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“Can we hit the salad bar at the Cape Market? I love to load up on a big salad and a grilled chicken breast.”
“That sounds good,” I agree. “I’ll race you to the Market.”
Rex is off like a shot, elbowing us in his fight to get out of the door the fastest. Cole is right on his tail, giving him zero slack. I have to lock the office up so I trail behind by almost a minute.
The Cape Market shares a patio with the Cape Bistro and Winery. We grab trays and load them up with our salads. I opt for a huge turkey and brie sandwich, a salad, and I snag a pack of Sandy’s Sweets Salted Butter Pecan Shortbread Cookies. Paired with a cold hibiscus iced tea, it’s a balanced meal.
Paying on the way out, I find my brothers already on the patio. They are settled in at the corner table, overlooking the ocean.
I put my tray down on the wrought-iron table and sit in a lightweight aluminum chair. Rex stabs his fork into his huge green salad. He’s also got three grilled chicken breasts on a side plate. Cole sips a plastic cup of hibiscus iced tea with a contented look on his face. He has a salad and a side of cheesy baked mac.
“Oooh, I didn’t see that,” I say, pointing at the macaroni.
“Too bad. You know I don’t share,” Cole says.
“No? Not even for a trade?”
I crinkle the pack of cookies to open them and then set them on the table before my tray. Helping himself to a crumbly shortbread, Cole sits back.
“I’m going to eat this cookie. But it doesn’t excuse your sneaking around with Pearl for two years,” he says. “And I’m still not sharing my food.”
Rex snorts and raises his fork, pointing it at me. “Seriously. Explain yourself. Why did you spring this relationship on the family? You know that you gave Sarah and Dad an absolute melt down.”
I wince. My mom probably did blow a gasket.
“I don’t know what more there is to say.” Ignoring the look of disgust that Rex aim at me, I dump a whole packet of ranch dressing on top of my salad. “Pearl is the hottest, sweetest girl I’ve ever met. I like her. She likes me. She wants a baby, so…” I shrug. “The timing just makes sense.”
Cole chokes on a bite of his salad. “A baby???!” he manages. “You got her pregnant?”
I flush and scowl. “No. I said she wanted to have a baby. Not that we are having a baby. Get your ears checked.”
“Jesus,” Rex wheezes. “Don’t scare me like that. I can’t think of anyone less suited to have a baby than you.”
“Okay, slow down.” Cole looks at Rex, chuckling. “I could think of a few candidates. You, for example.”
Rex punches Cole on the arm. “Asshole.”
“Dick.” Cole hits him back.
Between the two, there isn’t really a safe side to pick. Rex is a superstar athlete; everyone in our family and the entire town worships the ground he walks on. He can’t be wrong, no matter how ridiculous and loud his boasts might be.
Cole, on the other hand, is measured and calm. Always calculating, never cutting loose. That’s why he is Sam’s go-to guy whenever he needs any business dealt with.
I lack their unique skillsets. At times, it makes me feel a bit like a boat in the middle of a storm, with the sea tossing me this way and that.
I guess my first line of defense is humor. “Y’all are so helpful,” I mutter.
“I just never saw you being in a relationship. Or if you did, you’d be one of those horny eighty-year-olds who gets engaged a nubile young lady with huge…” Rex looks around the patio, then changes what he was going to say. “Potential.”
Cole smirks at me. “I don’t know. Now that I think about it, a hot woman steamrolling River into a big wedding, and a baby sounds, about right. He thinks he’s so special. But really he’s every bit as susceptible to a gorgeous woman as the rest of us.”
“Speak for yourself,” Rex grouses. “I’m never getting married. Too much commitment, you know?”
“See, that’s what I thought.” I take a big bite of my sandwich.
“But your mind changed?” Rex asks.
I shrug, chewing and swallowing. “I always thought that if I settled down, it would be with someone cosmopolitan. Someone from Atlanta, a girl who’s on an upward trajectory in her life.” In twenty years from now, when I’m ready to settle down, I add for my own benefit. This is, in fact, still what I believe in the core of my being. My brothers don't need to know that, though.
