Page 39 of Summer Kisses

"It's really nice. I'm enjoying sharing my life and my space with her. Plus, I get this guy." I reached down to pet Max's head.

"It was a natural move then."

"Yeah, I guess you could say it was. We spent a lot of time together anyway. She'd go home at the end of the night. Now she doesn't have to, and it's the best thing ever." That was surprising. I knew I liked her, but I didn't know if we were compatible. This entire thing felt like a test to see if we could be good for each other. And so far, we were. I just wasn't sure if she felt the same chemistry that I did. That couldn't be one-sided, could it?

"I can't believe my younger brothers are getting married and having a baby. It seems like yesterday you were graduating from high school."

"Well, I don't know if Cooper or Shepard will ever grow up. They seem happy with the single life."

"Shep is. I'm not so sure about Cooper. I've always had the feeling that he's Shep's keeper. He hasn't been able to have a life of his own because he's always keeping Shep in line."

"I never thought about it like that." Now that he'd said something, that made sense. Cooper orbited around Shep. It was always about Shep and whatever he was up to. Cooper just followed him into his next scheme. But maybe it was a way to keep an eye on him. "Coop deserves happiness too."

"We all do."

I felt guilty that I was lying to my brother about my relationship with Hazel, but I wasn't misleading him on the details. I was happy living with her and worried about our friendship.

"You want to take on more projects now that you're getting married?" Hudson asked.

I raised a brow. "Why would you ask that?"

"You'll have more expenses now: moving in together, the wedding."

I didn't have time for the extra projects because of my show. But Dad and my brothers thought it was just me playing video games. "I'm happy with how things are."

Hudson raised a brow. "Does she know you spend all your spare time playing video games?"

"It's not really any of your business. But Hazel supports me a hundred percent. She always has." That was the thing that struck me the most. When I opened up to her and told her the truth about my second job, she supported me. She even helped me with it and seemed to enjoy it. I didn't sense any judgment. Not like what I got from my family.

"It seems like a waste of time, especially now that you're sharing your life with a woman. You're probably thinking about having a family soon too."

"I'll probably talk to my fiancée about it first." I was done with this conversation.

"I'm not criticizing you." Hudson shifted in his chair.

I raised my bottle to my mouth. "Really? It kind of seems like you are."

"I wanted to offer you more responsibility at work. You have a family to take care of now, so I thought you'd be more interested in the business."

"I'm happy with how things are." I went to work and didn't bring anything home with me at the end of the night. I didn't take on extra projects on the evenings and weekends because I didn't have time, and frankly, I never needed the money. The show would eventually earn me more money than construction. But I wasn't ready to talk to Hudson about that. He wouldn't understand it. He would say it was a whim and I couldn't count on that money. Or something else equally as annoying.

"If you change your mind?—"

"I know Shep wants more responsibility at work. Why don't you offer it to him?"

"He's not good with solo projects. He's never proved himself to be responsible. Dalton's distracted with his personal life, which I understand. But it leaves us shorthanded. I've always paired Shep with Coop. Mom wants me to give him more responsibility, but I don't think he's ready for it."

"He says he is."

Hudson shook his head. "His actions say otherwise. Work doesn't seem like a priority for him."

"He has trouble with focus; you know that."

"Mom likes to blame everything on his ADHD, but I don't know."

"You don't believe that it makes managing a project more difficult for him?" I asked him, trying to understand my older brother. Everything was so easy for him. He couldn't possibly understand that it wasn't the same for Shep. I'd spent my entire life watching him, and I could see he was struggling with it.

"I don't know what to believe. But Mom wants me to convince Dad to give him more responsibility."

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