Don't Bang Your Stepbro, page 16
We’d gotten a little friendlier since she came to stay with us, but I never would have dreamt she’d put her relationship on the line just to have my back.
“Andi, that’s really sweet, but I don’t want to be the reason you two can’t work it out.”
“You’re not,” she said. “But Colt needs to understand I won’t listen to my brothers be disrespected.”
“And I need someone who will support me when I’m having a tough time,” Colt said. “Did you consider that?”
“I did, and I tried,” Andi said. “But it was just so much. Every night, you stomped in furious about something. I thought leaving would give us both some perspective, but I’m not sure it’s working.”
“Okay, let’s take a breath,” Wes said. “We have dinner coming, and there’s no need to fire both barrels just yet.”
“Sorry,” Andi said softly. “I just…don’t know what to do.”
“Neither do I,” Colt muttered.
“Maybe we should discuss what’s going on at work,” I said. “Colt, why didn’t you talk to me or Wes if you were unhappy with the situation?”
“Do you think I didn’t try?” Colt shrugged. “You view me as a nuisance. You bring up the fact I only got my job because of Andi, and I know you don’t think I deserve to be there. There’s no way you were gonna hear anything I had to say.”
I winced because while I didn’t think that was entirely true, I had been annoyed that Colt had been handed his job and didn’t show any sign of truly wanting to earn it.
“You haven’t really put in the time yet,” Wes said diplomatically. “You’re still learning the ropes, and that means you need to show up with a good attitude and listen to the men who’ve been on the crew longer than you—not just me or Beck, but Ryder and Luke too. When you’ve got more experience, you’ll get the respect you want, Colt. No one here is your enemy.”
While Colt mulled that over, a server—a woman named Kara who’d been a few years behind me and Wes in high school—stopped by our table to take our order.
We spent a couple minutes making polite small talk about Kara’s daughter, now a pre-schooler, which damn, that made me feel freaking ancient, before placing our orders.
As expected, Colt asked for the special. So did Wes. Andi got a chipotle-chicken pasta I didn’t even know they served, and I stuck with a basic turkey melt, my stomach a little too unsettled to eat something more adventurous.
Colt’s words were hitting uncomfortably close to home, and it was a difficult look into the mirror. I never wanted to believe I’d treated someone unfairly, but maybe I’d let my personal history with Potter Landscaping and how hard I’d had to work to prove myself influence my view of Colt.
“I’m sorry I made you feel that way,” I said.
Colt shifted in his chair, barely meeting my eye. “I mean, I know I bitch and moan a lot.”
“You do,” I said, “but…I think the real issue is I didn’t think you appreciated the opportunity Andi got you with the crew. I worked my ass off to be where I am.”
He gave me a skeptical look. “But you and Wes are in the family. I’m just treated like the guy not good enough to be in the family.”
“And now we’re getting somewhere,” Wes pronounced.
“I had no idea you felt that way,” Andi said, her stance softening at Colt’s admission. “Is this about your dad?”
He flushed. “Not really. I mean, I should just suck it up. It’s not Wes or Beck’s fault that they get a business from their dad, and I get nothing but debt from mine.” He grimaced, meeting Wes’s eyes, then with more difficulty, meeting mine. “I need this job, and I want to make it work with Andi. I’ll turn it around, if you’re willing to give me a chance.”
“Colt, I’m happy to give you a chance, but I need one thing.”
“What’s what?” he asked, looking wary.
“Give me a chance to start over too. I’m sorry I was so hard on you. I guess I was projecting a bit because of how I felt when I joined the crew. I know you think because I’m in the family, this job is a given. But I worked really hard to prove I could be Wes’s equal.” I flashed him an apologetic glance. “Still not sure I’ve succeeded, but every day I try.”
“Please,” Wes said. “You’re more than my equal. I strive to be a better boss because of the example you set.”
“Okay, you guys love each other to a weird and codependent degree,” Andi said with a chuckle. “We all know that.”
Wes flipped her off while I laughed awkwardly, hoping like hell I wouldn’t blush and give away that her words were truer than she knew.
“As I was saying, it’s possible I wanted to see you earn it the way I felt like I had. But our situations are different, and I shouldn’t have held you to a different standard than the rest of the crew.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.” He hesitated. “But I know I’ve had a crappy attitude, and you were usually justified in riding my ass. I promise I’m going to work on that.”
When dinner came, we shifted to more comfortable topics, like how many irate neighbors we might see in the next few days once word got around we’d helped out Mel, how Andi’s job was going at the Friendly Bean, where the coffee didn’t taste like battery acid. My loyalty to Jake and Miles at Glazed Holes prevented me from enjoying their delicious confections, sadly, but I got to eat my feelings in the shape of glazed and cream-filled holes, which…sounded naughty enough to come out of Wes’s mouth while we had sex. Just the way Jake and Miles would want. They knew exactly what they were doing with that business name.
By the time Wes paid the check, it felt like we’d cleared the air and there might be brighter days on the horizon. Not just for us, but for Andi and Colt too.
I was still overwhelmed by the thought of Andi standing up for me like that, but it was also true when I said that I didn’t want to be the reason her relationship failed. I had to try harder with Colt.
When we all headed for the door, I pulled him aside.
“Listen, I know I we already cleared the air about work stuff, but I just want you to know I understand how you feel about the family stuff too.”
His brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I know what it feels like to be attached to a family and yet not fully one of them. It’s hard. Even if you love them, and even if they love you, there’s always going to be a degree of separation between you and them.”
“Do you mean…” He glanced over to Wes, who was currently making Andi squeal as he enveloped her in a bear hug.
“Yeah. It’s complicated. Some of it’s just in my head,” I said. “But some of it, like who gets this business when Wes’s father fully retires? That’s not. I’ll never be the son who gets the business. I’ll never really be the boss.”
Colt ducked his head. “And I guess me pointing out Wes is the boss and not you didn’t help, huh?”
I chuckled. “You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know, Colt. The difference is, I respect Wes, and I know he respects me. Whatever happens with the business, with the family, he’s got my back. So I’m telling you that from now on, I’ve got yours.”
CHAPTER 17
WES
“Beaver Hole is looking beautiful—” Snickers interrupted Tucker’s statement, and he rolled his eyes. “I’m surrounded by immature idiots.”
Beckett looked contrite. “Sorry, Tucker.”
The rest of us nodded like good little boys, but truth be told, we were all shamelessly grinning. I might feel worse, but one of us was over eighty years old, and if LeRoy Smalls wasn’t too old to laugh at beaver jokes, then why should I be? He was one of the happiest guys I knew, so I figured he was a role model in a way. His new boyfriend, Eugene Wright, sat at his side, shaking his head but smiling, much as Beckett was. Shit, were we going to grow up to be LeRoy and Eugene? I didn’t know how I felt about that. I mean, at least we found each other before the age of eighty. That was a plus…
Hunter Rhodes, the marketing manager for the city, cleared his throat. “Yes, Tucker, please continue,” he said, though he was smirking with amusement.
We’d met at The Diner for a late morning meeting about the city’s five-year strategic plan, Stop Granville Shrinkage, which generated plenty of snickers of its own. As the city manager, Tucker was the lead on implementing the plan, while LeRoy and Eugene were both city council members appointed to a board to help make decisions.
Beckett and I were here only as consultants, since Tucker specifically wanted to discuss plans for green spaces today. We weren’t guaranteed to get the work, but the more we participated, the better our chances. It also didn’t hurt that we ran the only local landscaping company.
“We’ve beautified downtown Main Street,” Tucker continued, “but the intersecting streets of Chestnut and Maple have a number of small businesses, and if we were to improve the green spaces there, it would give us more of a full downtown square, rather than a single corridor.”
“I don’t know, Tucker,” LeRoy said with an uncharacteristic frown. “Folks were a little upset that Beaver Hole got so much attention. They feel like Ball-Sack has been neglected.”
Oddly, when LeRoy said it, none of us laughed, despite the many innuendos he was dropping. I did shudder a little at the visuals.
“If we invest in another park, we’re done,” Tucker said bluntly. “We don’t have the funds to spread all over the city. We have to be strategic.”
“What if it wasn’t a park?” Beckett suggested.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, not a full-size neighborhood park as such. What if it was a community garden? Or even a more traditional garden that could celebrate the historic origins of the neighborhood.”
“Hmm. It’s a nice idea,” Tucker said, “but that neighborhood is far from revitalized. Is it worth the investment?”
“I’ve been working with the Historic Homes Preservation group to apply for grants to improve the neighborhood,” Hunter said. “It won’t be an overnight process though. It won’t even be a year-long process, though Laurie’s offer of matching funds will certainly help.”
Tucker blinked. “He did what?”
Hunter chuckled. “Nothing’s official, and I’m not sure we want to take him up on it, but he’s offered to match any grants we manage to win to give us a little more bang for our buck.”
Tucker heaved a sigh, though he couldn’t suppress a smile. “That man…”
“He also offered to purchase some of the uninhabited homes, rehab them, and resell them.”
“Of course he did. He loves this town.”
“He loves you,” LeRoy said. “Don’t take it for granted. Love is precious.” He glanced toward his boyfriend. “Right, cupcake?”
Eugene blushed but nodded. “It is to me.”
“Aw, you’re so cute it’s disgusting,” Beckett teased.
“I do feel a bit queasy,” I added, before making gagging sounds.
Someone threw a balled napkin at me while Beckett elbowed me in the ribs, which was pretty much par for the course. It wasn’t much of a meal if I didn’t annoy someone.
Tucker chuckled. “All right, I think we’ve covered enough for today. Beckett, can you work up some numbers on the Ball-Sack garden.”
There was a phrase you didn’t hear every day. I didn’t miss the fact that Tucker was asking Beckett, rather than me. It had been Beckett’s idea, and he was the creative force behind Potter Landscaping. I’d accepted that a while ago. But it still made me feel like a pointless accessory at these meetings.
“And then we also need an idea of what sort of investment it would take to improve those side streets. I think the downtown square has to be our primary goal,” Tucker said, “even if not everyone likes it. It’s essential to our growth, and we only decided to improve and expand Beaver Hole because of its proximity to Dix.”
“Dicks,” LeRoy said with a giggle.
Tucker shot him an annoyed look but didn’t allow himself to be sidetracked this time.
“The point of the plan is to grow Granville, and as much as our historic neighborhoods are an important part of our past, we need to look to the future.”
“So why am I working up numbers on the garden proposal?” Beckett asked.
Tucker snorted. “Because knowing my fool husband, he’ll want to foot the bill if the city doesn’t. So we’ll look at all our options and see what we can pull off within our budget.”
“Okay, I’ll work up some plans,” Beckett said.
“I need some idea for the downtown plans too,” Tucker said, sounding apologetic.
“Wes can do those,” Beckett said.
I glanced at him in surprise. He was generally the plan guy, and I was the client whisperer. He’d present landscaping designs, and I’d sell people on working with us. We both obviously put a lot of sweat labor into the business, too, but those were sort of the roles we’d fallen into.
“I can?”
Beckett elbowed me in the gut again. “Don’t play dumb so I have to do all the work. You were your dad’s right hand when we did the Main Street project. You’ve got a lot of experience in that.”
That was true. Beckett had been with Potter Landscaping then too, but he’d been in the process of taking courses at the college in Riverton, so he wasn’t working as much. Plus, Dad had a much larger role back then, actively managing the crew. It was later, after Beckett finished those courses and Dad saw how much he’d learned and what a good team we made, that he stepped back and let us take the lead.
“All right, I’ll work on it,” I said, still a little skeptical. I’d worked up a landscaping plan or two in my time—there was software to help, so it wasn’t too difficult—but it wasn’t my comfort zone.
“Great,” Tucker said, pushing his chair back. “Let me know when you have more info for me. We have a town hall coming up to update the community on the strategic plan, and it’s going to be an utter nightmare.”
I laughed. “Tucker, I didn’t know you were such a drama queen.”
“Just wait until half the town is glaring at you for making choices they don’t like,” he grumbled. But then he smiled. “At least Laurie will be there to have my back.”
“And Iola,” Hunter said with a chuckle. “She can shut down any rabble.”
“Let’s just hope she’s on our side,” Tucker said with a grin. “I don’t ever want to face down that five-foot ball of indignant fury.”
As we all stood, I nudged Beckett. “Why’d you volunteer me to do that? You know I’m not good at that stuff.”
“Bullshit,” Beckett said. “You sell yourself short, but you have tons of experience in this field, Wes. I like landscape design, so I don’t mind doing more, but you’re not incapable of anything.”
“I mean, I’m glad you’re confident…”
“I am,” he said firmly. “Besides, we don’t want to keep Tucker waiting, and we’ll be done faster if we split up the work. Right?”
“Yeah, of course,” I said, feeling a little flicker of guilt. Had I been relying on Beckett to shoulder too much? “I’ll step up.”
“I know,” he said. “You always do.”
I watched him cross The Diner, chest warming from the few words of support. Beckett didn’t need to sing my praises. He showed that he believed in me every day.
BECKETT
Wes and I swung by Pete’s Pump and Dump, the oh-so charmingly named gas station, on the way to meet up with the crew. Today, I would be leading a few guys in the landscape project at the mayor’s place, while everyone else kept up with our mowing schedule and park project. It had been crazy busy over the summer, but the further into fall we got, the more things would slow down. Over the winter, we found work blowing leaves, shoveling snow, and installing holiday lighting displays, but it was nowhere near as profitable, so we were working double-time to fit in all the projects we could before that happened.
“I’ll fill it up,” Wes said.
“That’s what you keep saying, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
Wes’s eyes widened in shock before he laughed. “You’re such a brat.”
“Yup.” I opened the passenger door to hop out. “I’m going to grab a water. You want one?”
“Yeah, but grab me an energy drink too.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. As guys who worked outdoors, we’d learned a long time ago that you had to hydrate properly with water or Gatorade, not indulge in crap like soda or energy drinks. Even when the worst heat of summer passed, working under the sun all day took its toll.
“For later,” Wes said with a smile that promised dirty things. “I’m going to need my energy to deliver on that promise.”
I snorted a laugh. “Good luck with Andi moping around.”
“Hey, she and Colt had a good chat. I think things will turn around soon. And if not, well, Dad is leaving.”
I shook my head at him, knowing he’d never kick out Andi—or even suggest she could go somewhere else if she wanted to stay with us—but it was fun to daydream about the day we might have plenty of time and privacy to get our fill of each other.
If that was even possible.
I pulled open the door and stepped into the convenience store. The water—and energy drinks–were in the coolers on the far wall. I opened the glass door, a cool blast of refrigerated air hitting me in the face as I grabbed what I needed.
When I turned to go, I nearly bumped into Anna.
“Hey,” I said in surprise.
She gave me an awkward smile. “Hi, Beck,”
“I’ve actually been trying to call you,” I said.
She winced. “Yeah, sorry. I’ve just been busy…”
I recognized a brush-off when I got one, but luckily I wasn’t interested in pursuing Anna for real.
“I just wanted to touch base about this matchmaking thing Iola is set on.”
“Yeah, I figured that was why.” She gave a nervous laugh. “I didn’t really sign up for that. Iola sort of decided I had, and I wasn’t sure how to tell her no.”
