Page 22 of Beck & Coll
She dissolved into giggles. “So, you don’t cook?”
“Man, I do all right, but I wouldn’t really feel comfortable feeding you a ‘Beckham’ meal. But my brother, Brewer, is the head chef atGood Ashes. I’ll have him put something together.”
She lowered her eyes to the table, before glancing back up at me. “Sounds good. Just tell me the time, and I’ll be there.”
My three brothers, Brewer, Bayliss, Brighton, and I sat at a table inGood Asheshaving a late dinner that night.
Brewer took a sip from his craft beer. “This is the chick with the green hair, right?” he asked, after I told him about needing him to prepare a dinner for two the next day.
“Yeah. Her name is Collins.”
“Green hair?” Bright repeated. “Yeah, I saw her around the lodge.” He arranged his expression into an appreciative grimace. “She’s thick as hell.”
“She is.” I nodded my head in agreement.
“She’s bad as hell,” Bright commented.
“Seems a little… city slicker for you,” Bayliss mumbled.
“Yeah, you tend to attract and be attracted to the ones who aren’t really interested in this lifestyle for more than a quick visit, little brother,” Brewer reminded me. “
“Ma asked her if she wanted to buy into the hair salon and get it up and running again.”
“What? Say word,” Brighton told me, setting his glass down on the table.
“Ma offered her a buy in?” Brewer looked dubious.
“Not into the lodge, just into the hair salon. Collins owned a hair salon for over ten years. It recently burned down, and she’s on the fence about rebuilding it.”
“So, Ma thinks she might be open to relocating to Jackson Falls and running the lodge’s hair salon?” Bright surmised.
“Something like that. I wasn’t there when they had the conversation,” I admitted. “But something about Ma’s offer had Collins in town recruiting potential hair stylists. Maylasia Reid called me up, talking about Collins stopped her inSecond Street Sweetsand asked her about hair braiding.”
“Damn, that was very… entrepreneurial of her,” Bright told me.
“Yeah.” I chuckled. “Malaysia said she was a little pushy, too.”
“All good entrepreneurs are a little pushy,” Bay commented.
We all agreed. Then we fell into silence.
“Is she outdoorsy… at all?” Brewer probed.
We all laughed.
“I feel like she wants to be, but it’s tough, seeing as she’s clumsy as hell. She fell on the hike, and she fell in the fishing boat.” I cut my eyes at Bay, who was the veterinarian over the horses on the ranch. “She has horseback riding tomorrow. I’m praying she doesn’t fall off the horse. If you run into Stanton, give him the heads up that she’s clumsy. I need him to keep an extra eye on her.”
We all laughed again.
“I got you,” he assured me.
“Is she open to the idea of Ma’s offer?” Bright asked.
“I don’t think so.” I shrugged my shoulders. “When we touched on it, she told me that her life is in Chicago. I doubt that she’s willing to pick up and move here. Jackson Falls is a different world than where she comes from.”
My parents owned over 360 acres in Jackson Falls, Oregon. The lodge and its outbuildings covered a little less than half of the acreage. With the remaining land, my parents built their home on fifteen acres and parceled out fifteen acres to each of their sons.
When I chose my plot of land, I chose a plot that was close to the main road, so that I could get in and out relatively quickly. While I didn’t consider myself a “city slicker,” I could admit that there were times when I needed to get out of Jackson Falls and have more cosmopolitan experiences. I liked to hike and camp, but I also liked to travel and catch a professional football or basketball game, too. My single-story home reflected my appreciation for modern amenities, clean lines, and minimalism.
