He sighs.
“As I told Grace, if Blaire forgives him, I’ll do it.”
Mills laughs. “She’s never going to forgive him. Not in a million years.”
“So, we agree. If she does, we go.” I extend my hand, and he shakes it.
His phone chimes. When he looks at it, he grumbles. “The car service is here.” He points at the fridge. “The emergency numbers are there. I should be back soon. Wish me luck.”
“Good luck.”
“How’s babysitting going?”
I smile at the screen. There’s nothing better in the world than staring at Grace’s beautiful face. “It’s been a long-ass day. Arden is on his second nap of the day.”
“It sounds like you should take a nap too,” Grace jokes.
“I might stay for the night,” I state. “It all depends on how Mills is doing after the meeting. We were talking about going to Baker’s Creek.”
She sighs. “That inner battle is killing you, Beac. Just do what’s right for everyone.”
As I’m about to answer, the doorbell rings. I look through the peephole and grumble. It’s Henry and Hayes. “Let me call you in five, okay?”
“Great. We have not just one but two assholes visiting this humble home.” I move aside so they can enter.
“I see that you and Mills are close.”
“Very close,” I answer, and the bitterness in my words pushes me to continue. “So close that when you learn that your brother knocked up a puck bunny, you fly to check on him and visit him often to help him with his son. And when you learn that your brother’s grandparents died, you go to their funeral.”
Hayes sighs. “I had no idea that your grandparents died.”
“I’m sorry, Beacon,” Henry says. “You were not the only who lost a grandparent or had a shitty life. We all did. It is our role as older brothers to keep an eye on you, but don’t think that you’re the only one who needed that brother to stick with you. At least you had Mills.”
“You’re no different than William.” I pause and glace at them. “Both of you.”
“A few weeks back, I would have agreed, but after these few weeks, I discovered that I am nothing like William. By trying to avoid messy feelings and becoming him, I failed myself. We missed a lot of years. Fuck, I lost twelve years with my girlfriend,” Hayes says.
I feel those words deep within my soul. I haven’t lost eleven years of Grace, but how I wish we were together. I have a good reason; he’s just a fucking asshole.
“That was pretty fucked up,” I state. “I hope she doesn’t forgive you. She deserves better than you.”
“I agree. She deserves the best, but she forgave me.”
My gut clenches because this is what I told Grace and Mills, didn’t I? If Blaire stays, if she believes in him, then I’ll stay in Baker’s Creek. He has to be bluffing. “You two are back together?”
He gives me a sharp nod, then asks, “Where is Mills?”
“He should be back soon. He had a meeting with his people.”
Hayes glances around the house. “Why are you here?”
“He needed a babysitter, and I volunteered. Again, that’s what you do for your family.”
He bobs his head. This is so fucking awkward. Things don’t get any better when he says, “As a family, can you move to Baker’s Creek with us?”
“Are you sure Skittles forgave you?” I use Blaire’s old nickname.
“You can call her to confirm.”
I don’t want to believe him. Without losing any time, I call her right away. “Did you forgive his fucking ass?”
“Finally, Beacon! I need to find Mills, Hayes, or someone.” Her panicked tone is making me nervous. Where is the fire? “The lawyer came today, and we need to be here tomorrow by midnight.”
“What do you mean we need to be there by tomorrow?” I frown, check the calendar, and then say, “No, he said next Friday. I was there.”
“It’s a long story. I need you in Baker’s Creek now, kid. We’re all trying to do this for the town. I know Hayes screwed up, and you don’t want to forgive your brothers, but be the bigger man. I did forgive Hayes, and we’ve been patching things along the way. We all can give him a second chance. Now, let me keep looking for them. I need everyone in town tomorrow.”
I give Hayes my phone. “She needs to talk to whoever is in charge. I assume that’s you.”
The conversation between them doesn’t last long. He assures her we’ll be there on time and not to worry about anything. He reminds me of the sap he used to be back when they were in college and he was dating her. I was young, but I wanted Grace and I to have what they had.
At least it’s working for one of us.
“I love you,” he says before they hang up.
“She really forgave you.” I sigh. “So, we have to be there tomorrow then?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?” Henry asks.
Hayes explains to us that the lawyer’s timeline was off. They had to count from the moment all of us received the news, not from the day the lawyer read the will. Tomorrow marks thirty days from the day they reached out to Blaire. Jerome Parrish, our father’s lawyer and the executor of the estate, let it slide and added a note that he couldn’t find Blaire until four weeks ago.
According to the lawyer, our legal team at Bryant, LLP was informed of the issue. Pierce’s family owns the law firm. He’s in charge of contesting the will or finding a way to change the fucking stipulations. We don’t want the money, but if he can’t find any loopholes, we have to stay for the town.
When he finishes recounting the story, he calls Pierce who answers annoyed as fuck. “I’m on my way.”
“Did your family try to fuck us over?” Hayes questions. There’s a lingering rage in his voice, but he’s calm on the outside.
Pierce sighs. “Mom insists it was a mistake because they’re all busy.”
“And you believe her?”
“She doesn’t win anything if I stay or go. Why should I believe Mr. Parrish?”
I tune out the conversation. Instead, I text Grace and the guys. They can pack some of my clothes and ship them over.
After the conversation with Pierce is over, I ask, “What’s the plan? I could fly back to Oregon with you. I’m not sure about Mills though. Is Vance in?”
Hayes shakes his head.
Vance is not coming. Well, we’re fucked. I haven’t even looked into plan B on how to save the people and the employees if we fail. That’s my task for next week. I bet these assholes don’t even have a backup plan.
Should I tell them that we need to spend the night researching our options because if Vance isn’t coming, we’re fucked, and what’s even the point of moving to Baker’s Creek?
Mills enters the house in that moment. That gives me at least a few moments to text Seth and ask him to move our Monday meeting to tonight. We have a lot of shit to do before tomorrow—when Vance doesn’t show up.
“Why are you all here?” Mills looks around the house.
“We need to be there tomorrow,” Hayes answers without even saying where the fuck there is.