Page 76 of The Biker's Brother

“Celery?” Brigid asked.

“That mean you want it with celery or without?”

“Without.”

“Then it’s without celery.” Rita smiled as she donned a clean white apron and made quick work of tying it in back.

Cami chuckled a little in spite of the fact that she was mad enough at Brandon to want to chew him in two.

“How ‘bout you?” Rita asked Cami.

“I’ll try that. You have wheat bread?”

“Yeah. We got wheat. Toasted?”

“Ooh. That sounds good.”

“With lettuce and tomato?”

Cami looked at Rita like she loved her. “Lettuce and tomato. Without me even having to ask. You’re my new hero.”

“It was bad out there on the road, huh?” Cami was nodding and looking like she might cry. “Once you get away from the cities there’s not much to eat unless it’s been fried or put between two big white buns.”

“Oh my God. You know!”

Rita laughed. “It’s not exactly a secret, darlin’. I think everybody in the world knows that except maybe you.” Cami seemed to deflate a little at that observation. “You want that with fries?” Cami’s eyes started to look a little wild, but Rita quickly put her at ease. “Just kidding. I’m not frying any potatoes today. Garland is having about six gallons of potato salad sent over from The Smokestack.”

Brigid nodded in response. “I like their potato salad.”

“Yeah. Everybody does.”

“You were saying, about Brand’s mother?”

“I don’t know all the details. That’s probably for the best. But Brant was the head mechanic at the Yellow Rose. They met when she got lost on the property and I guess there was a sort of instant connection.

“Long and short is that they fell in love. Garland got pregnant with the twins. Her father was insisting she go to Wharton. She couldn’t say no to him. So she said no to Brant. Brant was so heartbroken she gave him Brash. His real name is Brannach, but he was always…” she smiled affectionately, “let’s just say he doesn’t hide anything or hold anything back.”

“That’s…” Cami looked spellbound and incredulous at the same time.

“I know. Heartrending.”

Cami nodded. “So how did they, um…?”

“Get the family together?”

“Well,” Brigid’s eyes sparkled, “there’s more.”

As Rita put plates in front of them, she said, “With that family there’s always ‘more’.”

“So tell me,” Cami said.

“Brash was going to replenish his stash of peanuts at the H.E.B.”

“Peanuts? Brandon eats those like his life depends on it.”

“I know,” Brigid said. “They both do. So Brash was standing in line to check out at the grocery store and he sees a picture of himself on this magazine. The guy’s in a suit and doesn’t have long hair like Brash did, but you know, it washim.

“So he bought a copy of the magazine, found out who Brandon was and went to New York looking for him. When Brash turned up at Brand’s office, the first thing Brash noticed - after Brandon’s shocked look, was a big bowl of peanuts on his desk.”