Page 41 of Between the Stars

“Oh baby,” my mom coos, welcoming my embrace after wiping her hands on the front of her apron. “Where have you been?”

I catch Josie’s smile over her shoulder. She winks at me, mouths, “Brotherfucker,” and then shoves a pancake in her mouth. The whole thing.

“I was up at Duro Canyon.”

Mom pulls back out of the hug, eyeing me carefully. “With Jace.”

I don’t say anything as I watch Josie take the syrup, tip her head back and open her mouth to squirt some in.

Mom frowns, but there’s no judgment on her face. Sympathy maybe. But disappointment, no. Never. “Honey, what are you doing? If Griff finds out….”

I step back when I hear Rhett in the other room. “He won’t, Mama.”

Mom holds my face in her hands. “How do you know?”

“Did he call here looking for me?” I raise an eyebrow and watch Josie panic, trying to swallow the pancake in her mouth as Rhett comes around the corner, smiling at her.

“No.” Mom shakes her head and watches the bizarre interactions of everything Josie does. Including winking at my brother and choking on her pancake.

“That’s why. I don’t have a single missed call from him.” I turn to Rhett and Josie. He’s staring at her, tips his cowboy hat up and winks.

He whispers something to her and then walks toward me, shoving me into the table. “Where the fuck ya been, Abbs?”

“Rhett Landon,” Mom scolds. “Don’t y’all be talkin’ like that in my house, boy.”

Rhett grins but he’s watching Josie behind me. “Sorry, ma’am.”

My eyes dart to Josie who’s eating a link of sausage rather disturbingly. And as I expect, my brother grabs his damn dick through his jeans and bites his bottom lip, making a growling sound at Josie. No, thankfully Mom didn’t see him but I did. Think of me. My eyes hurt from seeing that.

“You’re disgusting,” I whisper, scrunching my nose at them.

“Are you headin’ into work this morning?” Mom asks Rhett, who’s now pouring black coffee into a metal mug. Steam rolls over the edges like steaming lava and I think of that damn hot tub with Jace again.

Rhett clears his throat and kisses Mom on the cheek. “Yep.” Smiling at me, he hits my shoulder with his. “See ya around, sis.”

My body rocks to the side and I roll my eyes. “Uh-huh.”

Rhett leaves, Josie follows, and they leave me in the kitchen alone with my mom. She’s watching Rhett outside, standing next to his truck grinning at Josie. “He works so hard,” she notes. “I wish he had some time off.”

“Still working for Daddy too?” Rhett refused to take over the family business. He wasn’t meant to be a plumber. He loves wrangling cattle, turning wrenches on tractors, and getting his hands dirty in anything other than shit. And as a plumber, you’re knee deep in it. Unfortunately for Rhett, our father can’t exactly manage the company he was given by his father around Rhett’s age.

“Yeah, he’s been helping out for the last month.”

I glance over at my mom, watching Rhett from the kitchen window. She pushes her red locks from her face, her freckles never more apparent than ever underneath the golden light of the kitchen chandelier next to the sink. “He’s in deep.”

“How deep?” I’m afraid to ask, but I worry about Rhett and what bailing our father out of his financial problems is going to do to him someday.

“Enough that Hemington Holdings took over interest in Lockett Plumbing.”

“What?” My eyes widen and there’s a punch of “Why would they do that? They don’t have any interest in smaller companies.” I don’t understand why Griff’s father would have any interest in my dad’s small-time plumbing business.

Do you know what a holding company is? If you don’t, it’s a company that doesn’t manufacture anything, or even sell products or services. They simply hold stock in other companies. Smaller ones. They own the assets of other companies. They’re called umbrella companies. They should call them shady-as-shit holdings, because that’s what they are. And Griff’s father owns one of the largest in the country. Hemington Holdings.

“Mom, you can’t let him do that,” I beg, my heart pounding so hard it hurts my chest. “They will sell it and leave him with nothing.”

“They wouldn’t if we’re family. This wasn’t our first choice, Abigale. This was our only option. It’s either this, or we lose it all. We put everything we have into this business and at some point we had to make a decision of how much we were going to let it control us.”

I don’t know what to say to her, because while I understand where they’re coming from, I don’t think they realize what getting wrapped up with Gage Hemington will do to them.

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