Page 1 of Flirting With Forever
Chapter One
Gage swore under his breath as he stared down at the current weather alert on his phone. There was still plenty of time for the hurricane to shift and head back out to sea, but if the spaghetti models were correct, Carolina Cove was dead center of the path.
He shoved the phone in his hip pocket, fought back his frustration that he’d have six dozen more things to handle, and yanked open the door to the rentals building.
“You’re late,” Hudson groused from behind the checkout counter. “And you missed the grand opening. Finn’s going to murder you when he sees you.”
At Hudson’s growl, several of their customers turned from where they took a look-see at what was available to eye him before going back to their perusal.
Hud grabbed his backpack and charged toward the door with a deep scowl on his usually grinning face.
He’d missed the bakery’s grand opening. Wasn’t that tomorrow? “I thought that was?—”
The door shut behind Hudson as he booked it out of there to get to his class. Gage grimaced and wiped a hand over his face, rubbing hard.
Next time he’d set more alarms. He’d set three to get to the building in time for Hud’s class but had still wound up losing track of time after getting derailed by problem after problem.
Cole burst through the side door from the convenience store at a fast pace but paused as he caught sight of Gage.
“You finally show up?”
Hudson had apparently called Cole to come cover the counter. On his day off.
Yeah, his day was about to get worse. He now had three brothers angry with him. “Yeah, sorry. The day got away from me.”
The customers rented a set of chairs and an umbrella for the next day and left after they paid. Cole remained, and Gage figured there was a stronger lecture to come.
“You know you’re going to have kiss Hud’s behind for a long while this time. You promised him you wouldn’t make him late anymore.”
Yeah, it wasn’t the first—or third—time it had happened. “I know. I’ll make it up to him.”
“Wolfe will have him eating asphalt for a week doing pushups and cleaning the rigs as punishment. Make it up to him by hiring help. You know you need it, so why are you sitting on your hands about it? And where were you this morning? You missed the grand opening of the bakery.”
Gage swiped his palm over his face again and rubbed harder, wondering if he’d have any skin left by the end of the day with the flaying he’d get from his large family. But it was deserved. Curses filled his head that he’d screwed up the date.
He should’ve been there.
He’d meant to be there. “I tried hiring someone, remember? It’s easier to do it myself than it is to train someone only to have them quit two days later.”
“Maybe don’t rage at them and they’ll stick around.” Cole stared at him. Hard.
“He deleted the entire schedule. I had pissed-off clients coming out of my ears for weeks.”
“You still have pissed-off customers coming at you because you don’t know your head from your tail these days and overbook everything like you can be in three places at once.”
Cole moved toward the counter and braced his hands on top, hitting Gage with a glare he had no doubt perfected in the last year with his teenage stepson.
“Forget it,” his brother added. “I’ll hire them. I’ll train them on my days here in the building. Because I’m getting someone else in here before you lose what’s left of your mind or one of us murders you.”
Gage’s phone buzzed, and he looked at the name and number and groaned softly.
“Let me guess. You forgot something else?” Cole asked with an aggrieved huff.
Yeah, he pretty much hated himself too right now. “Can you, uh, stay and work?”
“It’s my day off. The first one I’ve had in three weeks.”
Gage stared at his brother. “Can you stay and work?”
