Page 23 of Honeymoon Phase
“Stop looking so shocked.”
An hour later, the three of us are seated in the warm and cozy vintage-vibe bar of the Mercantile, our rural mountain town watering hole. The only spot you can go in Jamestown for food and drink. It’s located damn near at the end of our lane, just across the highway. The building used to be an old general store, but has been converted into a bar, restaurant, and grocery spot. It’s good for us to get essentials without having to drive in to Boulder. And in the winter months, when the snow is heavy and my brothers and I are feeling trapped, the Merc is just a snowmobile drive away.
“You look like shit,” Judy the owner squawks as she strides over to me and my brothers.
“Everything in my body hurts,” I groan as I shift in the hard wooden chair.
“How come?” she asks, crossing her tiny arms over her chest. Judy is maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet, and no one knows her age because she’ll never reveal it. She’s one of those people who could be eighty but looks sixty. All I know is, she hasn’t aged a day since we moved out here and she loves it when we tell her that.
“This dumbass is competing in Man of the Mountain,” Calder says, calling me out with a teasing smirk.
“You what?” Judy cuts me a look.
“Our boy Lukey here fancies himself a lumberjack.”
“I really wish I could lift my arms above my waist to punch you in the nose right now,” I reply flatly.
Judy frowns. “You’re barely a mountain man though.”
This sobers me right up as I stare accusingly at Judy.
“How do you figure?” Wyatt drawls, his voice rough from lack of use.
Her nose wrinkles. “You’re all Boulder transplants. Once a city boy, always a city boy.”
Wyatt’s brows furrow.
“Judy, I’m hurt,” Calder exclaims, pressing his hand to his chest. “We’ve lived on that mountain for over a decade. How can you think this of us?”
“That’s how I know you’re a transplant.” Judy points right at him. “A real mountain man wouldn’t give a flying fuck what anyone thinks. You guys want your usuals?”
We all nod, trying to hide the devastation written on our faces. Judy pauses and chucks me under the chin. “Don’t look so glum. You wear that flannel well. And your beard came in eventually.”
She walks away and I self-consciously press my hand to my chin, combing my fingers through the extra length. I haven’t shaved in a month, thinking that if I let my beard grow a littlelonger before the competition, maybe I won’t stick out like a sore thumb. Judy is making me doubt that.
Calder breaks the silence. “Does anyone else feel like they were just kicked in the balls by a spiked boot?”
Wyatt and I both raise our hands.
“Judy just hurt my feelings,” Wyatt mumbles, his lower lip sticking out.
Calder points to Wyatt. “I didn’t even know you had feelings!”
“I’m in way over my head.” I sigh heavily, cradling my face in my hands. “I’m barely a mountain man and now I’m trying to add lumberjack to my résumé like it’s so fucking easy.”
“Shut up.” Calder whacks my forearms, knocking my face out of my hands. “We’ve come too damn far for you to start doubting yourself now. You’re competing in this event if I have to drag your ass there myself.”
“And let’s not forget the real reason you’re doing all of this,” Wyatt says as he passes out the beers Judy just delivered. “All this for a girl.”
Wyatt holds his beer up to me and the small smirk on his face looks so much like our father it hurts to look at him. I clink his glass and then Calder’s before taking a fortifying sip. It’s been quite the month.
Calder wipes beer foam off his mustache before asking, “Be honest, you’ve had it bad for Addison since the day you met her.”
I tilt my head, considering that for a moment. “I don’t know if that’s true. I mean I was obviously attracted to her, but in case you fuckers forgot, we had a pact to never fall in love again after Robyn.”
Both my brothers bristle at the mention of her name. She is not someone any of us like to talk about. In fact, it’s our most humiliating memory to date. I’ve worked really hard tomake sure Addison has never heard about that story, because I’m certain she’d look at me different. How I slept with the same woman my brothers slept with at the same time is beyond me. I was in some sort of fucking trance. I swear Robyn Whitaker is a witch.
“Wyatt fell for someone first,” Calder says, pointing at him like a child.
