AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That they were getting ready to cater a Tyler family get-together just kept throwing that in her face. He would probably be there. And she couldn’t avoid him forever, after all.
“What’s eating you, kid?”
Dusty shook her head. Of all of her sisters, Darcey probably understood her the best. But the last thing she was going to talk about with her sister today was a Tyler man.
That was a surefire way to make things harder than they had to be.
Martin Tyler was paying the bill for this today. That was going to be hard enough for Darcey as it was.
“Just…thinking, lately.”
“Whenever you want to talk, I’m here to listen.”
Of course, she was; they all were. Dusty nodded. “I know. And I love you. Let’s get this started.”
They’d had the auxiliary staff at the inn and the diner handle the shifts tonight. A Talley-catered event would be served by Talleys. That was something their business manager dictator, aka Marin Talley, insisted on. Dusty understood it in theory. But she was tired—she’d worked a full shift for Matt that morning, came home and started loading the back of the inn’s van for tonight. She was already exhausted, and there were five more hours on her schedule. Then she had another shift for Matt in the morning, but it was a Sunday shift—just feeding the animals they were boarding, so it wouldn’t be too bad.
Then Monday—she was taking the day off. Probably just to sleep, at this rate. Her oldest sister stepped into her path. Darcey put her hands on Dusty’s shoulders. They were the exact same height. Darcey outweighed Dusty by maybe ten pounds.
They looked alike, sounded alike, and sometimes even thought alike.
No one knew her as well as Darcey—except Nikki. “Darce?”
“I know something’s brewing up there,” Darcey thumped her on the forehead gently. Just the way their Aunt Jessica used to do. “And you need to understand something—we love you. All we want is for you to be happy. If that means…working full-time with the furballs, thendo it. Don’t let thefamilyswallow the Destiny Marie. Promise me you won’t do that?”
Tears hit her eyes. Dusty threw her arms around her big sister and just hugged her. “As soon as I am ready to talk, you’ll be the first person I find. I promise.”
“I’d better. I take my role as head of our little clan seriously. Remember that.”
Dusty just nodded. Darcey had always been there—for her and Dixie and Daisy. No matter what. She had her sister. Sisters. Cousins. Her family.
She would be okay. Even ifeverything elsewas going sideways now.
* * *
“You’re preoccupied.”His sister stared at him through the big blue-framed glasses and blinked. Like she was trying to read his mind with some weird Nikki power. She always had been precocious.
Or as Fletcher put it, a real brat.
Ben adored her. The idea that the so-called hottest man in America had been wrapped around her just five minutes ago when Ben had come into the small kitchen at the back of the barn Martin had turned into what he called “Tyler Hall” irked him. Hunter had looked like he was trying to swallow Nikki whole.
It was disturbing to even think about. Little sisters shouldn’t be doingthatkind of thing with Hollywood playboys. Still, his sister was practically glowing now that her husband was back from his overnight stay in Hollywood.
Hunter was actually going to do it—build a production company in the middle of Masterson County. The whole idea was crazy. They already had the land—it butted up to Fletcher’s property and Chandler’s restaurant, and had beenTylerland originally.
Nikki had said thatmattered.
Plans to build were in place, and it would start being built—as soon as Hunter’s house was finished. They were hoping to have that built soon. Weather permitting, of course. The house was less than an eighth of a mile past Fletcher’s.
Nikki’s house. Hunter Clark was building Nikki the perfect house. He had said it was a matter of pride. And he had wantedTylersto build it for her. Some of Ben’s cousins were trying to get their own construction company off the ground. Hunter’s house was a good place to start. He wanted the perfect house for Ben’s sister.
With a little white picket fence.
That white picket fence was a big deal for Hunter and Nikki.
Hell, Ben understoodsymbolism.He was a writer after all.
His sister was happy—and that was really all Ben had ever wanted for the little brat. But there was an odd little glow in her big blue eyes he’d never seen before. He was going to take tonight to figure it out. Nikki was definitely cooking something up in there. Ben now had a mystery to solve. When he had time.
