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LEENA

“I’m done. These men in my life are going to make me go gray before I’m thirty years old.

Selfish little turds.” We’ve been inside the house.

Mom is with Jace in his dedicated play area that she keeps for him.

Montana, Alana, and Marlie are sitting with me in the kitchen when I announce what I’m doing.

“Try living with one of them,” Alana says about Keller.

“Been there, done that. No thanks.” At least she wasn’t around when my brothers were of the stinky variety, giving noogies, and being gross.

“I bet they were still hot. Asa at least,” Montana pipes up.

“Okay, leaving now. This is going to make me gag if it goes too much further.” My back is already turned towards them. The house is set up so the back patio is right off the eat-in kitchen table. A few steps, and I’m opening the sliding glass door.

“Fuck.” Tanner’s head is dipped low, Decker looks like defeated, Keller is hard to read, Dad is grinning, and Asa is sitting beside my husband with a beer up to his mouth, so he’s hard to read. It doesn’t matter, though; I’m going to stand by Decker through thick and thin.

“Hey.” His voice gives away to the tiredness I’m sure he feels after dealing with all the drama today.

“You okay?” I ignore my family, fully intent on making sure Decker’s okay.

“Yeah, baby, I am.” He pushes his chair out, making room for me to sit on his lap.

I’m sure my brothers will have something to say about that.

Honestly, though, who cares? We have this one life to live, and that’s what I’m going to do.

Decker presses a kiss to my forehead. A throat clearing interrupts our moment, annoying me, and I make it known.

“Yes?” I throw my sass at Keller and Tanner, the two who were the worst to my husband.

“I’m thinking we deserved that, don’t you, Keller?” Tanner questions. I finally turn my attention to them.

“Yeah, I’d say so. Thanks for letting us know the full story and making sure it was done right.” I’m about to fall out of my chair. Maybe Alana really is taming Keller to not be such a grumpy, irritable old man after all.

“No problem. I’d be leery, too.” Decker is a man of many facets, and I’m the lucky woman who gets him for the rest of my life.

“Good, now that this shit is over, we can all have another beer and get to the good part: food.” Asa gets up and makes his way to the fridge, grabs the guys their drinks, places them on the table, squeezing my shoulder as he passes, then goes back to grab me and I’m assuming Montana the drinks we prefer.

“Yep, let’s get to it, boys. Food isn’t going to grill itself,” Dad announces. He gets up. Asa follows suit, leaving Tanner, Keller, Decker, and myself at the table. There’s a reason they left when they did, giving the two ding-dongs a chance to apologize.

“Decker, welcome to the family. I’m not going to apologize because I think you know where we were coming from. We’ve always been protective of our baby sister, even though she’s an adult. Sis, love you.” That’s Keller for you, working around his apology, but it works.

“Thanks.” They shake hands across the table. And then there were three. A smile plays on my lips because Tanner may be the oldest, but he’s got a heart of gold and has no problem being the hard ass, yet that soft side seems to come out when it’s necessary.

“I’ll apologize. It takes a good man to step up and do what you did, righting wrongs that weren’t yours to right.

I’m sorry. I know we signed an agreement that terminated our contract, but if you ever find yourself in need of a reference or some work, we’ll happily work with Williams Concrete.

” Tanner doesn’t shake his hand, instead does that man thing where they lift their chins.

“Thanks, Tanner.” Decker returns the sentiment. Now that the so-called fun is over, it’s time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of our day.