Instead of asking her, I pick a bikini that I think she'd like and also a rash guard. Women's swimwear is basically my job, but hopefully, I did her justice.
I grab a couple of pairs of shoes for us both, and once the cart is full, I check out.
After loading my entire back seat with the grocery bags, I send Tatum a message to let her know I'm on my way. About fifteen minutes into the drive, I muster the courage to call my brother.
“You're in so much trouble,” Tristan says as soon as he picks up, and I hear Piper snicker. I'm sure he's talking about the skimpy bikinis I sent her a few days ago. She's been modeling for my shop's social media pages for a while now, and although Tristan says nothing too sexy, I purposely sent her my newest line that has very little fabric. I did it mostly to get a rise out of him, but it doesn't even matter now.
“Hey,” I say, my voice strained as the reality of what's happened hits me. I've been trying to stay strong for Tatum so she wouldn't run, but now it’s sinking in hard.
“Everything okay?”
“There’s been a fire at the shop, and I don’t know what I’m going to do. Everything’s gone.”
“What can we do?” Tristan asks at the same time Piper asks, “What do you need?”
“It’s a really long story, but Tatum needs to use the beach house. She’s one of my employees who was living in the apartment above the shop. Since we had to evacuate and she needed a place to hide from her abusive ex-husband, I gave her the address and code.” My voice shakes just thinking about Justin’s possible motives. What if he was trying to kill her in that fire?
“Hey, man, it’s gonna be okay,” Tristan tries to reassure me, but I'm worried as hell about losing the shop I invested everything I had into it.
“Well since I also need a place to stay until I figure something out, I’ll be staying at the beach house too,” I explain.
“So you’re both staying there together?” Piper asks, and I hear the hint of amusement in her tone. I know exactly what she's implying. A couple of years ago, Tristan was her professional bodyguard, and when a stalker tried to kill her, he hid her at the beach house until her stalker could be caught. After a few weeks, she broke down Tristan’s walls, and they've been together ever since. Regardless of their sixteen-year age gap and how completely opposite of one another they are, I've never seen my brother happier. Piper helped him in more ways than one.
“Yeah, I don’t feel right leaving Tatum by herself. I have a feeling her ex had something to do with this.”
“Why do you think that?” Tristan asks with a dark edge in his tone. He's always been a protective big brother, and I know he'd fix this in a snap if he could.
“He came here asking for her, but Tatum told me who he was, so I knew not to say anything. However, I think he figured out I was lying. It’s very suspicious how the fire started, and I feel like he was sending a clear message.”
“They’ll investigate it,” Tristan reassures me. “It’ll be easy for them to figure out if it was arson or not.”
“Yeah, but hopefully, they don’t think I’m the one who did it.” I blow out a frustrated breath. Anytime a business goes up in flames and is deemed arson, the owner is always the first suspect. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Tristan asks.
“That I need to use the house. I know Piper’s been working on the remodel for the past six months, and you guys are supposed to come here in a couple of weeks for your anniversary.”
“Easton,” Piper stops me before I can continue. “If you need the beach house, then please use it. We have a million other places we can go. Seriously. I’d rather you be safe and have a roof over your heads and focus on your business. Let me know if there’s any way we can help because you know I’ll send a whole team of contractors to fix it up in a jiffy.”
“Yeah, man. Don’t worry about it. If you need an extra set of hands, just call me,” Tristan adds.
“I appreciate that, guys. I just feel bad about ruining your plans.” I frown.
“We’re more concerned about you than a vacation,” Piper states.
“Thank you. Summer is the busiest season, and this is going to hurt us big time.” I sigh at how much I'm going to lose not being open right now.
“It’s gonna be okay,” Tristan offers. “Let the fire chief do his job and then file an insurance claim if you can.”
“Yeah, that’s the plan.”
“Keep us updated, okay?” Tristan says, and I promise him I will.
“Stay safe,” Piper tells me, then we say goodbye.
For the past six months, they've been fixing up the beach house with hopes of coming back for their one-year wedding anniversary, and I feel like absolute shit that they probably won't be able to now. I know they said it's no big deal, but it is to me. Piper's put in tons of time and money to make it special for my family, and they should've been the first ones to use it.
Thirty minutes later, I pull into the driveway and start unloading bags. On my fourth trip in, Tatum's eyes widen in surprise.
“Did you buy the entire store?”
“Pretty damn close. Who knows how long we'll be here, so might as well be prepared, right?”
“Just like a Boy Scout.” She grins, moving George's cage to one side of the breakfast bar where she watches him run around.
I hand her the bags with her items. “If there's anything you don't like, I can take it back. My feelings won’t be hurt,” I tell her.
“I'm sure whatever you got will be fine. Not really in the position to be picky.” She shrugs.
“Keep that same attitude when you try my cooking. When I said I preferred takeout, I wasn't lying.” I smirk, unloading deli meats, cheese, and bread.
“Thank you, Easton. Seriously. I don't know how I'll ever repay you for all of this, but just know that I'm very grateful. I’m really sorry this happened.”
The look on her face is of pure guilt, and I hate that she's harboring blame for something she didn't do. Though at this point, there's nothing I can say to convince her otherwise.
“It's no problem, and this is not your fault. Yes, the situation sucks, but everything is replaceable. Plus, this place kicks our apartments' asses.” I smirk, hoping to get a smile out of her. “Should we take the proper tour? My brother told me Piper added a game room. I've been dying to see it in person.”
“I saw a hot tub on the patio too,” she says as I shove more food in the pantry and new stainless steel fridge.
“God, I love my sister's expensive taste.” I laugh. “She's a huge YouTube star with an even bigger taste for pricy shit.”
“Really? I don't go online or watch YouTube, but that sounds pretty cool. So she makes videos?”
“Yeah, lots of vlogging and beauty-type tutorials. I really only watch them when I have time. However, I wouldn't be surprised that you've never heard of her since you aren't on social media. I should've suspected something when I couldn't find you anywhere on the internet.”
“You searched for me?”