AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey, sis,” Donny says.
“Hey. Where’s Callie?”
“She and Rory are talking to Jett Draconis’s wife, Heather.”
“Oh.”
“And I need to talk to you.”
“What about?” I ask, mustering as much innocence as I can.
“When are you going to tell Mom and Dad?”
“Maybe on the way to the airport?” I give him a sweet smile.
“No way, sis.” He gives me that big-brother look. “You promised to tell them soon. And by soon, I mean tomorrow.”
“What?” I grin. “You mean you’re not going to make me tell them tonight?”
“Not in the middle of the party with the whole town here. But tomorrow. Capisce?”
I poke him in his chest. “What are you? Some kind of blond mobster?”
Donny chuckles. “You’re funny, sis.” Then his demeanor snaps back to big brother in a flash. “You’ve got to tell them. Dad especially. He’s all excited about you starting work in January.”
I sigh. “I’ll tell them. What if they pull some kind of weird parental shit on me? Forbidding me to go or something?”
“You’re over eighteen, Brianna. Mom and Dad can’tforbidyou to do anything.”
“True. They can’t cut me off either. I gained control of my trust fund when I turned twenty-one.”
True words. But as the youngest of all the Steels, I’ve always been the baby, and they’ve treated me as such.
“They wouldn’t do that anyway,” Donny says. “But youdoowe them the courtesy of letting them know that you’re going to be gone for several months after the first of the year.”
I twist my lips. “I know… I just hate disappointing Dad.”
“You don’t have to disappoint him. You don’t have to go on the tour.”
“Are you kidding me? I’ve never been to Europe, Don. Neither have you.”
Despite our fortune, we Steels aren’t world travelers. We’re homebodies. Brock and Rory went to England a couple of weeks ago to visit Ennis Ainsley, who was the first winemaker here when my grandfather opened the winery. That was the first time Brock had been overseas. Ranching is a full-time job, and though we’ve got lots of dedicated employees who can keep things running without us, my father, aunts, and uncles like to have their hands in things.
“You want me to be here when you tell them?” Donny asks.
“No…” I bite my lower lip. “Well, yeah, I would, but I’ve got to do this myself.”
“Good. I agree with you.”
“Do you think they’ll bereallyupset?”
“I don’t know, Bree. With all the shit that’s gone down with our family lately, they probably don’t want you leaving the country.”
“You’releaving the country.”
“Yeah, but I’m ten years older than you are, and I’m going because Callie’s going to support Rory. Plus, we’re only going to be gone for the first couple of weeks. You want to go the whole time, like some kind of Deadhead.”
“A Deadhead? Like I’m following the band around?”
