? Take care of your wife. Lay down the law if you haveto."
"Thanks for the advice," I said, heading for thehall.
"I've thrown your mother over my shoulder, carried her to the bedroom and tanned her hide a time or two," hecalled.
"Didn't need to know that. Didn't need any of that information," I replied. "Some things are better leftunsaid."
I didn't wait for his response, or another round of my mother's painfully bad singing, instead barreling down the basement stairs. Our home's underground space was one big, dark room when we moved in, like a creepy bowling alley. Now, it was segmented into his and hers storage rooms. Hers kept family heirlooms, old clothes and shoes (so many shoes), and decorations for every holiday on the calendar. Mine kept a small arsenal and a single-lane shooting range.Priorities.
I found Shannon surrounded by empty boxes, but it was the way she was staring at the heirloom section that had me worried. "Peanut," I said with a sigh. "What the hell are you doing downhere?"
"This is a disaster," she said, gesturing to the shelves. Stretching up on her toes, she reached for a box labeledSam. "I mean, this needs to be completelyredone."
"No," I said, taking the box from Shannon's hands. "Not today itdoesn't."
Shannon yanked at the box but I wouldn't give it up. "Would you rather I do it tomorrow, Will? Just get out of my way and let me sort these things. It's only going to take me fifteenminutes."
"No," I repeated. "Not happening." Her phone pinged with a notification and I plucked it from her pocket. That thing had been chiming all damn day. "I'm going to hang onto this. If anyone wants to talk to you, they need to go throughme."
"Matt's buying a house," she said, waving at the phone. "I'm brokering the deal forhim."
"Right now? Today?" Iyelled.
"Yes, and is it really necessary to go full commando on me right now?" she asked, her hands on herhips.
"Is it really necessary to spoon-feed your brothers? Is it really necessary for you to empty every closet and storage shelf in the house?" I asked. "It will be six or seven months before this baby takes issue with the organization of thebasement."
"Will, I just want this done," she said. "We're spending more time talking about it than we'll spend on doingit."
I yanked an old steamer trunk from the corner and dragged it to the least cluttered section of the room. "It will get done. Everything will be ready. I promise you," I said, backing her toward the trunk. I rested my hands on either side of her belly when she sat. "Thank you. Now, listen to me. You've done enough today. If you want something moved in here, I'll do it. I'll take care of everything youneed."
"I don't need anything," she said,sighing.
I expected that. Shannon didn't walk away from an objective. Whichever target she was working toward, she hit it without incident or excuse. Even when those targets were works of homegrownnonsense.
"Sit there and tell me what to do," I said. "Pretend you're at work. Yell at me like one of yourminions."
"I don't yell at anyone," she shouted. "I speak directly, and some people mistake that foryelling."
I laughed at that while I pushed the ornament boxes out of the way. "Of course you do, Peanut," I said. "Now, tell me what we're doing overhere."
"First, take everything off the shelves. It's all wrong," Shannonsaid.
I swallowed a laugh as I reached for a box on the bottom rack. It was a good thing I loved this crazywoman.
Chapter Nine
