Page 42 of Story of My Life
She scoffed. “As long as there are no eagles flying at my head in council meetings, I think I can handle it.”
She reached across me to grab a box of protein bars. Her elbow skimmed across my stomach, and I stiffened. My body went on full alert like there was a threat nearby. And that threat was a willowy romance novelist in the middle of a midlife crisis.
I sniffed her hair. Not because I wanted to or that I was some weird hair-sniffing creeper. But because it smelled like it had been used to mop up a bar floor after closing. “Seriously, why do you smell like you bathed in red wine?”
She pushed her glasses up her nose. “The wine I packed broke in my trunk. Now everything I own smells like cabernet.”
The store phone rang, and I gladly abandoned standing within sniffing distance of her to grab the receiver off the wall.
“Yeah? I mean, Bishop’s General Store.”
“Are you letting two women rob us right now or did you hire new employees without asking me, Cam?” My sister did not sound pleased.
I glanced up at the security camera and flipped it the bird. “Neither. Don’t you have better things to do than spy on me?”
“Not when you’re makingHazel Hartring herself out and bag her own groceries,” Laura said shrilly.
I stretched the ancient cord as far away from Hazel’s perky ears as it would go. “It was either that or be here until midnight. Also how do you know that’s who it is?”
“They’re totally talking about you,” Zoey said without looking up from the price tags on Hazel’s horrible new wardrobe.
Hazel winced. “Hopefully it’s good.”
I covered the mouthpiece with my hand. “It’s definitely not good. My sister loves Goose. She thinks we should put you in jail for abuse of an eagle.”
“Campbell Shithead Bishop, if you don’t stop being rude to her, I’m gonna come down there and throw leftover chili all over your truck. Inside and out,” Laura warned in my ear. She would too. My sister was an expert at revenge.
“Relax, Larry. It’s our thing. We’re mean to each other in a funny way.”
“He’s just mean in a mean way,” Hazel called.
“Shut it or I’ll charge you double,” I warned her.
“Look, I don’t know how you run your side of the family business. If you want to piss off the only client in two years to come to you looking for six figures of work, then that’s your own stupid man fault. But you willnotbe a dick tomycustomers.”
“Calm down.” Laura and her fiery temper absolutely hated being told to calm down. But I was safe because she was three blocks away.
“That’s it. I’m going to murder your face next time I see you. Put her on the phone,” Laura said using her scariest mom voice.
“No.” I was not about to be intimidated by my younger sister, especially not over the phone.
“Fine. Then I’m calling Mom, Cammy,” Laura threatened.
Fuck.
“Here. She wants to talk to you.” I shoved the receiver into Hazel’s hands, then shot the security camera two middle fingers.
“Oh. Uh. Okay. Hi,” Hazel said into the phone.
I ducked under the spiral cord and started stuffing food and wine into bags, pretending I wasn’t eavesdropping.
“No, it’s fine. He’s…” She paused and glanced at me. “Yeah. That. I promise I won’t hold it against the entire family.”
I didn’t have to imagine the insults my sister was hurling in my direction. They were always the same. Gage was the charmer, Levi was the strong, silent type, and I was the family dick.
“We really like your store. You’ve got something for everyone,” Hazel said, twirling the cord around her finger. I dropped a bag of wine on the counter in front of her with a thump.
Hazel laughed low and throaty, and Zoey shot a surprised look at her friend.
