Chapter 10

"Clean your hands, Phoebe," Brody said from behind her. "Spiders carry germs on their feet."

"They don't have feet idiot. Here." Ryder grabbed the bottle of Windex that was on the table closest. "Hold out your hand."

"You can't use that!" Brody protested. Phoebe stuck out her hand because he'd said she shouldn't, and she was proving to him and herself that he had no say in what she did. She realized instantly why she shouldn't have.

"What is that?" Ryder pointed to her palm.

"Nothing." She tried to snatch it back, but Ryder held it open, then leaned down to study the small drawing.

"It's something, but I'm just trying to make out what," Ryder added.

"It's a mushroom bouncing on a trampoline," Brody said.

Phoebe was surprised he'd remembered that drawing bouncing mushrooms on trampolines on her palm was something she'd always done.

"You still do that?" Caleb asked. Phoebe shrugged .

"Your friend Sally taught you that in school, from memory," Brody said.

"It's just something I've always done," Phoebe said, waving her hand at Ryder so he could see the mushroom bouncing, which made him laugh.

"Quirks, we all have them," Ryder said. "Brody dances around the kitchen?—"

"I don't think we need to go there," Brody interrupted his brother.

"Oh, but we do," Caleb said, smirking.

"When he's waiting for the kettle to boil. It started when Ally was fussing as a baby, waiting for her bottle. Now he just does it." A notepad sailed through the air and hit Ryder in the head.

Phoebe thought the idea of Brody dancing around the kitchen with his baby far too sweet, so she held out her hand. "Squirt." He did and then handed her a cloth, and she wiped it.

"All better?" Ryder said.

"I just wished I'd gotten my camera set to video in time to document that entire incident," Caleb said. "First the big Duke freaking over a spider." Brody flipped him the bird. "Then Phoebe's mushroom dance. I could have plastered it all over social media."

"I don't have social media, so it wouldn't have bothered me," Brody said.

Caleb stared at him. "What? None?"

"My family is all here, so why do I need to go on social media to find out when they get a new pair of shoes or what they ate for breakfast. I can open an internet browser and look if I need to find out about what's happening outside Lyntacky's borders."

"Sawyer's the same," Ryder said. "They're the dinosaurs of the family. "

"It's like I've stepped back in time." Caleb's voice was awed and no longer pissed off. "But then, considering your appearance, I get it."

"Why do I need to spend my life looking down at a device and not seeing what's around me?" Brody said. "And what's wrong with my appearance?"

His hands were in his pockets, and despite whatever ground he'd lost with the spider, he was now back to his usual confident self. Scruffy and comfortable in his own skin.

"Your hair hasn't seen a brush or conditioning treatment in years, and your clothes have rips in them, and not in a good way."

"There's a good way?" Brody asked.

Ryder moaned.

"Appearances aside, how will you explain social media and its risks to your kid if you don't understand it yourself?" Caleb asked.

"When she's thirty, she can check social media out herself." He'd said the words loud enough to carry down the stairs. "Plus, my siblings will teach her."

"Dad!" Ally yelled back.

"It's not like you're dumb either," Caleb said. "I know you and your siblings are intelligent because we were in school together. But to not have a digital footprint…." Her brother shook his head.

"We don't all need to be connected twenty-four seven," Brody said, defiant.

"You can't shame or convince him otherwise, Caleb, so give up," Ryder said. "Back to the spiders, though, bro."

"I'm not discussing those things." Brody shuddered.

Phoebe tried to swallow the giggle, but Brody heard it, and his eyes shot her way.

"S-sorry. "

"Don't be. It's a constant source of amusement for the rest of our family," Ryder said with a smirk.

"Right, like your fear of birds isn't hilarious," Brody drawled. "You scream and run inside if one lands a foot from you."

"I have that under control now," Ryder said, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"I think we can rule out a fear of heights, though," Caleb said. "Your daughter is sitting on top of a ladder. What's the deal with you two?"

Now that the phobia discussion had moved on, the tension in the room eased. Phoebe let her eyes move around the space. Similar colors to downstairs. Bifold doors led out to a huge deck, and Phoebe saw the river and mountains beyond. It would be an amazing place to sit with a glass of wine on a day just like this one.

"We're workers, unlike you soft Stanways," Brody said, drawing her eyes back to him. She had to admit, if only to herself, there was something about a man in a tool belt. His had a hammer and other things hanging from it, and it looked good on him.

"You keep telling yourself that, Duke, because we all know who was the toughest at school," Caleb said. "And on the baseball field."

"Got a hometown game next week, and your loser team may need all the help it can get… even you two," Brody said with a smug look.

"We'd still be better than you even without practice," Phoebe said.

"Amen," Caleb agreed.

"Them's fighting words," Ryder said while Brody gave her a slow smile.

Maybe she wasn't exactly comfortable, but Phoebe thought that might come with exposure to him. Could the past be left there after all? She wasn't sure the word "friend" could ever apply to Brody, but they could at least be civil.

"The Lemon Losers will need four extra outfielders if they want to beat us," Ryder said.

Lyntacky had two baseball teams: the Lemon Levelers and the Lavender Leaders. The Dukes played for the Leaders, and the Stanways played for the Levelers. Also playing for the Levelers were the Kellers, who were enemies of the Dukes, so any game they played against one another could be explosive.

She was never sure why they hated one another, and it was mainly Sawyer and the oldest Keller, Beau. Their dislike of each other had simmered between them for years.

"I haven't played in a while, but I'm still better than you Dukes," Caleb said, falling back into the smack talk like he'd not lived anywhere but here his entire life.

Brody snorted. "You city folks will have gone soft."

"Nothing soft about us, country boy," Phoebe said. "We may have made New York our home for a while, but can take you Lavender Dickheads easily."

Ryder hooted with laughter, and Brody grinned.

"Well now, them's fighting words, Stanway. Game on," Brody said.

"Now that the smack talk is over, come and look at my deck," Ryder said. "I'm putting tables up here too," he added, walking out the double doors. She could hear the excitement in his voice.

"This is going to be lovely, Ryder," Phoebe said, wandering out to the railing to look down at the river. "When is opening day?"

"Soon, but I haven't set a date yet. If I have to work around the clock, I will to make this place perfect. "

"What he means is we, his family, have to work around the clock," Brody called to them.

"We get plenty of tourists, and I've had a talk with the Slatters, and they said they'd be interested in letting me take over their lunch contract when they have outdoor adventure tours," Ryder said. "I then talked to Nancy at Circle Left who has the contract now, and she's happy for me to do them, as she's too tired apparently and wants to give me the business."

"Only in this town would your competition be happy to hand over business to you," Phoebe said. "Your niece told me you bake the best food, but that I wasn't to tell her nana that."

"Ally has great taste. Now come in here, Caleb, and look at these color swatches," Ryder said.

"For what, exactly?" Caleb asked.

"Don't, man, seriously," Brody said, joining them. "We've told him to stop changing his mind, but he wants a feature wall up here and can't decide on the color. It has to be painted today."

Ryder simply flipped his brother the bird and led Caleb inside.

Brody moved to stand at her side. "How are you, Phoebe?"

"Since I saw you at Lyntacky Elementary?"

"Since I saw you years ago."

"That's a lot of years, Brody. How about we leave it at, ‘I'm doing good now, thanks'?"

"But you weren't?"

"Come and look at the colors I've narrowed it down to, Phoebe! I think your brother is on the money, but I want your opinion too," Ryder called to her.

Happy to finish the conversation with Brody, she headed back inside .

"He has asked every single person who walks in here what color to paint this one wall. We've all given him different opinions," Brody said, following her.

"It clearly means a lot to him then."

"Or he just needs to make a damned decision because he's driving his family crazy."

"Dreams are important to get right," Phoebe said. "This is his, and he wants to make sure everything is perfect."

Brody exhaled. "And now I feel like an asshole."

You were one once. "I'm sure you're supporting your brother, Brody. You Dukes all do that." She turned as she spoke and looked up at him. His brown eyes were intent as they stared back at her. "But, from memory, all of you are strong-willed and determined, so I imagine you have an opinion on what he does here."

"You make that sound like a fault."

Phoebe laughed. "Now I need to go because I have work to do."

"School's out till Monday."

"Not for teachers. Plus, this is not my full-time job, Brody. I'm an author," Phoebe said.

"I know that, and your tone tells me you've said those exact words more than once before." He folded his arms like he was settling in for a nice long chat.

Phoebe had certainly had her share of people questioning why she'd given up a perfectly respectable job like teaching to write books. But she wasn't getting into that with this man.

"A few times. Now I need to grade your daughter's paper on how to groom a donkey called Potato."

His eyes told her he knew it was a brush-off, but he rolled with it. "Zoe's partner's donkey."

"JD, right? The owner of the Gnat. "

"Yes, and he's a city slicker who dresses like your brother," Brody said loud enough for Caleb to hear.

"All class then," Caleb drawled.

"See you around, Brody," Phoebe said.

"Which color?" Ryder held up a chart when she reached him and pointed to two of the colors.

Phoebe studied them. "Aren't they the same?"

"One is Caribbean teal, and the other is Aegean teal," Caleb said, his tone dry.

She leaned closer. "That one." She touched a color, and Ryder smiled.

"I like harbor fog personally," Brody said from behind her.

"Funny, Phoebe just chose that one too," Ryder said.

"Too light." Caleb dismissed his choice. "Stick to my choice. You can't go wrong."

"And there's the ego," Phoebe said. She then kissed her brother's cheek. "See you later."

"I'm taking you to lunch," Caleb protested.

"I can't today. I have stuff to do." Phoebe made her way downstairs. She found Ally still up a ladder, but now she was talking to a guy Phoebe didn't recognize.

"They're not open for a few days," Ally was saying, "but you should totally come back. My uncle bakes the best food of anyone in town, but don't tell my nana or maybe anyone else. There are a lot of places to eat in this town, and I don't want to upset anyone."

The man had a nice smile and wore jeans and a collared T-shirt. He screamed tourist to Phoebe.

"Well, I hope I'll be here, and thank you, Ally, for the talk. See you." He raised a hand and gave Ally and Phoebe a smile and was gone.

"I'm going too, Ally. I'll see you at school, and remember, if you have any trouble, you come and see me. "

"Okay, and bye, Ms. Stanway."

She walked out into the sunshine and headed for her car. Climbing in, she started back along the main street.

Seeing Brody was a good thing because exposure would stop the nerves and tension she felt when he was around. She associated happiness and gut-aching sadness with him, no matter how much she'd changed since leaving Lyntacky.

Phoebe was strong now and resilient. Life had thrown her curveballs, and she'd survived. Not only that, but she'd thrived, and she was going to continue to do so.