Page 19 of Salvation (Clover-Hills #1)

Wesley

“ What do you need?” I suppress a sigh as my brother walks right in, like he owns the place. The door shuts behind him with a click as he waves a couple of envelopes around in his hand.

“Some of your mail got delivered to the ranch.”

“How do they keep messing that up?” I grumble as I set down my mug and newspaper, standing from my chair at the dining table. He throws the mail onto the wooden table and shrugs. Then he points at the paper I left next to my coffee.

“Who still reads the newspaper? Old ass.”

“Whatever.” I huff, picking up the mail and sorting through the few pieces. “You probably still hide Playboy magazines underneath your bed.”

“I heard you terrorized Blake about moving in next door.” I stop shuffling through the envelopes to look at him.

This again? The way he so quickly redirects the conversation almost makes me laugh, but the mention of Blake is enough to sober me up.

He probably does hide magazines under his mattress, but that’s none of my business. “I didn’t terrorize her.”

He crosses his arms and leans against my table. “Why does it matter if she’s there, Wesley?”

“This isn’t a problem for you to fix, Wyatt.” I bite back, hoping he’ll drop it. He doesn’t.

“I’m just saying, man, you guys aren’t kids anymore. You’re adults. Do something nice, welcome her to the neighborhood, but don’t scare her off because you’re holding some grudge against something she did as a teenager.”

It’s more complicated than that, but I’m not going to explain that to him.

He is right in the sense that it’s not fair for me to scare her off just because I’m not ecstatic about her being here.

I know how much Elise has wanted her back home.

Hell, how much everyone has wanted her home.

My mom and Wyatt included. I can’t take that from them.

So, I just say, “I’m not going to scare her off. ”

“If that’s the case, come up with a way to apologize for bombarding her the other day.”

Apologize? Apologize for what? I don’t have anything to apologize for. I suppose I can ‘ welcome her to the neighborhood’ as Wyatt suggested. If that’s what it takes to smooth the waters and get the latter off my back about it.

“Just think about it, alright?” I wave him off and don’t say bye as he leaves. I don’t know much about this new Blake, but I do know she has a weakness for my mom’s cookie recipe. Maybe I’ll start there.