Page 32 of Wildflower and Whiskey
“You know cops aren’t supposed to disturb the peace,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, Becket. What kind of cop are you?” Eric butted in. We were all just playing with each other but shit got real when we started wrestling. We went out to the foyer because if we broke any dishes, Dad would get pissed at us and we all respected his space.
“We’re going fishing,” I said, as Asher tried to swipe me off my feet.
“Yeah, fishing is a good idea,” he agreed as Becket came from behind and got Asher into a hold. Eric tried to plow into my stomach but missed. Bean walked into the house at that moment. Her voice cut through the chaos as I straightened, only to get snagged into a headlock by Eric.
“Bean, we’re going fishing. You should come. We’ll barbecue tonight on the back porch. It’ll be a sendoff,” I said. Fishing always calmed me. Maybe today it’d pull me out of my head, drag me away from thoughts of Elyna that hadn’t stopped chewing at me since that damn kiss.
“I can go fishing,” she confirmed, and Eric finally let me go.
Asher hooted like a fool.
“Where’s Dad?” Asher asked. “He’d want to go fishing.”
“On a date,” Bean explained.
Asher’s right brow arched and each of my brothers had a look of shock on their faces.
“A date?” I repeated. Dad didn’t date. He got burned by Mom and that was the end of it.
“Yeah, you know, when you take someone out and get to know them,” Bean replied sarcastically.
“Since when does Dad date?” Becket asked. I was kind of wondering the same thing.
“I don’t know, but he seemed happy. He got all dressed up in a nice shirt and slacks,” Bean explained.
“Whoa.” Asher’s eyes turned wide.
“Yeah,” I agreed. This was very unlike our father. What the hell was going on with us? I had a woman I couldn’t stop thinking about and Dad got himself all dressed up, which means he made a real effort for this lady.
“Don’t be like that.” Bean scorned us all. “He deserves to be happy.”
“He was happy living the single life,” Eric noted. My brothers and I had always been sworn bachelors. We never wanted to settle down. It didn’t mean we were celibate. We entertained lady friends often. We always kept things respectful around the main house when Bean was growing up, but none of us were saints.
“You guys are all ridiculous. This whole ‘I don’t need a relationship to be happy’ nonsense,” Bean chided. Having Elyna crash into my life and cause all these feelings to emerge inside me had me questioning my life’s choices.
“Bean, you’re the baby of this family,” I said, and my little sister didn’t like that comment very much.
“Yeah, so?” She placed her fists on her hips. I’d clearly managed to piss her off.
“So, you don’t remember what a mess he was after Mom left. One minute they were a happy couple and the next she was gone,” I said in case she was too young to remember.
We all recited Dad’s line that she didn’t want to be found, but the crack in Eric’s voice betrayed how deep the wound still ran. I felt it too. That emptiness never went away.
Asher cut the talk short, suggesting beers and fishing, and all of us hooted like kids again. I clung to that sound, tried to let it ground me.
We piled into the truck. I hitched the boat while Eric loaded the cooler. Country music filled the cab as we drove, windows down, wind whipping through. It was supposed to feel nostalgic,like old times. Instead, my chest burned with the image of Elyna in that stockroom, lips parted, begging me not to stop. I gripped the wheel tighter, trying to drown the memory but nothing seemed to work.
At the lake, Bean called Luc while we got the boat ready. I pretended to focus on tackle and knots, but her voice carried over the water soft and affectionate. It set off a chain reaction in my head. Elyna said Braden’s name the same way, that fierce maternal tenderness that gutted me. Braden deserved more than Riley Jansen for a father. Deserved someone who gave a damn.
When Bean hung up, Asher shouted about “Loverboy,” and I cracked a beer to keep from snapping.
Out on the water, the banter continued. Becket teasing, Asher dangling his legs over the side, Eric playing Dad with sandwiches. I cast my line, precise as always, but all I could think about was Elyna. How avoiding me for a week didn’t erase what happened. How ignoring me didn’t stop the ache lodged in my body every night.
After giving Bean the third degree about her new relationship with Luc, things somehow shifted back to me. Bean thought we brought her out here for an intervention, but that wasn’t the case. She was our little sister, and we’d always watch out for her. It was just ironic she was the first one of us to fall in love. Although maybe it wasn’t that strange. She and Luc had been best friends from birth basically. We all saw that one coming. We were just concerned with Luc starting in the NHL and where it would leave our sister. But Bean was filled with confidence where Luc was concerned. And lucky for me, my sister decided to shift attention off her and on to me.
“So, Phoenix, how is it going with Elyna and Braden living in your loft?” she asked.
