Page 25 of Stealing Home

Adriana: What he said.

Cole: See ya then.

With that settled, I lay my phone on the counter and hop in the shower.

Less than an hour later, I’m getting in my car to head to the supermarket, liquor store and gas station to grab what we will need for today.

It takes longer than I would have liked to grab groceries, alcohol and propane, but I make it back to the house with twenty minutes to spare before the group gets here.

While placing the last beer in the cooler, I hear the doorbell. Of course, ringing the doorbell wasn’t necessary because Heather just used the extra key they had and let themselves in.

“What was the point of ringing the doorbell if you were going to let yourselves in?” I ask her.

“To let you know we were here.” She retorts.

“You could have just texted, sis.” I say, annoyed.

“Yeah, I know but I like my way better.” she sasses.

“There is cold beer in the cooler and liquor in the fridge. Help yourselves. I also put towels out by the pool for us.” I let them know.

I open the screen door to let Ty and Heather go out first and I mutter under my breath that I might need to take her key as they do. Luckily Heather didn’t hear me, but Adriana did.

“You heard that?” I inquire.

“MMmhhhmmmm. I sure did.” she states.

“Don’t tell her I said that. She’ll never let me live it down and then she’ll just use the key for no reason.” I plead.

“She sure will. Your secret’s safe with me.” She says while sitting next to Heather by the pool.

I go to the fridge to grab everything to grill when I hear footsteps in the kitchen.

“Need some help?” Ty asks as he stands next to me.

“Help or gather intel?” I question him.

“Might be both, little brother.” He answers honestly.

“Yeah, you can help me carry everything out and help me cook. Since apparently that was the plan.” I sarcastically say while rolling my eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. So I was tasked with finding out if you are ready to start dating or not.” Ty says while rolling his eyes. “I figured I’d come ask now, so I didn’t keep getting looks all day.”

“For fuck’s sake. I don’t know. I haven’t even really given that a thought.” I tell him.

That’s a lie.While falling asleep last night, I thought of Adriana, hugging her and her scent. But I don’t know if I’m really ready to try again if I’m being honest.

“I can work with that answer. Let’s get out there and start cooking because I want to get into the pool.” Ty accepts my answer.

And this is why I love my brother. We head back out on the deck where the ladies are enjoying the sun. My brother and I get to work on the grill and about an hour later, we have cooked all the food and spread it out on the table on the deck.

“Food’s done ladies.” I tell Heather and Adriana.

They both get up from the lounge chairs and head over to the table where we are.

“Let’s dig in.” Ty says.

“This is really good.” Heather says after swallowing her bite of chicken.

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