Page 3 of Seven Year Itch
“Trust me, whoever I find won’t be there for the family vibes.” I waggle my brows suggestively.
Trista rolls her eyes and rubs Stevie’s bottom. “Can you not speak that way in front of my daughter, please?”
“My daughter doesn’t mind one bit.” I match Trista’s protective stance with my own fur baby. I move closer to lean in and whisper into my sleeping niece’s ear. “It’s best you learn young, lil Steve-meister, that your uncle Calder is a stallion.”
Trista groans and makes her way up toward their house. “Calder, I don’t know who messed with your profiles, but if you have to go to Tinder to find someone to bring to our wedding, maybe you don’t really need to bring anyone at all.”
My eyes narrow on my retreating future sister-in-law. She might have a point about Tinder not being the right place for me to find a date for a destination wedding. But she’s wrong about me not bringing a date. Luke already has his plus-one lined up, and our oldest brother Max down in Boulder has been wifed up for years. Wyatt will be busy being a groom. If I don’t bring a plus-one, that means I’ll be my mother’s date, and as much as I love my dear mother... I can’t stomach the idea of dancing with her or my niece all night long. I need to find someone to bring with me on this damn trip.
I turn and gaze at the tiny mountain town that rests at the bottom of our long and winding gravel lane. Perhaps Tinder is casting too wide a net. Maybe it’s time to look a bit closer to home. Jamestown ain’t much to look at. It’s a little hamlet of Boulder—an isolated and somewhat dilapidated sanctuary for weirdos who want to stay weird. It’s full of loners. Trailblazers. People who don’t want to be found and don’t mind a bit of inconvenience—be that limited grocery supplies, weather that snows us in for a week, or cell service that goes in and out. Jamestown is our sanctuary. And it’s the place Wyatt, Luke, and I have called home for over a decade now.
Unfortunately, the population doesn’t even hit three hundred souls, so the pickings are slim. My brothers and I learned thatquickly when we first moved out here. Things ended real messy back then, and the three of us made a pact to not test the waters in Jamestown ever again... but surely enough time has passed now. I mean hell, Wyatt’s on his way to getting married anyways. Maybe it’s time to shop local again.
Chapter 2
I’ll Have What He’s Having
Calder
“Here you go, boys.” Judy’s husky voice snaps my attention away from my phone as she sets three fresh beers down in front of me, Wyatt, and Luke.
My brothers and I are seated at the one and only food and drink establishment in Jamestown called The Mercantile, where everyone is a little feral. It’s a hole-in-the-wall dive bar that’s full of locals, but you see the occasional out-of-town cyclists stop through to fuel up for their rides.
Wyatt, Luke, and I used to stop here most nights after work to eat, although lately Wyatt can’t get home soon enough. I guess fatherhood is more appealing than having a workday brewski with his brothers.
But today is a Wednesday, and on Wednesdays Trista goes to Boulder with Stevie and volunteers at the front desk of the Humane Society, so Wyatt can magically make time for us.
I’m not bitter at all.
“Your food should be out in ten,” Judy adds before turning to leave.
“Thanks, Judy,” Luke says, adjusting his backward hat before taking a fortifying sip.
“Hey, Judy,” I call out before she gets too far away. “Any outsiders move to town recently that you know of?”
“Outsiders?” Judy asks with a frown.
Judy is a Jamestown lifer. She’s owned the Merc for as long as we’ve lived here and has turned into a second mother to us... if our mother smoked a pack a day and wore Wranglers. She knowseveryone who comes in and out of our little mountain town, so she’s the best source for the latest news.
“I thought I saw a moving truck roll by one day last week. Wondered if any single ladies might have moved in?”
I feel Wyatt’s eyes on me from across the table as Judy hits me with a punishing glower.
“Didn’t you learn your lesson the last time with Robyn?” she asks in her gravelly voice.
I feel both my brothers tense at the mention of her name. Theshewho shall not be named. Except Judy mentions her name anytime she damn well pleases.
I wrinkle my nose and shrug. “Ancient history.”
“Ha!” Judy barks out a haughty laugh. “Tell that to these two whose shoulders are pinned to their ears.”
Wyatt and Luke both instantly relax their posture, only now realizing how edgy they got with the mention of our past fling’s name. Yes, I saidour. Robyn was the dark queen who moved into town just as we were building up on the mountain. She messed with all of our minds, pinning us against each other in a stupid competition for who she’d fall for first. And when she ended up being pregnant with the baby of her husband back home... that meant all three of us were the losers. And my relationship with my brothers at the time suffered greatly for that.
Judy presses her hands to the table and eyes me seriously. “Don’t you go messing up a good thing now, Calder. No one new has moved to town, and you’ve burned the bridges of all the available options already.”
I sit back in my chair with a frown. “Bridges can be rebuilt.”
“Not in Jamestown.” Judy hits me with a withering stare that has me shrinking in my seat.
