Page 25 of Back To Our Beginning

Damn.

My treat better include his lips on mine.

Chapter Six

My phone started to ring. It didn’t make sense, because my alarm hadn’t gone off, and I’d set my alarm for six-thirty. I rolled over and stretched for my nightstand where it was charging. I squinted and saw that it was Trenda calling.

What in the hell would she be calling for so early in the morning? Oh yeah. Something bad.

“Trenda, what’s wrong?” I answered.

“Is he there?”

“Is who where?”

“Drake? Is he at your place yet?”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t seen our big brother since last year. Why would he be at my house at the butt-crack of dawn?”

“Karen called me, and it’s really early in California. Drake found out that Beau’s back in town. He flew out late last night into Nashville, and he’s driving here to talk to you…and probably Beau.”

“Oh, for the love of God.” I threw my arm over my eyes. There went my morning treat. “Is Drake out of his ever-loving mind?”

“Have you met him?”

I heard mumbling from the other end of the line and realized that Trenda’s husband must be talking to her.

“Seriously, Trenda, why would Drake drop everything and come to Jasper Creek? This makes no sense.”

“We all saw how you were when Beau left and didn’t contact you.”

“Not Drake. He was in California and on deployment all the damn time. He had no idea what I was like.”

Trenda didn’t respond.

“Unless... Unless my big sister spilled the beans. Is that what happened, Trenda? Did you tell our over-protective oaf of a brother that I was upset that my best friend blew me off?”

“Oh for goodness sakes, you were more than a little upset. You were devastated. You had no idea why he would have cut off all communication. Beau had been your lifeline for years. All through your childhood, and then poof, he was gone. You were a mess. It was like you’d lost a limb. So yeah, we might have mentioned it.”

I shoved more pillows behind my back and sat up. “What do you mean, we? Are you saying it was more than just you?”

“I plead the fifth.” I heard more mumbling. “Look, I’ve got to go. I need to clean the house. With Drake arriving, we’re going to be having people over, and I want to get ready.”

“We are not inviting people over because of your brother,” I clearly heard Simon say over the line. “Today was a snow day for both of us. You agreed.”

I giggled at the disgruntled tone in my brother-in-law’s voice. Couple that with the term snow-day when it was the month of May and I was totally tickled.

“We are too having people over. I need to clean and cook.” Trenda’s voice was firm.

“I’ll let you two figure things out. Thanks for giving me a heads-up, Trenda, but that doesn’t get you off the hook for ratting me out. Did Karen give you any kind of ETA as to when Drake would be here?”

“She called fifteen minutes ago, and he was in Knoxville. Knowing how he drives, he’ll be at your place in less than an hour.”

“Got it. Again, thanks for the heads-up.”

Simon’s voice was rumbly when I hung up the phone. I figured that the first thing I needed to do was warn Beau not to come over. I scrolled down to his name and called him.

“Isn’t this kind of early for you?” he asked.