Chapter 1

Gabriel

Present day

“You know Trinity is running around telling everyone she’s getting a puppy,” my little sister — and the youngest of the Bassett siblings — Georgia-Blue tells me, like it’s something I don’t know. She’s leaning in the doorway of my office in the distillery where our whole family works. Our parents just retired, though our dad, Robert — or Bob, as he’s often referred to — is still largely involved in the major discussions. So I’m now running the show, even though I’m only the second eldest son, along with my four siblings, Grayson, who is the eldest, then Brooklyn, and the twins: Beau and Georgia-Blue.

The puppy thing all happened when Trinity met her friend Emma’s new little fur ball, Gizmo. She hasn’t stopped talking about it since.

I guess a kid needs a dog. This is what I keep telling myself, and I’ve almost psyched myself up for it. “Yeah, and your encouragement isn’t helping matters,” I mutter.

“I already said I’d take the dog to puppy school with Trinity.” Georgia rolls her eyes. Knowing her, that promise would last five minutes and she’d be making excuses of why she couldn’t make it.

“Has she sent you in here?” I look up at my sister, amusement in my tone. It’s not exactly hard to tell she’s a Bassett. We all have dark hair and blue eyes. Even my baby girl has inherited the exact same features.

Georgia laughs. “Not scared of your own five-year-old, are you, Gabe?”

I give her a withering look. Nope. I just don’t like disappointing my little girl. I’ve tried not to spoil her over the years, after we were left in the lurch and Tiffany never came back.

I reached out to her multiple times, but she just didn’t want to know. It broke me in ways I’ve never fully recovered from. Here I was thinking my wife needed a break to get her shit together and figure stuff out. I never once dreamed I’d be a single dad, and she’d be filing for divorce and disowning us. She didn’t even want visiting rights.

It’s been tough going, and some days I wonder how I got through it. I was never prepared for what happened. It still shocks me to this day.

“You know she’s my princess,” I sigh. “So she will win, eventually.”

Georgia laughs. “It seems you and Gray are getting along better after the fire.”

There was a fire recently at Gray’s cabin and I helped him and his new girlfriend — and divorce lawyer — Hartley escape before the whole place lit up.

“I guess a family emergency will do that to you,” I say pointedly. “And he confessed he doesn’t want to take over the family business since Pop has retired. His focus is on that land of his, down at Coyote Run. Though that’s no big surprise.” Mom and Dad both gifted us all a portion of the family property attached to the distillery. Over two hundred acres have been in our family for generations. And for as long as I can remember, Gray has wanted to build his dream house there when he started a family. He just had to divorce that cheating whore he married in order to find a woman who truly deserved him. They were married for ten years. That shit hurts.

We may fight like cats and dogs, but I deeply respect my brother for sticking to his family values. He knows what’s important in life, and I relate to that more than he thinks.

“He told you that?” Georgia gasps, bug-eyed.

“Sure did.” I nod. “You know what that means, George?”

“That you and Gray finally called a truce?”

It’s true we’ve been on and off at each other’s throats for years. But we always make up in the end. After the fire, everything changed. It was a wakeup call for both of us.

“It means he”s been deliberately tormenting me this whole time, making me believe he wanted to be CEO for no other reason than he can.”

She has the audacity to laugh. “I guess that’s what big brothers are for. I should know, I have four of them…”

“I bet everyone knew but me,” I mutter.

Georgia shakes her head. “I didn’t know. I assumed Gray would take over when Dad retired just because he’s the eldest. I know you have been holding the fort for years. Mom and Dad know that, too.”

I grunt. Gray lived in Nashville up until his divorce, coming back and forth when he could to help out.

“Don”t give me that look. I know you love him deep down.”

That I do. But it’s been difficult over the years. I guess when I took his place when he left for Nashville, I thought the title of CEO would go to me once Dad handed over the reins. At a family gathering a few months back, Dad made out Gray and I would both be taking on the role. I hit the roof, immediately on the defensive, and acted like a total dick at the dinner party in front of our entire family, including our cousins Callan and Trudy, not to mention Uncle Jack and Aunt Patti. Mom and Dad thought it would be nice to share their retirement with the family, and welcome Celeste — Callan’s high school sweetheart — back to Stoney Creek. What a fucking disaster that was.

I guess I see red sometimes, and there’s no stopping me. I’m known as the bull in the family.

I’ve been juggling more balls than I care to think about since Tiffany left me. I compartmentalized my life in stages when my life turned to shit, and I guess I was afraid of what would happen if I dropped one of those balls.

My family has always been supportive of me, but I’ve carried the burden of what happened between me and Tiffany on my own. I hid a lot of it. My unhappiness at my marriage ending, and the shock of being left with a small baby to care for on my own will forever haunt me. It’s just not what you expect to happen when you bring a new life into the world, even without planning.

I love Trinity more than I love anything, and we’ve made it work, just the two of us.

I couldn’t have made it without my family, though. My parents have been a godsend.

I even see Tiffany’s parents on the regular since they live about an hour out of Stoney Creek. I didn’t think it was fair that they should miss out on seeing their grandchild because their daughter went rogue and moved to Nashville, leaving us all behind. They’ve been very good about everything and we get along. Thank Christ.

They love picking her up from kindergarten whenever they can and spending time with her.

“Me and Gray have had sibling rivalry since we were old enough to walk, sis. It wouldn’t be normal if we didn’t fight sometimes,” I say.

One thing is certain; I was never so happy to see my brother that night of the fire when me and Brooklyn helped pull them out. When I saw the smoke from my house I rushed over, trying frantically to call Gray. We buried the hatchet then and there. That’s when he decided to tell me he was never vying for CEO and couldn’t care less about it. All my brother wants in his immediate future is his family. Even I got a lump in my throat over that one.

“It’s kinda strange what we consider normal in this family.” Georgia sighs.

“True.” I glance up at her from my computer screen. “Was there a specific thing you wanted me for, or are you just killing time because you’re bored?”

She scoffs. “As if I have time to be bored. I had an idea.”

The corner of my mouth pulls up as I smile. Georgia runs the marketing side of the business. She helps out in the tasting room, training new staff, and in our retail store, where Celeste recently came to manage and design our new branding and staff uniforms.

“God help us.”

“You need a new nanny. ASAP.”

As If I needed reminding. “Yeah, and?”

She huffs. “I already told you about Skye, and yet here you sit.”

“Who?” I frown, thinking back.

“You know, Aunt May’s friend; Dot’s Granddaughter and Travis’ sister. She just arrived in town. I told you about her. She’s looking for work and she’s great with kids.”

I sigh and run my hand over my face. I suppose now I think about it, she did mention something, but I’ve been in denial about Geraldine retiring. “I’ve had a lot on my plate. I can’t remember everything,” I mumble. To say I’ve been fussy about the applications for the new nanny role is a complete understatement. But can anyone blame me? Geraldine has been my lifeline for so long, and Trinity loves her, so the fact she won’t be around in the way she has been over the years is a hard pill to swallow.

Trinity is my reason for living. She has been for the past five years. Everything I do is for her. I may have been a little wild for a few years after the realization that my wife wasn’t coming back and refused to take my calls. She ended up in Seattle or so I heard, and, according to her parents, has just finished furthering her studies just like she wanted to, extending her career into Cardiothoracic Surgery.

My sister likes to call me a ‘reformed bad boy’. Trust me, I wasn”t like that when married. But I got a little loose on the weekends when Trin was with my parents. Every second weekend I got to be me again, and I took liberties. Drinking too much. Getting into fights. Fucking anything that moved. That was then, though. This is now.

I’m in a much better place now. And I have my family to thank for all of it.

My daughter has gotten me through the darkest days of my life. None of it was easy, but it’s made me a better man. A much stronger one — some would say it made me harder, and more difficult — but deep down, I needed to protect myself. I never want to be blindsided or hurt like that again. If I never let anyone in, then that can’t happen. And I don’t intend to.

“Why don’t I set up an interview for you?”

I think about it for a moment. “What do you know about her?”

“She has qualifications in early childhood studies.”

I raise an eyebrow. “That’s a stroke of luck.”

She rolls her eyes. “As far as I know, she’s back for a few months, so it won’t be a long-term thing, but it might get you through until you can find a replacement. It isn’t like Stoney Creek is crawling with available nannies.”

It is helpful that Trin started kindergarten this year, but I still need after-school care and days in between. Somebody part-time would work out well.

“I’ll check her out. Send me her details.”

“I got her number from May. I’ll text it to you.” She scrolls through her phone. A few moments later, Skye’s number comes up. “You know, you could just ask Travis?”

It’s true since he was my childhood best friend, but they moved away before high school and I never knew his little sister. I’ve kept in touch with him over the years, and he’s moving back to Stoney to take on the sheriff”s role after Geraldine’s husband, Hank, announced his retirement the same time she did.

“True, but I haven’t caught up with Trav in a while. I don’t wanna bombard him with questions about his little sister straight away.”

“Stop procrastinating, Gabe. I know this is a surprise about Geraldine, but she has that vacation in Florida coming up. You can’t hold on to her forever.”

“I’m well aware of that, thank you.” Sometimes sisters can be so annoying.

She holds up her hands. “Hey, I’m just trying to help. Once everyone in town hears she’s got qualifications in children’s education, they’re all going to want to hire her.”

She’s not wrong on that front.

“I’ll text her today.”

“Good. Oh, and don’t forget about the annual fundraiser this weekend. We’re having a bake’ n’ shake at the town square. Donating bourbon to a charity event isn’t exactly kosher, so we’re donating merch instead and baking cupcakes.”

Oh, joyous. “And you’re telling me this because?”

“As CEO, you’re expected to be there. Celeste, Trudy, and I will all be baking. And it’ll be a good way to mingle.”

I raise a brow. “Why do I want to mingle?”

She rolls her eyes. “You’re single, Gabe. Do I need to remind you the man to woman ratio in this town is three to one, and you’re not getting any younger.”

“Thanks for the pep talk. I think we’re done here.” I’m thirty-five, not a million years old.

“Don’t be grumpy. I’m just saying. You went from wild child to serious grump and have been that way for the last few years. You need to get out more, and before you look at me like that, the park and pre-kindergarten meetings aren’t mingling.”

“I think I hear the sound of violins playing.”

“Joke all you like, but you’re expected to be there. We’ll all get to wear the new uniforms and showcase the branding.” She’s excited, and that’s what matters. Though it is also raising money for the kids camp at our local high school, so I should probably put in an appearance.

“Whatever you say, since you’re unofficially running the place.”

“Puh-lease,” she laughs. “We all know I’d make a great CEO.”

“Yeah, we’d be broke in the first five minutes. You’d be buying everyone lunch every day, and pastries from the bakery and letting everyone clock off early, or bring your dog to work day. You”re too nice, George, not that it”s a bad thing.”

We wrap her in cotton wool, being the only girl. Having a daughter of my own now, I see why Mom and Dad were so protective, even in a small town where everyone knows everyone. We’re lucky to have such a great community, but you’ve still gotta be smart.

She smirks. “And you’re not, which is why you make an excellent boss. Not that I consider you my boss…”

“Here we go.”

She prattles on as I assail my ears and scroll through my phone to find Skye’s number.

I should text her and see if I can interview her sooner rather than later, and I’ve only got a few weeks before Geraldine leaves.

It’s a big step. I like things the way I like them. I hate change. If something throws me off course, it’s hard for me to get back on track.

But I have to do this.

Sooner the better.