Page 23 of Forever Yours
In fact, right now, his phone was sitting on the bar, next to a freshly washed set of highball glasses that were now air drying with unsightly water marks. Gabe stared at his phone as he wrung the unused drying towel in his hands. The glasses were eventually forgotten about when Greyson walked in and bellied up to the bar, pausing a moment as a group of customers moved to a table.
“What’ll it be?” Gabe threw a sidelong glance at Greyson, although he already knew the answer, and covertly pocketed his phone once again.
“You know, Gabe, I’ve always wondered why you didn’t go with a wild west theme in here. A saloon with rowdy chorus girls and cowboys doubling down on bets at the poker table.”
“Greyson, I’m only going to say this one more time, I’m concerned with you not working,” Gabe said, sliding a low ball of Jameson Reserve the short distance across the gleaming wood top bar.
Greyson sighed. “I know. I was thinking about asking the university if I could start this spring instead of in the summer, that way I could get ramped up before summer stock.”
“I like that idea. I know I throw shade around, but you’ll have a big project once the remodel is in full swing.”
“I thought about that too, but other than what you and I decided to work on together, I think that hiring out the rest of the work is what I’ll do.”
“You don’t want to get those smooth hands too dirty?”
“Pru likes my smooth hands.” Greyson smirked. “Besides, one of the perks of being obscenely rich is that I can afford to hire a crew.”
“What are you trying to say, big brother?”
“Hey, I offered to send the best when you were working on Mom and Dad’s house, but you said no.”
Gabe reminisced on the years it had taken him to do the work on their parent’s house himself, but every second of the renovation was worth it. If he’d completed the work any sooner, he wouldn’t have been at the store with Devlin yesterday, and he couldn’t regret that. “I loved doing it all. The house was Mom and Dad’s, I’m sure that’s the reason why. I know it took me years longer to finish it by myself, but everything was worth it.”
“And now we get to go to the family cabin. You think you’ll want to renovate that?”
“You know, I’m not sure. A caretaker looks in on it every so often, usually before and after winter, and they haven’t reported anything major wrong with the place, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t out of date. An outdated cabin can be charming, though, being rustic and all that. I guess we’ll know soon enough. So, what do you think we’ll need for the trip?”
“I’m thinking some Johnnie Walker, and maybe a couple bottles of Grey Goose, and a bottle of Macallan…”
“One, I’m talking about food and supplies, and two, that sounds suspiciously like my private collection.”
“Bro, the liquorissupplies. If we’ve got that everything else will take care of itself. Plus, I kind of figured that Pru or AB would deal with the food.”
Gabe waved his hand toward his kitchen. “Really, Grey?”
“She likes to cook, not for any other reason.”
The response was lost on Gabe, as mumbles and grumbles could be heard coming through the door. He watched as Sebastian and Annabelle came in along with a swirl of cold air.An alcove, why did I not build the door in an alcove?He added that to his mental list of renovation ideas for his plans for the expansion.
Annabelle gave a quick wave and a smile as Sebastian tried to guide Annabelle to one of the few empty booths, reaching his hand to settle at the small of her back. Annabelle smacked Sebastian’s hand away.
“Do you know what you want for lunch?” Gabe asked Greyson, who was now looking at the menu.
“Steak sandwich and fries.”
“I don’t know why I ask, or why you bother with a menu.” Gabe punched in the usual order then moved to fill two glasses of water for the newcomers.
The lunch rush was light, the weather tending to keep people inside on days like this. Gabe reached the booth and placed the water in front of the grimacing occupants.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, a snowman decorating contest, hot cocoa bar, snowball toss—” The look of horror on Sebastian’s face made Gabe chuckle.
“It amazes me that these things still surprise you,” Annabelle interrupted. “In fact, all that’s followed by ice skating and a chili cook off.”
“This just keeps getting worse,” Sebastian groused.
Annabelle rolled her eyes.
“It amazes me, Winters, that you can’t seem to keep it professional. Rolling your eyes at your boss could be seen as an act of insubordination.”