Page 19 of Honeymoon Phase
Shaking my head, I take a few steps down the deck to breathe in the fresh mountain air, trying to walk off some of this pressure I’m feeling. It’s self-induced pressure, but pressure all the same.
When I decided to go away for college, I made a promise to myself to find love for all three of my uncles and I’m two for three, yet for some wacky reason, number three seems a hell of a lot more complicated than one and two. And number one involved a pregnancy! How is this more complicated than that?
Either way, I have to do this. I can’t leave Luke all on his own. He’s... Luke. He’s the best. And I can tell he’s going to be devastated if Addison marries someone else, so we have to stay focused here. We have to succeed at this. And that means calling in reinforcements in the form of bearded, brawny, unruly uncles.
I smile as I glance at all three of them ribbing on each other. As much as they’re pains in my ass, I love the heck out of them.They were devastated over my decision to leave Colorado, which only motivated me further to help them find their own happily-ever-afters. They’ve created this incredible compound up here on Fletcher Mountain and they need to share this with someone other than me and Ethan.
Plus, humblebrag moment? I have a knack for matchmaking. I got my dad and Cozy together when I was only eleven. I knew they were in love with each other and it has been a privilege watching their love deepen throughout the years. My mom is also crazy happy with her wife. I’m surrounded by the GOATs of love which is probably why my own love life is such a mess. I have high standards for good reason. I expect good communication, grand gestures, perfect dates. Romance! I want the man I bring to meet my dad someday to be a Prince Charming. Not some college asshole who wears a gold cross on a chain and calls me “Stretch” in his thick Irish accent.
As if.
And while my three uncles might not look like Disney princes, I know they deserve love. And I’d feel so much better living my life so far away knowing that someone is here to take care of them.
I just wish I knew about this marriage plan Addison had earlier in the summer. I got so distracted with helping Calder start up his furniture business that I didn’t make enough time for Luke.
Luckily my uncles will do anything I ask of them, so I will depend on them to help me out with this match since I’ll be thousands of miles away.
“Okay, Everly, we’re listening.” Uncle Wyatt leans against the wooden pillar, arms crossed, scowl back in place. “Tell us what we need to do.”
I nod and clap my hands together, swiveling on my heel to dig into my backpack. “I found a lumberjack workout regimen.It’s a lot of cardio, Luke, in addition to some skills training. But I think you’re already in pretty good shape, right?”
“I guess so,” Luke huffs and nervously plucks the paper out of my hand. His brows twitch when he sees the list. “That many miles a day?”
“Like I said... it’s intense.” I grab another sheet out of my bag and hand it to Calder. “This is a diagram on how to suspend the booms. I thought you could set up some floating logs in the creek out back for him to practice. There’s one area I know that gets pretty deep so it seems doable, don’t you think?”
Calder stares at the sheet and nods. “I can handle this.”
“And, Uncle Wyatt, I need you to stop chopping wood at your place for a while. Luke needs to take over and I’m hoping you can help him with his form. Speed chopping is crazy fast, and Luke is going to need all the fallen timber he can get for practice.”
Wyatt exhales heavily. “You got it, kid.”
“What will you be doing while we’re working Luke to within an inch of his life?” Calder asks, staring up at me with a smirk. “Sipping lemonade and bossing us around?”
“I’m going to work on finding some poles for Luke to practice climb. That competition scares me the most.”
“Everly, is this really going to work?” Luke asks, staring dubiously back at me. “How is me becoming a lumberjack going to get Roe to fall for me, exactly?”
“Because it shows her that you’d do anything to help her. And you’re putting yourself front and center to prove it. It’s a grand gesture, Luke. One that you need in order for her to take your proposal seriously. And since a lumberjack is what she said she wants, we’ll give her exactly what she wants so she has no reason to say no!”
Calder shakes his head and laughs. “This is so desperate.”
“I have two words for you,” Luke growls, dropping the spikedboots onto the ground. Calder stares back at him curiously before Luke says, “PowerPoint.”
“How the fuck do you know about that?” Calder asks, standing up to face Luke and losing all humor on his face.
“It backed up on our company iCloud account, you moron.” Luke’s shoulders shake with silent laughter. “I knew you were a freak, but Dakota...”
Calder lunges for a cackling Luke, and Wyatt steps between them, pressing a hand to each of their chests, not saying a word, just eyeing them both into submission.
“What PowerPoint?” I ask Luke, frowning curiously. “Not the one that you guys made to try to talk me out of going to Dublin, right?”
“No, not that one,” Luke replies, looking sheepish. “Fat lot of good that did. You’re leaving again in a week.”
Luke’s somber mood is contagious and before I know it, I’m gazing at three giant, bearded, pouting mountain men all pissed at me for preparing to fly across the ocean again.
“Come on, guys,” I say with a soft smile. “We made it through the first year of me being away okay.”
“Yeah, but I just got used to having you around again,” Calder mumbles, staring down at his boots. “I need your help with my furniture business. I don’t know what I’m doing on Instagram.”
