Page 4 of Falling into Place
He dropped his head into his hands, still a little shocked at what he’d just agreed to.
Stupidest man on the planet, probably. And the funny thing was, he’d known right away his sisters were up to something.
He first became mildly suspicious when he arrived at Macy’s house for dinner last night and found his nephews and brother-in-law Markgone. Sent to the arcade for the evening, or something. Usually, an invitation to come over was nothing but a ploy to get him to wrestle his nephews to the point of exhaustion before bed, and he was always happy to oblige.
Quiet in this house was never a good sign.
The nagging sensation intensified when he found Sasha at the kitchen table.
Despite the calm house and the fact Macy hadn’t mentioned Sasha would be here, everything seemed normal at first glance. Neither sister appeared on the brink of tears, so hopefully no one was dying, had their heart broken, or needed help covering up a crime. Sasha was dressed for a night on the town, but she always was. Macy looked a little ragged around the edges, but that was pretty standard, too.
He was on service at the hospital, and they’d had six new admits today ... Was it a full moon? He’d forgotten to check, so he probably looked closer to Macy’s end of the scale.
Nothing in the kitchen seemed amiss. The family dog was passed out on his bed in the corner, and a few kids’ toys sat discarded on the island.
His eye caught on Sasha again, because she’d always been the worst at keeping secrets, and that’s when he noticed the massive spread of Pub W takeout on the table.
His favorite.
He froze in the kitchen doorway, alarm bells screaming in his head. “No.”
Sasha tapped her bright-pink nails on the table. “What?”
“Whatever it is you want, the answer is no.”
From her perch near the refrigerator, Macy glared at Sasha. “I told you Pub W was too much.”
Sasha ignored her and frowned at him, tossing brown hair over her shoulder. “Your sisters can’t invite you over for a meal? Just the three of us? We never hang out anymore.”
“No.”
“Would you sit down and hear us out?” Macy rotated and grabbed a bottle of his favorite craft beer from the artwork-covered fridge and a frosted glass from the freezer.
Wow. Whatever they wanted must be big.
He walked forward and took both. “Fine.” He poured and sat down. Grabbing a plate, he loaded it with chicken nachos, because he sure as hell wasn’t letting them go to waste.
A moment of silence passed while he ate. He kept his eyes down, adding jalapeño poppers and baked pretzels, enjoying the food and beer. While part of him would like to completely ignore his sisters’ presence, he also wanted to get this thing moving.
To be clear, he loved his sisters more than life itself. But sometimes they could be a little ... meddle-y.
“So what’s up?” he prompted.
Macy glanced at Sasha, so Brooks followed suit. It wasn’t a good sign that whatever they wanted to ask was his younger sister’s idea.
“It’s about the magazine,” Sasha said, her voice lacking its usual enthusiasm. “It’s not going so well.”
Brooks set his napkin down. “What do you mean?”
LiveOKCwas their mother’s brainchild. After growing up in Oklahoma City, she’d moved to the West Coast to pursue a journalism degree, where she’d interned at a local lifestyle newspaper. When she graduated, she moved back home, determined to provide a stronger connection between the community and their city. What started as a weekly small business feature distributed with the Sunday paper became its own independent publication and, eventually, a multicity media company. Deborah Martin wanted to improve the reputation of the flyover state she called home, especially for the younger demographic. She wanted her hometown to be a place where people wanted to stay.
After she died, both Macy and Sasha eventually joined the company—Macy on the corporate media side and Sasha as the head of the magazine. Their mom had passed down her passion for their city, and after college they’d both been determined to honor her and theplace they called home. Even though Brooks had deviated and gone into medicine, he had an emotional stake in the company—especially the magazine—and followed its content religiously.
For the Martin siblings, watchingLiveOKCsucceed wasn’t only important, it was personal.
“I’m sorry I haven’t brought it up before now, but it’s not unusual for us to have low phases. I didn’t want to panic unless it stayed down.”
“I’m guessing it has?”
