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Dad barks out a laugh, my siblings all shake their heads, and Mom smacks me on the back of the head.
“I raised you better than that,” she says with a scowl.
“You’re introuble,” Chase snickers, and I glare at him, but he doesn’t lose the shit-eating grin on his face, obviously enjoying the hell out of this.
“Howromanticof you,” Millie says, shaking her head in disgust. “I’m sure that was a thrilling conversation for Abbi.Hey, I don’t want to marry you or anything, but let’s shack up. I’ll even build you a house on my property, but don’t get any ideas about the legalities.”
“Fuck you. That’s not what I said.”
“Watch your mouth,” Mom says and cuffs me on the back of the head again, making my brothers laugh even harder.
I hate all of them.
“Itwasa nice moment,” I stress, suddenly feeling like an asshole as I replay what I said to her in my head. Jesus, I was fucking nervous, and I was saying all the wrong things. And yet, she still said she wanted to live here.
I must not have fucked it up too badly.
“Don’t be that guy,” Rem says as he tries to catch his breath. “The one that shacks up with his woman fordecadesand doesn’t marry her.”
“I have no plans on doing any such thing. Iamgoing to marry her. Hell, I want to adopt Daisy and have more kids, and everything else that comes with it, but I wanted to start here, on the house. Get that going because the summers are short, and I don’t want it to take years to finish.”
I sigh and shove my hands into my pockets. Maybe Ididfuck up.
“It’s a beautiful spot for a house,” Ryan says with a nod, the laughter calming down. “The views are amazing right here.”
“She cried.” I give my sister the stink eye. “In agoodway, smartass.”
“I didn’t say anything.” Millie holds her hands up, her eyes wide as if she’s innocent, but I know better. “I’mrootingfor you, moron.”
“Okay, well, since no one objects, I’ll get the ball rolling on things. Thanks, guys.”
We shuffle about for a few more minutes, talking about where I’d like to put the garage, a chicken coop, and a small barn for Daisy’s mini cow, which makes my dad laugh in surprise.
“All the cattle on this ranch, and that little spitfire wants aminicow.”
“AHighlandmini cow,” I add as I check the time. “I have to admit, they’re cute. Speaking of Daisy, I have to pick her up from the babysitter.”
“What’s Abbi up to today?” Millie asks as we all walk to our vehicles. “I haven’t talked to her since our IWC lunch the other day. When some of the girls were idiots.”
That has us all pausing.
“She’s working late. She had some people quit, and she’s just busy with the business. So, I’m taking Daisy out on a date. Why were the girls idiots? Abbi didn’t say anything.”
Rem, Chase, and Ryan all shuffle their feet and look down, and I know that something’s up.
“What happened?” Dad asks, also scowling.
“I have a big-ass mouth,” Millie mutters and presses the heels of her hands to her eyes. “They didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings.”
Now I’m getting pissed off, and I narrow my eyes at my sister. “What. Happened?”
“Girls are dumb,” she whispers. “They were saying that the Wild brothers are all hot.” She makes a gagging noise. “And someone—I think it was Robin Healer, that girl who owns the travel agency downtown—said that they were hoping that it would be alocalgirl who snagged Brady, and then people laughed and made stupid comments, and we could tell that it made Abbi feel bad. So, after everyone left, we gave her the pep talk of all pep talks and made sure that she knew that you adore her, and we all love the shit out of her, and she needs to let it all roll off her back.”
“Take a breath,” Chase advises. “And yeah, people can just be thoughtless.”
“She seemed fine when I got home,” I reply, but I hate that anyone made my girl feel inferior for evenonesecond. I’ll make sure she knows that there’s no one else in the world for me, no matter what anyone else says.
“Thanks for letting me know. I really do have to go get Daisy.”
