Page 13 of Home in the Country
“Beer’s good. I gotta end things with her anyway.”
I snort. “Why this time?”
“You know the kind of girl that likes me—I’m fun but not serious dating material.”
Giving him the side-eye, I don’t state the obvious. We created our over-the-top personas, and we could change them just as easily. We’reourselves,just an amplified version.
I’ve asked myself a million times if he embraced this bachelor lifestyle because of me. I hope to God that’s not the case, but sitting in the truck right now, I’m not so sure.
“You know you can be with a girl for more than a couple of weeks, right?”
He shrugs as I pull into the parking lot of the job site.
“Figure I’ll find her when I’m ready.”
“Amen, brother.”
Exiting the truck, I look at the space in front of us. The owners gave us free rein on design and a healthy budget to boot. I sketched out the walkways and focused on the overall aesthetic and then handed it over to Case to make it pretty.
The guy is an absolute genius when it comes to flowers and plants, which makes us the ultimate duo.
Also it helps that we can still bless the hearts of all the people who said we’d never make it.
“I really like how the levels turned out. You were right about the stained wood versus stone. It’s going to look bangin’ when Waylon installs the benches.”
“Agreed.”
Case and me going into business had been a foregone conclusion. We’d kicked around a couple of ideas before settling on architectural landscaping. My need for constant motion and hands-on design balances Case’s need to nurture a connection with a space through horticulture.
Honestly, if I didn’t know us I’d think we were full of shit too, but it works—wework.
And pretty damn well if our full calendar says anything. Twinscapes started as a joke, at least in name, but since it’skindaour thing, most of the advertising was done for us.
“We gotta talk about hirin’ another person, maybe two.”
“I know, but when are we gonna interview ’em?”
I grin. “We could always let Isla do it.”
Our sister-in-law is scary—like run the world scary—so it surprised absolutely no one that she tamed our grumpy older brother. They surprised the hell out of us when they threw a barbeque over at the lake, and it was actually their wedding ceremony and reception.
They’ve always done their own thing, but it was nice seein’ Cullen get to be involved. Guy hasn’t always been there for his daughter, but he’s definitely been tryin’ to make up for it since movin’ to Clementine Creek.
“I know you’re kiddin’, but let’s ask her. We can volunteer to sponsor somethin’ for the scholarship program in exchange for her time.”
“Wanna play rock, paper, scissors to see who has to ask her?”
“You’re on.”
4
FALLON
“Cheyenne, is this really necessary?” I ask as she continues to pull clothing off the racks at Velvet Threads, the local shop owned and operated by Cheyenne and her mom, Gwen.
It hasn’t been that long since Briggs and I moved to Clementine Creek, but apparently, I can no longer put this off.
“You’re interviewing for a new job, Fallon, and I’m going to guess, based on our video chats, that your wardrobe could use a littlerefresh.”
