“If it makes you feel better,”—I got up to buy another round—“we’ve got all of next week off. No need to go in until the second week of February.”
“Except for me and Rich,” Owen added. “We’re visiting a prospective site for the Green House apartments on Tuesday, weather permitting.”
“You should take Carla, or she’ll get jealous,” Pax said. “She could start thinking you like Rich more than her. You spend more time with him, after all.”
We all laughed, but Owen waved a hand dismissively.
“I’m not sleeping with Rich. Besides, Carla doesn’t like flying when the weather’s bad.”
“How far is the site? Can you drive?”
“I don’t know, Pax—can I drive to Germany?”
“Germany?” Pax sputtered. “Wow, you’re getting your name out there.”
“Our name,” he said.
“That’s enough reason for another round.” I looked from brother to brother. “Same?”
Owen shook his head. “Swap me over to vodka and cranberry juice. Can’t be drinking beer all night.”
“That’s called getting old,” I remarked.
“Eli, you’re only two years younger than me.”
“Yep, and that means I have two more years of drinking beer.” I lifted my near-empty mug. “Cheers.”
Leaving my brothers to head to the bar, I signaled Ruthie, the barmaid, that I was ready to order. She put down her phone and smiled.
“What will it be, Eli?”
I laid a twenty on the table. “That was quite the smile. What were you looking at on your phone?”
She blushed. It was adorable against her strawberry-blond hair and the spray of freckles across her nose.
“I may have a date with a guy from the next town over.” She looked out the window. “If this snow ever lets up.”
“Lord knows you need to get away from the men in Frazier Falls,” I half-joked.
She made a face. “I can’t possibly do much worse than your brother.”
Before Owen had gotten serious with Carla, he’d taken Ruthie on a disastrous first date. Their only date. While the two of them weren’t what you’d call friends, Ruthie was pleasant to all of us again.
She nodded to the group. “What are you guys drinking? John told me your drinks are on the house tonight because Pax helped him out with the deliveries yesterday.”
“My brother is a saint.” I had to hand it to Paxton, his willingness to help everyone sure paid off for all of us. “Make it two beers and a vodka cranberry easy on the vodka.”
“Is that for Owen?”
I glanced at her, surprised. “How’d you know?”
“He usually changes after a few beers,” she replied as she rummaged around behind the bar to make our drinks. “Maybe Carla can convince him that beer before liquor will make him sicker.”
“That almost sounds like you care, Ruthie.”
“Almost.” She trayed the drinks and slid them forward. “Take these to your table, and let me go back to texting this guy in peace.”
“Say no more.” I dropped the twenty into her tip jar. If we weren’t paying for drinks all night, then it was the least I could do. She saw the Jackson sticking out of the jar and smiled.
“Everyone says Owen’s the gentleman, but I’d say it’s you.”
“It’s all a front. I’m a complete fraud.”
“I can believe that.”
I laughed the comment off as I took the drinks back to my brothers, who were looking behind me with curious glances.
“What’s wrong?” I sat down and looked in the direction of their stares. Emily Flanagan had entered Reilly’s with an unsure look on her face.
“Who’s that?” Owen asked.
“I think she’s Judy Flanagan’s niece or daughter or something,” Paxton said.
“Daughter,” I blurted. “Her name’s Emily.”
Owen stared at me. “How could you possibly know that? Have you met her?”
Pax handed out the drinks. “At the grocery store. They were having a cat-fight in Wilkes’ yesterday.”
I looked at him with annoyance. “We were not. She’s a typical spoiled city girl.”
“Her mom’s nice,” Pax broke in.
“Judy’s kindness didn’t rub off on her daughter.” I grabbed my beer and took a long drink and took another look. She might not have been nice, but she sure was pretty.
“I didn’t hear you get her name in the store,” Pax said. “She wouldn’t even look at you.” He shook his head.
“That’s not true; she shot daggers my way.”
Owen laughed. “She hated you before she gave you her name? Aw, Eli, she hurt your feelings? No wonder you don’t like her.”
“It wasn’t like that, and you know it.” I chanced another look at her. I didn’t know why, but I was pulled in her direction. Something about her drew me in. Could it be because she had acted like I didn’t exist?
“So how did you get her name? You stalk her? Go ask her mom?”
“Shut the hell up, Pax.”
“See?” Owen pointed to Pax. “Imagine that annoying voice all week.” He sipped his drink and turned my way. “You still haven’t said how you got her to tell you her name.”
“She nearly fell in the parking lot,” I explained. “I caught her going down. To be honest, it was my fault because I startled her, but I can’t say she didn’t deserve it. She told me her name after that.”
“Your epic love story has finally begun,” Owen joked.
“No way. She and I are like dogs and cats. Her dislike for small-town folk seems to run pretty deep. She doesn’t seem the type to want to socialize with the lowly locals. It’s surprising to see her here among the heathens. I wonder what she’s up to.”
“I’ll find out,” Pax said as he pushed his chair away from the table and stood. We looked at him in disbelief. “What?” He lifted his hands to his sides. “If she turned Eli down, then she clearly has some taste. Won’t hurt to say hello.”
“You’re unbelievable; you know that?” I would have tossed his remaining beer at him, but nothing was worth wasting a free drink over.
Pax waggled his brows. “It’s not every day a gorgeous woman comes through here. Especially one we haven’t known since school … unless you’re Owen, and you don’t pay attention to the girls that were here from the beginning.”
“Mean, but not untrue,” Owen reasoned as he drank his cranberry and vodka. He glanced at Emily. “She’s pretty.”
“That’s an understatement,” Pax said. “She’s Carl-level gorgeous.”
“Is that your baseline standard for all women now?” I asked. “Because that makes it seem like you’re still crushing on Owen’s fiancée.”
“It also means your standards are impossibly high because no one can reach the level of Carla,” Owen added on.
Pax ignored us and walked over to the bar. We watched, seeing if he would fail. I wanted him to. Not necessarily because it was fun to see him flounder, but because I didn’t want her to like him and loathe me.