Page 44 of Brooke's Bliss
“And you’re good with people,” Jamie pointed out.“You bothhave excellent skills when it comes to the job.Let’s try it, and if Bay wantstime in the afternoon because the light is right, Shane can take up the slack.Here’s the thing.We don’t care as long as the job is done and everyone istreated well.We’re bringing in another couple of hands for the rest of thesummer so I can concentrate on Hope and our new son.We’re interviewing a fewnext week.”
“We’ve got some experienced candidates,” Trev added.“So youshouldn’t have to train some green kid.Like I said, let’s try this out.Takethe weekend to spend with your girl, and if you need advice on how to handleher, we’re around.”
“She thinks we’re just for sex.How would you handle that?”The question popped out.
Shane sighed.“He doesn’t have a filter.Sorry.It’s a goodquestion, though.She views us as stress relief.According to Bay, she’s insome kind of trouble.Not like danger trouble, but trouble.I don’t know if shewould have said yes to last night if she wasn’t.She never has before, andwe’ve tried a couple of times over the years.I think she’s going to have funwith us until she figures out her future.”
“She lost her job, right?”Trev asked.“That’s the rumor.”
“She had her job stolen from her,” Bay corrected.“Not thatI know everything.By the time I got her packed and in the car, all she wantedto talk about was her meeting with Gemma and the fact that she’s spending thewhole afternoon at the theater.She’s not supposed to be back until late.”
“She told us she would get a ride from the Farley brothers.She’s taking that whole crazy ride share thing they have going too seriously,”Shane complained.“But see, she’s not even talking to us about that, and nowwe’re living together.”
He was worried they might not be if they let her find herown way home.She might not remember they had a new temporary home.She mightdecide to go back to her brothers’.
“Are they rehearsing tonight?”Jamie asked.“I thought theywere taking weekends off right now.”
“They’re rehearsing this afternoon but clearing out beforedinner.That’s why she’s working late.”She’d explained it to them as they’ddriven her out to the Elk Creek Lodge so she could meet with Gemma Wells.“Thetheater is going to be quiet, and she’s basically coming in and trying to workwith what they have.”
“Well, let her know if she needs fabric, Beth went through asewing period when she couldn’t sledgehammer walls,” Trev replied with achuckle.
“Yeah, she and Hope decided they were going to make all ofMiranda’s clothes,” Jamie continued.“I think they made a hat.”
“Oh, they made a lot of things.None of them actuallyresembled clothes.Our wives are excellent at many things, but sewing isn’t oneof them,” Trev concluded.“So there’s a lot of stuff in the storage if Brookewants to use it.”
Oh, he liked the sound of that.He’d been walking aroundthis house trying to envision how they could use it to tempt Brooke to think ofthem as something more than sexual stress relief.What if he split that roomwith her?“Is there a sewing machine?”
Trev nodded.“Two.And at least one basket of all theaccessories.Are you thinking about setting up a room for her?I thought shewasn’t staying long.”
“Maybe she stays longer if she likes the theater gig.”Shanesounded surprisingly positive.“I don’t like the idea of her coming home withthe Farley brothers.I think we should pick her up.”
Jamie sighed.“We’re going to have to walk them throughthis, aren’t we?”
“I told you,” Trev replied with a shake of his head.“Theyknow how to get a woman in bed, but I don’t think they’ve ever tried to get awoman to stay with them outside it.”
He wasn’t saying anything untrue.“We never wanted one untilwe met her.”
Trev put a hand on his shoulder.“Then let’s make sure youknow how to tempt her to open up and view you as something more than a funtime.It starts with not letting her sit up at the theater alone.She’s got toeat dinner, right?”
“She said she would get something from Stella… We shouldtake her dinner,” Bay said, finally getting the point.
Shane smiled at him like he was a toddler learning to usehis words.“That’s good.We should take a whole picnic, and while we’rewaiting, we should set up a place for her to work here.We can split theupstairs room.I bet she would like that light, too.If someone will give methe code to the storage locker, I’ll get started.My stepmom used to sew, and Ithink I remember a little about how her room was set up.”
Not that Shane had been allowed in there.“I’ll help.AndI’ll call the bee lady.I hear she does picnic baskets now.”
Jamie pointed his way.“Now you’re talking.But you shouldalso know that how you handle sex is going to be important.”
Trev snorted.“Yeah, listen to him.He thought it would bebetter to hold out, and his brother got in there first.He never lets Noah hearthe end of it.”
“Oh, we did her at the same time.”Bay frowned.That soundedbad and not at all like the passionate intimacy they’d shared.“That didn’tcome out right.”
“We began as we mean to go,” Shane corrected.“She knowswe’re a packaged deal, and I feel like most of our intimacy should be the threeof us for now.”
“Good.”Trev nodded as though he approved.“Then it seemslike you know what you’re doing.Now let’s talk about how you can pay us backfor giving you this lovely house to live in and access to a ridiculous amountof toys.You see we haven’t been on a date alone in six months.”
“We can watch the kids.”Bay wasn’t going to pretend to notunderstand.He liked Miranda, and honestly, he was good with kids.They tendedto think he was a weirdo, but kids were way more tolerant than adults.WouldBrooke think it was a good thing that he probably fit better with kids thannormal adults who didn’t view the world as one big art project?
He could feel the sculpture that had been playing in hishead.Feel the wetness on his hands as he smoothed the clay, running over andover until he got her curves right.Until he could see in a piece of art whathe felt the night before.Love and lust, and an odd sense of peace he’d neverhad before.
