Page 5 of Pick Me
“Yeah, proba-ly.” Aiden nodded sagely. “Uncle Drew says fresh air cures all a man’s problems.” The boy turned around but paused in the doorway. “You comin’, Uncle Knox? You need fresh air, too.”
“Coming, bud.” Knox’s expression softened momentarily as he reached out a hand and ruffled his nephew’s hair. “But I already got my fresh air today. I ran a couple miles before I helped your dad milk Pattie and Muriel this morning.”
Really? Knox the Cranky Lumberjack had gone for a run, milked a cow,andgotten to his desk before 8:00 a.m., when I knew for a fact he hadn’t closed the door to his room until eleven the night before? He was either lying or a robot who didn’t sleep.
We walked out of the office into a little hallway and then out the side door, bypassing the orchard’s gift shop, which was closed for the night. Even in the hallway, though, the air was pungent with the scent of fresh apples and cinnamon sachets, and that smell drifted out into the chilly yard. Vermont was like no place I’d ever lived before, and I both liked it… and didn’t.
The scenery was pretty but alien. And the people were a mixed bag, too.
Aiden skipped on ahead, and Knox strode quickly past me, but I walked slowly, struggling to figure out what I was feeling.
Faintly dissatisfied. Annoyed. Disappointed. I was probably genuinely hungry.
My phone chimed in my pocket, and I grinned as I pulled it out and looked at the display.
“Heya, Toby.” I wandered over to a grassy area by the weathered wood fence. This was just the distraction I needed.
“Gagelet, my precious! I was sitting by the pool waiting for the Party Planning Committee to come by, and I heard on the news that your area might be getting frost tonight. I wondered if you’d turned into an icicle yet.”
I tucked my tongue into my cheek. “Vermont weather made the Suncoast news, huh?”
“Well.” He sniffed. “It’s possible that I downloaded weather alerts for your area. It’s possible that the entire family did, in fact. It was Jay’s idea.”
I smiled, though he couldn’t see me. My brothers might annoy the crap out of me from time to time, but Rafe and Beale had done our family a solid when they picked men to fall in love with, because Jay and Toby were two of my favorite people on the planet.
“Goodman, you coming?” Knox called impatiently, like I’d once again inadvertently annoyed him with my existence.
I pressed the phone to my chest. “Call from home. I’ll catch up. Sorry about that,” I told Toby when I’d put it back to my ear. “What were you saying?”
“You okay? You sound… annoyed?” Toby’s voice was puzzled. “You’re so rarely annoyed unless Rafe’s driving you crazy. Or your dad.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “Rafe, Dad, and now you can add Knox Sunday to that list.” I watched him climb the steps to the back porch. “Cranky asshole.”
“Knox Sunday.” He chortled. “If your mother blessed you with a name like that, you might be a cranky asshole, too.”
I snorted. Maybe if I hadn’t seen that picture of him grinning, I’d believe Knox was just cranky by nature. But instead, despite his antagonism, I wondered what had happened to change the guy in that picture to the guy who wanted to lecture me over a coffee cup.
“So, what’s he done? Tell Toby everything,” he went on. “Many people say I’m an excellent advice-giver.”
“Yeah, right.” Toby gave theworstadvice. “He’s done nothing really. He just… doesn’t like me.” It sounded even stupider when I said it aloud. I drew in a chilly breath and looked around the yard, but it was empty. Just me and the dark shapes of the pine trees silhouetted against the sunset. “He thinks I’m a child, and he treats me like one. Little cutting remarks. Sour looks. He’s always watching me, and when I catch him at it, he makes a snide comment. That sort of thing.”
“Ahhh. And how old is he?”
“Thirty-nine. He’s the oldest of the six Sundays. Older than Webb by a couple years. Older than Emma, the youngest, by like…” I winced and ran a hand through my hair. “Twenty-one years, I guess?”
“Mmhmm, mmhmm. So, older thanyouby fifteen years. And is he gay?”
“Um. I think?” I said, confused at this line of questioning. “I mean, I can hardly ask the guy, and he hasn’t introduced me to a boyfriend or anything, but…” I thought back to our first meeting, to that hungry look. “Pretty sure.”
“Well, there you go, then.” Toby audibly swallowed, and I imagined him on his lounge chair, sipping his adult beverage. “Mystery solved.”
“Is it? You’re gonna have to elaborate, Scooby-Doo.”
“He wants you, precious Gagelet,” Toby said simply. “And he’s a cranky asshole because he thinks he can’t have a sweet, young employee like you.”
“Nah.” I shook my head and leaned my shoulder against the wooden fence so I could watch the reddish light of sunset playing over my bedroom window above the gift shop entrance. “No. That’s stupid, and Knox is not a stupid person. It’s not the 1900s anymore. Age is relative, especially for hookups. And I’m a temporary contractor, not an employee. And—”
“Don’t convinceme, angel—convincehim.And, just some friendly advice, maybe don’t start by slagging on the 1900s,” he added, his voice thick with laughter. “Some of us actually remember parts of that century fondly.”
