Chapter 28

28

Beau

Brookie

So, how's married life, little brother? You know, I can give you some tips on how to keep your wife on cloud 9

VirtualHero

Please, God no more stories about you and Eden on hay bales

PreciousPrincess

I'm with Beau. No more stories about the barn, please, some of us still have to go in there from time to time and just eww

GraysTheBoss

He's a newlywed, leave him alone. Stirrups are not just for riding horses

GabrielBassett

Are we clogging up the chat again for non-work related things?

PreciousPrincess

@GraysTheBoss I think I just threw up

VirtualHero

I feel so sorry for Hartley

Brookie

He did knock her up * shrugs*

VirtualHero

@Brookie what's that got to do with anything?

Brookie

I'm just saying the man might know what he's talking about

VirtualHero

We're not looking to have babies just yet. Give it a minute

MomsTheWorld

Do I hear the pitter patter of tiny feet?

PreciousPrincess

*eyeroll emoji* Mom - the world doesn't revolve around babies, give it a rest

SkyesAreBlue

I think it's lovely that Beau and Aut are enjoying some time together. I'm so excited for our next family dinner

Brookie

Yeah, when are you guys getting married for real?

MomsTheWord

Brooklyn's right, we need to have a proper wedding where all of the family celebrate

GabrielBassett

Maybe this time he won't forget he has a family

GraysTheBoss

@GabrielBassett always the party pooper

VirtualHero

@GabrielBassett We had our reasons, but we both want to have all of the family the second time around

GabrielBassett

Glad to hear it. If there's one thing this family knows how to do, it's party

PreciousPrincess

And have family brawls… Remember Mom and Dad's retirement party

VirtualHero

Oh, God don't remind me. Gabriel – the thrower of napkins Vs Gray the ultimate uptown grump

PreciousPrincess

Stop it @VirtualHero I'm going to pee my pants, but seriously, were you two really going to go at it?

GraysTheBoss

We both know I would've won

GabrielBassett

Keep dreaming paperboy, Dad taught me how to swing

MomsTheWord

That's enough, you two. Let's let sleeping dogs lie

PreciousPrincess

And grumpy turds

VirtualHero

I've gotta run, my wife's calling…

Brookie

Off he runs… weeeeeee….

GabrielBassett

Happy wife, Happy life

MomsTheWord

And don't you forget it

??

The fact Autumn saw my paintings last night and shocked the hell out of me by being so cool about it, makes me feel like I'm on cloud nine. I mean, I would have shown her eventually when I finally worked up the courage to and hopefully she wouldn't think I was a complete weirdo. To see her reaction, and the fact that she loved it, is nothing short of amazing. Again, she surprises me at every turn, she always has.

We reluctantly part ways early as I have to go catch up with Fletch, and Autumn is prepping for the first wedding coming up this weekend. Georgia-Blue is running around in a flap when I drop by the distillery on the way to see him at his workshop.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" I ask her as she flies past me in the hallway, almost knocking me sideways.

"I have a million things to do before the weekend, Beau! The first Bassett distillery wedding and all of that."

"I thought you and Mom had it covered, haven't you been over at the barn all week putting the final touches on everything?"

"Yeah." She follows me down to the break room.

"I think you need to slow down and take a beat. One thing about you, little sis, is you always get the job done. So don't stress."

She folds her arms across her chest. "It's someone's big day, Beau! I want it to be perfect!"

"And it will be, isn't that why we hired Eden? She's not running around in a total flap."

"I'm meeting with her later this morning to go over the final arrangements for the place settings and everything else in between."

"I'll come by if you want me to. I don't know if I can be of help but you know I'll try. I'm going to meet Fletcher first but I'm heading straight back."

"Thanks, that would be great."

"See, a problem shared is a problem solved." I shrug.

She eyes me suspiciously. "What are you so chirpy about anyway?"

I give her my best I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about look. "I'm always chirpy."

"Married life going that good?" She gives me a wink.

"Actually, it is pretty good. It's the best thing that ever happened to me."

Her eyes glass over for a moment and I cough into my hand, turning to the espresso machine. "I'm glad for you," she says. I know she gets sad because she hasn't found her epic love yet, and I keep telling her she's going to find it someday real soon. I guess as twins we do have that connection, and the ability to kind of feel each other's emotions at times. "You know that, right? Autumn is so wonderful."

"She's the best," I say.

"Do you think my time will really come?"

My heart does hurt for my little sister. She might slightly meddle here and there and always have an opinion about everything, but she's kind at heart, and she deserves the best. That includes relationships and finding a man who will love her unconditionally. I've always told her to never settle for second best.

"Of course it will. You know the right guy could be just around the corner."

She contemplates this for a second, holding her forefinger to her cheek. "You think so?"

"I absolutely know so. Look how quickly Aut and I got together and made things official. It could be the next guy to walk in the distillery door, you never know."

She smiles. "Thanks, Beau. I'm truly glad you've found someone special."

I'm about to reply when Hudson sticks his head around the corner.

So much for the next guy to walk in the distillery door… Though I know for a fact GB has always had a little thing for Hudson as much as she would deny it until she was actually blue in the face.

"Ooh, any chance of a coffee?" He raises his eyebrows toward my sister.

"She makes a mean brew," I say, giving her a wide-assed smile.

She rolls her eyes at me. "You've got two legs and a heartbeat," she tells Hudson.

He stands with his hand on his hip, taking up most of the doorway. "Why are you always so quick to throw your witty comebacks at me?"

"I'm simply reacting to you," she says.

I shake my head and continue to make my coffee. "I'll make it if it keeps the peace around here."

"Come on Blue Belle , are you going to let Beau steal your thunder?"

She flashes him a look. "Are you here for some specific reason or just thought you'd pop your head in to annoy me?"

"I'm actually looking for Callan. We're meeting to set up all the tables for the wedding. I had a free couple of hours."

"Oh." She seems to soften a little and walks over to the cupboard to get two cups out. I can only smirk to myself because I don't know why they fight it.

"Next person to walk into the distillery," I mutter under my breath as Hudson makes no attempt to move in the doorway.

She jabs me in the ribs. "Very funny."

I hold up my palms, moving away from the coffee machine with my mug. "She's all yours," I say, meaning the coffee machine, but Huds raises his eyebrows at me and I think he means something else entirely.

"How's married life?" he asks, giving me a chin lift as I sip my coffee.

"Couldn't be better," I say. "I'd highly recommend it. You ever thought about settling down, Huds?"

I see my sister's back straighten as she pretends to not listen to our conversation while she busies herself making their coffee.

"It crossed my mind a time or two." Huds surprises me with his answer. "There's just more men than women in this town unfortunately."

I'm waiting for GB to throw something in his face about Dolly Simpson, but she doesn't. I know he went through a hard patch when his mom passed away and he took over the cotton farm with his dad and helped him keep things afloat. He's a pretty closed book even though I've known the guy all my life.

"You sure that's the reason?" GB finally can't help herself and has to respond.

He quirks an eyebrow at her. "What other reason could there be?"

She feigns nonchalance and I want to facepalm myself.

Why do they always fight it?

"You two can argue this one out without me," I say as Huds moves to let me past. I don't wait to hear anything else as I make my exit, sipping my coffee on the way to my office before I head out.

??

I swing by Fletcher's workshop and stop short in the entryway when I see a woman in the tiny space leaning against the counter and she's giggling.

I scrunch my brow wondering if I'm in the right place.

Then I hear Fletcher's voice.

It gets even more weird when I hear her say,"So, we're on for Friday?"

"Friday," I hear my best friend reply. "I look forward to it."

She giggles again. Giggles. Am I hearing my best friend… flirting?

It's then she turns her head to leave and I realize it's Penny from the library. And here I am, hovering in the background like a lurker.

"Hey, Beau." She smiles. Her red curls bounce when she moves her head. She's cute and pint-sized, with vivid green eyes and freckles on her nose. She pushes her clear, wide-rimmed glasses up.

"Hey," I reply as I walk in, pretending casually I didn't hear anything.

Fletch looks up from his workshop table and pushes his glasses on top of his head.

Yep,he definitely has a bit of fresh color to his cheeks.

She sidles past me and gives him a little wave on her way.

I watch her leave and turn to Fletch. "You hot dawg." I chuckle.

He pulls his glasses back on and looks down at the computer hard drive he has in pieces all over his workshop table and then back at me. "Okay, so Penny was my hot blind date."

My eyes widen. "Nice."

He runs a hand over his floppy hair, clearly in a conundrum about something as he sighs and curls his bottom lip under.

"Spill, Fletch."

"She's cute," he sighs. "And it went really well, better than any date I've had."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"No. But it freaks me out a little."

"Didn't sound like it to me." I pull out a chair and flop down. "I thought you were the one with all the chick advice, anyway?"

"Easier when it's directed at my friends, not me," he says, finally giving up with the hard drive for now and leaning on the counter instead.

I laugh heartily, not because I'm laughing at him, but seeing his obvious panic because I'm guessing he really likes Penny, and from the looks of it she likes him, is kinda funny. "You'll be fine, champ, if Friday is anything to go by. What are you doing by the way?"

"Dinner and the movies."

I grin and fold my arms across my chest. "Way to freaking go, Fletch. I never thought I'd see the day."

"Well, I don't want to get stars in my eyes too soon, but she seems pretty great if our first date was anything to go by." He nods towards the clock. "I'll take a break if you wanna grab a bite to eat?"

"Sounds good."

He grabs his jacket and his wallet and we make our way out to the burger joint down the street.

"How's Autumn?" he asks.

"Better than ever." I know for a fact that stupid shit-eating grin is almost permanently etched to my face now. "She accidentally saw my sketches of her and Bruiser in manga form last night."

"Wow, how did that go?"

"Surprisingly well, she loved them." I don't mention what I got in return last night while I was sleeping.

"They are pretty awesome," he says.

"Speaking of awesome, I think we're just about ready to launch the app. I've been tweaking it here and there."

"I think we could send out a group email to all our gaming friends. I've already set up the social media accounts for BeauFletch Gaming. Might be a good way to introduce it."

I actually detest social media, but I do realize that it's an essential part of business these days and it has to be done. "Sounds good." We both have gamer friends online and connections all over the world, so getting a mailing list rolling seems like a good idea to me. We arrive at the burger joint in no time and place our orders. "I've started warming up a few new TikTok accounts," I say, knowing it's a numbers game and that the algorithms can change in an instant. We plan to have a few going at once, knowing we both have to be equally committed to posting on there and getting our gaming app out there in the world. That part alone will feel like an achievement in itself.

We're lucky in the fact we can save money by designing our own logo and setting everything up ourselves. Knowing the ins and outs of how websites work and all the other technical shit is a real bonus.

"Perfect," Fletch says as we perch on the counter stools waiting for our order. "I think we're going to be busier than ever. The shop is never ending, I know you're busy too. But this is something we'd be doing for ourselves as well as for fun."

"Total fun," I agree. We both love our day jobs, but gaming is something else entirely and provides a whole other outlet. Other than sketching, it's really the only hobby I have.

He side-eyes me. "You really are a lot happier lately, do you know that?"

I grin. "I guess there's no prizes for guessing why."

"It sounds like Autumn has you hook, line, and sinker."

"Something like that," I say. It's hard to believe I was very single just a couple of weeks ago. Now I have a wife and I'm in love with her and she with me? The mind boggles. So much can happen in such a short space of time. "But I wouldn't change a thing, Fletch."

"So this whole fake thing has really worked out for you?"

I think he's known all along how I felt about Autumn, maybe even before I did.

"More than."

He shakes his head. "Weird how things work out, huh?"

"So weird."

"And you love her?" he asks.

Just thinking about that part makes me smile and spreads warmth all over my body.

Oh God, do I love this woman.

If I weren't already married to her, I'd want to be her husband, right here, right now.

"Yeah, I think a part of me always has." I sigh. "I just didn't think someone like Autumn would be interested in a guy like me."

He pats me on the back good-naturedly. "Well I've known you a while now so I can vouch for the fact you're a great guy. You two really go together."

I laugh. "Thanks, bud. Right back at ya."

"And I still think it's hot she's older than you by quite a bit." I sense he still can't believe I snagged her because he shakes his head. That only makes my grin wider.

"I'd almost forgotten that part. Almost."

"So, what's your advice for me and Penny?" he asks once we collect our food and walk back to our seats.

"You need advice on your second date?"

"I really like this girl," he says.

"Wait, weren't you the one giving me all the advice under the sun with my Autumn dilemma?"

"Your situation was pretty out there, I admit," he says. "But it's sometimes easier on the outside looking in on someone else's relationship."

I laugh because there's probably no truer words spoken. He grins and I've never seen him even kinda gushy over a girl. Fuck, he does really like her.

"You know what my real advice is for you, Fletch?"

He raises his eyebrows interestedly, hanging onto every word. My, how the tables have turned. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Just jump, man. That's all I can tell you. If you like her, go for it."

He unwraps his burger but before he takes a bite he stops midway, his eyes lifting for a moment like he's deep in thought. "I guess you're right. There's only one way to find out," he says finally.

"Put it here." We clink our sodas like we know what we're talking about, when in reality the only thing we know a lot about is gaming and geeky shit no one else cares about. I'm just glad that Autumn see's past all of that and takes me for who I really am underneath. I want that for Fletcher, too. "Just remember, Fletch, you gotta make time for your girl if this thing works out. That means juggling the gaming time."

His brow furrows for a moment, like he's really contemplating such a travesty. "I see what you're saying," he says. "And girls like pretty things, right?"

"Lots of pretty things," I assure him. "In fact, I'm gonna swing by the florist on my way home and grab some flowers for my wife."

"Maybe I should send some to Penny. I don't know where she lives though, and sending them to work might be a bit soon?"

"Take a modest bunch of roses or something to your date on Friday. Trust me, girls love flowers," I tell him matter-of-factly like I've got the world figured out.

And maybe in some weird way I do.Well, my world at least.

So there we both sit, two geeks working out the world, one gaming app and beauty at a time.

And as I eat, my heart thrums once more because I know that in just a short while, I'm going to be able to get back to my wife.