Page 62 of Story of My Life
“Tough like a hardheaded toddler,” I muttered under my breath.
Levi didn’t laugh. He was too busy watching Hazel’s attempts at first aid on our brother with narrowed eyes. Was this woman giving off some kind of Bishop-targeting pheromone?
“How’s it look, Zoey?” Hazel asked her agent.
Zoey was studying a copy of the printout my dad had handed over from the safety of the other side of the truck. “It looks like you’re gonna need to start selling more books.”
“There’s a fifty percent down payment required,” I announced, pushing my way between Hazel and Gage and pretending to dig through one of the tool totes in the bed of the truck.
Hazel glanced up at me and raised an accusing eyebrow. I returned the stare and pulled the first tool I found free. It was a carpentry square that I had no actual use for. I marched back over to Levi and pretended to mark an angle on the sheet of plywood we had set up on top of a pair of sawhorses.
“Remember, we can do this in phases,” Dad said to Hazel in a significantly friendlier tone. “If you don’t want to get it all done at once, we can start with the necessities. We’re flexible.”
“For now,” I added ominously.
Levi elbowed me in the gut.
“Ow! What was that for, and why is your elbow so sharp?” I muttered, rubbing my ribs.
Dad gave Levi a pointed look. My brother clamped a hand on the back of my neck and steered me away from the driveway coffee klatch.
“Are you trying to fuck us over?” he demanded.
I shoved out of his grip. “I’m trying to protect us.”
“By pissing off a potential client with a job that big? You know the only thing we have on our schedule after this roof patch is a fucking washer and dryer install and giving Lacresha a fourth quote on that backyard chicken coop.”
It might have been the most words I’d heard Levi string together at one time since his passionate defense in the Great Paintball Incident.
“Come on. Look at her.” I gestured toward Hazel.
“I am.”
He was. I found I didn’t care for it, so I stepped in front of him. “She’s not gonna stick around. We’re gonna get stuck with a bunch of materials and a giant hole in our schedule when she changes her mind. She’s gotcitywritten all over her.”
“She’s literally gotStory Lakewritten all over her,” Levi pointed out, nodding at the hideous yellow outfit.
“You know what I mean.”
“Look, man. I can’t believe this has to be said, but you need to get on board. We need this. Thatweincludes you now too.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’ve had a life outside of us, outside of this place. That was your choice. The rest of us stuck. Not because we had to. Because we wanted to. If we don’t start bringing in more business, Bishop Brothers will be just another company that closed up shop, and you’ll move on like you always do. But where does that leave the rest of us?”
I didn’t know what was inspiring Levi’s verbosity or what I was supposed to say in response. I wanted to tell him he was wrong, but in some kind of tangled up way, there might have been a bit of truth.
“We need you. But we’re all used to not having you around. So either get on board or hit the road. Again,” he said and gave me one last brotherly shove. I tripped over a hulking lavender bush and ended up on my ass.
“Dumbasses wouldn’t know common sense if it punched them in the face,” I muttered as I regained my feet. I followed him back to the unofficial driveway meeting, vowing revenge.
My attention zeroed in on Hazel. She was perusing the estimate with an unreadable expression.
When she got to the last page, she let out a little, “Ouch.”
“Big number for a big job,” Dad said.
“You won’t regret taking a chance on us,” Gage added earnestly.
